the middle east wars were about religion to Bush and the gang Bush started the war in Iraq as he believed God wanted him to do it "Rumsfeld’s Iraq “crusade” revealed" http://www.crikey.com.au/2009/05/18/rumsfelds-iraq-crusade-revealed/ "I wonder what’s worse: a defense secretary who puts Old Testament quotes on progress updates on an invasion of a Muslim country or a defense secretary who thinks this will add to his president’s knowledge and expertise. The lethal combination of a Christianist president and a cynical coterie helped make the Iraq debacle happen."
Why did Christians, until quite recently in history, support the execution of blasphemers and why did they appeal to their scripture to do so?
convert or kill means people lie to their children, so they believe the lies, so they don't get killed - then eventually everyone believes the lie or at least pretends too
I'm not aware of that. Maybe they were pretending to be righteous or to approximate ancient practices. There are tens of thousands of differing bible based denominations, each with their own interpretation of Gods word. So you'd have to ask them. From my perspective looking back, I'd venture that God poured out some of his light and spirit to the world, which overtook and laid to rest the former pretentiousness of certain religious sects and movements, rendering them obsolete in the age of freedom and religious liberty.
Then you'd have to reject much of the Bible as actually being legit. It isn't the biggest proponent of freedom/liberty.
I guess historically there has been concern about heretics leading people astray. I guess that's the purpose of worrying about blasphemy. But otherwise, it just comes across as people being emotionally insecure about the validity of their religion. A supernatural being doesn't need protection from insults, though.
It's more than likely that his decision was a foregone conclusion, based on self evident facts. And he simply prayed for God to tell him otherwise due to the gravity of the matter. So in the satisfaction of reason, coupled with an appeal to the divine for interdiction, he set his course with a clear conscience. That is hardly some incongruous, wild eyed, religious lurch, that you wrongly suppose belief in God to be. But which would be more in common with godlessness at heart, no matter the dressing.
Remember this "Mission Accomplished" guy? George Bush: 'God told me to end the tyranny in Iraq' - the Guardian https://www.theguardian.com/world/2005/oct/07/iraq.usa WebOct 7, 2005 · George Bush has claimed he was on a mission from God when he launched the invasions of Afghanistan and Iraq, according to a senior Palestinian politician in an …
Not necessarily. What God does or ordains within his scope and what men attempt to approximate outside that sphere in his name, are two different things.
Yeah, if there is one, although all logic, science, and common sense is against it. People have created religion to soothe them all through history. Think on this: if there were a god, then wouldn’t make sense that all religion, throughout all time, would have been virtually the same with the same message? There is one ancient primitive society in which it was believed that there are little beings that live within the earth, and every once in a while one of them gets a sore foot. And when one gets a sore foot he has to dance to relieve the soreness. And when he dances, earthquakes happen. And that’s why there are earthquakes. People can make up crazy stuff, like a god who is love and who is pure but who hates some things.
When i was in my 20s I believed very few people ACTUALLY bleived Gods exist and that everyone was pretending, like kids do with Santa, because its expected of them. I was shocked to later learn people actually DO believe in this stuff.
And that's a claim that people can make when they acknowledge that the Bible is fallible. It's only a problem for those who claim that it is divinely inspired.
Well the Bible is what it is. The bigger problem is how it's interpreted. There are tens of thousands of differing Bible based denominations, each with their own interpretation unique to themselves, and all different from one another to varying degrees.
the religious nuts are not happy unless you believe as they do though, they want to use government to force you to believe as they do Blasphemy laws go against what Americans stands for
Religion doesn't get them there. They get religion when they arrive. A similar concept will be in play at the day of the final judgment. You know it's coming.
According to the fairytale, on Judgment Day if your name isn't written in the Book of Life, you will get tossed into the lake of fire, which is the second death. But, just because your name is written in the Book of Life it doesn't mean complete happiness. You could be stuck outside of the wall that surrounds the giant bejeweled golden cube call New Jerusalem. It's on a giant planet that doesn't have any darkness or seas. People inside the cube get a piece of fruit every month and water but it doesn't say that people outside the wall will get anything. So, given a choice, would you jump into the lake of fire or exist forever outside the wall without food and water in the blazing light?
I have no idea what you are talking about. But as for Gods judgments, I know that they are just and true and perfectly appropriate in every regard.