The Biblical Believers....

[bigmann245]

I see a data collection problem there. When the guy who's booking you takes your fingerprints he also gives you a form to list your next of kin and any religious needs you might have, right at a moment you're trying really hard to think of ways to make yourself sound like an upstanding citizen.

It's a tiny bit like Galileo being shown the instruments of torture and then being asked if he would like to reconsider whether the earth goes around the sun.

so true

 

[cindylou]

I don't think seeking truth is ever a waste of time bro.

and cindy, if relationships with god were always personal, and didn't have any bearing on anyone but the individual, they would be tolerable, like astrology, or tarrot card reading. We don't see public policy being dictated by people's belief in the starts. We don't see colleges and schools based on astrology centric curriculum. Can you see how this would be very disturbing if it was true?

I agree. I dont see why public poliy should be dictated by that either. God would not want that (or so I belive). Each person should be free to worship and belive what and who they want. I agree with you there.

Again, I would be careful of anyone trying to force you do do anything in the name of God. They could be using it for their own purpose.

 

[digger]

by the way...is evolution no longer a theory???

To a scientist, the word "theory" has a specific meaning. What you're thinking of, a scientist calls a "hypothesis."

A "theory" is what you get after you have challenged a hypothesis with everything that EVERYBODY in the scientific world can think of, and it has PASSED all those tests.

It is very damn close to what a layperson calls a "law of nature."

So, yeah, in the terms that you and I use in our everyday speech, the "Theory of Evolution" should be called the "Law of Evolution."

 

[javaguru]

I see a data collection problem there. When the guy who's booking you takes your fingerprints he also gives you a form to list your next of kin and any religious needs you might have, right at a moment you're trying really hard to think of ways to make yourself sound like an upstanding citizen.

It's a tiny bit like Galileo being shown the instruments of torture and then being asked if he would like to reconsider whether the earth goes around the sun.

It's more of an attempt to refute the moral/happiness argument typically given by the theists. Those numbers come from the Federal Bureau of Prisons, that data is taken at in processing and the data is confidential, which is made clear during the process. However, there are quite a few prison/jail conversions, Paris Hilton for example. The Bible is often quoted by theists to show the value of having God in your marriage. Yet, the Barna study, which had the intention of showing a relationship between successful marriages and faith, found that evangelical Christians had the highest divorce rates of any christian group. Atheists had a lower divorce rate than any faith based group studied. Theists assumed the results of the study would be in their favor because they believed faith based marriages were more successful because of the bible.

 

[ceo]

ya just gos to show...I am at peace with what I believe.if I am wrong well then its no lose to me...but if there wrong well lol might be a bit of a lose to them.

so if there is a heaven and a hell, and you say if you're wrong it's no loss to you, then think about this "alternate reality":

God is God alone. Jesus was just a man, not God. If you worship a man (Jesus) as God, then you are worshiping a false god. You are a pagan as defined by the bible, a worshipper of false gods.

Now...if you are wrong, then maybe it is a huge loss to you? Maybe you'll be burning in hell with all the other pagans?



Jesus' early followers did not believe he was God...why does half the world now believe it? Many things began to change during the time of the Constantine Roman empire era. Jesus became God and was said to have been born on Dec. 25th. Constantine was a sun worhipping pagan high priest. He worshipped the sun god, Mithras. Mithras' followers celebrated his birthday on Dec. 25th. Constatine was looking for something to solidify the unity of his empire, and he chose a state religion...Christianity.

Through the course of time and events he had managed to blend his beliefs with the beliefs of Jesus' early followers. The bible was assembled from numerous texts at the council of nicea, and arranged into the current cannon. Constantine made sure to have the 300 some odd bishops of the council make sure every text agreed as much as possible. Those texts that didn't agree were discarded (some have been re-discovered).

Anyone who resisted the new blended state religion called Chrsitianity was tortured and/or killed. Doesn't take long for folks to submit when the only other choice is death.

2000 years later, here we are...believing it all. Anyone who doesn't is usually attacked by those who do. Then there's java who is making up for those attacks.

I could've been a lot more verbose and gone into much more intricate details, but I am far too lazy to go through the effort when you can google that shit yourselves.

 

[cindylou]

so if there is a heaven and a hell, and you say if you're wrong it's no loss to you, then think about this "alternate reality":

God is God alone. Jesus was just a man, not God. If you worship a man (Jesus) as God, then you are worshiping a false god. You are a pagan as defined by the bible, a worshipper of false gods.

Now...if you are wrong, then maybe it is a huge loss to you? Maybe you'll be burning in hell with all the other pagans?



Jesus' early followers did not believe he was God...why does half the world now believe it? Many things began to change during the time of the Constantine Roman empire era. Jesus became God and was said to have been born on Dec. 25th. Constantine was a sun worhipping pagan high priest. He worshipped the sun god, Mithras. Mithras' followers celebrated his birthday on Dec. 25th. Constatine was looking for something to solidify the unity of his empire, and he chose a state religion...Christianity.

Through the course of time and events he had managed to blend his beliefs with the beliefs of Jesus' early followers. The bible was assembled from numerous texts at the council of nicea, and arranged into the current cannon. Constantine made sure to have the 300 some odd bishops of the council make sure every text agreed as much as possible. Those texts that didn't agree were discarded (some have been re-discovered).

Anyone who resisted the new blended state religion called Chrsitianity was tortured and/or killed. Doesn't take long for folks to submit when the only other choice is death.

2000 years later, here we are...believing it all. Anyone who doesn't is usually attacked by those who do. Then there's java who is making up for those attacks.

I could've been a lot more verbose and gone into much more intricate details, but I am far too lazy to go through the effort when you can google that shit yourselves.

WOW. You are going into a whole other arguement: The Holy Trinity. (or the not so holy Trinity) lol

This thread could go on forever. lol

 

[bigmann245]

To a scientist, the word "theory" has a specific meaning. What you're thinking of, a scientist calls a "hypothesis."

A "theory" is what you get after you have challenged a hypothesis with everything that EVERYBODY in the scientific world can think of, and it has PASSED all those tests.

It is very damn close to what a layperson calls a "law of nature."

So, yeah, in the terms that you and I use in our everyday speech, the "Theory of Evolution" should be called the "Law of Evolution."

yea but getting the church to say that is a whole different story.

 

[javaguru]

yea but getting the church to say that is a whole different story.

The Catholic Church has acknowledged evolution. The evangelicals...I don't see them accepting it anytime soon.

 

[ceo]

You have to open your heart to allow God to speak to you. He will speak to you if your heart is not bitter and hardened.

ah shit, it's too late for me then...

 

[javaguru]

ah shit, it's too late for me then...

Don't worry man, I was a born again Christian for most of my life and God never spoke to me.