Religion

To go with the flow? To congregate with a "responsible" group of people? Because of a spiritual or God experience you had? To find a "good" girl? Because you were just raised that way? Because it just makes sense, in a philosophical sort of way? Just to be on the safe side? Because it was written?

The Friendly Atheist linked recently linked to this article by Jan Jaben-Eilon about jews being harassed by their Christian friends. The first paragraph: This was timely to me because there I have a few family members on facebook who are convinced they, as Christians, are persecuted by secularism. I have a hard time understanding why. It seems to me that secularism is something that allows us the freedom to have our own beliefs. So, my question: why do some (not all) Christians believe that secularism persecutes Christians?

Hello all, Recently, I came across this argument for the existence of god: 1) DNA is a code 2) All codes we know the origin of are created by a mind 3) So, DNA was created by a mind Basically, it's saying that since all the codes we have observed (language, programming languages, morse code etc) have all been created by a mind it is reasonable to assume that DNA was also created by a mind. The writer of the argument goes on to say that there are no instances of naturally occurring codes so the syllogism is inductively valid. However, even if we accept the assertion that there are no naturally occurring codes, I believe that the argument is using a false anal…

Unlike the Quran, there are many accepted translations of the Bible that Christians regard as holy. The Muslims like to tell us that the Bible got corrupted over time. Through the process of translating from one language to another, how likely is it that the Bible maintained it's original meaning entirely to how they were in Hebrew (as is the case with the Old Testament) and Greek (New Testament)? How accurate is the process of translation? Is it possible to translate from one language to another without altering the original meaning? I have heard that it is impossible to do this but is this correct/incorrect? Also, as language changes, for example the Eng…

Evolution favours survival. So, (specifically referring only to humans) why must we die? What is the point of (Nature, God, whatever) creating the most advanced, most complex organism in the universe and then killing it? I can understand deaths through random events, predators microscopic and macroscopic, but I fail to see the point of ageing, an unnecessary and cruel process that deliberately leads to death. I dismiss a priori any replies mentioning death as ‘a necessary means for making room for new generations’, natural selection, and the like. We can also evolve and attain higher levels of fitness by living healthily for many centuries or millennia.

One sometimes hears of murder cases where the defendant thought they were battling demons or that God told them to do it. They are immediately labelled by the religious as insane. How can we make that judgement, though? If they are part of a religious tradition that teaches that demons are real (and can possess people) and that God literally tells people to kill others, how can we tell fervent belief from mental illness? Are religious people only sane if they don't really believe what their story books say? Are literalists sane? Where and how do we draw the line? If you hear a voice in your head claiming to be God and it tells you to kill your child (j…

Hi. When a fanatic, group of fanatics, obeying a recognized leader and such leader obeying a god's command, commit genocides, who is guilty ? The leader; the god; the executors of the crimes; or all of them ? Who , if anyone, should not be charged / judged with the religious crime ? (As by following orders) In the case of the military, same question, without god... The top chief, the field commander, the soldiers...

What does everyone make of this? It is a little misleading to the public. Why do you think the cross neclace is such a popular accessory today amongst our non-religious youth? Would you ever wear one if you were not Christian/Catholic?

Is wearing rosary beads around your neck antigod?

There was another thread in this subforum which had a thread called "Defining God." I read part of it and the first post seemed to be interesting - of course I'm finding it difficult to concentrate today. A while back I created a web page entitled The Word"God" and placed it here http://home.comcast.net/~peter.m.brown/religion/the_word_god.htm I'd love to hear some feedback on the content. Thanks. Best wishes, Pete

My expose of Revelation 17 and 18. Sam. Newest pdf Revelation 17 and 18..pdf

Hi http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com/2907-science-religion-god-physics.html Over the past few centuries, science can be said to have gradually chipped away at the traditional grounds for believing in God. Much of what once seemed mysterious the existence of humanity, the life-bearing perfection of Earth, the workings of the universe can now be explained by biology, astronomy, physics and other domains of science. Although cosmic mysteries remain, Sean Carroll, a theoretical cosmologist at the California Institute of Technology, says there's good reason to think science will ultimately arrive at a complete understanding of the universe that leaves no gro…

If one preserves these statements then Christianity will live forever. Colossians 2:9 "Christ has each within him, whether human being or angel or mystery" (Gospel of Philip 56:14-15). "People cannot see anything in the real realm unless they become it...if you have seen the spirit, you have become the spirit; if you have seen Christ, you have become Christ; if you have seen the Father, you will become the Father" (Gospel of Philip 61:20-32 cf. 67:26-27)

If you could change places with God for a while what would your first, lets say, ten acts be?

What non-religious motivations could one have for reading the Bible? And also, what are some benefits that it can have to read it for an atheist/agnostic? Is it best if people stopped reading books such as the Bible? Many people who are atheist/agnostic have not read the Bible or gotten extensive exposure to religion. Should people get extensive exposure to different religions before labelling themselves atheist/agnostic? Why do you think that the Bible is the most popular published book of all time? Is it the best book ever created after-all?

Creator/Author: Khalid Masood [independent Researcher] Merging space and time to-gether into space-time was a good idea. And merging space-time into time is my dangerous idea! Space and time, space-time, and now time, is my brief history of time in one sentence. Time is the eternal fabric of the universe, parallel universes, multiverse, hell, and the Heaven. There is a raging debate going on about whether the fourth dimension is time, or whether it is a 4th spatial dimension. The unification of time and space as a four-dimensional continuum (spacetime) and the concept of a fourth spatial dimension (four-dimensional space) make no sense. Spatial dimensions a…

Do want to go to heaven?? I am writing to present to you the gospel of Jesus Christ who is God as the son of God. Balance deleted by mod

If it were proven that God doesn't exist, would the world become a better place? What are some possible changes to society/people's attitutes towards one another if their belief/hope of the existence of God would disappear? Is it desirable to make people not believe in God? Why are atheists so determined to prove there is no God/s to the theists? Furthermore why is there so much debate/discussion about "God" in a scientific forum such as SFN? What's the big deal all about?

I was told to read this in one of the other threads and thought I would write a response here so as not to derail that thread. Mods here seem to be put a emphasis on people staying on topic. Here is the link http://www.secularhumanism.org/index.php?page=affirmations&section=main What makes people think that certain Christians do not do the same? Why is this deplorable? Are Christians not allowed to posit reason for why the think the universe began? Why are Secular Humanist afforded the opportunity to posit theories but the religious folk who do the same efforts are now deemed deplorable. It can do good off course, but it can do…

Watch this video and discuss whether or not the bible might actually be an outline of the future. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=39btKqMiqiQ

Well, according to the Holy Bible: Genesis 2:5-7 (the creation of Adam):<br style="color: rgb(51, 51, 51); font-family: arial, helvetica, clean, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 16px; ">"The LORD God had not caused it to rain upon the earth, and there was not a man to till the ground. But there went up a mist from the earth, and watered the whole face of the ground. And the LORD God formed man of the dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living soul." According to the Quran: Chapter 15, verse 26: "And We did certainly create man out of clay from an altered black mud" According to Abiogenesis: …

Some religious teachings assert that all human life matters. The converse of this is Social Darwinism that considers some lives unsuitable to continue to support. Personally I would prefer living in a society based on religious beliefs that protected human life than an atheistic society that relied on euthanasia to rid itself of the burden of the physically and mentally disabled.

I wrote this primarily for a religious audience but it crosses between the politics of war as well as religion. Please focus on the political aspects and war as what I am looking for is how to prevent the evils of war as resources become short in various areas. Thanks. --------------------------- Can you help but do evil? I do not see how. Do you? And if you cannot, why would God punish you? Christians are always trying to absolve God of moral culpability in the fall by putting forward their free will argument and placing all the blame on mankind. That usually sounds like ----God gave us free will and it was our free willed choices that ca…

If we were a true atheist.. who believe the world came into existence by its own thru sheer luck, chance and evolved by its own...and left to fend for ourselves in this lonely world... how would we (honestly) react if at the pink of health and prime of our life.. we were: 1) suddenly struck down with a bad incurable illness.. 2) lose everyone in our family.. 3) getting robbed n seriously injured or maimed in the process.. 4) being convicted by the law for something you didnt do...etc and the list goes on about us getting life's injustice and sufferings at a sudden go.... My point is.. Why should atheist feel "injustice" for things... that happen by "fate"?.…

ok I have been seeing this pop up everywhere on the religion section so I wanted to make a thread specifically for it. In my opinion morality being from god doesn't make sense because people disagree a lot about what is right and wrong: ergo morality is not innate. and many different religions (of which only one may be "true" as the majority claim all others are false) which all arrive at similar morals. I am now going to link some YouTube videos all of which make arguments against Christianity being the basis for law in the us (although also applies to other nations as well) I think that a YouTube video is as valid as anything any of us could say on here. http:/…