What's your Religion?

buddhist

 

LOL. That was an amazing statement. Why don't you lead the way by doing something drastic... like burning down a church or executing some pastors and let us know how it goes.

 

Hell yea! If you need some dude just send me a PM

 

Wait...what??

 

Haha! I don't need them... I just want to watch cameraperson try something stupid and go to jail.

 

I'm a MONK

 

I can't go along with him ,however it was funny

 

Lover and follower of Jesus Christ.

 

So you beleive there is an invisible man living in the sky with a list of rules?

 

Catholic

 

Try breaking the "rule" (I know it is a law, but the principle is the same) of gravity and see what happens. There is simply too much in nature around us to say that there is no creator. If there is a creator, and this is his creation, then he has the right to make rules. A lot like someone who owns a house and rents it out. They have the right to say whether pets are allowed or not or whether the tenant can paint the inside of the house or not.

Don't get me wrong, many evil things have been done in the name of religion; yes even "christians" and "christian" nations have done terrible things (the crusades, the opium wars in China, slavery in the U.S. in the 19th century to name a few). That being said, the question is are these people truly Christians or not? Probably the best definition of Christian I have ever heard is "Follower of Christ". Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God with our whole heart soul and might and to love your neighbor as yourself. Think about it, how many wars would be fought if all mankind followed those commandments? How many other problems would we have for that matter?

Even Ghandi said to a British diplomat in reference to the Sermon on the Mount (semi-quotes because I do not remember this verbatim) 'If our two peoples applied the Sermon on the Mount, we will have solved not only the problems of our two peoples, but of the entire world'. Obviously Ghandi was not a Christian, but he saw that if what Christ taught was actually applied, it was beneficial.

Not trying to flame anyone or look down on anyone. Please don't get that impression, but I firmly believe that the Bible is God's word to us. While I believe that is true, I am also not naive enough to realize that what the Bible says has not been twisted to suit the desires of some in the past (i.e. slavery), present and will probably continue to happen. But then again, that was foretold in the Bible as well.

As for tolerance, I agree, we should be tolerant of others with different lifestyles. Even Jesus was respectful and caring of those whose lifestyles were condemned by the law given to Moses and Israel. He treated these people with respect because we all have the God-given right of free will, and he hoped these people would listen to him and change - some did. I do my best to follow that example. For instance, I feel that homosexuality is wrong, but that does not mean that I am going to hang out near a gay bar and beat people that come out of it. How would that be showing love to my neighbor? Jesus treated others, even those that hated him with respect - why shouldn't I?

I'll hop off my soap box now, and just say, that if you are still reading, thanks for listening to my $.02 worth.

 

very good post

 

baptist

 

I'd rather hold a single ugly truth in my mind than listen to a million beautiful lies.

Try breaking the "rule" (I know it is a law, but the principle is the same) of gravity and see what happens.

You cant break the law of gravity, its just "the means by which objects with mass attract one another." It's one of the 4 fundamental forces of nature. You cannot "break" this rule in any sense like the one you described. You can fly an airplane, but that does not defeat the law of gravity- everything is caught in gravity and responds accordingly even if we do not have a full comprehension of exactly what gravity is. Voyager spacecraft are testing our 'current description' of gravity and the scientific method says we should throw out bad data- and we might just do that.

There is simply too much in nature around us to say that there is no creator.

Watch me. There is no creator, at least, we have no evidence for one. Do you see the universe? Its vast. So vast you can never get to the other side using current technology, and from what we know, you cant ever cross to the other side of the universe with ANY technology ever.

And your proof of a god is a single book that people wrote based on the oldest fables slightly changed to look anew?

I see no fingerprints or signature or creativity- it's an orderly world. Wouldnt a creative mind make it interesting? That's just my own interperetation, but thats what we all do- interepret it ourselves but the truth is the truth independent of what you or I wish to be true! The universe is grand and amazing, and may have been there forever. You dont know. Who are you to say?

If there is a creator, and this is his creation, then he has the right to make rules.

That's dependent upon 2 major "if's." And that makes no sense.

A lot like someone who owns a house and rents it out. They have the right to say whether pets are allowed or not or whether the tenant can paint the inside of the house or not.

Laughable, implausible, ridiculous.

Don't get me wrong, many evil things have been done in the name of religion; yes even "christians" and "christian" nations have done terrible things (the crusades, the opium wars in China, slavery in the U.S. in the 19th century to name a few). That being said, the question is are these people truly Christians or not?

They are Christians in every sense of the word. They called themselves Christians and they followed a christian lifestyle. Sure, they raped and molested children, but they REPENTED and PRAYED FOR FORGIVENESS!!!

That makes it all better and everybody goes to heaven.
See? Its so sweet it almost makes me sick.

Is the pope a christian? Are they currently covering up a major scandal in the vatican that has been epidemic worldwide? Yes and Yes. These people pretend to be ethical and moral leaders- and are massive frauds. If these scandals (the pedophile coverup by church leaders) happened at Walmart, America would NEVER go to Walmart again, but it happened at the church-- and the priest in my town was not punished, he was "excommunicated." Honest. I couldnt make that up. Then, the "christians" in my town decided to raise money to give the excon- I mean, excommunicated priest some money because he never had to live in the "real world." Honest. I could not make that up- I'm not that deluded.

If I ever see him, I may extract justice for those kids myself. Nobody else did. Will he "go to hell?" Oh that's reassuring.

What if it was your child- or you-- who was raped by some motherf$%^#$. This priest was a christian in every sense- he even wore the little white neck thing. He prayed every day, said masses, did the chanting and the voodoo and the pretending that there is a guy in the sky who needs money to keep the priest in business. Bullshit.

Its. Utter. Bullshit.

And you know it.

Everyone- look in the mirror and admit it to yourself first.

There is no god. Cancer, terrorism, hate, plane crashes, child rape, mass murder, the holocaust, nuclear bombs- these are not the work of "the devil." People made all this. And an all powerful god COULD HAVE STOPPED IT.

Remember in the Superman movies how instantly bad we felt when Superman lost his powers, and how everyone in the movie was mad at Superman when he wouldnt save everyone all the time? They turned so quickly. And he was Superman! But he didnt save anyone for a few days and even Lois Lane had her doubts. But then the theme comes up and Superman came back and he stopped that 747 from hitting the baseball stadium.

As terrorism is about to occur next time, look! In the sky! Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Probably. Its probably just a bird and a plane.


Besides, we have never had a single interaction with such a godlike creature. The same possibility exists that Sasquatch, aliens, ghosts, dumbledore, faeries and leprechauns are real.

And now we have cameras everywhere! We even have a shot of Cap'n Sully doing the water landing! It was no miracle. And it wasnt Superman! It was a regular man who read his owners manual and put the plane down as gently as possible and that saved the lives of the people. Thank "god?" No! Thank the people who made an amazing plane, and the dudes who landed it safely. Thank Cap'n Sully.

Jesus would have made a terrible Christian by "todays standards."

Probably the best definition of Christian I have ever heard is "Follower of Christ". Jesus said that the two greatest commandments were to love God with our whole heart soul and might and to love your neighbor as yourself. Think about it, how many wars would be fought if all mankind followed those commandments? How many other problems would we have for that matter?

I believe in a race of purple monkeys that live on Jupiter and they control the tides of the ocean.

WHY DONT YOU BELIEVE IN THE MONKEYS??? THEY'LL GITCHA!

Here's the deal. You are a SINNER and a MORON if you dont believe, and you will be destroyed in the afterlife on Jupiter- dont laugh its very real! (And it's an utterly unprovable situation that you can not test) In fact, you are scared to go to the painful Jupiter hell with the monkeys and dont want to test it, so whats the harm in believing the lie so that you will go to the surface of Jupiter with your family and friends and not have to be with the monkeys?

The monkeys will come for you when you die, they will judge your charachter, if bad, they put you at the center of Jupiter where the gravity squeezes you until all the sins come out. Its very painful so make sure you sin as little as possible to keep the amount of painful gravity hell to a minimum.

Even Ghandi said to a British diplomat in reference to the Sermon on the Mount (semi-quotes because I do not remember this verbatim) 'If our two peoples applied the Sermon on the Mount, we will have solved not only the problems of our two peoples, but of the entire world'. Obviously Ghandi was not a Christian, but he saw that if what Christ taught was actually applied, it was beneficial.

What if we applied just a simple Pain/Pleasure rule. If it causes someone pain or distress, maybe we shouldnt do that. If someone likes something, we are free to continue with their permission.

Its a natural rule that even children can learn. It's bible-free and lie free. No need to lie to a child about a powerful leprechaun in the sky.


Not trying to flame anyone or look down on anyone.

I never said you were. I dont have any problem with you. Its your belief in the unprovable supernatural that makes me ill.

And also its the church on every corner. Its the endless billboards. Its the big "end of the world" prophesy that I must endure every couple years on every channel from real religious leaders- not just the silly ones. Its the religious holidays and the nonsense chanting and activities. And the endless judging of people who dont believe or dont care about all these mindless activities VS the judgment of actual criminals who are priests and preachers. Its the endless crosses on the highways. Its the "i love jesus" as they live in a McMansion and spend more on their heating bill than many people have in a bank account. Its the hypocrisy. Its in my face everywhere I turn and ENOUGH already. Enough. I get it. You love the leader. Well I dont. Its not real.

Some people love "american idol." Those singers are terrible, but if they wanna watch it and buy the albums and talk about it and start a group to meet up at a bar and watch it, and things like this- at least it exists.

Please don't get that impression, but I firmly believe that the Bible is God's word to us.

You believe based on what? Where is the proof that any of this is real other than the human history? And if thats your proof, then fine- Jesus was a real guy and a great guy to base your life on. Jesus lived simply and shunned extravagance. What would this man think of his followers today? I bet he'd be beside himself. (not like in ghost form, just figuratively)

But why all the spirits and ghosts and miracles and supermen?

While I believe that is true, I am also not naive enough to realize that what the Bible says has not been twisted to suit the desires of some in the past (i.e. slavery), present and will probably continue to happen. But then again, that was foretold in the Bible as well.

Its a malleable document and we can create meaning. How? Any string of words can kinda mean something. Even letters can have this effect.

Lets take 7 letters at random. RSTLNEA. Now put them into an anagram generator and "look for meaning."

One of the strings of words it output was "RAT LENS". OH NO!!!
If I take a picture of you, your soul will be like a RAT from another lifetime!!! Yeah maybe!

Come on, we all know this stuff just isnt real. You see meaning in the RSTLNEA. And thats just 7 letters. Imagine a book of multiply-translated text that is written in an archaic style!

Hey thats the bible!!!

As for tolerance, I agree, we should be tolerant of others with different lifestyles.

So, we should allow gays to get married?
The church should say its ok for Africa to use condoms?
And we should allow people to teach lies to children?
And doctors should be allowed to perform abortions before the 5th month because the mother sees fit to do so legally and ethically?
We should give money to faith-based organizations like Scientology and the KKK?

Even Jesus was respectful and caring of those whose lifestyles were condemned by the law given to Moses and Israel. He treated these people with respect because we all have the God-given right of free will,

I have regular free will, thanks.

and he hoped these people would listen to him and change - some did. I do my best to follow that example. For instance, I feel that homosexuality is wrong, but that does not mean that I am going to hang out near a gay bar and beat people that come out of it.

But if people do that, its not a "crime" they are just "teaching the gay out of people's veins." Is being black also wrong? What if a black and jew have a baby? Is the original relationship wrong, or just the baby will go to hell? Its hard to tell with all the hatred in religion these days. Maybe not you, but the people in your group.

You are in a group where followers of jesus hate other people for reasons like being gay, being a woman, being black, being mexican, not being from the south, being of a different religion, being of a similar religion but slightly different, or having a gay friend, having a black friend... etc you see where I'm going.

That's your group. Not mine.

How would that be showing love to my neighbor? Jesus treated others, even those that hated him with respect - why shouldn't I?

See, we agree on that point. Treat people with respect. Especially children who dont know any better- they should be shown the truth. And if the truth is not known, they should not be lied to.

I'll hop off my soap box now, and just say, that if you are still reading, thanks for listening to my $.02 worth.

I'll hop off my soap box now, and just say, that if you are still reading, thanks for listening to my $.03 worth. Its a great debate and clearly we are on a path toward understanding of the universe via the scientific method. Not to say that "science " is the only way to interact with the universe, but it is the method that allows us to say "hey which information and description is better- and what information, data, and ideas should be tossed out?" The scientific method allows for hard fought ideas to be tested rigorously and then to be THROWN AWAY as inconclusive or inappropriate.

Mike

I'd rather hold a single ugly truth in my mind than listen to a million beautiful lies.

 

Canadian Hockey Cultism ,

oh and Tacomaism ,

OZ

 

I agree with a lot of what camreperson has said. For me, science and technology wins the battle hands down. Look how far we have come in just the last 20 years in terms of knowledge and understanding our make-up, DNA and how to clone ourselves. Can you imagine what evolution has done having billions of years to work with. Creation of us and our world was a peice of cake for billions of years of evolution. We don't understand it but we will before long. We are not a result of something that happened 2010 years ago. We are a result of some type of reaction between some kind of elements at the begining of time.

 

I'm in the same "boat" as docbrown; yes I believe in the Bible and the salvation offered by Christ dying on the cross...can I prove the Bible physically...no, just as "evolution" cannot be proved, believers and non believers both have the same physical evidence upon which to decide...the world is and always has been a cruel place to hang out, and the human heart is vile beyond imagination...it was many years before I became a Christian, and I've been where you and cameraperson are, so I feel comfortable in my decision, and I fully understand why folks wonder why the world is the way it is...I believe now because of an inner transformation by God, not by trying to follow a set of rules and being good enough, which never worked for me personally...fortunately each person is free to choose their path, and I have to answer for me the individual...one thing no should do is berate another for their belief, although I've been hammered for mine, and I expect that and can deal w/ it w/ a smile.

 

, believers and non believers both have the same physical evidence upon which to decide

Don't agrre with that. We can make a living being in a test tube. What can a beleiver do to convince?