Stop having so many damn kids; population control, anyone?

[Carlene 12]

I agree with Carlene...Only God does.

As a catholic I can tell you that the church is very different now.....my 90 year old grandmother (Bless her heart) keeps saying that is wonderful how now ,all religions view each other as brothers and sisters in Christ...when before we were all about attacking each other

Your grandmother obviously does not spend much time hanging out here....LOL

[Carlene 12]

Well ..It was a pleasure being here with you.......see you some other time.

God Bless...Maro

Ciao, Maro.

[skyeblu79 0]

I THINK they are Catholic. But whatever they are they are going thru alot. I am not damning religion by any means. As i have said before i am very curious about and want to understand it.

Also understnad that i was born to a sicilian catholic father and presbyterian mother.

I went to :

a presbyterian church for 3 yrs

a catholic church for 2

a quaker meeting for 5

a baptist church for 4

A black baptist (*very different then white baptist and the most fun of them all ) for 1

This was so i could see how different people study religion. So i am not religionless as you may think, i am more agnostic after the whole thing. I see it more as a pissing contest on who can love someone/something more. But as far as religion itself i am sorry if anyone here gets the idea that i dont respect people with religion. to me it is nothing special. I dont belive there is a heaven or hell. I think my flesh rots and i am gone.

Say i am wrong and go to hell.... well! i know there will be alot of people there that i would know. If there is a heaven and i happen to pass the test then score for me. But i am not dedicating my whole life on this earth to something that i can not see, touch, hold or enjoy. I would rather have a pet. But that is just how i feel. I do not feel that you are bad or stupid bc you like god. What ever floats everyones boat! Just dont make laws that are religious soaked that mean i have no control of my body.

I have grew up as a Baptist and chose to continue as an adult. You have to do what fits you (which you are doing). I don't have any doubts there is a God. You can't see it, touch, hold or enjoy...But I can feel and enjoy it. What ever floats your boat? I think almost everyone have questioned themselves about what they believe @ some point. I remember the day I stopped and why. I have also visited other churches, etc. out of interest. After 9/11 I took a some classes on Islam just to get a better understanding. It was very interesting.

Oh, and you may be thinking about someone else. I have already stated I am pro-choice.

And, what does it matter who you will see in hell? 1- you don't believe in hell, right and 2-does it serve any purpose in your life?

And I don't know you so I really can't say if you respect other people's religious beliefs. I don't remember you saying anything directed to me or anyone else.

[GeezerSue 7]

Wow! I go away scuba diving for one day and this whole thread changes! Pam, I am very much impressed with your calm, thorough presentation of the Gospel. Kudos to you. I don't know if I could add anything except one thing, to whoever it was that commented that because there are more Christians than non-Christians around the world, therefore the Christians can't be right. The quantity of people who believe in something doesn't always determine correctness. Just speak with Galileo or Columbus about that.

Let's give credit where credit is due, gadgetlady. I am the one who said that there are more non-Christians...YOU are the one who said "therefore the Christians can't be right." Paranoid a little?

[gadgetlady 4]

Let's give credit where credit is due, gadgetlady. I am the one who said that there are more non-Christians...YOU are the one who said "therefore the Christians can't be right." Paranoid a little?

You're right. I went back and looked. You didn't say it, you implied it. My apologies.

And no, I'm not paranoid at all.

Have a great night tonight and day tomorrow, everyone! I'm off to go fishing!

[GeezerSue 7]

You're right. I went back and looked. You didn't say it, you implied it. My apologies.

And no, I'm not paranoid at all.

Have a great night tonight and day tomorrow, everyone! I'm off to go fishing!

You might want to try it yet again...never give up and all. It was not my intention to imply that because Christians are outnumbered by non-Christians, they cannot be correct. That would be an odd position--certainly not one I'd take--coming from an atheist.

[Boo Boo Kitty 3]

And just because someone does support another woman's right to choose what is best for her life, does NOT make her a non-christian. I have even discussed my feelings with my pastor, and while he is pro-life he understands my feelings and does not try to change them.

P.s. He still loves me too!

[Big girl banded 0]

Oh, and you may be thinking about someone else. I have already stated I am pro-choice.

And I don't know you so I really can't say if you respect other people's religious beliefs. I don't remember you saying anything directed to me or anyone else.

No no. I wasnt speaking directly to you. I was more clarifying a few things to the board since there have been some other comments and such.

Sorry if i confused you. I type much slower then i talk. Sometimes it doesnt work out real well. :lol:

[skyeblu79 0]

No no. I wasnt speaking directly to you. I was more clarifying a few things to the board since there have been some other comments and such.

Sorry if i confused you. I type much slower then i talk. Sometimes it doesnt work out real well. :lol:

No problem. I type faster than I can think. I thought maybe you were thinking of someone else.

[Sunta 5]

The unpardonable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God's power in Christ. It indicates a deliberate and irreversible hardness of the heart.

I believe with my whole heart and soul, not by any hardness of heart and not by defiance, but I just truly, deeply believe, that Jesus as we know him in the bible, is mythology, the same as Greek mythology, Indian mythology, or any other religious mythology.

After thinking for myself and carefully examining the evidence, I've decided that Jesus may or may not have lived in history, but that the lore that grew up around him was hand-picked by kings, based on other ancient God's stories, revised by hundreds of people over hundreds of years, and is totally implausable, and therefore, is not true.

I know that other gospels and texts have been purposely suppressed by the church, and that the bible was written with a direct agenda which included keeping women from holding positions of power (priest, etc) in the church.

I know that other texts have surfaced which have just as much historical validity as the scriptures, and that they are dismissed by Christians as "false." Now, what makes these documents "false" and the scriptures "true"? Is it simply because your pastor/priest says so?

I see alot of people not thinking critically, but just believing whatever they are told without questioning the validity of what they are being told, or thinking about what they really believe. The things that they really believe are impossible according to the laws of science and nature, and they are impossible according to everything we know to be true.

The story has been told many times, and long before Christ's arrival on the scene: The child who will be the savior of his people is born surrounded by miracles. His mother became pregnant under mysterious circumstances and/or godly intervention. His birth was lowly, not fit for a king or a god. The birth was foretold and announced by miracles and cosmic signs. He performs miracles unlike any other person, feats of superhuman ability. This is Jesus's stroy, but it is also the story of Adonis, Dionysus, Mithras, Arthur, and hundreds of other god and heroes of myth, legend and religion. If you want to read texts very similar to the bible but written long before, check out Egyptians Orisis and Horus and the Greek God Dionysis. There you can read stories about feeding a multitude, raising people from the dead, battling temptation from Satan (or "Set" as in the case of Horus), changing Water into wine (Dionysis did this at a wedding), riding into town on a donkey with the crowd waving foliage, trial before a ruler, crucifixion and resurrection (also Dionysis, only a Pegasus took him to heaven instead of being magically ascended). These are just two Gods out of hundreds where identical situations/characterizations to Jesus occured in the text. Most likely the bible was gleaned from many Gods over time, and compiled into one just monotheistic figure, who is Jesus. If I went and gathered all of the myths from lots and lots of Gods, I could give so many more examples, but I don't have time.

Just as we do not believe in ancient Greek and/or Egyptian mythology, because it is too fantastical, so I do not believe in Jesus.

I know the appeal and the strong lure of hoping, wishing, and praying that these things are/were true, but unfortunately, they are not. Everything that we know to be true, every principal of what we know to be fact, runs contrary to belief in these things.

That, combined with the examples cited above of pre-Jesus myths that tell the exact same story, I can deduct that Jesus was a mythological figure compiled from other mythology.

And that is the reason I become so angry when belief in this mythological figure shapes our laws.

The pupose of this post is not to inflame, but to explain and inform regarding my beliefs, and I hope no one is offended. This is simply what I believe. I think people should be free to believe whatever they want to, I really do, I just don't want laws made based on their religious beliefs.

[Carlene 12]

From Martin Luther's Definition of Faith...

Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do.

[Alexandra 55]

From Martin Luther's Definition of Faith...

Ask God to work faith in you, or you will remain forever without faith, no matter what you wish, say or can do.

And sometimes, even this doesn't work.

[GeezerSue 7]

The unpardonable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God's power in Christ. It indicates a deliberate and irreversible hardness of the heart.

I believe with my whole heart and soul, not by any hardness of heart and not by defiance, but I just truly, deeply believe, that Jesus as we know him in the bible, is mythology, the same as Greek mythology, Indian mythology, or any other religious mythology.

After thinking for myself and carefully examining the evidence, I've decided that Jesus may or may not have lived in history, but that the lore that grew up around him was hand-picked by kings, based on other ancient God's stories, revised by hundreds of people over hundreds of years, and is totally implausable, and therefore, is not true.

I know that other gospels and texts have been purposely suppressed by the church, and that the bible was written with a direct agenda which included keeping women from holding positions of power (priest, etc) in the church.

I know that other texts have surfaced which have just as much historical validity as the scriptures, and that they are dismissed by Christians as "false." Now, what makes these documents "false" and the scriptures "true"? Is it simply because your pastor/priest says so?

I see alot of people not thinking critically, but just believing whatever they are told without questioning the validity of what they are being told, or thinking about what they really believe. The things that they really believe are impossible according to the laws of science and nature, and they are impossible according to everything we know to be true.

The story has been told many times, and long before Christ's arrival on the scene: The child who will be the savior of his people is born surrounded by miracles. His mother became pregnant under mysterious circumstances and/or godly intervention. His birth was lowly, not fit for a king or a god. The birth was foretold and announced by miracles and cosmic signs. He performs miracles unlike any other person, feats of superhuman ability. This is Jesus's stroy, but it is also the story of Adonis, Dionysus, Mithras, Arthur, and hundreds of other god and heroes of myth, legend and religion. If you want to read texts very similar to the bible but written long before, check out Egyptians Orisis and Horus and the Greek God Dionysis. There you can read stories about feeding a multitude, raising people from the dead, battling temptation from Satan (or "Set" as in the case of Horus), changing Water into wine (Dionysis did this at a wedding), riding into town on a donkey with the crowd waving foliage, trial before a ruler, crucifixion and resurrection (also Dionysis, only a Pegasus took him to heaven instead of being magically ascended). These are just two Gods out of hundreds where identical situations/characterizations to Jesus occured in the text. Most likely the bible was gleaned from many Gods over time, and compiled into one just monotheistic figure, who is Jesus. If I went and gathered all of the myths from lots and lots of Gods, I could give so many more examples, but I don't have time.

Just as we do not believe in ancient Greek and/or Egyptian mythology, because it is too fantastical, so I do not believe in Jesus.

I know the appeal and the strong lure of hoping, wishing, and praying that these things are/were true, but unfortunately, they are not. Everything that we know to be true, every principal of what we know to be fact, runs contrary to belief in these things.

That, combined with the examples cited above of pre-Jesus myths that tell the exact same story, I can deduct that Jesus was a mythological figure compiled from other mythology.

And that is the reason I become so angry when belief in this mythological figure shapes our laws.

The pupose of this post is not to inflame, but to explain and inform regarding my beliefs, and I hope no one is offended. This is simply what I believe. I think people should be free to believe whatever they want to, I really do, I just don't want laws made based on their religious beliefs.

Eloquent. Thank you.

[Carlene 12]

If you want to read texts very similar to the bible but written long before, check out Egyptians Orisis and Horus and the Greek God Dionysis.

Sunta...

Your very scholarly post was fun to read and you are correct that many myths of gods existed long before Christ's birth, but so did the history, written and oral, of God's existence, the creation of the world, and the Israelites flight from Egypt. The legends of gods of Rome and Greece and Egypt are, indeed, older than Christ, but Christ's coming was foretold for centuries before his birth. It is not surprising that some of the same details appear in various myths as are found in the Gospels.

The Catholic Church, which has existed for 2000 years, maintains a huge repository of scrolls and ancient texts in the Vatican which, while not part of any Bible, certainly lend support and credence to the faith of the Church and the doctrine of Jesus, the Son of Man.

I am not a person who interprets the Bible literally. Like you, I believe that way too much Water (and not a little wine) has gone under the bridge for that. There are just too many inconsistancies...too many contradictions. Logic tells me that if God had meant for us to use the Bible as a literal rule book, he would have given us something less ambiguous - like Religion for Dummies. And yet, I believe. Because I have faith. Quicksilver of the heart...that undefinable, illogical certainty deep inside me that says I am a child of God, created in His likeness, and heir to a heavenly kingdom. For no reason that I can ever explain, I believe.

[skyeblu79 0]

The unpardonable sin is the deliberate refusal to acknowledge God's power in Christ. It indicates a deliberate and irreversible hardness of the heart.

I believe with my whole heart and soul, not by any hardness of heart and not by defiance, but I just truly, deeply believe, that Jesus as we know him in the bible, is mythology, the same as Greek mythology, Indian mythology, or any other religious mythology.

After thinking for myself and carefully examining the evidence, I've decided that Jesus may or may not have lived in history, but that the lore that grew up around him was hand-picked by kings, based on other ancient God's stories, revised by hundreds of people over hundreds of years, and is totally implausable, and therefore, is not true.

I know that other gospels and texts have been purposely suppressed by the church, and that the bible was written with a direct agenda which included keeping women from holding positions of power (priest, etc) in the church.

I know that other texts have surfaced which have just as much historical validity as the scriptures, and that they are dismissed by Christians as "false." Now, what makes these documents "false" and the scriptures "true"? Is it simply because your pastor/priest says so?

I see alot of people not thinking critically, but just believing whatever they are told without questioning the validity of what they are being told, or thinking about what they really believe. The things that they really believe are impossible according to the laws of science and nature, and they are impossible according to everything we know to be true.

The story has been told many times, and long before Christ's arrival on the scene: The child who will be the savior of his people is born surrounded by miracles. His mother became pregnant under mysterious circumstances and/or godly intervention. His birth was lowly, not fit for a king or a god. The birth was foretold and announced by miracles and cosmic signs. He performs miracles unlike any other person, feats of superhuman ability. This is Jesus's stroy, but it is also the story of Adonis, Dionysus, Mithras, Arthur, and hundreds of other god and heroes of myth, legend and religion. If you want to read texts very similar to the bible but written long before, check out Egyptians Orisis and Horus and the Greek God Dionysis. There you can read stories about feeding a multitude, raising people from the dead, battling temptation from Satan (or "Set" as in the case of Horus), changing Water into wine (Dionysis did this at a wedding), riding into town on a donkey with the crowd waving foliage, trial before a ruler, crucifixion and resurrection (also Dionysis, only a Pegasus took him to heaven instead of being magically ascended). These are just two Gods out of hundreds where identical situations/characterizations to Jesus occured in the text. Most likely the bible was gleaned from many Gods over time, and compiled into one just monotheistic figure, who is Jesus. If I went and gathered all of the myths from lots and lots of Gods, I could give so many more examples, but I don't have time.

Just as we do not believe in ancient Greek and/or Egyptian mythology, because it is too fantastical, so I do not believe in Jesus.

I know the appeal and the strong lure of hoping, wishing, and praying that these things are/were true, but unfortunately, they are not. Everything that we know to be true, every principal of what we know to be fact, runs contrary to belief in these things.

That, combined with the examples cited above of pre-Jesus myths that tell the exact same story, I can deduct that Jesus was a mythological figure compiled from other mythology.

And that is the reason I become so angry when belief in this mythological figure shapes our laws.

The pupose of this post is not to inflame, but to explain and inform regarding my beliefs, and I hope no one is offended. This is simply what I believe. I think people should be free to believe whatever they want to, I really do, I just don't want laws made based on their religious beliefs.

Interesting read....I know how you feel in a way though. It's the same for me, like you said you can kind of relate Jesus to Greek Mythology. For me, it's interesting to read what you say, it's like a reading a textbook.

I think we all have different thought processes. We learn differently. Kind of like Howard Gardner's theory of intelligence. We are all made differently, look differently, feel differently, something may smell differently. We don't/can't relate to things the same maybe b/c of our differences. Part of critical thinking is elevating, observing, etc. Maybe they feel like they have sound evidence and they have done these things. I can't say it's not. Something may make complete sense to you and make none to me.

No one can explain mother's intuition or why twins know certain things about each other. I can't explain why I know stuff is going to happen sometimes.....but I can.