Why did we stop inventing gods?

Have you ever read the Bible Phat?When Jesus is supposedly quoted in the Bible stories he is almost always talking about worldly things, about behavior, about duties, about what a person should do for others.

And we know from Exodus that God hardens hearts even when the individual wants a soft heart.

I know that the Bible says God did that and that it depends on which God we create.

Why would it have any effect? Belief is not a matter of evidence but rather a life choice.

Language is wonderful, isn't it. Words can have so many different meanings.Belief is one such example.I use belief to mean something which may well be true but where I cannot be certain. In your example I would answer by saying I know how many people are in the room and explain the reasoning and evidence for that conclusion.I believe there is a GOD but also understand that at least as long as I am alive there is no way I can know that there is a GOD. I understand that even after I die I may well not know the answer.AbE:Also please understand, I do not claim or assert or require or even believe that my beliefs are reasonable, rational or logical.Edited by jar, : see AbE:

In addition there is the issue of testable versus untestable things. In the case of aliens I can certainly imagine many ways that could be tested. Other things though seem by their very nature to be untestable. GOD and all other supernatural things fall in that later category. I simply can't imagine anyway to test and show something is supernatural.

Yes, I dismiss witness testimony unless it can be supported beyond agreeing that the stories say what the stories say. It is no different than agreeing that Mrs. Marple did walk up Lansham Road.Yet still I believe. I just do not expect to ever find anyway to test anything claimed to be supernatural including GOD.

Yet I am not an unbeliever. And that paragraph is a great example of why witness testimony, in this case your testimony, should be disregarded. That paragraph is filled with nothing but dogma and apologetics.There is no reason to think Christian Testimony is of any greater worth than any other unsupported testimony. There are far more examples of testimony by multiple witnesses to supernatural events in the Harry Potter series than in the Bible Stories.We have almost no idea who wrote any of the Bible stories, do know for a fact that what is in the Bible is often factually wrong, contradictory, and absurd with no more authority than any other writings.

In the Job story the God character directly instructs Satan to do his worst to Job.In the Exodus myth the God character directly changes Pharaoh's mind and directly harden Pharaoh's heart so the God character can inflict more suffering on the Egyptians.In the Garden of Eden story the God character directly forbids Adam and Eve from acquiring the knowledge needed to know to obey and then punishes them when they disobey.

First clue: The Bible tells us the snake told the truth and the Bible tells us there is no truth in Satan. The Bible tells us Satan is God's agent whose duty is as a tester and the Bible tells us that Satan is the enemy.When you see so many different and contradictory things in the stories it is pretty strong evidence that we are not dealing with something that has one purpose or goal or meaning and that was written by men and reflects their individual bias.Second, in the story, the God character itself tells us that what the snake said was the truth. And the knowledge was of good and evil, of right and wrong. If an individual does not yet have the capability to know right from wrong how can they be expected to know who or what to obey? But I do not quest for literal reading rather I am simply honest about what actually was written.I look at the story in Genesis 1&2 and can see that the serpent is truthful while the God character lies, the serpent is sure while the God character is unsure, the serpent is direct while the God character is bumbling and say, "Gee, the serpent must not literally be a serpent and the God character must not literally be GOD so there must be some other purpose to the story. Let's look at the whole story in context. Oh, it's a just so story about humanity and the change from hunter gathers to farmers and why we fear snakes and why child birth seems more difficult and painful for humans that the other animals and why women should be subservient to men."I don't demonize God (the Bible stories certainly do though) nor do I glorify the snake. I did not write the story.I do understand that the stories reflect the views of the peoples of a particular era, culture, society. And for many folk at many times the Gods were not nice folk. The Gods were not reasonable. The gods were not good. And they wrote about those gods; we see those gods in the Bible stories, mean, nasty, arbitrary gods that at best can be said to be amoral. We can also see other stories where a different description of god is presented. The God of Genesis 1 has almost nothing in common with the God of Genesis 2&3.The intent of the story tellers and the folk marketing Christianity today are entirely different.My intent is not to market a God since I am very very sure that any God I can imagine or worship is totally different from GOD if GOD exists.BUT... I also want to point out that all the Gods Christians market today are certainly not GOD and many are really vile critters that if they existed should only be reviled and opposed.I want to point out that the message is NOT some afterlife but rather about living this life.I want to point out that the Bible is simply the work of man and does contain factual errors, contradictions and folk tales.I want to point out that we have duties; a duty to think, a duty to be critical, a duty to others, a duty to the planet and life itself.Edited by jar, : fix sub-title

Your question has nothing to do with what you quoted my saying. I'm saying the folk marketing Christianity today have an entirely different intent than the folk that wrote the stories. In fact most of the story tellers almost certainly had no intent to ever say anything about Jesus or Christianity. The reason I say that is I actually read what was written. I have no idea what God Jesus marketed or even a clue related to that. Jesus marketed a behavioral belief set rather than some God.Edited by jar, : behavioral belief

Not just every club but often every chapter of every club and the evidence shows that was also true in every era. As I pointed out the God of Genesis 1 is an entirely different character than the God of Genesis 2&3. Neither of those Gods shows any resemblance to any of the Gods described in the New Testament. And that is also seen in every other belief system; the Gods created reflect the culture of the creators. On the first assumption I would say Jesus would say no such thing; rather he would say "Watch and learn how God wants you to behave."On the second question I have no idea how Jesus when alive on Earth could know God intimately or what God looked like if God looks like anything or who God is.

I cannot imagine how you could get that from what I said. I see no evidence that Jesus saw himself as God. He did see himself as a person carrying a message he thought was from God. I see no contradicts there. Perhaps you can point them out?

You can believe whatever you like. Is there some evidence for that belief; can you explain how it might be possible to have an intimate relationship with God? I will go further and state I cannot even figure out what that word salad means. Great. So how do you actually test to see if what you believe really is fact? The Gospel of John and the various Creeds are entirely different critters and as such must be treated differently; just as the Gospel of John is an entirely different critter than the Synoptic Gospels and so must be treated differently. And that really is the difference in our opinions. I have no desire for the truth to be what I want, rather I want to know what the truth is regardless of my personal desires. And there you go just making shit up again in the hope it meets your needs.

Phat, rational minds have been asking for some evidence all along. You make an assertion about some truth being revealed but that is all rational minds have ever asked for, reveal some evidence.But is there some reason that you expect the "Truth" to actually be anything anyone had ever imagined? Do you actually think that the "Truth" will ever show some religion got it right even though all of the current evidence shows that they are all most likely wrong?