Religion & Spirituality - 19 May 2007

I am in Wisconsin wich makes it central time. During the day, from about noon until about 8pm there seems to be non stop attacks on atheists...

Where are all of your real questions you say should be on this board?
I don't think I have seen anything new on here for at least two weeks during this time period.

-atheist-

2007-05-19 10:47:42 · 15 answers · asked by Star 5

i think we're up to 4

2007-05-19 10:45:16 · 8 answers · asked by Anonymous

Yes, I AM bored- guess the next line-

'I've been watching you for awhile now my pretty little misssss
And i've got to tell you thissssss"

2007-05-19 10:40:06 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous

could it possibly be because i was open-minded enough to actually consider ALL options before chosing one, rather than blindly following?

2007-05-19 10:37:43 · 44 answers · asked by Anonymous

Is this the cause of the primal fears and the need to filter Spirituality through religious controls?

2007-05-19 10:35:36 · 6 answers · asked by Anonymous

u can not find God in the bible or in a book, u must search for him spiritualy to find his holy spirit. Then when u find him, u can find him in the bible. So seek him spiritually to find him.....do u agree with this way? If u don't know if God exists search for him spiritually. In a prayer...or with your thoughts unto him God do u live. A bible is just a book, U can not say it is the truth till u find the living God. That is the same for any god, why dedicate your self's to a book, if u do not even know if he lives?

2007-05-19 10:35:06 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous

Let's say I go to the church
add to the collection plate
get saved
then later decide that I don't want to be saved
can I go back to the church and get my money back?

2007-05-19 10:34:50 · 11 answers · asked by JR 2

WARNING: The following is very offensive. True, but offensive. Realize that I did not write this out of anger, yet only in an attempt to express rationality. It may appear angry or cruel only because it is missing the "sugar coating" of tolerance people expect from controversial essays. However, I hold honesty higher than your feelings, and would feel like a liar if I did not show my frustration and concern in full. So, here it is: uncensored, unadulterated, and unsympathetic truth. Enjoy.

The whole concept of Christian's Belief in Hell baffles me.

I only have a few things to say on this topic, most of which I hope intellectuals have already deduced. Of course, I would have hoped that Christian intellectuals would have deduced that religion and the Bible are huge, idiotic contradictions and turned Atheist, but that hasn’t happened yet, so here I go:

1. Is hell a satisfactory punishment at all? Hell no. Try to imagine this: An eternity of fire and unbearable pain. Far more pain than that felt mentally and physically by all of man kind through all of the ages combined. More pain than all of the victims of the holocaust, and from all of the wars and diseases and crimes. More than all of that combined, and multiplied by millions. Even more than that. An eternity is forever, for those of you that don’t know.
Does ANYONE, regardless of how much pain they caused, disserve that? No. I don’t care who you are, no, they do not. If you believe they do, you are a very, very sick individual. But of course, the Bible says that sinners who go to hell will remain there forever with no chance of redemption.

The idea of the Christian’s Hell is a huge contradictory, because for there to be that Hell, there must be a God. In Christian mythology, God is all knowing, and a very good God who created morals and what is right and wrong. If God is all knowing and all good, than he defiantly would not bestow this punishment on ANYONE. No half-way decent God would, because that would be simply pure evil. And if God is all knowing, he knows that it is pure evil, and he would only do this if he enjoyed it, making him pure evil. Therefore contradicting the Christians view of God, their entire religion, thus also their belief in Hell.

2. Are all sins forgiven in Christianity? Hell no. I am disgusted that most Christians do not know this. Twice in the New Testament, as said to be Jesus Christ’s own words, does the Bible clearly and literally state that there is one unforgivable sin that will damn you eternally without any chance of ever experiencing anything after death than eternal suffering. In the books of Mark and Matthew it is obvious:

"Truly I say unto you, All their sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they utter: but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin: because they say, 'He has an unclean spirit'."
(Book of Mark 3:28-29)

Jesus speaking:
"He who is not with me is against me, and he who does not gather with me scatters. Therefore I tell you, every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven. And whoever says a word against the Son of man will be forgiven; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, either in this age or in the age to come."
(Book of Matthew 12:30-32)

This is horrendous. Every single sin, from theft to murder and rape, can, and WILL be forgiven by Jesus, except for denying the Holy Spirit. That’s right. Go out and kill that bastard you don’t like across the street. Rape his wife and daughter until they bleed, its okay. Afterward, just beg Jesus for forgiveness and everything’ll be alright. Oh, but didn’t I mention? Atheists will be in hell for their blasphemy. Jesus hates them. They have unclean spirits and are pure evil.

If you are Christian, then you have no choice but to believe this, or accept that you are an idiot. This is the New Testament, so you can’t wave it off with that old “It’s just the old Testament” argument. And you can’t say it’s out of context. Go read it. And you can’t say it’s a metaphor, because Jesus said it very literally, and it’s obvious it is to be taken literally, straight from Jesus’ mouth. So, you have two choices here: One, deny these quotes. That means excusing all credibility to these quotes and passing them off as fiction. That would, however, excuse all credibility to Matt and Mark, since you cannot logically believe anything they say without believing everything they say with the same merit, and therefore discrediting Jesus, and the New Testament, and the whole Bible, and therefore your entire religion, proving you to be a moron. Two, you could hate all Atheists and wish them to burn eternally, just like your Holy Father does. This would, however, make you a terrible person for believing such hateful terrible things about good people, and therefore proving you to be brainwashed and in denial, since these people do not disserve to be hated, and yet you still insist because of an unproven, ridiculous two-thousand year old book.

To put it simply, if you have just read this and are still Christian, you are either incredibly dim-witted or in complete denial of reality, therefore making you insane. This very essay, with the help of you own illogical faith, has irrefutably proven by means of reason that Christians are either crazy or stupid. Or both.

Well, that may be enough to prove that, but I just can’t stop today.

3. If you believe in any type of fate, or “God’s great plan”, then that is also a contradiction. As stated before, Christians believe in an all knowing and all loving God. If you also believe in some type of fate, then you must believe that our futures are already planned out (that’s what fate is after all) and therefore whatever happens to us ultimately is what god intended, and our meaning to our lives. If that is true, people who go to Hell were planned and destined to go there by God. That must mean that God created some people specifically to go to hell and burn for all of eternity without chance of redemption. What good god would do this? No good god would. Just as stated in the second paragraph of this essay, God would not do this if he didn’t enjoy it, and if he did enjoy it, he wouldn’t be good, therefore contradicting your belief system, and your entire religion, rendering it useless and completely illogical.

To believe that something as ridiculous as God and Hell is true, you must be very irrational, and basing your life off of something as illogical as that is only the actions of a moron, or a nut job. After reading this essay, you have just eliminated the “ignorant” category of Christian faith. You are not ignorant any more. You have just been presented with the truth, very easily explained and laid out before you. To remain a Christian after this proves, beyond a doubt, that you are either idiotic past comprehension, or out of your little mind with denial and delusion. Those of you who can read, I’d bet you are the later. Thank you.

"Infinite punishment is infinite cruelty, endless injustice, immortal meanness. To worship an eternal gaoler hardens, debases, and pollutes even the vilest soul. While there is one sad and breaking heart in the universe, no good being can be perfectly happy.
The God of Hell should be held in loathing, contempt and scorn. A God who threatens eternal pain should be hated, not loved. Cursed, not worshiped. A heaven presided over by such a God must be below the lowest hell. I want no part in any heaven in which the saved, the ransomed and redeemed will drown with shouts of joy the cries and sobs of hell in which happiness will forget misery, where the tears of the lost only increase laughter and double bliss."

- Robert G. Ingersoll

2007-05-19 10:32:11 · 20 answers · asked by NONAME 3

2007-05-19 10:28:55 · 8 answers · asked by JR 2

they really want to get closer to GOD so they pick at us Christians so they can get more information about Christ.

I believe that is exactly what it is.

And if any atheists answer this questions they we all will know exactly why they are on here......to get closer to God.

Thank all of you that answer

AND HAVE A BLESSED DAY
MAY GOD BE WITH YOU ALL.

2007-05-19 10:28:07 · 37 answers · asked by Anonymous

I am having a difficult time writing my speech. Any tips?

2007-05-19 10:26:54 · 4 answers · asked by gbk94 3

I just don't see it... yeah they don't ALWAYS get their way, but how is anyone persecuting them?!!

2007-05-19 10:26:44 · 21 answers · asked by billthakat 6

There's Catholicism, Protestantism, various Orthodox sects, and Gnosticism. Amongst Protestantism there's Fundamental/Evangelical Christianity, Conservative Christianity, Non-denominational and then there's Liberal Christianity. And amongst Protestantism there's many different sects which of course means many different interpretations and teachings which could confuse anybody. Then there's so many interpretations of the bible as the bible has been reedited many times as well as scriptures that were left out. Therefore how do you expect people to choose Christianity as their religion or walk of life as some of you might like to say? Now before going on the attack as many like to do this isn't a question that's meant to insult anybody. So if you're gonna insult me then don't bother answering the question.

2007-05-19 10:25:28 · 17 answers · asked by Anonymous

From Wikipedia I viewed this definition of abiogenesis:

Abiogenesis (Greek a-bio-genesis, "non biological origins") is, in its most general sense, the generation of life from non-living matter. Today the term is primarily used to refer to hypotheses about the chemical origin of life, such as from a primordial sea or in the vicinity of hydrothermal vents, and most probably through a number of intermediate steps, such as non-living but self-replicating molecules (biopoiesis). Abiogenesis remains a hypothesis, meaning it is the working assumption for scientists researching how life began. If it were proven false, then another line of thought would be used to modify or replace abiogenesis as a hypothesis. If test results provide sufficient support for acceptance, then that is the point at which it would become a theory.

2007-05-19 10:24:29 · 12 answers · asked by Steve 2

2007-05-19 10:23:34 · 21 answers · asked by : 6

What does the Watchtower society teach you that "Lord" means? (Lord with a capital 'L').

Christians understand "Lord" (with cap 'L') to mean "God".

When you look at the Jehovah's Witness Bible (the New Word Translation), you will see that Jehovah God is referred to as "Lord Jehovah" (Gen 15:2, Gen 15:8, Isaiah 51:22).

This means that even the Watchtower teaches that "Lord" is the "Divine Title" for God.

The NWT also says that Jesus Christ is Lord. Look at Philipians 3:10-11. "so that in the name of Jesus every knee should bend ... and every tongue should openly acknowledge that Jesus Christ is Lord ..."

QUESTION:
How can you continue to deny that Jesus is God (the Lord) when your own version of the Bible shows quite clearly Jehovah God is "Lord of lords" (Deuteronomy 10:17) and that Jesus, the "Lamb of God" (John 1:29) is also the "Lord of lords" (Rev 17:14).

If you are Christian, open your heart and call out to Jesus today and saying "my Lord and my God!" (John 20:28).

2007-05-19 10:22:54 · 9 answers · asked by Anonymous

yesterday here in quebec a judge from the supreme court authorized an hospital to make blood transfusion on 2 premature twins that need it to stay alive but their parents ( 2 jehovah's witnesses) didnt wanted the blood transfusion. do you agree with the judge? i do. i think it would have been unfair for those 2 to die because of this.

2007-05-19 10:20:57 · 9 answers · asked by thunder217 4

2007-05-19 10:16:49 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous

Most of my life I've always wonder where God is, and I had never been happy.

2007-05-19 10:15:50 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous

where in the world are you getting your information from. that's a huge load of crap.

and even if we were to go with that, wouldn't there be a lot more gay people running around? i was sexually abused as a child, yet i'm still straight. and every single gay person i know was never abused as a child.

stop making up random facts. it just makes you look stupid.

2007-05-19 10:15:19 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous

Any kind of hate is hate if it is religious or non religious .Are atheist trying to rule the world and become god themselves?
by putting silly hate like racism of colour and class and always working to make people feel that they are good for nothing so do plastic surgery to look beautiful..Why dont they come up with good ideas to make people feel positive about themselves rather than just barking like a dog on religious people..And finding ways to bring the church,mosque etc down

2007-05-19 10:13:57 · 23 answers · asked by Anonymous

I am lost. I feel that my life has no purpose. I can't accept life. As a kid, I always felt immortal, indestructible. I was living a dream, escaping in fake optimism. But now, as I grew up and faced reality, I feel really appalled. I cry when I think that I will live to see my loved ones die. I wish to die before seeing those days. I suffer when someone suffers, and wish to take away their pain. Why am I so sensitive? Am I the only one who feels as such?

2007-05-19 10:13:46 · 10 answers · asked by Anonymous

a phoney or fake?

2007-05-19 10:13:45 · 5 answers · asked by Anonymous

I just saw this on a busy street corner outside a shopping grocery store, screaming at everyone about the lake of fire. How incredibly annoying! Anyway,a few questions::

1) what do other people think of this? Non-Christians, does this turn you off to Christianity? Does this seem to be taking it to far? Christians: was this appropriate or inappropriate behavior?

2) Is this legal? Can I call the police next time? I live close to where it was happening and could hear it from my home a block away.

2007-05-19 10:13:10 · 12 answers · asked by Anonymous

Alot of christians seem to disagree with this

"Being fair and being just are two vastly different things. The God of the Bible never claimed to be fair. He doesn't have to be fair and He isn't fair. Basically, we just have to deal with it."

Is he or not, apparently the bible didn't say so, i got that answer (above) to a question asking about if god is fair to send ppl to hell for not believing in jesus. Is he or not? Do you believe in a just loving mercyful jealous unfair god?

2007-05-19 10:09:46 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

My family is of Jewish descent and they immigrated to the United States (I'm not sure when or how); I am from the tribe of Ephraim... but the "i" and "a" has been switched around because of slavery problems in the past. Are there any organizations dedicated to the Ephraims? And hopefully not racist... I have ran into some pretty racist Rabbis that were rude to my mother and I because we do not look like Ashkenazi Jews (I look Mizrahi).

2007-05-19 10:09:38 · 5 answers · asked by Baah 1

diary entries or anything along those lines.

2007-05-19 10:09:25 · 2 answers · asked by Me 2

with bible verses if possible

2007-05-19 10:08:00 · 5 answers · asked by buki4reel 1

I am and I was wondering who was. It doesn't seem like many people. No disrespect.

2007-05-19 10:06:37 · 47 answers · asked by Kaity A 3

“You were born with an in-built recognition of your own goodness. You were born with an inner recognition of your rightness in the universe. You were born with a desire to fulfill your abilities, to move and act in the world. Those assumptions are the basis of what I will call natural law.

“You are born loving. You are born compassionate. You are born curious about yourself and your world. Those attributes also belong to natural law. You are born knowing that you possess a unique, intimate sense of being that is itself, and that seeks its own fulfillment and the fulfillment of others. You are born seeking the actualization of the ideal. You are born seeking to add value to the quality of life, to add characteristics, energies, abilities to life that only you can individually contribute to the world, and to attain state of being that is uniquely yours, while adding to the value fulfillment of the world.”

2007-05-19 10:06:25 · 17 answers · asked by ? 6