Religion

I attended Skepticon IV last weekend, and it was very much worth the drive and time change. There were several very good talks. Hemant Mehta spoke regarding math education, PZ Myers gave a run down on what junk DNA does, and Richard Carrier spoke about Bayes's theorem and how it can effectively be used as a mathematical formulation of Sagan's famous quote "Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence". The very best talk, though, was that of JT Eberhard. He spoke about mental illness. A few of the videos of the talks are up on YouTube, and I'm going to link to JT's talk, because I think it's one that needs to be heard. You can see the other videos (as well as those…

According to the True Principles of Nature, there are two basic aspects of God, and they are very well represented in the Bible. And here is one example that relates to the living things like humans, and it is written in 1Co. 15:46, which states; However that was not first which spiritual, but that which is natural; and afterward that which is spiritual. This relates directly to the living things like humans. And according to the true principles of nature, the exact opposite is true about the material-natural things, which is; For that was not first which is natural, but that which is spiritual; and afterward that which is natural. From these two scriptures you can cl…

Does God accept bribes, ransoms, indulgences and sacrifice of Jesus? Eze 18 20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Psa 49 7 None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him: Man has worked hard to try to put in place a system of justice where the guilty pay for their crimes/sin and the innocent go free. This actually seems to follow the scriptures above and if you are doing unto others what you would like done to…

God gave up the right to punish along with dominion. God, in Eden, gave man dominion over the whole earth and all the entities on it. Some also believe that Satan was given dominion here. If the temptation of Jesus is believed to have literally happened then this supports the notion that Satan has dominion or the temptation was a farce that Jesus would have seen through. He did not deny Satan’s dominion. If God gave dominion to man and it was somehow transferred to Satan, then God would have giving up any right that he would have to punish anyone here because he does no longer had dominion here. As above so below indicates that if he can punish us and basi…

This is a question I have thought about for the last 12 years. (What does it mean to be made in Gods image?) I believe that being made in Gods image means not physical but emotional image. What makes me believe this is because that's the only thing we as humans have in common with God. Think about this... God loves, gets jealous (no false gods), gets angry (a lot in the old testament), he hates (evil), gets lonely (why else would we be here?), and he gets happy and sad. As far as anyone knows he gets depressed just like we do. Anyway my point is this, if this is true then that would make God.... not "perfect". We have freewill, God could make us love him but he wants us t…

The only thing greater than God. Man. Religion and God were invented to free man. Not enslave him. This man is showing God the only thing greater than God. A human being. Man is God's evolutionary Master. We brought him from barbarism to civilization. Without Us, there is no God. Man is who gives God life. The concept, the reality, the imaginary reality, useless and useful speculation of God, all will have been like they never here without man. God is man’s creation, be it the word itself or the concept or WORD as some believers say it. To our knowledge, there are no other intelligences able to speculate or have any kind of notion of …

Found. The tree of knowledge of good and evil. In the only place it could be found. In the Bible. I will assume here that those who compiled the books of the Bible knew what they were doing, in terms of giving us a myth with a moral lesson. God is said to be the Alpha and the Omega. The beginning and the end. Bible God is to be at the top and bottom of any attribute we can think of for God. He is to be our example of the greatest love as well as the greatest hate. After all, he does set the standards of what is good and what is evil. The Bible tells us not to add or subtract from it and to use it as it’s own judge. If we are to do so then we must judge wha…

Satan’s plan and the sign of the beast. It is all political. Satan would have man’s wealth and the economy within his control. The sign of the beast would be the coin of the day. Give to Caesar what is Caesar’s. We all use coin of some kind. Even paper coin and plastic coin. All numbered and accounted for. We have all taken on and wear the sign of the beast. We just do not acknowledge it in those terms. It is impossible for our socio economic demographic pyramid to collapse. It can only redistribute. It will always have a pyramidal shape of some kind. This means that we can collectively decide what that shape should be and stabilize it if we choose to…

Are Evangelicals and conservative Christians the Anti-Christ? In the tribal conditions of the ancient world, it is not surprising that Christians would be hated. Revelation shows the destruction of all except God’s chosen. Evangelicals and literalists, pray for this genocidal destruction to happen in their lifetimes. That is a lot of hate coming from those who profess to love all of mankind. Some would say that these so called Christians, are not of good heart and do not follow their own religion, bible or a loving Christ. Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. Some would in fact say that these Christians are traitors t…

I know what my religon thinks of the Priesthood mentioned in the Bible. I am wondering what those of other religon's think of it. What are your believes when it comes to the Priesthood?

The bible says God is clothed with light (Psalm 102:4.) Photons are therefore a curiousity for me, and in the physics forum I found this. "Actually matter can be made from light. Using the mass example can be overcome. Other examples such as charge can also be overcome. Some scientists have suggested all matter is made from light, and there being experimental evidence when a particle and an antiparticle of the same family comes together ''somehow'' knocks the photons out of what ever substructure they create." Is a part of God or God entire inside every photon?

An optical illusion has befallen mankind on an unprecedented scale and sent our thoughts tumbling in the wrong direction. Its discovery will answer some of the world's greatest mysteries. It will uncover previously hidden and untold truths and, as a result, all current thinking around the age of this planet will be questioned. Mankind Wondered … 'How long did it take that pebbled beach to look like that sandy beach? Science put a time-span to the erosion process and the conclusion was … aeons. They quote' nature took 'A Thousand Million Years' to turn solid rock into boulders' boulders into pebbles' and pebbles into all the sand in the world. This geolog…

A really hard question on Satan and deception. You all know that I always have answers for everything but these ones have me stumped. That or Satan is deceiving me. How could I know? If angels have free will, why has one never shown themselves? There are apparently good angels and evil angels that have been renamed as demons. If either of these showed itself, we could not distinguish it from God himself. No one has ever seen God. Would we accept it as God and be deceived? After all, it is said by God that Satan has the power to deceive the whole world. Knowing this, and knowing that most of the world belongs to one religion or another. It f…

I have always wondered why other religon's consider Mormons (Latter Day Saint's) not as Christians. Why?

Is hell a good place? We cannot know how the first iniquity demonstrated itself but we can know that rebellion begins with questioning the status quo. The moment God was questioned in any way, he responded with an evil punishment. Evil as I class it in any case. He does not tolerate anyone doing their will, if it does not comply with his will. Obey or else. Not quite what scriptures say he should be doing. Romans 12:21 Do not be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good. It would seem that God let himself be overcome by evil and responded with evil. Or evil must be good. God created the first division in his once united kingdom. It appears th…

This is a simple thought without any heavyweight, or even lightweight, external validation. We know that the concept of soul is widespread in most religions. However, if you believe that evolution required neither a Divine 'push' and occurred as the result of a chain of rare accidents, then how would you regard the concept of soul? I am happy to define a soul in the following terms: Dictionary IMHO, I see what I personally think to be the manifestations of a soul, the following: compassion, empathy, love, hate... So, the love I have for my children and the fact that I hate the unjust comes from a source other than pure rationality. However, if yo…

Questionably, researchers believe they have demonstrated that belief in God can be explained as a function of intuitive thinking. The study, "Divine Intuition: Cognitive Style Influences Belief in God," was recently reported in a distorted manner under the news title "Belief in God Boils Down to a Gut Feeling." A review was done on the study, "Divine Intuition: Cognitive Style Influences Belief in God," and you can find both the review and a link to the original journal article here: http://scientismtime...tive-style.html If you're interested in research methods or the psychology of faith you might find this interesting.

im 20 and dont believe in stupid Gods from early this year, but this is so strange: well, it was 3 years back i think, Henry Hinn (younger bro of Benny Hinn,the famous preacher,healer) was hving crusade in our city, on football field(not stadium), after his prayer, he proclaim miracle healings, the strange one among those is: on the opp side to the podium he was standing was a 5story building, where people are wacthing from the top 2 veranda, He said (i dont remem exact) pointing towards that veranda, ''The girl with Cancer raise up your hand, your healed'', than 1 girl around 35 (on top floor veranda) raise her hand. WTF is that?

Why did God divide the people of Babel? I know that most here do not believe this myth. There are usually some moral reason given for God acting against mankind. I cannot dither out any good moral reason for Babel. Can you? Regards DL

We all know there is a vast difference between the Old Testament and the New Testament. The older one is the Judaic Bible. It recounts the history of an historically obscure, monotheistic tribe which, in Numbers, Deuteronomy and other parts describes their invasions and slaughtering of the men women and children of the lands they stole. In comparison to the brutal Judaic Bible, the New Testament is generally a beacon of pragrance and light---even though, of course, there are exceptions. Being only half as ancient and hence that much less out-of-date, the offensive parts are much less in number: such as the admonitions to hate your family (Luke 14:26), Kill Jesus's ene…

Are the things being portrayed in this video child abuse? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AiEfVNvQkIE

God. Profit from Murder and Genocide? Get serious. When reading the Bible, the facts show God as setting a ransom for forgiving man. That ransom was Jesus. God then sets the conditions to have Jesus murdered. Thus is how all sins, for all of eternal time, are forgiven. God does not do anything half way. After all, He would not want to break his own word and sin again. Eze 18:20 The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son: the righteousness of the righteous shall be upon him, and the wickedness of the wicked shall be upon him. Psa 49:7 None of them can by any me…

Check this out. The Book of Seth http://www.mediafire.com/?f82uz39zfr8fa6f I don't think there is a password. Thoughts? The_book_of_Seth_0.91_Build3.pdf

God 3%. Satan 97%. Does God needs a new marketing man? Many Christians take the view that the Bible says only a few will be saved. There are verses which show just that. You know, the narrow road and the wide road. It also shows that God would have known ahead of time that his program of salvation would be a marketing disaster. Scripture says he is all knowing. Yet he carried on with his present plan rather than choose a different program which could have been a marketing coup and show him as a successful planer instead of a dismal marketing flop. Why would God not put forward a successful marketing plan? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3LNL6wKhXA It shou…

Hi, I am wondering whether anybody has ever experienced/seen anti-semitism in churches. In your opinion, does it still exist? All, do you think it will ever go away?