I hope you aren't suggesting you have been taken in with a 'less then truthful' idea/belief system for lack of anything better. He he. Pete
Lol...............I read that post and laughed. It makes a lot of sense though. Religion has been used so often throughout history to control people. My family tries to control me with their religion, but I completely reject them. They talk about how money is the "root of all evil", yet they are always the people begging for it. I refuse to bow down to some invisible force that won't even talk to me.....Even if God is real, and he may be, I don't get why he doesn't just talk to us, I mean he designed us to communicate, right?
Who said that there are norms for G-ds behaviour? Who said that he think like humans? Who said that it is the same G-d as the texts in the Torah, Bible, Quoran?
Well latehorn, according to my family's religion, God created humans "in his image." I take this to mean we were designed with attributes like him. Besides, there are points in the Bible where he supposedly talked to humans. I don't get why he doesn't just let us known he exists. If he did, this thread would be pointless. But he/she/it doesn't, so who can know for sure?
God won't be a God after all if His existence is known among his creation. Seeing is not always believing.. just like i cannot see you brain therefore you are brainless.
Which is part of why I haven't been going to church on a regular basis. Far too much of that is going on. But I look at it like this: those assholes are being assholes and crooks (sometimes worse) in the name of Jesus Christ. Not a good witness. And definitely not worth being paid attention to. But when you ask yourself, does God exist, what do those people really have to do with him? I was at a point before where I said "The bible can't be true, otherwise Christians wouldn't be such dickheads", but when it comes down to it, I do believe that God is real. I look at what the bible says, and it doesn't reflect what I have seen Christians portrait. At least not most of them. I think that Jesus was a cool dude and not the lamo that many try to make him out to be. He was like a regular person, except that he was Gods son and knew the truth. Jesus was cool. He wouldn't be like the preachers you see on TV. He would also lead by example rather than putting guilt trips on people. I truly believe this. And I think that we need to first forget most of what we've been taught, before we get closer to God. I've brought up angels because I recall loud grandstanding prayers such as "send me your angels, Lord", and truthfully, when I hear prayers in church, I always get the feeling that people don't really believe what they pray, they just repeat stuff. I'm not sure if angels exist, but I have had experiences where the person helping me was either God sent or indeed an angel. So, I know many of you will say I'm nuts, and some Christians may be offended, but I really don't care. The point I'm trying to make is that human nature is being full of shit, some more than others. If you are a Christian, be careful with your preachings. If you overdo it, you can actually lead people away from Christ, because just like I used to say "if God is real, my ass is going to hell anyways", it will have a discouraging effect.
I truly believe and CAN PROVE only one thing from the Bible. "Treat others like you want to be treated". period. that's my god.
I was actualy told by someone that Bible is a short summary of all letters, writings and events that were somewhat proven to be true. Does anybody have any info on that?
im an athiest but i generally follow that rule anyway, contrary to popular belief athiests can be good people as well you know. Its just we dont fear gods punishment we just live a good life because we want to.
Similar, but I think that also applies to a general attitude of being humble and not putting yourself above others. More than "treating", it starts from within.
I've heard some doozies over time. With the basic problem posed by Jung in his query into the story of Job, namely, how could "God" as conceived in the Old Testament, or in the New, how could such a being subject a loyal, devoted man as Job to such misery, merely as a toy in a kind of challenge match with Satan? One answer posed by man was given to me decades ago now from a friend who had studied comparative religions in college. Don't remember whether it was coptic christianity or not, but somewhere a certain theology indicates there was a cosmological "war" of sorts, with essentially two versions of Jehovah, and, well, the bad guy won. The forgiving, compassionate Jehovah got his head handed to him by a jealous, anthropomorphistic deity, and we have been screwed ever since. It is amazing to me the notion that a jealous god will only be mollified by blood sacrifice - whether a lamb, or his own kid. It is more amazing to me how much this idea has been carried throughout human history - even among celtic chieftains, who, when times soured, were forced to die and their blood spilt on the land to make it fertile - much like the rood of Christ; or the Aztec emperor, forced to impale his (good god...), and drop his sacred blood in order to buy favor for future conquest and harvests. So many other examples. Personally, I think our quest is Hobbes' quest. In Leviathan, he first looks at the nature of inquiry and empiricism. What he cannot deduce from sensory evaluation and scientific method, he ascribes to some notion of god, but doesn't seem to really care about he, or it - coming in the 1600s, a brave and early agnosticism. Seemingly, Buddha, too, said, "maybe, but why care? Be here now." Being here now is a difficult road enough, for me at least.
source: druglibrary.org/schaffer/lsd/doors.htm A must read paper that touches on a number of subjects including the whole 'god' thing. I'm not a believer. I tend to think that if you are then you're naive and easily led, but I don't really care. While you're all being led, I'll find my own way ~ I bet I'll have more fun doing it too.
For us to live tommorow with our own judgement of what we believe in. If God makes everyday perfect then whats the purpose of tommorow? Im a believer, it does not mean that the Bible and God controls my actions. Yes his in my thoughts(affect me somehow- in a good way), but he also gave me the authority to decide what I want to believe and what I want to ignore.
dude, there is no point in dealing with this people... they hate God then so what? why don't they mind their own business and just respect how other believes in Him... that is the reason why we believers react on how they bad mouth Him... please there numerous ways on how to explain why you dont believe in Him... well bringing up this kind of topic is really sensitive... dude, we dont have to stay with their level... let's just ignore and pray for them instead...
true... that's the reason he gave us freewill... it's really up to us if we will do this or that... there are so many wrong practices and beliefs that was thought by popes, priest, or any other spiritual leaders... but we have our own way of thinking and we very much know what is good or what is bad...
Personally i respect your beliefs aslong as you live a decent life, but dont try and say christians or believers in god themselves are all so inocent. I get preached at all the time for my beliefs so why is that any different than an athiest preaching about the lack of a god. Personally i dont normally get offended by these discussions, aslong as we keep it civil and dont start calling everyone idiots for their beliefs