>>24774
The scriptures are about the duties of the believer, and of Caesar. Notice that Caesar's power is not arbitrary. It has a proper jurisdiction, and a specific purpose. Obedience to Caesar is obedience to God because, and only because, "rulers are not a terror to good works, but to bad". Caesar has a duty to Christ (his King) as the administrator of His law, and does not have the authority to arbitrarily govern his people according to his whims, certainly he does not have a right to become a terror to good works, and not bad (as has happened in modernity). Paul's command of civil obedience was necessary because of the hostility towards rulers felt by many in the early church because of the persecution of them. But the same man who wrote these words was himself frequently the victim of official persecution because of his own unwillingness to obey wicked commands of the state. Romans 13 is more about the *purpose* of the state, than what is necessarily true regarding it. The entire early church up to the moment Caesar finally became obedient was quite insistent that Jesus, and not Caesar, is Lord.
>>24779
This pic is absurd by the way. I can just as easily say you are only an atheist because of where you are born, and point out that if I was born to some primitive tribe in Africa or something that I might believe the earth is flat. The causes of someone believing something has no implications whatsoever regarding the truth of that belief. There may be many Christians who have a simple faith into which they have placed no thought, but these Christians are likely neither to be here nor to be interested in talking to you.
>How can anyone in the 21st century reconcile the overwhelming evidence against religious creation myths?
I know what you mean, there is overwhelming evidence against the atheistic creation myth of evolutionism but atheists are usually unwilling to question what their priests have told them to believe and consider the evidence. If you're interested we have a large thread here on the subject of scientific and other evidences of God's hand in creation.
>First of all there are dozens upon dozens of mutually exclusive religions.
Thus says the scripture. You're acting like every other religion being false is some kind of problem for Christianity, when in reality it is a prerequisite of it being true. Christianity cannot be true unless every other religion is false, just like atheism cannot be true unless every other religion is false. Atheists often have this prejudice where they treat atheism as having a privileged place where it is not subject to being questioned, as if it were fundamentally different from every other belief. But everyone's got a religion even if we don't call it that, everyone's got a worldview, everyone's got beliefs. You already rejected every other non-Christian religion except one, we just reject one more.
>Secondly the vastness of the universe in combination with the theory of evolution makes divine intervention seem like a childish cope.
Yeah, Christianity is just so stupid, we are just so dumb and childish. Now do you have an argument? How does the vastness of the universe suggest God doesn't do anything in the world? I think it tells us the opposite. I think every last inch of space is proof of God's hand in creating it, and every inch is another piece of indisputable evidence which you are forced to absurdly declare to be pure random chance.
>Thirdly if we take the christian God at face value, why would he ever only appear in one specific time and place rather than across the globe throughout history?
He does. There is nothing in the world which is natural, there is nothing in all of creation which happens or is true independent of the Christian God, for He is not far from any one of us. You see His hand at work every time the sun rises in the sky, for if He withdrew His hand in maintaining creation it not only would fail to maintain the orderly course in which He set it, but it would simply fall out of being entirely.
>If your God didn't want us to worship false idols then maybe he should have paid East Asia or America a visit or something because only appearing 2000 years ago
It's clear you have little awareness of Christian claims and have not spent much time dialoging with knowledgeable religious people. God began speaking to man before he even fell. Centuries before the birth of Christ God spoke through the prophets, and millennia before He spoke to them all men knew Him face to face. The false religions did not simply "start up" out of thin air, but they are all developed from a common source. Hinduism is a deviation from the Christianity of their ancestors.
>>24782
>Your stance is that 5999/6000 religions are wrong
So is yours. If atheism is true, everything else is false. If Christianity is true, everything else (including atheism) is false.
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