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Originally Posted by ekattan Well you practically are saying that all religions are the same and they are not. Why because of the Bible. I know some passages are hard to believe but you gotta understand that it has it flaws. Religion has been corrupted by the greed of man and has been distorted in such a way to benefit those in power. But nevertheless the Bible is one of the most accurate history tools mankind has and I do believe all the passages about Jesus Christ are true. |
I'm saying that all faith-based religions have important similarities and differences. The similarity that I'm focusing on is the justification, which can only be faith. So you're saying that the Bible isn't completely accurate? You're saying that some of the passages came from mankind and are incorrect? How do you know which ones are wrong and which ones are right? Because certain passages make sense to you? (I'll address that in a second.)
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Originally Posted by ekattan Why should I believe in the Bible? Well why should you believe in evolution or thermodynamics? Because you read it in a book? Because it it's a fact? Well what is a fact? All those theorems and thoeries were proven out of assumptions and constants that can't be explained or proven, we just know they exist. |
I don't believe in evolution or thermodynamics. I accept them as the most reasonable theories science has developed on the subjects. I think that they're probably right because they have observational evidence backing them up, and I don't accept them as ultimate truth for the same reason I don't accept Christianity as ultimate truth: no proof.
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Originally Posted by ekattan We all have become cynics in this world, we truly think we have it all figured out, but the more you learn (yeah thats right) the more you learn that you don't know sh.t. Only ignorant people think they have this world and life figured out. |
True agnostics realize that they haven't figured anything out. I say "I don't know". I understand that I have not figured this life out. Atheists, Christians, and people who believe in any other religion are the ones who think they have figured out the most closely guarded secrets of the universe.
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Originally Posted by ekattan For me Jesus Christ was real because he made sense. All that he spoke of I know is true cause it's what feels right. All this concern about wealth and material possesions don't make sense to me. It doesn't feel right that people stuff their faces with food day in and day out when there is people starving all around the world. Our society and way of life doesn't make sense and we have become assimilated to it and accepted it and we have become cynics. |
So, you know that Jesus Christ was real because it makes sense to you? If that is all it takes, then Allah is just as real as Jesus, and so is Vishnu and witches for that matter. Different things make sense to different people. Why are you so special that what makes sense to you is more right than what makes sense to someone else?
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Originally Posted by ekattan Lemon, you are right, I'm much smarter. First of all how can you validate the Quran when their prophet Mohammed actually killed numerous people,
"After each of the first two battles he expelled a Jewish tribe, and after the third major battle he had the males of the remaining tribe massacred for collaborating with his opponents."
Microsoft ® Encarta ® Encyclopedia 2005 |
Like Cursed Lemon said, God killed a lot of people-
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Originally Posted by NIV Bible, II Kings 2: 23-25 From there Elisha went up to Bethel. As he was walking along the road, some youths came out of the town and jeered at him. "Go on up, you baldhead!" they said. "Go on up, you baldhead!" He turned around, looked at them and called down a curse on them in the name of the Lord. Then two bears came out of the woods and mauled forty-two of the youths. And he went on to Mount Carmel and from there to Samaria. |
What's the metaphor in this one? "Kids, don't make fun of Christians or God will send bears to brutally kill you!" Are you sure it's not a literal story? I don't see how it could be otherwise.
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Originally Posted by ekattan This was the old testament and it was God supposedly? Things are taken way to literal, when God said to Isaih to sacrifice his son, nobody would do that, it just meant to express the level of loyalty one shoould demonstrate which is also absurd. But like I say on my first post. Some passages are not believable or just don't make sense, but Jesus Christ did. Did Jesus Christ ever slaughter a village? No! He was true to his teaching until his last breath. |
Jesus and the God of the Old Testament, the one who sent two bears to maul dozens of children, are one and the same according to the New Testament. That is, of course, unless you can pick and choose what to believe from the Bible, and I'm not sure why you'd have the authority to do that as an imperfect human being.
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Originally Posted by ekattan Third, morals aren't subjective. Why would we all feel that it isn't right to kill someone? Why do we all feel that it is wrong to steal? You can argue about thieves and murderers but that wouldn't validate your point. |
Actually, thieves and murderers do validate the point entirely. If everyone felt that it was wrong to steal and kill, there would be no such thing as a murderer or a thief. Morality, like many aspects of the human condition, is a product of genetics and environment, and is generally derived from what's good for society. It's no coincidence that societies in which the majority of people murder and steal from each other don't last very long. The Holocaust could not have been perpetrated against the Jewish people if there was an objective morality applicable to all mankind. Germans became convinced that it was alright to kill Jews because the morals they originally learned from their parents and from society in general were replaced wholesale by new ones that allowed for such atrocities. This can be accomplished with anything and anyone. If you were to isolate a boy from the world when he was growing up and you told him that rape is acceptable, he would commit rape every time he felt a tickle in his pants.
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Originally Posted by ekattan You will become wiser with age Colostomizer and I know for a fact your views will change. I'm not saying that you will become catholic or jewish, just that many beliefs you have today will eventually change because of things you learn and experience, so be open to ideas.
…anybody ever mentions anything abouot religion to any agnostic or atheist they will shut their minds up completely. It's a double standard. All agnostics or athiest say is "prove it", but their willing to belive anything the government or science tells them. |
I admit the possibility that my views will change in the future because I don't know that they won't. The thing about agnosticism is that I am ready for those changes. Unlike faith-based religions and atheism, my mind is always open to new possibilities. What you seem to be missing is that Christianity, like religion in general, is the quickest way to close a person's mind. If you're a true Christian, you believe that there is no chance whatsoever that Hinduism is right. Doesn't that mean your mind is closed to Hinduism? Mine isn't.
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Originally Posted by ekattan It's so easy to disprove anything when faith is involved, but I would like to see agnostics or atheist prove that there isn't a God. |
The burden to disprove God is for atheists, not for agnostics. Agnostics don't claim that there's no God, they simply say, "I don't know."
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Originally Posted by Bishop Faith cannot be measured in absolutes, nor is it better or worse. It is considered to be different however.
For example: When you get into a car for the first time, you put your faith into the fact that the airbag wont randomly disperse, and with the way some people drive, they have a lot of faith!!
All I'm saying is that no faith is better than someone else's.
Perhaps you meant the following, "Why is your religion better than that of someone else of a different religion?" |
Alright, I'll rephrase. Why is your faith right while other faiths are wrong? (That's what I meant by better.)
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Originally Posted by Bishop I've chosen to put my faith in Jesus Christ because of the immense suffering he went through, for me. |
You didn't put your faith in Jesus because of the immense suffering He endured for you. You have faith that Jesus died on the cross. Before you disagree with me, did you believe that Jesus was crucified before you became a Christian?
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Originally Posted by Bishop I do have an answer for that as well. Some people around the world try living as though tolerant toward other religions, that we should all just try to get along. The fact of the matter is that there are many religions in the world that have exceptionally radical beliefs, including Christianity. Putting your faith in a God who became incarnate and rose from the dead seems rather radical, wouldn't you think?
Now you are probably wondering why I didn't answer the question I myself posed above. If you read that paragraph above on more time, you will see why I believe Christianity is better than any other. |
Nope, I still don't see it.
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Originally Posted by Bishop By no means am I arrogant about my faith in anyway. I don't personally go out of my way to throw something back into someones face regarding the differences in religion. |
Aren't you convinced that anyone who has rejected your God will spend eternity in Hell? That sounds pretty arrogant to me.