I don't think it's any particular event or situation that caused that particular time and place to be chosen. It was the time and place that were the right time and place. From a purely human standpoint, I would say that the Roman Empire was the ideal way to spread the new Gospel far and wide. From the standpoint of faith, we trust that all things work for the good of the elect, and that the right time and place were chosen.Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:23 pm Serious questions from a non-religious person (me).
--Was there something about the time period 2000 years ago that God felt he needed his son down here? Vs. some other time period?
Are you wondering why Christians consider him to be the Son of God? Well, he was conceived by the Holy Spirit, and twice (I think just twice) the voice of God the Father declared him to be "His beloved Son": at his Baptism and his Transfiguration. Also he said things like "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father". Or, "Before Abraham was, I am".Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:23 pm --What about Jesus gets him the son of God title? Couldn't he just have been some charismatic guy who was good with getting people to follow him, with maybe some exaggeration along the way?
Or are you asking why, today, we don't consider the Bible to be exaggerated stories of a charismatic person good with getting people to follow him?
I won't tell you that's impossible. Maybe you're right. But Jesus wasn't all that good at getting people to follow him. He got SOME people to follow him, but he wasn't cruising around, picking up all the support he could. For example, he fed the 5,000, which caused the huge crowd to follow him around, but they were only loyal because their bellies were full and they wanted to keep it that way. That's when he told them that they had to eat his flesh and drink his blood or they had no life in them. When they balked at this, instead of telling them that he meant that spiritually (as he had about Baptism with Nicodemus earlier in John), he doubles down and says that they have to grind his flesh between their teeth. (That's my understanding of the sense of the verb there, anyway.) And most of them leave him.
Maybe it's instinctual, but I wouldn't say that means it's false. Radios have antennas, because they're built to receive transmissions. That doesn't mean nobody is transmitting, in fact, it would make it seem likely that there IS a transmission.Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:23 pm --Is religion instinctual? If someone was raised without religion, nowadays, where virtually every natural phenomena is explainable, would religion wither away over time (I think it is to some extent based off data, right?)
I don't think the primary purpose of religion is to explain natural phenomena, and certainly that isn't the purpose of true religion. This is all about something much deeper and more important, like what our situation is as human beings, how should we treat each other, is there such a thing as objective right and wrong, and what is its source, why is there something rather than nothing, things like that.
Touched on this earlier. It wasn't "bad stuff" that caused Jesus to come the first time. He'd been prophesied to come since Genesis 3, when God said that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent's head. He came, took our sins upon himself, and received our punishment in our place, so that we may come into the presence of God. That doesn't need to happen again. When he comes again, it will be the end of the world and the establishment of the new heaven and new earth.Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:23 pm --Why haven't we had a repeat visit? Related to the first question. Haven't there been enough dark periods since 2000 years ago that should have warranted another visit? What would cause another visit?
Luther differentiated God's hidden will from his revealed will. His hidden will is beyond our understanding, and something that it is best for us not to know (or he would have told us). His revealed will is described in Scripture. He doesn't promise that nothing bad will ever happen, in fact he describes that things will be worse for his followers than for everyone else!Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:23 pm --When bad things happen (illness, war, etc) the response from religious people will vary from "It's God's will" to something along the lines of humans are bad people and we have free will. Which is it? Why is my aunt dying at 48 God's will, but Hitler killing 6 million Jews under human control?
"Why do bad things happen to good people" and "Why are some saved and not others" are questions that I admit I would very much like to know the answer to. But it's none of my business: I need to stick with what God HAS told me, not what he hasn't.
I will say that all bad things that happen in this world, including and especially death, are a result of sin. Man's rebellion against God. Massive disasters are a reminder that this world is temporal and will end.
I can't speak for anybody other than myself, but I'm broadly in the category you describe. All of us, every one, has faith in something we haven't seen constantly. Do you only drive over bridges which you have personally overseen from the design through construction phases? Do you get in elevators without checking the cables? Do you examine the maintenance log before you board an airplane? No. You have faith that somebody else is taking care of those things.Cortopassi wrote: ↑Wed Dec 19, 2018 12:23 pm --How do well educated people such as scientists, doctors and engineers who are 100% driven by real world experiences and data in their daily lives so easily have faith in something they've never seen?
I would say that being surrounded by facts and data all the time makes me believe even more strongly that that isn't all there is to life. Would you say that the process of raising a family can be done entirely through facts and data? Are facts and data all that are involved in sitting around a poker table with friends?
Christianity is the religion based on the ultimate fact: the resurrection of Jesus. If that didn't happen, then maybe life IS just facts and data, and I'm actually the God of my life. What a scary thought!