| DaRev said:
Proviso: I’m only speaking about Christianity in the following. Regarding you first paragraph, John 3:16 is probably the most well know verse in the Bible, “For God so LOVED the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.” If you know anything about Christianity, as you claim you do, you would know that the whole of Christianity is based on God’s love for us, in that we cannot save ourselves because of human nature, that he sent his Son Jesus out of love to help bring us salvation from ourselves. Analogy, some people use knives to kill, some people use knives to cook, but that doesn’t change what a knife is. Similarly Christianity is love, no matter how people use it. It’s the people that are wrong not Christianity. Regarding your second paragraph, so where has all this fighting religion gotten you? You sound quite bitter and broken to me. Maybe you should stop fighting, and start loving. Regarding your third paragraph, I agree that it is wrong to simply say that God doesn’t like homosexuals. Again I say God loves everyone. However it is the ‘unnatural’ sexual act that, IMHO, God has a problem with. For example, Murderers and Homosexuals are no different, as it is not the person that is the problem, but the act that they commit. Thieves and Liars, etc, are in the same boat, sin is sin, wrong doing is wrong doing, God doesn’t single out Homosexuality. So while you were right stand up against those ‘Christians’, I assume because of your lack of knowing what the Bible says, you could argue except out of hatred. For example, why did you recite John 8:1-11 for them? Regarding you fourth paragraph, too many points for me to tackle, so I will just focus on Faith. Again, I say that it is clear you have a lack of knowledge about the bible. For example, if I ask you what is faith, you probably give me some crap you pulled from the internet. But the bible clearly tells you what faith is at Hebrews 11:1 that “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” Now if you were study and dissect just that one verse from the Bible you will see that ‘Christian Faith’ has substance and is based on evidence. Then there is the word ‘hope’, which the bible also explains in great detail, but it’s not the kind of hope that people commonly use. Christian faith and hope has a sense of surety about it, for example, I hope that when I go to the bank I can get 20 of my 30 dollars put in. Not the same hope that I will win the NY lottery someday. Regarding you fifth paragraph, God will not force you to believe in him, so neither should anyone else. The choice is yours. However, the evidence of God is all around you. For if you can believe that airplanes, cars, buildings, bombs, etc, in there perfection were all created, why would not believe that, humans, animals, water, mountains, in there perfection were also created? In the same way computers where created and didn’t just spring from the ground, same way humans didn’t just sprout from the ground. Bible talks about the evidence of God in Nature J Sixth paragraph, Christianity hopes to save all and that all come to the recognition of God. But it also says that MOST people will not believe. Hopefully you would be one of the MOST that don’t believe. And finally, your last paragraph, I welcome you challenge, but please just post one or two. I really can’t tale these long posts J |
But that's the issue, dude, the 'for god so loved the world' stuff is only the new testament. Half of the bible. the revisionist edition. There's a whole series of books about judgement and hellfire and sodom and floods and all this stuff about burning people and sleeping with animals. I respect and appreciate that you chose to believe the parts that are about love and unity, but let's be honest here, you can't honestly think that's all there is. That's one of the reaosns I dismiss religion: its members tend to pick and chose what they want to believe in, explaining away what doesn't coincide with their own beliefs.
I'm not broken and bitter, I'm actually a very happy, positive guy. I have done more to help than most people I know, I don't need religion to tell me to be kind to others, I just really, really dislike what religion has done to the world. I have a problem with religion becuase you don't NEED a god to tell you to be good, but it's a damn good excuse for judging others and getting away with it. if I was to go on a hateful rant about how homosexuality is wrong becuase it doesn't make babies and is unnatural, I'd be laughed at and rightfully persecuted for my ignorance. But if I say GOD says homosexuality is a sin, I'd have people worldwide backing me up, and the media would ignore me becuase I have a 'freedom of religion.' This goes for anything from restricting science (stem cell research, refusing to teach evolution in schools), to the judging of others. Nobody complains when someone does something good in the name of god, but when you do something terrible or say something terrible you're defended for your religious rights, and that's a double standard.
This is another thing, what's wrong with homosexuality? it doesn't actually harm anyone, provided the right precautions are taken (lube, condoms, etc), but the same thing can be said about building a house or going skydiving. There is absolutely no harm to engaging in homosexual behaviours, so there's no reason to have a problem with it. It's unnatural? says who? animals hump their own males, and that's okay. We make computers and houses and plastics and vehicles and that's all unnatural, so why doesn't god have a problem with that? Is it a matter of not making babies? who cares? the world is overpopulated, it wouldn't kill us to have a few fewer babies. by that statement, condoms should be against god's law too, and anyone with a brain can tell you that's just plain stupid.
I do not lack knowledge about the bible, I've read it front to back three times in my life and have idly been doing research on its lessons, judgements, and inconsistencies. And don't lecture me on faith, I know precisely what faith is, and nobody likes my assessment of it. Faith is, for all intents and purposes, the belief in something not based on proof. And therein lies my issue. you cant possibly know that god exists or does not exist, you can'tpossibly know if there's an afterlife, yet people are dedicating their lives to this belief, and that saddens me. If you want to believe something or have faith in god, that's fine, but that's why I think you should keep it to yourself. As soon as you put it out there for all to see, you should be expected to withstand logical criticism.
WE created buildings and airplanes, of course they were created. the difference between a wheelbarrow and a beaver is that beavers are natural and wheelbarrows are man-made. This is an inherently flawed argument from three diffferent angles. To make it worse, who made God? if you have to believe everything was created, why doesn't god need a creator? what's that? he doesn't? He defies conventional laws of physics? Well gee, that's awfully convenient of him. Who's to say the creation of the universe isn't just something equally beyond our understanding? There's no NEED to apply a grand creator to the whole ordeal, that's just silly and desperate.
I'd love to meet your challenge, but there is no challenge in place. Your one thing about 'we believe things are created, so why can't we be?' argument is flawed right out of the gate. it's a return to that faith thing, faith that what you believe is true despite there being no evidence. we have evidence buildigns are created, we see them being created. There is no actual argument for human creation beyond "Well, we might have been created, we don't know." Yeah, and a giant might have molded mountains from rock and dirtbecuase he was bored, we don't know, but that's certainly not significant evidence to claim that it is the truth.
it is nice, however, to speak with someone who is capable of writing something that can actually be deciphered, so thanks for that.
