Religious Question

[Xyei]

An atheist believes there is no god, period.

Yes, someone who doesn't rule out the fact that there may be a god is agnostic.

[tyson]

"From an academic and literary point of view, the Bible stands head and shoulders above any other book ever written, yet it is largely ignored in academia. It has sold over eight billion copies in more than 2,000 languages. It was written by 40 different men over a period of 1,600 years yet it remains united in its content. It has survived 40 centuries of history. It has more ancient manuscripts to authenticate it than any other ten pieces of ancient literature put together.
In fact there are over 5,000 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament, the oldest dating to around 68AD. Compare this with only nine old copies of 'Caesar's Gallic War' and the oldest of these is 900 years after Caesar died. Yet nobody questions these?
When copying was being carried out, the Hebrew scribes had enormous reverence for the text of the Bible. Copies were checked, double checked and re-checked many times. If a small mistake was made, the whole page would be re-written. When they came to the word 'Yaweh' meaning God, they would burn the pen and change their clothes. Only photocopying is more accurate than the methods they followed to preserve the accuracy and integrity of the text.
One would think that those who occupy the seats of higher learning would acknowledge the obvious literary merits of the Bible.
It was, after all:
· The source of over 1200 quotations used by William Shakespeare in his works.
· The inspiration for literary giants such as Milton, C.S. Lewis, Sir Walter Scott and Charles ****ens.
· The Inspiration for Da Vinci's Last Supper, Michelangelo's Pieta and Handel's Messiah which he wrote in 21 days, the entire text coming from The Book of Isaiah.
· The motivation for the work of Mother Theresa, Abraham Lincoln, Isaac Newton and Martin Luther King.
Yet despite its unequalled position as an academic document, the Bible is ignored and withheld from students of literary works. It is sidelined and boycotted and scoffed at in favour of lesser works of men. You would think that even the humanist non-believer would pay tribute to the academic worth of this mighty tome, and the effect it has had on the history of civilisation. But no, all are silent."

[Cuauhtémoc1520]

Well, I might sound that way, but nothing could be further from the truth.

My point in that post wasn't to bash Christianity. It was to point out that we are told to not ask questions because that equals not having faith.
See, this is what I mean. No where in the Bible does it say not to question things and no preacher, priest, or any other leader of a church should or would persuade you to follow blindly without asking questions.
And it's also foolish to discuss the literal texts of the Bible unless you know exactly what the original texts in the original language said.
Because, as you probably know, there are many mis-translations and errors in the Bible as you and me kow it.
Another falsehood. The Bible has never ever been changed nor does it contradict it'self. Yes the Bible has been translated many times and YES the Bible has changed in the sense that one language cannot perfectly translate to another BUT...the original texts from which the Bible was written are still in existence, so any change would not only be unacceptable but would incur wrath of Christian and ***ish scholars both.
You want to bring intellect into the discussion, but yet you say Jesus was a real figure in history. Says who?
The Bible. And The Bible only.
Whether or not he was the Son of God, it is baffling that a man that spectacular hasn't been mentioned anywhere outside The Bible.
Why would that be? This is why I say you sound ignorant, Jesus was a real figure NOT ONLY IN THE BIBLE. I can give you many, many references where Jesus is mentioned outside the Bible from him being a leader among the ***s to his crucifixion Heres a web site that lists his mentioning outside the Bible for proof.

If you take away the talk about God from Jesus, he says nothing more than any other great prophet, like Buddha & Krishna.
He talks about morals and values, much like common sense.
Again I can see you never read the Bible or the words of Jesus. His message is much different and not at all vague or generalized as you put it. Like I said agree or disagree but the facts are you should READ the texts first and undertsand the teachings
Being ignorant means to ignore what is right there in front of you.

There is absolutely no evidence of Moses leading a whole nation from Egypt to Canaan (Israel). Not a word about the enslavement nor the release in Egypt's history. Not a single piece of artifact found on the route they travelled to support the story.
And everything got written down in Egypt.
Don't ignore that.

Maybe Jesus did exist, I won't rule that out. But what did he actually say?
Could he have been repeating the teachings of Buddha, with his own twist?

Again, JEsus message was very unique to the ***ish people. Trying to corralate the two is a stretch to say the least. Yes they both talked about morals but their messages were unique to their people.

[Ta Khent]

Listen with all due respect, you sound very ignorant. I hate it when people take these kinds of discussions on and yet have spent no time understanding the very thing they are trying to discuss.

I'm not here to convince you that God exists, I could care less if you believe or not. What I am trying to do is turn the argument in a more intellectual path. Christianity, like all other religions have theologies that cannot be explained by someone who has never read or understands the religious text. Jesus was a real figure in history, now whether you believe he was the son of God is a completely different argument.

Don't take what "Christians" say or do as a representation of what Christianity is. People are flawed, the teachings of Jesus are not. To try and understand Christianity isn't very easy, there are a lot of arguments for and against it.

I think what is more important is that you look at the teachings of Jesus and ask yourself if they are something worthy of following or do you think they are harmful. Again, don't take what so-called Christians do as an example of these teachings.

What makes you think Jesus was real other than your perception? And please, do not say "because Bible says so".

[Don Corleone]

I think these days is is more apparent that less and less people believe in God. One reason can be since you cannot hear,see,smell,taste or feel him then you can't believe in God. It's up to people to decide what they believe in. But one can look to the Bible for words of wisdom. And even if you don't read, you can look through your mind and forget all aspects that are distracting and just focus on how you came to being here. This isn't a choice to just decide in a matter of hours. This is a life changer. Most people tend not to believe in God because they believe that there is no one there when they are danger. But when we stop to think about it, we only tend to believe in God when we need him. People who aren't in danger and are fine off with no problems never stop to think about God or pray to him based on what their faith is. I sometimes find difficulties believing that there isn't someone or a Being watching us and that this whole universe was made by mistake. No one can answer where God came from because we don't know the answers and maybe we shouldn't. There is always the where did the energy from the big **** come from to scientists and the where did God come from to religious people. If you are of a religion which believes in the Garden of Eden especially in Christianity, then you will know that man sinned and therefore is capable of sin. There are many religions in the world but when you really look at them, the have many ideas in common

[Jambo boy]

I think these days is is more apparent that less and less people believe in God. One reason can be since you cannot hear,see,smell,taste or feel him then you can't believe in God. It's up to people to decide what they believe in. But one can look to the Bible for words of wisdom. And even if you don't read, you can look through your mind and forget all aspects that are distracting and just focus on how you came to being here. This isn't a choice to just decide in a matter of hours. This is a life changer. Most people tend not to believe in God because they believe that there is no one there when they are danger. But when we stop to think about it, we only tend to believe in God when we need him. People who aren't in danger and are fine off with no problems never stop to think about God or pray to him based on what their faith is. I sometimes find difficulties believing that there isn't someone or a Being watching us and that this whole universe was made by mistake. No one can answer where God came from because we don't know the answers and maybe we shouldn't. There is always the where did the energy from the big **** come from to scientists and the where did God come from to religious people. If you are of a religion which believes in the Garden of Eden especially in Christianity, then you will know that man sinned and therefore is capable of sin. There are many religions in the world but when you really look at them, the have many ideas in common

Are you a christian sugar?

[Texanballer]

The cross and the crucifixion is not traits of Jesus alone.

Every sun-god shares those attributes. Wanna know why?

Because on December 22, the sun stops its descent, rests for three days in the vicinity of a cross-constillation on the night sky and then "resurrects" after three days on the December 25th.

The ten commandments were written down in The Book of the Dead, in the oldest civilization we know of.
"I have not killed" became "Thou shall not kill"
"I have not stolen" became "Thou shall not steal"

These are facts. Is it possible that this could be the origins of Christianity?

Jesus was Crucified and he resurrected during Easter, which is March/APRIL time. He was born on Christmas. So the sun God resurrecting on Christmas is completely different from Christ being born on Christmas, no correlation. Catholicism was the 1st branch of Christianity. When Jesus was around and his disciples, what they were celebrating was Catholic teachings and rituals. Mixed with *******. So after Jesus everyone who was Christian was Catholic. But then you had some people who didnt want to live strict live, ex the King of England wanted to get Divorced from his wife due to the fact she would not bare a son, then he goes off and Creates the Anglican Church. All the other branches of Christianity were created by individual people who did not like the Catholic teachings.

[Jambo boy]

The cross is a representation of Jesus Christ being cruficied. I dont think the sun god was crucified was he? Jesus was 100 percent man and 100 percent divine. I am not sure if the Sun Gods were like that, someone who was actually with people, intereacted with the people, and suffered for the people. Anyways the 10 commandments were given to Moses by God

I got a hypothetical fantasy type question. For the non believers lets just say for conversation, i dont know Jesus comes back to earth and is God is going to burn it as it says in the bible, and Jesus is there to take all his brothers and sisters to heaven, now liek i said for discussion are you all still going to be the hell with God and Religion or will you all wither and ask for forgiveness? End of the world type situation

If Jesus came back to earth, the first thing I would do is ask him to convince my cynical mind of the possibilty of any God being real. In fact there would be many questions I would ask him, i'm sure most people would ask the same, why do we suffer etc. etc. But I would also ask him exactly what happened in his opinion when he was alive, if he ever was.
I would mostly want proof. If he could provide this proof, which I think most people know he wouldn't be able to, then I would have to think about it. If he couldn't however, I would probably kick him in the nuts.

[Jambo boy]

Jesus was Crucified and he resurrected during Easter, which is March/APRIL time. He was born on Christmas. So the sun God resurrecting on Christmas is completely different from Christ being born on Christmas, no correlation. Catholicism was the 1st branch of Christianity. When Jesus was around and his disciples, what they were celebrating was Catholic teachings and rituals. Mixed with *******. So after Jesus everyone who was Christian was Catholic. But then you had some people who didnt want to live strict live, ex the King of England wanted to get Divorced from his wife due to the fact she would not bare a son, then he goes off and Creates the Anglican Church. All the other branches of Christianity were created by individual people who did not like the Catholic teachings.

Basically everything except the king henry viii statement is incorrect. Jesus apparently wasn't born in December and didn't die at Easter. Even if he did how can it be proven. Also the Romans killed Jesus, why would the disciples say, I know lets name our 'branch' of christianity after the romans.

[tyson]

Jesus was Crucified and he resurrected during Easter, which is March/APRIL time. He was born on Christmas. So the sun God resurrecting on Christmas is completely different from Christ being born on Christmas, no correlation. Catholicism was the 1st branch of Christianity. When Jesus was around and his disciples, what they were celebrating was Catholic teachings and rituals. Mixed with *******. So after Jesus everyone who was Christian was Catholic. But then you had some people who didnt want to live strict live, ex the King of England wanted to get Divorced from his wife due to the fact she would not bare a son, then he goes off and Creates the Anglican Church. All the other branches of Christianity were created by individual people who did not like the Catholic teachings.

Again, that is nothing more than another metaphor.

Easter is nothing more than when the day overcomes the night. Good defeats evil, light vs dark.
That's a representation of Jesus' (Sun) resurrection.

The Catholic church, the same church that's trying to push upon you new commandments, can not be considered any more or less truthful than any other branch of Christianity.