Do you believe in God?
- Thread starter vsdsc
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Back then prophets were a dime a dozen, every second person was preaching for something, why would random people from the streets suddenly believe in Jesus? his preachings were ordinary at the time.
Jews cant find it possible to worship Jesus since their religion says you are not allowed to worship people or statues or any other God but God.
You answered your own question, do you really think God told King David to kill every woman and child in the city or was the story completely warped and changed? None of these stories are reliable since they were written years after they happened and, usually, whoever wrote them was from some camp (i.e. he was against King David).
If every second post someone says that there is no point arguing about it then we might as well lock this thread and every other argumentative thread on this board. No one in the history of the world ever walked off a discussion and said "boy, that guy was right, i am so convinced, i will change my perspective". Discussions are for fun and for the sake of the argument and sharing your beliefs.
Fox, I agree 100% that people should not press their beliefs on others.
This is where a problem arises. Not only is it written, for example, that all Christians must Evangelise other non-believers and atheist, but there are psychological reasons why people of faith want to convince others that their God is the one true God.
Because once one truely believe in something, especially in something as mind consuming as organised religion, then that belief effects how one thinks, feels, acts, and reacts. It changes virtually everything about your life; your desires and fears, even. Once one becomes convinced, using Christianity as an example, that others of another faith are wrong and that accepting God is the only way to be saved and go to heaven, then wouldn't you do anything in your power to save them? I know I would, especially to those I love dearest.
This doesn't apply solely to people of faith; it applies to virtually everyone: liberals, racists, scientists, etc....
My accepting God was caused by using Aristotelian metaphysics and logic - the sorts of philosophy that try to disprove God seemed to be full of logical contradictions to me. Only after accepting philosophical evidence of God's existence I chose the religion - as Bible doesn't bring a piece of that evidence, it participated in my choosing Catholicism, but not in my being convinced of existence of God.
Of course, as a Catholic I believe Jesus Christ is the Son of God. But I may be wrong and you and other people, who don't believe may be right: I don't only understand, how Jesus Christ can be acceptable for atheists - if he was not the Son of God, he was a megalomaniac and a demagogue (probably preaching better things than fx Hitler or Mao, but strongly requiring the obedience: I cannot stand a mere man laying claim to such an obedience) - I could even say that before being convinced of the existence of God and of Christianity by PHILOSOPHY and by my own reason, Jesus Christ seemed to be a rather disgusting person to me, because in the texts he doesn't speak or act as a good guy who only comes to help others, but as someone who HAS THE DIVINE POWER. You may raise the objection that these texts were written by people who believed in his Divine Power, but you have probably the same (plus some others maybe) which make you consider him as a great man.
Just my humble opinion. Nobody needs to feel offended, I think.
Not many centuries, my friend, some of them were made public relatively soon - Gospel according to St. Matthew probably some 20-30 years after Christ's death. Of course, this fact itself doesn't make it reliable.
Here I fully agree with you, I cannot stand these sorts of brain-washers either. On the other hand, I don't think I need to hide my religion and my ponits of view following from it - this is why I enter the discussions about religion from time to time, although I tend to keep my opinions to myself.
Interesting, this is the first time I've heard anyone say they found God using metaphysics! It's shame I don't know much about Aristotle's logic and methods, but I will look it up soon. Can you reccomend me a source as to where I can get the best information on the subject?
All the religious folks I know were either raised to accept their God or accepted God later in life due to hardships such as drug addiction, terminal disease, etc....
I see all these people as weak. The people raised to accept their God as beings unable to think for themselves and I see the "born-agains" as people with the inability to handle lifes obstacles. That' only MO, derrived from observations of religious folks.
I believe the main reason Omnipotent Gods exist in the first place was man's incessant fear of the unknown. Fear being man's, (and all to those belonging to the animal kingdom) most powerful and primitive instinct, is a commanding instrinct to drive one to invent a higher being that not only gives meaning to ones life, but also eases fear of the unknown; primarily the fear of death.
Do you see any contradictions to this logic?
Again, I agree with you, 100%! I absolutley love the some of values modern Christianity teaches like the ones you mentioned, and I'd like to add: fidelity in marriage, and the renunciation of worldly goods.
Religion requires faith - not evidence.
I can present all the evidence in the world but all it requires is refute in the following form: "That's not evidence. That's a concotion created by satan to fool the guillible into commiting sin and trangressing against god."
Or something of similar accord.
A belief in god requires faith - and faith by definition means "belief despite lack of, or presence of contrary, evidence".
I lived my life hearing arguments from common preachers promising me a fiery torment in hell to army chaplins sneering that "there are no atheists in foxholes".
I'm of the humble opinion that a god who will willfully overlook my life, and judge me based not on the conduct of my life as a good human being but based simply on the fact that I chose to belive him or not - is not a god, but an conceited, egotistical hedonist.
And not someone I would worship for as long as there is breath left in my body and blood coursing in my veins
cheers,
Speaking of immortality:
Immortality in an "afterlife" is wasted immortality.
Do I seek "immortality"? Ofcourse I do!
I want people to remember me long after I'm dead. I want them to hear my name and say "Now he! He was a good man!"
Think Gandhi. Florence Nightengale. Martin Luther King Jr. That is the kind of "immortality" we should all strive for
Immortality in an "afterlife" is wasted immortality.
Do I seek "immortality"? Ofcourse I do!
I want people to remember me long after I'm dead. I want them to hear my name and say "Now he! He was a good man!"
Think Gandhi. Florence Nightengale. Martin Luther King Jr. That is the kind of "immortality" we should all strive for
Iamforever
Banned
does anyone know if the holy bible mentions aliens?
Iamforever
Banned
sorry if i offend anyone, but i do think that god does exist. but, hes not as good as some think. he likes to play with us. if we pass his test, then hes cool with those who did. if not, then ....... just my opinion. not looking to start something here.
Speaking of immortality:
Immortality in an "afterlife" is wasted immortality.
Do I seek "immortality"? Ofcourse I do!
I want people to remember me long after I'm dead. I want them to hear my name and say "Now he! He was a good man!"
Think Gandhi. Florence Nightengale. Martin Luther King Jr. That is the kind of "immortality" we should all strive for
Yes! Our essence lives on in the minds of loved ones and if we can achieve positive world fame, then we are truely "immortal"! Well said, Roughneck!
This is a perfect definition of Faith! Honestly, besides the fact that the Christianity has been a trend for the past 2000 years of extermination and mass murder, the definition of faith bothers me most.
No one, at any time, should ever believe in anything without sufficient evidence!!!!!!!!! I really can't say that enough! Let me say it one for time: No one, at any time, should ever believe in anything without sufficient evidence.
There is absolutely NO evidence that God exists, though I would love to proved wrong by someone using a source other than the Bible as justify their means.
Pardon me if I am wrong, but I don't think teh Christian God does "overlook," nor "judge" those who don't 'belong' to him. In this case, he wouldn't do either for you because you are not a Christian, or am I mistaken?
On the aforementioned conduct as a good human, the fact is that we can establish morality without a religious reference point. Look at Confucious, he is by far the most influental man, by raw numbers alone, who has ever lived. Confucianism proved that religion isn't necessary to promote moral self-cultivation on a large scale.
And besides, look at the morals Christianity teaches. Do any Christians follow them anyways? Well, some do, but they are the minority. Most Christians look fo rloopholes. They thinkg, "Well, what can I get away with," and such. Good moral systems make peole think, "How should I be?"
And as I mentioned on a previous post, the Bible and God are immoral. God endorses the erradication of 'infidels' and homosexuals, etc....
I can't remember the author of the following quote, nor is it correct word for word:
"If one were to follow the teaching of the Old Testament, he would be a criminal. If one were to follow the New, he would be insane."
A Christian could argue that since I have only read the Bible once in its' entirety, that I interpreted certain passages incorrectly. They just can seem to get through their tiny minds that by interpreting the passages they find undesirable, they are ignoring the true meaning. Take this passage from Deuteronomy 13:6-10 for instance:
"If your brother, your mother's son, or your son or daughter, or the wife you cherish, or your friend who is as your own soul, entice you secretly, saying, Let us go and serve other gods' (whom neither you nor your fathers have known, of the gods of the peoples who are around you, near you or far from you, from one end of the earth to the other end),
you shall not yield to him or listen to him; and your eye shall not pity him, nor shall you spare or conceal him.
But you shall surely kill him; your hand shall be first against him to put him to death, and afterwards the hand of all the people."
http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Deuteronomy 13:6-9;&version=49;
Hypocritically, Christians add their own 'moral' and 'mystical' meanings to these passages. They seem to be completely blocked from ever reading the following passage:
In Deuteronomy 1:13-" God says, "Whatever I am now commanding you, you must keep and observe, adding nothing to it, taking nothing away."
What more can I say?
By Fox
True don't need to, but why not! :1orglaugh
Also, thank you for supporting my arguement. You made very good points. I can support all them in return, but that will have to wait 'cause its late! :angels:
His last part seemed pretty peaceful, I guess it depends on how you look at it.
At first I agreed with the guy and then immediately disagreed; he said "I'm tired of political correctness telling us that we have to respect other ways of thinking and other ways of life" and I was like "I can so relate to that" and then he went on about Jesus Christ, then he said "Never be afraid to be single-minded" and againt I thought I could relate but again, it turned out to be about Jesus Christ!
Anyway, the real reason I wanted to post was about the alien question, whether they are ever mentioned in the bible. Some prophet, I forget his name, is said to fly to the sky on a train of fire, many people believe this is actually a spaceship. These are of course the same people that believe Androids from the future built the Great Pyramids of Egypt.
Uh.....isn't that how they were built? LMAO J/K
Thanks for sharing, Fox. This is an excellent Testimony to Christianity in America. And as both you and I know, Christianity's methods of controlling the masses are very to similar to Islam's, and Judea's. Perhaps the only difference is the money profits Christianity rakes in from its' willing subscribers.
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