Stephen Fry on meeting God ...

Don't need to read it if you don't want to.
#nobodyforcingyou

and I probably won't.

what a load of.... No wonder I am an atheist

Surely the Christian belief is that God is omnipotent and not constrained by time, i.e. existing simultaneously in the past, present and future.

So where did this come from?

"God changed the rules. He didnt forsee it right at the beginning.
He was forced to change the rules along the way."

I've not read any part of the Bible which describes God as saying, "Oh whoops! I messed that up. I'd better try something else." What is the reference, please?

There are believers who have a more sophisticated approach to their religion. I am not one, but I think they are represented on this forum. Some of the simplistic arguments presented by some believers are to my mind unfortunate and cut off dialogue and understanding.

Sadly (or more exactly, frustratingly the member(s) propounding such tosh sweeping comments (IMHO) rarely return to provide any sort of justification or evidence for what they contend.

absent. God didnt mess it up! It was the people of the time who refused to obey.
I will find the relevant parts tomorrow.

?

These simplistic Bible thumpers give me the heebyjeebies.

absent. The answer to your post of 21.09pm is going to require a lot of reading verses on your part, I am afraid.
I will list them all tomorrow.

I didnt want to have to do this either, rosearered, but absent asked for the references.

I can't see absent doing that somehow, soontobe!

I can understand that rosesarered.
That is one of the drawbacks of an internet forum. We are all together!

You could always join a fund Christian internet site, soontobe. Then at least you'd be among like-minded people.

Ana - as evidenced on this thread and others, not all Christians are like-minded.

No, that was the point of my crossed-out bit, ga...

I like being amongst people who dont believe.

The trouble with the internet is, unlike real life, people cannot go off into a corner and have a conversation, so as not to annoy someone else.
There is the option of pm though, if you would like it, absent?

Ana In spite of my atheism, I have actually spent a lot of time reading the Bible, both Old and New Testament, in various translations and languages. I also spent best part of two years (not concurrently) doing research on Biblical topics for a couple of substantial books, assisting the author.

I really would like to know the references to God's inability to foresee events and being forced to change his rules. I am very curious.

soontobe I don't see why a list of Biblical verses in answer to my query should particularly annoy anyone.

I apologise for my assumption, absent.

It will indeed be interesting to read the verses soontobe is referring to.

I believe that (often taken out of context,) you can probably find a Biblical quote to justify just about anything. For instance, slavers in history could quote the Bible as examples of slavery, thus validating it.
I also like this comment from Salman Rushdie

“From the beginning men used God to justify the unjustifiable.”
― Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

There are chunks to read.
Hebrews[which sounds like it should be in the Old Testament, but is actually a New Testament book] chapter 7 v 18, and all the way to the end of Hebrews chapter 10.
That is for starters.

Oh dear.

To return to original OP, I think you will find that the questions that Stephen would like to ask god are the same questions that have exercised people's brains since the beginning of time - ALL people, believers or not. They are entirely reasonable questions. We have the answers to none of them.

I cannot tell you how nauseated I am by the idea of suffering being a good thing and ordained by god to help us become more holy. We really do need a finger-down-throat icon.

The suffering part is by certain people at certain times and in certain circumstances.

The majority of it is not supposed to happen. It all changed when the Devil brought Evil.

I presume that Grannyknot is ok with the thread continuing as it has?