Imagine that we are good friends. One day we are talking: Me: Wow, you will not believe this new book I've been reading! You: What's it about? Me: It is a manual for living a better life. It is also a guide to creating a better society for ourselves and our children. It has changed my life! You: That sounds like an important book. Who wrote it? Me: The author is supposed to be the smartest person in the universe. You: That's amazing -- if the author is the smartest person in the universe, the book must be absolutely brilliant. I can't wait to see it. Do you have a copy with you? Me: Absolutely! I carry it with me everywhere I go! Here, have a look for yourself... You open the book to a random page, and you find this: Any of the people of Israel, or of the aliens who reside in Israel, who give any of their offspring to Molech shall be put to death; the people of the land shall stone them to death. I myself will set my face against them, and will cut them off from the people, because they have given of their offspring to Molech, defiling my sanctuary and profaning my holy name. And if the people of the land should ever close their eyes to them, when they give of their offspring to Molech, and do not put them to death, I myself will set my face against them and against their family, and will cut them off from among their people, them and all who follow them in prostituting themselves to Molech. If any turn to mediums and wizards, prostituting themselves to them, I will set my face against them, and will cut them off from the people. Consecrate yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am the Lord your God. Keep my statutes, and observe them; I am the Lord; I sanctify you. All who curse father or mother shall be put to death; having cursed father or mother, their blood is upon them. If a man commits adultery with the wife of his neighbour, both the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death. The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with his daughter-in-law, both of them shall be put to death; they have committed perversion; their blood is upon them. If a man lies with a male as with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination; they shall be put to death; their blood is upon them. [Leviticus, chapter 20] You are not quite sure what to say. You look at me for a moment. You: I thought you said that this is written by the most intelligent person in the universe. If we are going to follow what this author says, we have to kill half the people in America. We are supposed to kill everyone who has cursed his father or mother, everyone who has committed adultery, and every homosexual. Me: Well, that's in the old testament, you see. The book is really two books, and the "old" part of the book doesn't really apply. You: Are you saying that the smartest person in the universe once wanted us to kill every adulterer and homosexual, but then changed his mind? That somehow makes it better? If the "old part" no longer applies, then why did you hand it to me when I asked to see the book? Me: Well, parts of it do apply. You: Didn't you just tell me that it doesn't apply? You open the book to another random page and you find this: When you buy a male Hebrew slave, he shall serve for six years, but in the seventh he shall go out a free person, without debt. If he comes in single, he shall go out single; if he comes in married, then his wife shall go out with him. If his master gives him a wife and she bears him sons or daughters, the wife and her children shall be her master’s and he shall go out alone. But if the slave declares, ‘I love my master, my wife, and my children; I will not go out a free person’, then his master shall bring him before God. He shall be brought to the door or the doorpost; and his master shall pierce his ear with an awl; and he shall serve him for life. When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. If she does not please her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her. If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife. And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money. Whoever strikes a person mortally shall be put to death. If it was not premeditated, but came about by an act of God, then I will appoint for you a place to which the killer may flee. But if someone wilfully attacks and kills another by treachery, you shall take the killer from my altar for execution. Whoever strikes father or mother shall be put to death. Whoever kidnaps a person, whether that person has been sold or is still held in possession, shall be put to death. Whoever curses father or mother shall be put to death. When individuals quarrel and one strikes the other with a stone or fist so that the injured party, though not dead, is confined to bed, but recovers and walks around outside with the help of a staff, then the assailant shall be free of liability, except to pay for the loss of time, and to arrange for full recovery. When a slave-owner strikes a male or female slave with a rod and the slave dies immediately, the owner shall be punished. But if the slave survives for a day or two, there is no punishment; for the slave is the owner’s property. [Exodus, chapter 21] Again, you are dumfounded. Here the author of the book is advocating slavery, the branding of slaves, and the wholesale beating of slaves. You are not quite sure what to say. You look at me for a moment. You: You have to be kidding me. Here the "smartest person in the universe" is telling us that slavery is OK and that we are free to beat our slaves. You open the book to another random page and you find this: I desire, then, that in every place the men should pray, lifting up holy hands without anger or argument; also that the women should dress themselves modestly and decently in suitable clothing, not with their hair braided, or with gold, pearls, or expensive clothes, but with good works, as is proper for women who profess reverence for God. Let a woman learn in silence with full submission. I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man; she is to keep silent. For Adam was formed first, then Eve; and Adam was not deceived, but the woman was deceived and became a transgressor. Yet she will be saved through childbearing, provided they continue in faith and love and holiness, with modesty. [1 Timothy, chapter 2] You are nearly speechless. But you manage to find your voice. You: Is this some kind of joke? "I permit no woman to teach or to have authority over a man." That is totally sexist! In America, there are millions of female teachers and we have women throughout our corporate and govenment hierarchies. No intelligent person believes that women should be silenced. As you page through the book further you find that it is totally sexist from beginning to end. You keep opening the book to random pages, and nearly everything you find is utter nonsense. Either it is meaningless, completely irrelevant, disgusting or downright wrong. If you are a scientist it is even worse, and it starts with the very first line: In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth... That's not true. In the beginning a natural event created the universe as we know it, and the earth did not form until billions of years later. The creation story in Genesis is completely wrong. Simply read Genesis and you can see it. For example, the Bible says that light and darkness are created after the water but before the sun. Everyone knows that the sun came first, then the planet and its rotation (which is what causes light and darkness to occur on a daily basis) and then the water, and this all happened over million of years. There are many other problems with the Bible: Man did not come from a handful of dust through some mythological being. Man evolved from other species like every other living thing has for hundreds of millions of years. The Bible talks about a world-wide flood that covered earth in 5.5 miles of water and killed everything, yet we know it never happened. That is clear from the archeolgical record. There was no tower of Babel where God confounded the languages of mankind. The list goes on and on. The Bible is nonsense in a thousand different scientific ways. Ask yourself this simple question: Why, when you read the Bible, are you not left in awe? Why doesn't a book written by an omniscient being leave you with a sense of wonder and amazement? If you are reading a book written by the all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving creator of the universe, wouldn't you expect to be stunned by the brilliance, the clarity and the wisdom of the author? Would you not expect each new page to intoxicate you with its incredible prose and its spectacular insight? Wouldn't you expect the author to tell us things that scientists have not been able to discover yet? Yet, when we open the Bible and actually read it, we find it is nothing like that at all. Instead of leaving us in awe, it leaves us dumbfounded by all of the nonsense and backwardness that it contains. If you read what the Bible actually says, you find that the Bible is ridiculous. The examples shown above barely scratch the surface of the Bible's numerous problems. If we are honest with ourselves, it is obvious that an "all-knowing" God had absolutely nothing to do with this book. The reason why the Bible contains so much nonsense is because God is imaginary. The Bible is a book written thousands of years ago by primitive men. A book that advocates senseless murder, slavery and the oppression of women has no place in our society today.
May i add, child sexual abuse, interogation, intimidation, torture, genocide and more as many of the people committing these crimes usually announce that god is with them and god tells them its right, its ok.
That true, some of the worse massacres in history were in the name of a loving god. Don't every let them fool you when they say "thats not my god when they preach from the same book and that inspired those to kill millions.
Well i could be referring to any god too, dont have to be a popular one. Its always the same story, their doing it with the confidence that god wants them to do it.
If what you say is true, that there is no god, then why does it matter if someone is killing in the name of that god. Is there any difference if there is a person or group of people killing in the name of themselves or in the name of anything else for that matter.
Of course it matters. If this incorrect belief in a god didn't exist people wouldn't be killing in his name. The people who kill in gods name aren't just using it as the excuse, it's the reason.
Religion is forever being used as an excuse to get up to allsorts, plus some people know they can talk large numbers into doing something terrible to another group of people by convincing them its for the better and that its what their creator wants them to do. Those people will go right ahead and for example, kill thousands because they live the rest of their life feeling it was acceptable and that when they die somehow their god will be waiting for them to pat them on the back saying well done boy, that 100,000 in that country were just in the way anyway.
Yet another repeted question from you, What part of, these people were not true Christians do you not understand. Yo have brought this up a million times, you keep asking about it, i keep telling you, God tells us to love our enemy. Not go out and destroy them. These people were mislead.
I will admit some people will use religion to take advantage, or to control even, but they are wrong. Christianity is about love. Its about gods love for us, its about showing God our love for him, its not about raging wars, its not about making churches rich. Though i recognize this does happen, but do not support it. I have a lot of issues with the institutional church. But it doesn't mean just because some are wrong, that God doesn't exist. Look around. Look at the beauty in a flower, look at the gracefulness in a birds flight. Now look at the news, the murders, the violence, the wars. God does exist, but so does Satan, and you are worshiping him as we speak. When you spread the word that God doesn't exist, you don't realize it, but you are doing your fathers will, when i say your father i speak of Satan. I know God exists, i see it in my life, the love in my family, then i see Satan with the corruption in the world. There is no debate. Period.
Evolution is a proven fact, period. I don't try to prove that their is or is not a god, because that will never be proven I bet. As an atheist though, I still do admit there is a chance there could be something out there. I guess I am more of an agnostic, hmm.
Evolution is not a fact, it has never been proven. Scientist do not even agree on a definition, how could it be a fact. If you read this thread in its entirety you will see numerous articles that shows scientists lack of reliable methods to make evolution FACT.
In your theory, if it is true, Satan has already won when I look around. This is from your perspective view.
It's a theory, but a theory that is 99.9% most likely true. The real question is did science kill god or did it prove he didn't exist in the first place
To deny evolution is to be blinded by disbelief, I've shown you plenty of articles and some evidence that can disprove a god. This is cycle that won't be broken.