Religion & Spirituality - 27 September 2007

Excluding "personal experiences", please give me your reasons for believing in God. Person with the most persuasive argument that God exists gets Best Answer.

2007-09-27 07:42:00 · 38 answers · asked by Sunny And '74 4

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matthew_Shepard#Public_reaction_and_the_aftermath

Are Baptists just the greatest example of a peaceful, loving and benevolent god? American religion sure is swell when it defends the murderers over the murdered.

2007-09-27 07:41:57 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

You'll notice that the questions on here which receive the most responses are the Inflamatory ones. Questions posted which are non-judgemental, or meerly inquisitive, receive relatively few responses.

Are we just here to fight?

ps: If I had asked, "why are christians gay" or "why does God hate Al Lah"... or anything similarly offensive; I bet you ten bucks I'd have received 50 responses.

2007-09-27 07:41:37 · 5 answers · asked by delsinelu 2

...and able to populate the earth faster then the rate of our ancestors.
where are all of our ancestors ? and 'missing links' ?
(1 or 3 bones doesn't count)

2007-09-27 07:40:51 · 32 answers · asked by the shiz 5

2007-09-27 07:39:22 · 15 answers · asked by P Defere 1

... yet suicide is an unforgivable sin. If that's not correct, please blame a group of Christians I know and asked this of.

How does that work? They explained to me that suicide is a sin because you are destroying God's creation (your own life) but isn't that the case with murder, too?

Doesn't make sense to me. Christians, please tell me your thoughts.

2007-09-27 07:38:35 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous

So, I am told that as a homosexual, I must turn from my "supposed" sin in order to inherit the kingdom of God.

So, what about the obese? If someone dies fat, obviously, they did not turn from their sin of gluttony. So, from a literal interpretation of scripture, they are going to hell too. Correct?

Proverbs 23:2 even goes so far as to say, "put a knife to your throat if you are given to gluttony."

II Peter 1:6 says that a Christian must have self-control...an obese person obviously does not exercise self-control

Philippians 3:19 says"...their God is in their stomach...their mind is on earthly things."...they are not of God

And, I Corinthians 6:19-20 says, "your body is a temple of God...honor God with your body

additional reading Proverbs 23:20-21, II Peter 1:5-7, II Timothy 3:1-9...all about your body, self control, etc...

Given that obesity a big problem facing America...and that unrepentant sinners/gluttons go to hell...why don't you rail against fat people?

2007-09-27 07:36:40 · 21 answers · asked by G.C. 5

Throughout the Bible, we don't see women leaders. ( There was one whose name was Diana in the old testimony. ) Why?

2007-09-27 07:35:31 · 11 answers · asked by Anonymous

have some people had it removed or born without it like a birth defect ?
or is this an evolution thing where only some have the gene because they came from different anscestors ?

help me understand

2007-09-27 07:34:10 · 24 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-09-27 07:33:42 · 29 answers · asked by Anonymous

Little Leroy came into the kitchen where his mother was making dinner. His birthday was coming up and he thought this was a good time to tell his Mother what he wanted.

"Mom, I want a bike for my birthday." Little Leroy was a bit of a troublemaker He had gotten into trouble at school and at home. Leroy's
mother asked him if he thought he deserved to get a bike for his birthday. "Of course", he said.
Leroy's mother, being a Christian woman, wanted him to reflect on his behavior over the last year. "Go to your room , Leroy, and think about how you have behaved this year. Then write a letter to God and tell him why you deserve a bike for your birthday."

Little Leroy stomped up the steps to his room and sat down to write God a letter.

Letter 1
Dear God, I have been a very good boy this year and I would li ke a bike for my birthday. I want a red one.
Your friend, Leroy.

Leroy knew that it was not true. He had not been a good boy
this year, so he tore it up and started over.

Letter 2
Dear God, I have been an OK boy this year. I still would like a bike for my birthday. Leroy.
Leroy knew he could not send this letter to God either. So, Leroy wrote a third letter.

Letter 3
Dear God, I know I haven't been a good boy this year. I am very sorry. I will be a good boy if you just send me a bike for my birthday. Please! Thank you, Leroy.

Leroy knew that it was not true. By now he was very upset. He went downstairs and told his mother that he needed to go to church.



She thought her plan had worked.

" Just be home for dinner," she told him. Leroy walked down the street to the church on the corner.

He went to the altar. Leroy looked around to see if anyone was looking as he bent down and picked up a statue of the Virgin Mary.

He slipped it up under his shirt and ran out the church going back
home. He ran to his room and shut the door. Leroy began to write his
letter to God.



Letter 4
Dear God,

I got your mama.

If you want to see her again, send the bike.

Signed, You know who.

2007-09-27 07:31:28 · 7 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-09-27 07:29:57 · 18 answers · asked by Jacob Dahlen 3

Okay, I have heard alot of things about how God is not against homosexuality. In Leviticus 18:22 though it says "You shall not lie with a male as with a women. It is an abomination." seems pretty clear that he is against it. So how do the homosexual christians get around this, are there any verses supporting that God is not against homosexuality? = /

2007-09-27 07:29:49 · 19 answers · asked by Mike 1

Wht is it that non-believers of Christ like to celebrate Christmas, but yet they don't believe in the REAL meaning of Christmas???
I guess they just want it both ways!!
Greedy huh???

2007-09-27 07:29:42 · 30 answers · asked by Anonymous

3 Questions, 3 failures to
a) READ the question
b) Understand what Buddhism actually is

Despite stating I was Buddhist, I was told that my "2000 year old book" isn't a good resource? Funny, Buddhism has some old writings but it ain't the bible.

As well, I was accused of being closed minded when I'm actually arguing 2 sides to a paradox. I've repeatedly stated I do not believe in god but failure to "read a question, absorb the information, then reply" is what I am getting.

So, Atheists, do you know anything about Buddhism?

Do you think it's a "follow me" religion?

Do you think Buddha was a god?

Do you think it is not encouraged to ask question, test, and find things out for yourself on this particular path?

I would like to know how much you know of Buddhism.

2007-09-27 07:28:49 · 18 answers · asked by Corvus 5

..if one can speak in tongues, would it also be possible to write or type in tongues?

Please explain.

2007-09-27 07:28:33 · 16 answers · asked by Anonymous

I am a new believer. Well I've believed since I was a kid, but we are now going to church and getting baptised. I want to read the bible before bed. I can't believe how interesting it is. My question is.. where do i start?? the new testament? The old, or in genesis?? My mom said to start in John, but i would like to see whate everyone else thinks. (baptist)

2007-09-27 07:27:45 · 31 answers · asked by lilmomma86 3

2007-09-27 07:26:22 · 10 answers · asked by hammrham 2

When I was a kid and still went to church I used to hear it all the time during the worship service. Were those people engaged in deep prayer?

2007-09-27 07:24:27 · 13 answers · asked by Murazor 6

How can I permanetly give my soul to Satan in such an absolute way that if I were later converted to Christianity, it would be too late to get it back? I want to know how to absolutely condemn to soul to Hell in a way it can never be recovered, ever.

2007-09-27 07:23:59 · 33 answers · asked by eateverywhale 2

1 Thessalonians 3:13
To the end he may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God, even our Father, at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ with all his saints.

2007-09-27 07:23:53 · 15 answers · asked by Mandolyn Monkey Munch 6

seems religions all have a path prescribed. i'm looking for agreement between different factions so that i might find the best path.

2007-09-27 07:22:21 · 14 answers · asked by enord 5

Many Atheists suggested that when dies, it returns to the Earth.

I have no disagreement, but that is not a complete answer. It just leads to more questions such as where the earth came from, where the solar system came from, where "mind" came from.

Now, I expect ignorance to shine wrecklessly and I'm to be accused of being a Christian, which is a normal "go to answer" for an Atheist, but other areas of life exist, but, then you'd have to be open to those areas.

BTW, as a Buddhist, it might shock to know you Budda was not a god.

2007-09-27 07:20:27 · 27 answers · asked by Corvus 5

ok here goes; why do Christians call YHWH God, when his name is YHWH?

i mean Zeus was the God of thunder

Hades was the God of the dead

so does that make God , God of God ??

please explain why you do not refer to him by name as i am puzzled ?

2007-09-27 07:18:15 · 21 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-09-27 07:18:00 · 14 answers · asked by The Drummer 2

The image as it is known in the West is traced to the year 1467 to Genazzano, Italy, a small town ca. thirty miles southeast of Rome. It is presently located in a side chapel, built between 1621 and 1629, in the church of Our Lady of Good Counsel, whence the image derives its name. Measuring approximately 15-1/2 inches by 17-1/2 inches, the painting is a fresco executed on a thin layer of plaster or porcelain not much thicker than paper. One writer describes it as a fresco painted on a material resembling egg shell. It appears suspended in mid-air in its frame, with approximately an inch of space between it and the wall behind it. The only support is on the lower edge where it "rests on a small base on one of its sides, i.e. from the center to the extreme right"


http://campus.udayton.edu/mary/meditations/olgc.html

2007-09-27 07:14:12 · 5 answers · asked by cashelmara 7

2007-09-27 07:13:45 · 15 answers · asked by Anonymous

2007-09-27 07:13:29 · 26 answers · asked by Anonymous

Christopher Hitchens has written, with characteristic candor and eloquence, that "[r]eligion is violent, irrational, intolerant, allied to racism and tribalism and bigotry, invested in ignorance and hostile to free inquiry, contemptuous of women and coercive toward children." This ten-fold indictment needs little support from me, as evidence of its truth has been crashing down upon us for centuries. However, I’ve been asked to provide such superfluities by the editors of this page. There is nothing like racing to the aid of a man who needs none.

Each of my essays for On Faith has highlighted one or another facet of Hitchens’ jewel of blasphemy. I recently argued that religion is “contemptuous of women” at some length. Here, I offer further thoughts on how religion is “irrational” and “invested in ignorance”.

***

Reason is a compulsion, not a choice. Just as one cannot intentionally startle oneself, one cannot knowingly believe a proposition on bad evidence. If you doubt this, imagine hearing the following account of a failed New Year’s resolution:

“This year, I vowed to be more rational, but by the end of January, I found that I had fallen back into my old ways, believing things for bad reasons. Currently, I believe that smoking is harmless, that my dead brother will return to life in the near future, and that I am destined to marry Angelina Jolie, just because these beliefs make me feel good and give my life meaning.”

This is not how our minds work. To believe a proposition, we must also believe that we believe it because it is true. While lapses in rationality can often be detected in retrospect, they always occur in the dark, outside of consciousness. In every present moment, a belief entails the concurrent conviction that we are not just fooling ourselves.

This constraint upon our thinking has always been a problem for religion. Being stocked stem to stern with incredible ideas, the world’s religions have had to find some way to circumvent reason, without repudiating it. The recommended maneuver is generally called “faith,” and it actually appears to work. Faith enables a person to fool himself into thinking that he is maintaining his standards of reasonableness, while forsaking them. There is a powerful incentive to not notice that one is engaged in this subterfuge, of course, because to notice it is to fail at it. As is well known, such cognitive gymnastics can be greatly facilitated by the presence of others, similarly engaged. Sometimes, it takes a village to lie to oneself.

In support of this noble enterprise, every religion has created a black market for irrationality, where people of like minds can trade transparently bad reasons in support of their religious beliefs, without the threat of criticism. You, too, can enter this economy of false knowledge and self-deception. The following method has worked for billions, and it will work for you:

How to Believe in God
Six Easy Steps

1. First, you must want to believe in God.
2. Next, understand that believing in God in the absence of evidence is especially noble.
3. Then, realize that the human ability to believe in God in the absence of evidence might itself constitute evidence for the existence of God.
4. Now consider any need for further evidence (both in yourself and in others) to be a form of temptation, spiritually unhealthy, or a corruption of the intellect.
5. Refer to steps 2-4 as acts of “faith.”
6. Return to 2.


As should be clear, this is a kind of perpetual motion machine of wishful thinking—and it leads, of necessity, to reduced self-awareness and diminished contact with reality. But it is reputed to have many benefits, and once you get it up and running you will be in fine company. In fact, from the looks of it, you will never be lonely again.

Enjoy!

2007-09-27 07:09:27 · 8 answers · asked by DiRTy D 5

how come god doesn't wan this t..he should know this?

2007-09-27 07:08:42 · 18 answers · asked by Anonymous