A bit more of your merciful god.

[Blues Man]

You are drawing closer to my point which is that the original authors told stories. Orally. People heard these stories and learned something from them. They taught lessons that pertained to them and the cultures and societies in which they lived. It spoke about their lives, and life lessons that are still applicable today.

Noah's Ark teaches a beautiful lesson, and all many see today is the setting only--a flood that killed BABIES! A flood that in the original language has the flood covering the ground/earth/dirt that many today think all believers teach that the flood covered the planet/Earth. And great arguments occur over that. The original teaching--for some--has been lost.

I can understand why people who see the Bible in such a light think that everyone sees it in the same light and has been brainwashed And guess what--both fundamentalist believers and non-believers alike continue to spew this misinformation. Fundamentalists and non-believers are more alike than either would ever claim. Most believers--more than seventy-five percent us--do not take every modern English word in the Bible as literal. The Bible is not there to teach us science, but a philosophy, a way of living. Further, the Bible is not so much about God as it is about us (mankind).

I also find it interesting that a god incarnate that was capable of waking the dead, walking on water, healing the infirm etc couldn't write his own scripture.

Religion is nothing but a branch of philosophy and ethics.

The only thing different is that religion promises rewards where philosophy doesn't

 

[Meriweather]

I also find it interesting that a god incarnate that was capable of waking the dead, walking on water, healing the infirm etc couldn't write his own scripture.

Shrug. Scripture has it that He wrote it in everyone's heart.

 

[Meriweather]

Religion is nothing but a branch of philosophy and ethics.

The only thing different is that religion promises rewards where philosophy doesn't

Religion IS very much a philosophy and an ethics based on love. There is more. It is also about building a relationship with God.

It would be more accurately stated that religion observes that life continues after earthly life ends; that it expand into something even greater. True even for non-believers.

 

[The Irish Ram]

WHat is my position?

I am not an atheist because neither side can prove their claims although I do not know how anyone proves something does not exist with any surety.

The fact is there is no proof that gods exist or do not exist and I for one don't think it matters either way

Prophecy. That is how you tell. Man can't, God can. He made 1/4 of the Bible prophetic so you would know He is who He says He is.
1,500 years ago, He described the times I live in perfectly.
You can't even tell me who will win the Kentucky Derby in a few months...

 

[The Irish Ram]

I also find it interesting that a god incarnate that was capable of waking the dead, walking on water, healing the infirm etc couldn't write his own scripture.

Religion is nothing but a branch of philosophy and ethics.

The only thing different is that religion promises rewards where philosophy doesn't

And yet:
The word of the Lord endures forever ~1Peter 1:25

What makes you think Jesus was illiterate? If He could read scripture, He could write scripture...

 

[Colin norris]

In other words: " Don't bother responding to me, I'm right and you're a moron".

Now you are starting to think son.
I've had these debates a thousand times and not once has a godbotherer proven one word about their beliefs and neither will you.

 

[Blues Man]

Shrug. Scripture has it that He wrote it in everyone's heart.

Not everyone or else why was religion brought literally at the point of a sword to so many?

 

[Blues Man]

And yet:
The word of the Lord endures forever ~1Peter 1:25

What makes you think Jesus was illiterate? If He could read scripture, He could write scripture...

That's Peter's opinion

And what scriptures did Jesus write with his own hand?

 

[Blues Man]

Religion IS very much a philosophy and an ethics based on love. There is more. It is also about building a relationship with God.

It would be more accurately stated that religion observes that life continues after earthly life ends; that it expand into something even greater. True even for non-believers.

Like I said religion differs from classic philosophy in that it offers rewards for following the dogma.

And no one can observe that life endures after death.

 

[Meriweather]

Not everyone or else why was religion brought literally at the point of a sword to so many?

For thousands of years government (power) and religion were intertwined. Ever wonder why religion got the blame for the sword? Perhaps look at the political aspects of wars and conflicts.

 

[Blues Man]

For thousands of years government (power) and religion were intertwined. Ever wonder why religion got the blame for the sword? Perhaps look at the political aspects of wars and conflicts.

Nope not buying it.

Many so called missionaries were not agents of government and where agents of the government were involved it wasn't religion they were spreading it was subjugation and control accomplished by tearing down a society and forcibly replacing it

 

[Meriweather]

Like I said religion differs from classic philosophy in that it offers rewards for following the dogma.

And no one can observe that life endures after death.

First, you miss the entire point for religion. The next life looks after itself. The point of religion is to guide us through this life. Actually, some have observed life after death.

I find it interesting that some are so terrified that God actually is, they will brush away any and all testimony, dismissing it as brain malfunction, etc. I find it amazing the number who refuse to seriously seek God. Or, at least His ways.

The second amazing point is how people will change religion to all that it is not in order to run from it. And yes, I understand the irony of those who must change it into the miraculous (i.e. 6,000 year old earth, etc.) in order to embrace it. As I said before--non-believers and fundamentalist have much in common.

 

[Meriweather]

Nope not buying it.

Of course you are not. Reading the actual primary source histories is too much bother. So much easier to "prove" a point by a couple of anecdotes, isn't it?

 

[Harpy Eagle]

1,500 years ago, He described the times I live in perfectly.

500 years ago people thought those same prophecies described the times they lived in perfectly.

200 years ago people thought those same prophecies described the times they lived in perfectly.

100 years ago people thought those same prophecies described the times they lived in perfectly.

Vague prophecies can be used to describe a great many things

 

[Blues Man]

First, you miss the entire point for religion. The next life looks after itself. The point of religion is to guide us through this life. Actually, some have observed life after death.

I find it interesting that some are so terrified that God actually is, they will brush away any and all testimony, dismissing it as brain malfunction, etc. I find it amazing the number who refuse to seriously seek God. Or, at least His ways.

The second amazing point is how people will change religion to all that it is not in order to run from it. And yes, I understand the irony of those who must change it into the miraculous (i.e. 6,000 year old earth, etc.) in order to embrace it. As I said before--non-believers and fundamentalist have much in common.

You say that is if religion isn't just a rehash of the philosophies and ethics that were already in existence

If religion was all about this life there would be no need to offer the reward of eternal life

 

[Blues Man]

Of course you are not. Reading the actual primary source histories is too much bother. So much easier to "prove" a point by a couple of anecdotes, isn't it?

You assume I haven't read history because I disagree with you.

 

[Meriweather]

500 years ago people thought those same prophecies described the times they lived in perfectly.

200 years ago people thought those same prophecies described the times they lived in perfectly.

100 years ago people thought those same prophecies described the times they lived in perfectly.

Vague prophecies can be used to describe a great many things

If a chart were made of all the centuries, the 1300s would win hands down at 'fulfilling' end time prophecies. The same things were happening in the world when, even before Christ, apocryphal accounts were written describing their own end times. End times is the story of mankind throughout all ages. From the beginning we have been aware--and have been warning ourselves and each other--the destruction of which we are capable.

Each generation seems to delight in claiming it is they who will be the most destructive. The problem is that who they see being destructive are "those people over there" and are totally blind to our own culpability. We can live peaceably. We just won't. And we know why. No wonder we see destruction.

 

[Meriweather]

You say that is if religion isn't just a rehash of the philosophies and ethics that were already in existence

And you say that as if our ancestors had no intelligence or wisdom. As was previously mentioned, God's ways are written in our hearts--as it was in their hearts. Were you expecting something new, entirely different to leap out?

 

[Blues Man]

And you say that as if our ancestors had no intelligence or wisdom. As was previously mentioned, God's ways are written in our hearts--as it was in their hearts. Were you expecting something new, entirely different to leap out?

God had nothing to do with the thinking and intellectual capacity of men

Your logic is always circular in this area.

 

[Meriweather]

If religion was all about this life there would be no need to offer the reward of eternal life

Funny you see an afterlife as a "reward". As you proceeded through school, did you always see the next grade--or graduation--as a "reward"?

I said before, life continues after our bodies are shed. That is mere observation. Fact is not "reward". It simply is.