Religious Question

[MindBat]

God is not measurable through scientific means.
Unless u believe God answers prayers. And as far as i know, all tests to prove this have been 'inconclusive'.

Yes. It is too great for the mind to grasp let alone measure.

[tyson]

God is everywhere, all around us, sees everything.

God is the Holy Spirit.

God is energy, hence God is you and me.

[MindBat]

Each a conscious part of the infinite potentiality of the holographic universe.

We just forgot when we landed on earth.

[tyson]

It took mankind 1 million years to figure out how to form rocks into tools.
It took another 500 000 years to figure out how to irrigate the land and make our own food.

Here we are 7 000 years later sending stuff to Mars.

What happened?

[Don Corleone]

That right there leads me to wonder; Isn't it likely that the men of that time, those who didn't believe in the things we do know, would just throw the stone anyways?
If they believed they were doing what they had the right to do, why would they think they had sinned?
A nice story, but highly unlikely that Mary Magdalaine would escape unscathed.

The Bible says we are born sinful. That makes no sense. None of the ten commandments have been broken by a new-born baby.

Never said so. I expect the majority of people to stumble over the truth, look upon it and then walk away like nothing happened.

The Bible also state that you shouldn't ask questions, you should just believe.
But why would you believe in a religion if you didn't think it was better or more truthful than the others?

That's not the point. There are many parables like this in the Bible to give a message. The main point is that Jesus changed how people thought. Basically we shouldn't judge and murder people for commiting sin when we are all guilty of sinning. It's like the death punishment. The people who sentence the people of deathrow to death have all sinned themselves and by killing another man of sin, they are doing exactly what the prisoner has done and are sending a message to "not kill each other" by killing a convict. And its about forgiving sins and asking for forgiveness. The cheif priests asked Jesus whether to stone the women or not to try to test him and see what he thought about the situation, so Jesus gave the message that everyone will sin, but we must repent and ask for forgiveness

The Bible states that we were created good but born sinful. A new born baby hasn't sinned but has been stained with original sin based on Adam and Eve. Humans are not necessairly born evil but just born with original sin. Theres a difference. We have the capabilities to sin and therefor, since the Bible states that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they sinned and had it in them to sin. The main point is no baby has sinned when they're born obviously, but are born with original stain of sin and as when they grow up, they will have the capablities to sin

You're not getting the point. It's about having faith. Ofcourse if you stumble upon something you don't understand in the Bible or you are a newly convert to Christianity you will ask questions. The point I make is when Jesus resurrected and came again in physical form, one of the disciples (Thomas) heard of Jesus meeting with the other disciples and he says that unless he sees, he will not believe. And Jesus tells him that blessed are those who haven't seen, yet believe, since Thomas was with Jesus for so long and didn't believe that it was Jesus whom the disciples has seen. Jesus implied that he should have more faith in him after being with him for so long. That is all. This is probobly what you imply when you say that it says in the Bible that you shouldn't question it because the point the Bible makes is not "don't question the Bible", its really don't test God, but tests the spirits who say they come from God. But if you want to come to peace and understanding, you must ask and question everything. That is how you will gain an understanding of what you believe in and understand. There is a difference between not having faith and questioning

[jberg]

religion is a personal choice and has no direct proportion to IQ or intelligence. i think many people who reject religion however, are people who have the capacity (mentally) to challenge wat they are told.

[Don Corleone]

No I disputed you knowing for sure that you are "from" there. 2500 years is a long time and if the incredible well documented family trees of the European aristocracy get lost in the quagmire of time after 1000 years then a non-royal from a turbulant region cannot trace back their lineage with any degree of certainty over 2500 years, especially as the end of the babylonian empire came about through conquest. If you choose to believe that you are descended from the noble Babylonians then that's up to you but you should understand that it is a matter of faith and not fact.



How many tens of millions of British and Americans erroniously believe themselves to be Anglo-Saxon?



Firsty there is no such thing as an ethnic ******. Are you talking about Arab ******s? Persian ******s? How about Indonesians? Algerians? Nigerians? So saying that an unspecified ethnic group can somehow trace their roots back to a biblical figure who may or may not have existed without the use of written records is not exactly supporting your case.



The Mayans are another extremely poor choice of example. There were several distinct Mayan groups who continually conquered one another until the collapse of Mayan civilisation. Around the collapse they were conquered by Spanish conquistadors. Former Mayan lands now make up Mexico.

Could you do me a favour and break your posts up into smaller paragraphs? It's hard to read when you hsve a 400 word block of text.

Ye but see this is where I don't get. Many question the validity of the Bible and question it based on whether they are facts or myths. But something I don't understand is that many people put too much faith on what scientists and books say. Just because European aristocracy have trouble tracing their roots back to 1000 BCE, doesn't that mean that they can't or that no one can at all. There are people of ancient civilizations who have made it today. That is why we are here, because of our ancestors. Our ancestors all had a place in ancient civilization, and some can tell where they are from and others have difficulty. You have a point in saying that no one can specifically and accurately trace their roots that far, but it is not impossible. I don't like the notion that because a royal European family cannot trace their roots back, then its imposssible and can never be done because a timeline isn't the only thing needed to test whether people are from the ancient times. A timeline isn't much without the needed artifacts and languages that people spoke to go along with it

Also what you are not understanding is that the ancient Mesopotamians weren't a small dynasty. They were pretty large considering what they accomplished and who they ended up conquering. I also believe that you think it was made up of a few tribes when really it wasn't. Overall, there were many dynasties that ruled back and forth, over a considerable and significant period of time. It was the Babylonians who took control of the tribes of Judah and held them captive, forcing the Kingdom and people of Israel to be destroyed. The Babylonians were mentioned in many artifacts and in many writings of ancient people that were passed along (including the Old Testament or Torah if you are a ***,Christian or even ******). You should also know that one of the ancient 7 wonders of the world was in Babylon (The Hanging Gardens of Babylon), in which the Chaldean king Nebuchadnezzar built a huge garden palace for his sick wife.

The fact that artifacts and ancient writing and tablets from the oldest period in history are still in possesion by the us (Chaldean/Assyrians) which were passed by our ancestors and great grandfathers through many generations which also astonished scientists and historians, shows somewhat that we do exist today. I think the fact that roughly 4 million people speak the language of the old times (with some changes in words) and are the only people in the world to have carried on from ancient Mesopotamia is amazing considering many languages and people never made it through

On the part about the ******s, the actually have a timeline that shows somewhat where they came about being and how they evolved over time and their geneolgy and some of their ancestors. Whether its true or not is based on how people look at it, but it doesn't mean that is cannot happen because a few scientists say so

[jberg]

wat is the oldest religion still in practice?
id guess hinduism or *******?

[tyson]

That's not the point. There are many parables like this in the Bible to give a message. The main point is that Jesus changed how people thought. Basically we shouldn't judge and murder people for commiting sin when we are all guilty of sinning. It's like the death punishment. The people who sentence the people of deathrow to death have all sinned themselves and by killing another man of sin, they are doing exactly what the prisoner has done and are sending a message to "not kill each other" by killing a convict. And its about forgiving sins and asking for forgiveness. The cheif priests asked Jesus whether to stone the women or not to try to test him and see what he thought about the situation, so Jesus gave the message that everyone will sin, but we must repent and ask for forgiveness

What I said is of great significance actually, because if the point is only the message Jesus was saying, not that it actually happened, then it kind of proves that the events described in the Bible are nothing more than fairy tales to make a point out of the common sense it is trying to forward.
There is nothing astonishing by saying "those who never stole anything in their life can chop of the hands of that thief".
It seems fairly obvious that the whole situation described in that passage is nothing more than a metaphor to explain in picture form the message (common sense) Jesus was trying to teach.

The Bible states that we were created good but born sinful. A new born baby hasn't sinned but has been stained with original sin based on Adam and Eve. Humans are not necessairly born evil but just born with original sin. Theres a difference. We have the capabilities to sin and therefor, since the Bible states that Adam and Eve disobeyed God, they sinned and had it in them to sin. The main point is no baby has sinned when they're born obviously, but are born with original stain of sin and as when they grow up, they will have the capablities to sin

That is just plain ****ing ridiculous. I have the capability to commit murder, and therefore I should be treated as a murderer. Put on a edge, that is exactly what you (the Bible) are saying.
If God are so loving and caring and forgiving that he has to punish the entire human race for all eternity because Adam & Eve were disobidient, then I think I'm far better off worshipping someone else. Jesus.

You're not getting the point. It's about having faith.

You avoid every question. Why would you believe in christianity if you didn't think the religion was better/more correct than the others?

[tyson]

wat is the oldest religion still in practice?
id guess hinduism or *******?

Thelema, hands down.

Although the religion itself didn't have a name on it before the 20th century.