Question for the religious....

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*dips in a shovel, and starts burying this thread....*

"Yay, though I walk through the valley of death, I will fear no evil...."

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Originally posted by CasperTFG
When I was thirteen years old I was attending a youth worship group at a Southern Baptist church. A woman was leading the discussion group of children as young as 7 and I asked her why we were being taught that all the Chinese people were going to hell? She came back rather irritated at my question and said " because they don't know Christ". I then asked her "what about the millions of people who were born before Christ ?" She became more irritated and said that "She wasn't sure" about this question and for me to be quiet and "listen" I then stood up and said "I am only a mere human and I would never send all those people to hell, isn't God supposed to be more compassionate than me?" She became very upset and asked me to leave the discussion group...I left and never went back...

Peace and Love,
CasperTFG

Good for you! That was the wisest thing you could've done. They really freak out when you show them reality, don't they?

Originally posted by paperclip
God knows everything and has all the answers, not humans. God has sent us prophets to give us GUIDELINES how to live our lives. What WE DO with it is a part of another thing God gave us, free will.

This is the reason I don't come in this forum very often. Give me a fu*king break!

Are you in fear to admit that you are a man of God?

Look around my friend. Who started all this? It wasn't Santa Claus. Yes, could be the BIG BANG, but what set that firecracker off?

Think about it.

You look around! The entire universe is perpetual motion, from the largest planet and star, right down to the smallest submicro particles we know to exist. All is cyclic. All is circular. There is no beginning and there is no end. They all mimick each other. They're all a part of each other. Each electron and neutron has it's own orbit. Each is it's own solar system. If an electron jumps orbit, a new atom is born. If a star goes super nova, a new solar system is born. There's no need for a creator. Energy is everything, and energy never dies...it only transforms and lends to a new type of energy, no matter what it may be. If there was a big bang, the universe is expanding and contracting infinitely, driving everything in it somehow. This is probably only one of an infinite amount of universes. If there was a god, there'd have to be infinite gods...not just one. The creator theory doesn't hold up, since even a creator would need a creator. Either way, there was still nothing at one time, or it was always here. It would take nothing short of a huge booming voice, or a gigantic hand coming out of the sky to change my belief that there is no god.

Originally posted by SamaraMorgueAnn
you are SERIOUSLY underestimated. By your own doing.

...Arranged as such by my own design...

Originally posted by madmanacrosswater Does one think that a tribe somewhere deep in the jungle of South American is not going to the next level for not believing in Jesus?
They don't even know who Jesus is. That is the fallacy of Christian teaching.

Actually, it's more a fallacy of the Christian *teachers* than it is the *teachings* themselves. If they'd bother to actually *study* the scriptures, they'd have the answer for that question;
Even if someone had never *heard* of God or Christ, they'd be judged by how they lived their lives...If they lived with love, peace, harmony & a desire to help their fellow man then they'd be judged as Christians even if they never *heard* of Christians. Then again, I've met quite a few Christians who didn't really *live up* to that standard...
The same guidlelines appear throughout all of the major religions...It's mainly the sociopolitically-minded authorities *within* the religious heirarchies that come up with those little bits of dogma that keep people at each other's throats. This is why I think of myself as having a strong *faith*, but my faith is in God, not organized religions.

Originally posted by Satyr...All is circular. There is no beginning and there is no end...If there was a big bang, the universe is expanding and contracting infinitely, driving everything in it somehow...The creator theory doesn't hold up, since even a creator would need a creator...

Your whole post is very logical & quite in keeping with the current theories of the Laws of Physics...However, how much is out there that has yet to be discovered/observed/learned? After all, the cyclic nature of the universe is only one of the theories based upon observed states of matter & energy. It doesn't mean it's all true, only that it's a theory!
It's sort of like Shroedinger's Cat..."If you haven't ever seen God, does He actually exist?"
Personally, I take what information I can get, mix it with a grain of salt & the knowledge that we really don't *know* anything & we're only guessing, stir with a healthy dose of reality as I've observed it...Cooking up what I think to be the Truth. But then again, I'm not so stubborn to say that I can't change the recipe if I run across some new ingredients to throw into the pot.

Originally posted by SatyrIt would take nothing short of a huge booming voice, or a gigantic hand coming out of the sky to change my belief that there is no god.

Have you considered that you're looking in the wrong place for God? That maybe, just maybe, you'll find Him no farther away than in your own heart?

Originally posted by MidnightDStroyer
It's sort of like Shroedinger's Cat..."If you haven't ever seen God, does He actually exist?"

If you've never seen or heard Shroedinger's Cat, are you going to feed it? Much the same, I'm not going to pray.

Have you considered that you're looking in the wrong place for God? That maybe, just maybe, you'll find Him no farther away than in your own heart?

I'm not looking anymore. I did for a long time, then decided it was only time wasted. (Besides, what would I want with a vengeful god?) And guess what! Nothing changed! Not one single thing! Unless you count the faith I gained in myself. I don't even need an imagination to know there's no creator. I merely had to open my eyes and see what a wondrous universe I was standing in. I saw that it was indeed teaming with life. Maybe not your stereotypical, narrow minded, human life, but none-the-less, life! I realized that we're not the reason for everything. It's arrogant to even assume so! We're actually quite insignificant. It's no miracle that we're here. Life is probably the most common thing in the universe, but when you're the size of a molecule, you just can't see very far. Humans are far too vain to realize that we're no miracle. The earth is not our gift. We are the earth's gift. We're just earth food. The earth will absorb us all, eventually. And we'll complete the cycle. One day we'll cease to be parasites, and our energy will be transferred into the planet, and we'll once again become part of the universe. No god required.

Interesting to see someone with the same beliefs Satyr...

While one could say that the cyclic nature of the Universe is a theory...it's one that we can see in practice in nature everyday... Nature and the Universe, certainly seem to work in cycles, from everything we have observed. Why do we humans always feel something has to have a beginning and an end?

Why Gaz?
Because as beings created in the image and likeness of God, we have an enate 'need' to wonder such. Think about it....we all are born (beginning) and we live a life, then die (an ending). In such, mankind has always had an infatuation with "immortality." The truth is, that we have it.

The image and likeness of God does NOT, as some have suggested and think and have been taught, that our physical bodies look like God's...though I do believe that God can adopt whatever physical form God so chooses for any particular purpose. In some sense, it means that our essences are the same...maybe, maybe not....but that we are literally composed of the same "stuff" as God. That we are the same "stuff".....with all the same abilities and properties...and from God we came and to God we will return.

regards
seekerof