Is christianity, or religion in general, a belief of convinience?

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So I thought I would bring this tale here, is religion an easy answer?

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Is it a convenient methodology for simplifying your life? Is it a way to eliminate complex questions, and deep thought?

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For a lot of people, yes, it is.

Jar!!!!! I meant the Egyptians wouldn't have him as God at the time of Exodus, darn you. Yes, nor does it confirm them as real, nor give them any validity as being actually real spirits.You see, it also says ans shows that God means idols when he refers to his children (Israel) having other gods.For example, the golden calf - OBVIOUSLY it isn't a real God, and OBVIOUSLY the Jews got the idea from the false gods of Egypt.We're off topic, I TOLD YOU you didn't have anything conclusive, which is why I said provide the quotes. Therefore it is unreasonable of you to promote other gods. God says don't have them for a reason you know.If he was really appearing as other gods, then why would he say "have no other gods"? Exodus; Thou shalt have no other gods before me. Thou shalt not make unto thee any graven image....Thou shall not bow down thyself to them nor serve themPsalm 81; There shall no strange godbe in thee; neither shalt thou worship any strange god.
I am the Lord thy God, which brought thee out of the land of EgyptPsalm 82; I have said, Ye are gods; And all of you are children of the most highSo gods is obviously not meant as something similar to God, but rather, that of high regard. Do you think you are comparable to the actual God?This message has been edited by mike the wiz, 07-15-2004 03:30 PM

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I presented evidence against evolution to my friends who are biology majors, and they just got mad and didn't want to talk about it. They couldn't even imagine the earth not being 4.6 billion years old. How's that for not thinking freely.

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What evidence did you present, exactly?I can imagine the earth not being 6.4 billion years old.Fortunately, my imagination is irrelevant WRT scientific evidence.If your religion required you to believe that illness is caused by demons (like the Bible says) instead of germs, and you presented "evidence" to your Biology major friends that germs weren't the cause of disease, would you critisize them for being close minded and annoyed with you?

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Critical thinkers and skeptics don't create answers just to manage their anxiety--Karla McLaren

He didn't. Finish the sentence. He said: Thou shalt have no other Gods before me. These are directions to the Hebrews. Again, show where those statement preclude other Gods?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

I have added to message 47. Sorry about the editing late.

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I think the existence of God certainly makes a ton of sense. But then this always comes back to the fact that if you believe it makes perfect sense and if you don't it doesn't. It is a choice. Do you want to know God or not?

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How do you tell the difference between the "real" God acting in your life and talking to you, and a God that you imagine and invent inside your own head, using post hoc reasoning and confimation bias to pick and choose the life events that you believe God has affected?IOW, how do you know you are really talking to God and not to yourself?

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All this makes sense, except I DID give them evidence. I gave them evidence such as that about missing helium, missing Volcanic debris, missing river sediments, continental erosion rates, mostly shallow meteorites, young comets and the poynting-Robertson Effect, and the fact that radioactive decay rates are only known to be constant for a century or less as compared to the earth's supposed 4.6 bill year history.

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They just said, "No, it can't be... there's... there's all those fossils..." One girl just got red-faced and angry... They refused to contemplate a young earth even though they had no specific evidence to support the old one. This is NOT free thinking. This is what you accuse myself and other fundamentalists of... automatically believing anything someone tells you.

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There is a preponderance on evidence for this Earth being ~4.6 billion years old. To blatantly plug up your ears and shout "la..la..la..la..la" to all the credible science done that extablishes this, is just beyond my comprehension. In fact that is what many so-called fundementalist do. They refuse to look at ANY evidence that contradicts their belief system. Instead they look for "evidence" from so-called creation-science, which often manufactures evidence, ignores or overlooks scientific findings done by professional scientists in their field of study, and denies any evidence contrary to their cloesly held belief.If you actually took the time to do some serious study into what actual scientists are telling you, if you actually take the time to try to understand the tenets of modern biology, astronomy, physics, chemistry, etc. you would see how ridiculus are many if not most of the claims by creationists.Scientists don't have a monopoly on the truth. Science is an attempt to understand the natural world, given the evidence presented. That you could learn something from their research and refuse, just breaks my heart (well maybe not.. but you get the point.)You are right though, I do think you automatically believe anything creationist literature tells you about the missing helium, missing Volcanic debris, missing river sediments, continental erosion rates, mostly shallow meteorites, young comets and the Poynting-Robertson effect, and the fact that radioactive decay rates are only known to be constant for a century or less as compared to the earth's supposed 4.6 bill year history. Otherwise you would do your OWN research, perhaps take some college courses in Geology, Physics, Earth Science, anthropology, Biology, etc. and find out for yourself what claims are true and what are false. You gotta do your homework though...there are no free passes.

Rofl. Hasn't he already shown you that he has had numerous answered prayers which do not include post hoc reasoning, and confirmation bias? Like when he was healed for example, and gained a girlfriend etc.. These are specific requests, met by specific responses. If he had asked for a healing, and received a loaf of bread, and shrugged it off, then maybe I would buy into this post hoc babble.

[quote]However, lots of us still think about deep stuff, and I don't care what anybody says; I will NOT condemn homosexuality or peaceful non-Christians. Nothing can justify immoral discrimination. Nothing.[quote] Your're a good guy, do you know that?

His scripture, I have underneath this large tent-like viel which is blasphemous for unbelievers to uncover. They tell of his dragon-breathed prophesies, which have ALL come true and of his eminent exposure to the world, to purify the world with fire and pestilence and then a return to our worlds natural bliss-like state which we have forgotten. Free donuts and coffee for all!I am his first convert, and therefore his first, though hopefully not last, preacher of his teachings.My pink dragon is neither he nor she and immutable. I have taken to drawing my dragon as a she, but I think that this might be my own imperfect perception.Because in my prayers he/she told me she was pink.Good to be back!and always good to hear from you as well.

No problem sir. And I don't think we are all that far apart.The things that you added are directions to the Hebrews. But that does not preclude God from speaking to other people as well.If you look in the thread on Non-Christian Moral Systems what you find is that most moral systems have developed the same basic philosophy. Whether you are looking at Christianity, Confuscius' sayings, Buddhism, the works of Mencius or most other systems, you find the same underlying features. There is no reason that all of these cannot be insired by God.In fact, it is very hard to imagine a GOD that would create a world where the vast majority of the inhabitants are doomed. It's far easier to imagine a GOD that wants to communicate and is smart enough to adopt the style of communication used by his audience.

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

And I think you win on that particular point. As I admitt that God could ofcourse appear how he wants to, and do what he will with his own. So I agree that God can indeed possibly appear in many forms or could have possibly appeared in forms which people might have mis-interpreted.I hope you can see what I meant by there being no other god though. I stand by that particular point, but I concede that other one. I guess I have a bit of a different outlook, rather that God created a world in which the inhabitants doomed themselves. Yet I am certainly open to the possibility, that I don't know sh*t about who's going to heaven, and I just hope I am.

If GOD is capable of speaking to people in a method that suits their learning style (and I don't think that is an unreasonable assumption), then is it not also reasonable to assume that he spoke to some through the Buddha?

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Aslan is not a Tame Lion

ROFL, that's a good one, I thought I had you cornered for sure.I get what you are obviously trying to show, yet Christ is preached openly, and anyone is invited to partake of the freegift. There's the clincher my friend, not only do we think it silly that God should be limited to one nation or person, but we demand that he is the God of all. Only God could have opened his door to Gentiles, and invite ALL people to read of his scripture. And even an occasional fool like me he might make wise. Well, all I can say is that you are perfectly free in your belief, though I wish you could come to see that even though you yourself are exposed to pinkypammydragon, I myself heared of Christ independent of my own self.And I'm glad you remembered me. Probably from that NS topic.This message has been edited by mike the wiz, 07-15-2004 04:04 PM

I'm not inclined to speculate about the Buddha.All I know is that Christ is the way, truth and the life. As much as I respect other people's right to believe in Buddha and/or pink dragons, I don't feel I should be forced to believe likewise.Anything is possible with God. All I can do, is try and obey and please God, who I know as I am. Now you can interpret the part about "why is a christian righteouss"