Fear in my opinion is part of the "brainwashing". Okay people, ima tell ya a true story about moi. ( i think ya wont care but itll explain my example better.and please dont laugh ok<) Okay, I used to have a phobia...about thunderstorms. Now the reason was because of something my mom told me. She told me that when it rains God cries, and when theres thunder thats Gods scream of sadness. Or something like that. This of course scared the crap out of me. For about two years or so.... Imagine, everytime theres a thunderstorm...just constantly looking outside thinking that God is mad at you. This was damn torture....and even humilating after I started crying one time (cried many times before) My counselor ( i was at camp..) told me all about thunderstorms..you know.....the scientific stuff. I guess after that point is when I gave up....it was a good try though.
Given how That Guy actually considered being a priest and I was a church regular for a while and attended a catholic grade school and high school before returning to my original spiritual beliefs, yes. Yes we have. Have you really read the Bible, or just the nice bits? Are you saying it's alright for the church to lie to us?! Too bad. And you never answered my question about Allah. What do you have to lose if you believe in Allah? if you do and theres nothing, oh well, but if you dont and he's the real god, uh oh.
I say believe in what you believe in, whether it's no god or with god. . . this is one topic that's never gonna get settled, so why don't we all just be nice to eachother and be happy!
See when I was a kid(forgive me if you find this a bit vulgar), my brothers and I thought thunderstorms were umm...thunder=farts and rain=God going to the bathroom. So I'm not sure which is more disturbing thinking he's mourning for you, or going to the bathroom on your head. I admit that there are many religions based on fear, but then again there are some that aren't. You don't have to believe in one faith entirely. There are good points in almost all, and bad parts too. Try taking the good things from each, and don't practice the bad. Belief in God doesn't have to be linked to a single faith. It is merely acknowleging a greater presence in the universe. If you don't want your church to lie to you, don't listen to it, think on your own. No one can make you believe something you don't want to unless you let them.
I believe in God. :anime: And I also believe that he is a very loving, and forgivening God if you just believe in him.
Plenty of questions... well... I do go to Church so I can say that I have read the Bible, not all of it of course but not only the "nice bits" (whatever that is). What are your original beliefs anyway? Second question... no. Well (reads last post *uh oh* :sweat2: ), I guess I did imply that. But the Church truly believes in their teachings. If they believe in their heart that what they say is true, they're not lying are they? Why are you so sure that there isn't a God anyway? As for Allah, I don't know too much about the guy (or god, whatever) but basically he is the moslem God. There might even be a chance that he and the Christian God are one and the same. It doesn't matter to me though.
Like I said before, this is an unsettling topic, the more we hack at it the more problem it's going to cause us. So I tend to stray away from this topic as much as I can. I personally don't believe in god, I think god and the bible are hypocrites. I mean I have nothing against god, half my family and friends believe in god. I just think that we as humans, feel like we have to blame, trust, relie, etc, on someone, so we conjured up this immortal and superiour being to believe in. It's makes us feel more sercure to have someone to believe in and turn to. But if god exsisted (not to be weird or anything) he should or would have made me an anime character!!! :catgirl: Hahahaha!!! Yeah I know, I'm weird! Hello! I'm not immortalrin. So don't flame her off. Actually, I'm her younger sis. Well I was reading some of the stuff in this forum and thought I should tell everyone about how I feel. Well, in my opinion there is no such thing as a religion or God. (Jesus might of existed but he's not God) We shouldn't say "God" in fact we should replace the word with one word, "Evolution." This was how the world evolved, Evolution was there every moment the world was developed. So for me there is no reason to believe in God. I mean I haven't seen the guy make to whole world... I just think he's a regular guy like all of us. This is what I think so if I offended anyone, please don't get me wrong. THIS IS WHAT I THINK! I LIKE VOICING MY OPINION!
No offense... but i don't... no i do not think that god exists. like immortal rin says, he is just something ppl conjured up so they have something to believe in and have explainations of things... i think that if god existed then he will make the world peaceful... he is almighty and powerful and holy... the creator of the world... if the creator is this good... why does he make this world so corrupted... everyone hates everybody else in one way or another.... ive heard a story of the tower in the bible from other ppls. the story is that ppl wanted 2 c god so they made a tower to go c god... god was disappointed so destroyed the tower and everyone went their own ways and FOUND NEW religions... god is the christian god, why did he make the world split up to believe in something else??? if u believe in god, u should believe in budhahh and all those other gods of the world. also ppl say god helps he helps himself... well if someone can help themself, i dont think they need his help anymore... anyways... i mean no offense.... i respect whatever religion anyone is, so i am not against anyone... TY...
Hrm. Hate to break it to you, bub, but Buddha wasn't and isn't a God in any way shape or form or even viewed as such (except by.. y'know, idiots who can't grasp the concept, but they don't count anyway). I also love people who go on long rants about how much of a hypocrisy religion and God are and how much it is complete and utter bull**** but then add in at the end that they have nothing against God or religion. To me, it looks like the fail-safe net of a confused, lost soul who is unsure and afraid. But that's just my opinion.
Hi. OK before anything, i'm not here to bash you, just to clarify some concepts you have of religion, specifically the christian religion. I would agree with you, but we're not dealing with "how the world was created" or "why does the sun set on the west". Religion explains fundamentally 3 questions that man has always asked himself: Where do I come from? Where am I going? What is the purpose of my existence? And yes, many people use religion as an excuse or not to think beyond what they feel comortable with, but hey, atheists do that too! I don't want to offend, but... DOH! What do you think christians use the word "sin" so much? There are wars in the world because we have splendid sinners (i.e. full of pride) as presidents. The gospel says it clear: Blessed be the peacemakers. You got the story wrong. According to the Bible people wanted to build the tower to reach heaven (as in demonstrating their might). It was their pride that made God destroy the tower and confuse people's languages (according to the Bible). And the new religions began with the original sin (Genesis, chapter 3) where the serpent (devil) told the woman: "And you shall be like gods". Man, you REALLY NEED to study what you're criticizing. Never in the Bible we read that God made people found their own religions. In fact, God wanted to make ONE religion. Those who refused were the ones who kept worshipping wooden idols. I think you got the concept wrong. There are circumstances beyond our own actions, and that's where God acts upon. i.e. If you go seek a job maybe God will "move the strings" to help you get the one you need. And something VERY important: God also acts thru his people. I.e. a GOOD christian (not some bible-thumping zealot) will help you whenever you ask for help. Neither am I .
If you admittedly have not read all of it, how can you be a fair judge? Precisely how can you consider yourself an unbaised judge when you've focused on Jesus feeding people, but have skipped over God commanding the Israelites to murder and rape those who oppose them? All my business; none of your own; but essentially I subscribe to a reincarnation cycle model with 2 deities, one male, one female, who together form the creator. Not conciously; but that doesn't make it ok. Hitler believed he was doing Gods will when he murdered millions, does that somehow remove the fact that he was doing bad things? Why are you so sure there is? Why are you so sure he's the one you believe in? Then why don't you understand that your god doesn't matter to other people? Does a mother stop loving her child when they fight? God should understand that not everyone is going to believe in him due either to their upbringing or due to simple logic, and he shouldn't be surprised or angry at them since he was supposed to have made them after all. If God requires you to believe in him in order to love you it is not unconditional love!
*b1t(h-slap* For crying out loud, you're on my side and I got annoyed with your post. Evolution has nothing to do with the creation of the world.
So... when God ordered the Israelites to kill in the Old Testament... he was being a sinner? (Obviously I know you do not subscribe to the literal old testament interpretation, I'm just making a point)
I also love people who go on long rants about how much of a hypocrisy religion and God are and how much it is complete and utter bull**** but then add in at the end that they have nothing against God or religion. To me, it looks like the fail-safe net of a confused, lost soul who is unsure and afraid. But that's just my opinion.[/QUOTE] I don't think it was that long . . . but I still do think that the bible and god are hypocrites. That' s just my opinion. I never said that it is complete and utter bull****, I do have respect for the people who believe in them. And I really don't have anything against god(based on the fact that I don't believe god exist so why bother about disliking god anyway???)even though I still think that their hypocrites. I mean, my father is a hypocrite and sexist(at times), but I still love him alot!!! A confused, lost soul who is unsure and afraid, is who I am everyday! That's just some of the reasons why I cherish everything and everyone around me so dearly with every breath that I take! I mean, you never know what's going to happen the moment you wake up . . . and I'm sure every body is afraid of one thing or another, that's why we have the TV show Fear Factor!!
...When has an athiest ever used religion as an excuse to think a certan way? I still don't understand how knowledge is a sin. So? Humanist athiests help people too, as do moderate/liberal Muslims (as opposed to fundamentalist muslims), Wiccans, Buddhists and many others.
someone once told me that religion is man's attempt to answer the big questions of life. I believe this is true, but what would you say?
Have you ever noticed the difference in the Old and New Testament God? You have to understand the people that the parts of the Bible was dealing with. The Caananites were pagan converts who were used to wrathful, violent gods so that is what they daw their God as because that is what they were expecting and comfortable with. The New Testament mainly is about Jesus who pretty much turned their ideas of the ruthless God upside down with his preachings of love. I believe all things have a basis in fact. As I have stated before in other places, the Bible was written by men. It is not the absolute truth, but has some truth in it. There are some very good teaching in it mixed up with all the stories of violence and the junk mixed in through the ages. Christianity is a very broad faith, and the definition of being a Christian is a belief in Jesus Christ. You'd be surprised at the difference in the teachings of the many churches. Not all fundementalist believing the Bible is the direct word of God. My church when praying says Father/Mother God, we do meditations, follow teachings from a variety of religions, but we still are Christians. Now whether others consider us Christians is another thing. :anime:
Jesus didn't really bring anything new to the world of religion though. All his good lectures were found in other philosophies, including the Golden Rule. And despite the preachings of love, according to the NT God still insteads to lay down the smackdown someday.
