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I've read online about a solution to the grandfather paradox, but I don't feel I understand it. Can someone explain the solution?

Numbers 22:28 Then the LORD opened the donkey's mouth, and it said to Balaam, "What have I done to you to make you beat me these three times?"

As a child and young adult I knew that I was bad inside, that somehow God made me an evil person because I had such twisted thoughts about myself all my life. I thought that God made me this way so that I would go to hell but in the process of damning me, he could use my suffering to help others draw closer to him. It seemed like everyone I influenced came to a better understanding of their faith, as I lost mine. Later in life I gave up believing, still thinking my life's purpose was an ugly one. I am now an atheist...

Recently, I discovered that I have a godfather who, in my infancy, may have molested me over a 3 month period. This kind of early childhood trauma makes sense to me because of the graphic and very disturbing dreams I remember having as a youngster. The result of these dreams led me to believe I was an evil person and that God hated me.

It makes much more sense that a man made me have those dreams and feelings rather than a god.

Now I'm confused about it all. Is being molested as an infant part of God's plan for me?

I think it still makes much more sense that God does not exist, because having a child molested just so he could "learn something" in his adulthood is absolutely disgusting and I would not want to have anything to do with such a god.

Last year I was banned from a religious forum (for asking too many difficult questions). But now when I want to register with a completely different forum, I get the same "You do not have permission to access this page" message.

What can I do?

A) A murderer who murdered his wife and children, then later killed an inmate while in prison and wounded a guard and spend 15 years in solitary confinement.

B) A child molester who touched 1 child twice over the clothing, received treatment before prison, during prison, and successfully completed treatment after prison.

C) A drug dealer who beat his pregnant wife causing her to miscarry, was sent to prison for 5 years where he refused treatment and had to carry his sentence to term.

A) A serial killer who was just released from 60 years in prison.

B) A child molester who just completed 1 year in jail.

C) A drug addict who was in prison for 15 years.

In what ways do you envision secularism relating to public life the way religion so commonly relates to public life by creating monuments, cathedrals, commissioning great works of art, etc etc. Even inventing fantastic stories that become foundational cultural expressions of creativity (e.g. Greek Mythology, Celtic Lore).

I like the argument because it helps to outline my life, where I've been, my experiences, and how I became the person I am today. But from moment to moment, I also like to imagine I have Free Will. But, like Harris points out, the human brain fires the neurons several seconds before a conscious awareness of any given choice. And, these choices can almost be predicted based on my past experiences.

if God knew he was going to send destruction to Sodom and Gommorah, and had in fact already sent his angels on before him to go destroy the cities, why did he want Abraham to think that the two cities had a chance?

Also, what was up with the two angels' instructions "Search the two cities and find 10 honorable men" they didn't even search ONE city, just what they could observe on their way from the city gate to Lot's house. I'm assuming Lot didn't take them on the grand tour of BOTH cities before leading them back home.

I have a cylinder which is put together with 20 wooden staves. The diameter I want for the cylinder is 5 inches, right now it's about 5.5 inches. I want mount it on my lathe to turn both the exterior and the interior for a smooth uniform thickness.

What kind of chuck should I get?

Someone drew a snowman with a speech bubble saying "brrr" and I thought that perhaps a snowman can get cold. Why else would a snowman choose to wear a scarf? Most snow people choose to stand outside in complete nudity, save for one or two articles of clothing, so it s logical to assume that snow people are comfortable in cold weather. But what about extremely cold weather? Can a snowman ever be cold? Could a snowman ever DIE of cold? My guess is that yes, a snowman could literally freeze to death, I just don t know how.

Perhaps the snowman would eventually sublimate into the atmosphere...

The price is right, but is it worth it?

I know I would have to install a power charging station which is an additional 1000 dollars.

There's one for sale at 14,500 dollars... but most used Volts are around 23,000 dollars.

My other two considerations are a new 2015 Honda Fit or a used Mark 6 VW Golf TDI

I've seen people on youtube who average 120 mpg with the volt! One guy's was even 1000 mpg, I don't think he even brought it to the gas station since he bought the car!

Thoughts?