Religion

In Revelations, the Antichrist seems to clearly be referred to as an actual person and Islam and Christianity were clearly at war for quite some, yet there was really no clear winner with both sides being godly and virtuous in their own ways. It really seems like that was possibly the case since the Antichrist was supposed to mimic Christianity and deceive, etc. But it also seems that Christanity has toned down its message over time out of attempts at reconciliation and changed their message to more of a figurative one. Actually, I'm not even sure why I asked because Islam has kind of relished in the role, claiming that Mohammed was ordered to revelate by the angel Gab…

In the beginning, the temple resembled a hoar house. In studying ancient history of the advances of technology used in temples, and knowing that the first prostitutes were temple prostitutes, and also knowing that alcohol and psychotropic drug use was common, I tried to envision the reality of just what the temple and early religion was all about. We generally envisage a large building that held many but in truth, the early churches where more like the home churches used today in smaller communities. I think they may have begun as places of worship but to early man, worship looked quite different than it does today. Churches latter expanded alon…

Overall, does the abundance of religion make this world a better place to live in? What do you think? Certainly if there was no religion and everyone were agnostics, it would make this world a much boring place to live in. Religion also encourages one to become a more morally better person. For example, through recycling, having good relations with neighbours and looking after poor/lost/homeless strangers and charity etc. But then you hear people doing outrageous things as well in the name of religion, whether it be Hinduism, Christianity, Voodoo or other religion.

Who do you think would win in a fight between Satan and the Anti-Christ?

Interested to know what others think about this.

Yes the works of L Ron Hubbard or so I hear, From what I can make out Scientology is designed to hijack the mind of the believer and the abrogation of the intellect and the pocket book to a load of fraudulently bogus ideas/procedures/rituals and claptrap. ( they remind me of the Moonies and others ) That's about it really other than what others here think on the subject.

Are all discussions of God speculative nonsense? Many quote God’s WORD as coming from God’s own mind somehow yet that same WORD says that God is unknowable, unfathomable and mysterious. That same WORD is full of contradictions which may help demonstrate that God truly does work in mysterious, illogical ways. Those who say they know the mind of God, lie, if the Bible is to be believed. According to it, God is un-knowable. Many claim a personal relationship to their God yet few will admit apotheosis. Are you/they lying if no actual personal contact has occurred? Are all discussions, of any God, just speculative nonsense, or can a man actually know someth…

(split from another thread): In practice, there are people who call themselves 'Christian' who wield shame and unforgiveness and judge just as their are non-Christians who forgive and refuse to judge. Really, this topic deserves its own thread because you can get into all sorts of topics such as how to forgive without legitimating sin and how things like anti-Semitic persecution have been caused by Christians who blamed and refused to forgive Jews for the crucifixion. I have to admit I've also wondered if Judaism also teaches forgiveness.

Was Jesus a victim of self aggrandizing suicide? http://channel.nationalgeographic.com/series/expedition-week/4290/Overview#tab-Videos/07451_00 My position is simple. To offer or be a scapegoat for others who will not step up to their own responsibilities and consequences for their action is immoral and self aggrandizing. I see mythical Jesus as doing just that. To accept the sacrifice of a scapegoat Jesus and to try to profit from his death is also immoral. Scripture indicates, Trinitarians aside, that God the Father sent his son to die for mankind to fulfill a need that God himself created. That of a blood sacrifice to forgive sin when he has …

Did Jesus ever have a laugh , did Mohammed ever have a giggle ?

It's not something any of us ever put much thought into. Sometimes we see a blind person and we see a disability. Those people have often times accepted their disability and learned to live with it. As an advantage, often all their other senses become enhanced to help them make sense from their environment. The sound of rain may not mean much to us, but to a blind person it may description of the space around them. Babies take months to develop their sight. Sight will gradually develop over the first year. The development is sight is just as much as a milestone in early development as grasping, sitting, rolling over, crawling and walking. Our brain needs time to wire…

Simple question, is there a creative and organizing force? If not how did the universe come to be?

Do you believe that any attempt to homogenize or fact-check the Bible should include removal of parts that clearly violate the laws of physics and strictly emphasize law and values? Where would you draw the line? I mean, I think it's pretty obvious that Methuselah didn't really live 946? years unless he had some Adonis blood in him (which I highly doubt), so would you just scale the ages? I've held this ideology for a long time that Jews' long ages were symbolic to represent their conservative values, as opposed to heathens and their potential affinity for venereal diseases and shorter lives. So I wonder how this would affect Bishop Usher's math. Would it place "the …

Do the so called culture wars really amount to a real war being fought with propaganda and and suicide bombers? Is our western civilization basically at war with fundamentalist religions, often called creationism? They are trying to not just inject their religious ideas into our civilization but to use those religious ideas to indoctrinate everyone into their beliefs and there by changing civilization back to something resembling the dark ages of our not so distant past. Their stated goals are to oppose science and it's methods by the use of lies and misrepresentations and substitute their (magical) thinking in place of the scientific method. And to change our own …

Technically, human's had to sin against God to become clothed and were initially intended to be nude. Why don't we follow God's initial intentions and be nude?

Do Christians value their moral sense? Was Eden, the fall or the elevation of mankind? A moral sense is what is developed by our study of morals and ethics. In Eden, this study came in the form of a tree of knowledge of good and evil. Adam and Eve, as neophytes to life, were not aware of what was good or evil because they had yet to eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil and had yet to develop morals, until after absorbing the information set out by God for their consumption. This assumes of course that God wanted man with autonomy and a moral sense. This gain is clearly spoken of by God when he stated that A & E had become as God’s, kno…

Can you know God without understanding or recognizing his perfect works? The whole notion of knowing and following God, is to know how he works and thinks, tied to a belief that he is perfect in all things and has the miracle at hand to create things the way he wants. Scripture tells us to look to the universe around us for proof of his reality. Logic and reason tell us the same thing. This indicates that we should see the perfection of his works all around us. Deut 32;4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect: for all his ways are judgment: a God of truth and without iniquity, just and right is he. Mat 7;18 A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, n…

Hey, everybody! In regards to the Christian faith, which country do you believe is most religious? That is, Phillipines or USA? And also, worldwide which countries are most religious in terms of Christianity? What does everyone think?

It's a biological fact that the vast majority of pregnancies end in miscarriage(often without the mother even knowing she's pregnant). If the soul enters at fertilization, this presents a bit of a problem for the Christian anti-abortion people. If these unborn deaths send the souls to Hell, that would make God morally evil. As God is by definition morally perfect, that is not an option. This means(assuming the protestant tradition) that the unborn who die go directly to Heaven. Would that not mean abortion is one of the most morally praiseworthy acts possible as it spares a soul all suffering and delivers it directly to paradise?

There is a new book out titled "The God Biographers". I do not have it yet, but hope to have it soon, because I know the understanding of God has changed very much throughout history, and without question science is changing our understanding of God. If you know of any of the people listed below, would you please write what you know. The book is expensive and if you know enough, I won't buy the book.

People say that God doesn't exist both scientifically and visually. Let me conclude this: Not everything can be visualized. Can you get the knowledge of the letter 'A' only by visualizing? Simply not. You need to have the knowledge how the word sounds. Can you prove your father by visualizing? No, because you weren't even born at that time. Can you prove a far country by visualizing? No, because the country can be beyond reach of eyes, but it actually exists. Same is for God. He is beyond our material eyes and ears and all senses. A lot of saints have seen him and they have attained bliss. Something more- What is nature? Whatever we can't explain scientifical…

In the thread about the existence of God, I focus on the mythology of religion. Christianity is a mix of mythologies. In this mix of mythologies is the concept of angels. I goolged the origin of this concept of angels, and the concept comes up in Hebrew, Greek and Persian thinking without clear evidence of there being a first angel thought. The concept seems to begin a concept of a messenger, and evolves into a concept of a messenger from God. That would make Satan a messenger. We are told his message is a lie. Jesus, is also a messenger from God. The bible tells us in the beginning is the word, and Jesus is the word. So Jesus is an angel of God's truth, a…

According to the Bible, Jesus died and paid the price for all the sins of all mankind. Therefore, the punishment for all the sins of all mankind is being dead for three days. There's no indication that dying for your own sins has to be a painful death, although I guess if it's for everyone's sins then crucifixion is the way to go -- or maybe that was to fulfill a prophesy, I can't remember. Still, it certainly can't be an eternity in hell, since that would be a harsher punishment than the punishment for the sins of all humanity. While I'm not perfect and so I guess can't die for other people's sins, I do plan to spend at least 3 days dead sometime in the future, and s…

Are we living in God’s kingdom, or Satan‘s? What did Jesus mean when He said “The Kingdom of God is at hand? Mat 4;17 From that time Jesus began to preach, and to say, Repent: for the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Jesus seems to be saying that God’s kingdom was right there at that point in time and that would also mean that it is still here and now. If God began by being master and owner of all that is, and he spans or owns the whole of creation, and scripture is right that says he does not change, then logic says that we are now in is God’s kingdom and we never left it. Ps 139 8 If I ascend into heaven, thou art there: if I make my bed in hell…

Why do you have to believe in fantasy to believe in God? Before you jump all over me, remember that I am not an atheist. I believe in a Godhead that is of this world and the reality we see around us. Mine is not the God you believe in because to believe in that one, one must buy into fantasy, miracles and magic. This I have no need or desire to do. The O T, the base of the Bible, is a document that the original writers, the Jews, do not believe in a literal way. http://www.raceandhistory.com/historicalviews/doubtingexodus.htm Further, believers tend to believe what is written about God even as whoever is doing the writing admit that God is u…