Explain your motive for participating in a religious forum

He did, with the throw the 1st stone sentence. I assume you know what that was about.

 

I would like to spread the Word of Maynard, the Three Prophets, and Our Lost Spiritual Guide Bill Hicks.

 

No he just seems to hate everyone who's not a secular humanist.
Doesn't matter who one hates, it's the act of hating.

 

only partially in the real world. or rather, in a different reality.
regarding proving what you want - if what you want to prove is of reality, then yes you can.
being born into something doesn't mean condemned for life. there's always hope.
while belittling might not always work here, it is actually an effective educational tool (though not one we in the west particularly like or agree with). there are many cultures, both historically and extant, in which parents use the device of shaming to teach.

 

Rather than ask if you have been hurt by religion or religious people, I should've asked if that hurt is the basis for your beliefs. Of course many people have been hurt by other people. Religious institutions hurt people. I've been hurt, too. It just hasn't changed my belief in Jesus as my Savior.

 

No, and neither did Christ.

"So when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him first cast a stone at her."

 

I'm not a secular humanist, and I sense no hatred from FS. I really don't think his stuff comes from ego, despite surface appearances. On the contrary, I think it's his very lack of ego that allows him to stick to the point in question and not be steered off course by personal attacks.

 

The wages of ALL sin is death, isn't it?

 

Did you know this story does not exist in the oldest complete manuscripts of the bible? It was added later by a scribe somewhere down the line. It was not part of scripture when it was compiled. The Harper Collins Study Bible has notes on the subject. This is the most widely used study bible in academic seminaries around the country. The Oxford Study Bible leaves the story out entirely, finding the evidence for its authenticity impossible to sustain.
Be that as it may, it remains a favorite for many of us.
Never knew this, did you?

 

Yeah, I abandoned that thread fairly quickly after starting it because I realized it was just that. I was going to make a point with it, but decided against it.

 

I've never been hurt by religion or by a religious person in the name of religion. Nor have I been hurt by a religious institution. I have seen other people hurt by institutions, and seen some confused by the religion of their parents, but have never directly experienced anything harmfully negative myself. The worst would probably be door knockers telling me I'm doomed. All other aggravations have been just that, aggravations. Along the lines of kids being told nonsense by elderly relations, having 'grace' imposed on one at dinner, double standards, special pleading, arrogance, smugness, humourlessness, sex obsessed 'conservatives', fascism, etc etc.

 

We could get into a completely separate discussion about the Gospel of John. Let's save it for now, and go with what virtually every Christian on the planet believe today to be Jesus's words. For the sake of argument, whether he actually said it or not is irrelevant. The fact is Christians believe it and they should be living by it.

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone" AND "Go and sin no more" are essential Christian doctrine. It is because of these teachings that Christians aren't blood thirsty gay killers. It's because of this doctrine that everything you say about hating gays, killing gays, hating women, is all total bunk based on lies.

 

But you don't care that he probably never said it?
So you worship the bible as you now have it over Jesus?
Fascinating.
So without false doctrine you WOULD be hating and killing gays and women?
So do you think the scribe was really god?

 

To see how many dinosaurs still exist on this earth. Some of whom still believe they rule the world, and will commit suicide to prove it.

 

I don't browse individual forums. When I log in I click the "Today's Posts" button and it lists all the active threads since the last time I visited. I browse through the subject titles and click on ones that catch my interest or that are about something on which I have some knowledge. Being an atheist I tend to click on threads about atheism just as being a veteran I tend to click on threads about veterans.

And besides, isn't this a debate site? People enjoy debating against positions opposite to their own. There is nothing strange about liberals criticising conservative points of view or conservatives criticising liberal points of view so why would it be any different with atheists and theists? If you just want people to agree with your religious perspective and not challenge it there are plenty of non-debate religious forums out there for that.

 

No the basis for my beliefs is my own thinking. When people evade answering your questions and get belligerant with you when ask questions they cant answer, it means they are full of it. Their actions simply solidified the fact that they were, still are, and always will be. Religion is a form of control nothing more. It was started by men to control other men and still is done so to this day. Im sorry, I was too intelligent even in second grade to let an adult perform brainwashing mind control techniques on me. That must be the free will eh? Give someone free will, then punish them for it. Thats not god, thats just the way it is with humans who try to control other humans.

 

You're not going to admit the Bible doesn't instruct Christians to kill gays. I'll start another thread on the seven Bible references to homosexual acts and we'll see what happens.

You were a preacher, and you're really going to sit there and tell us that the Bible teaches to kill gays? Was that really what you learned in seminary? Did the elders of your church teach you that? Where did that come from?

 

So then the proper Christian stance is to favor zero laws? After all, laws are supposed to regulate sins and enforce morality from the Christian perspective. So since no one is without sin, no on can judge anyone else.

 

Interesting you don't address my post.

 

I appreciate that, and I admire your work too.

Sorry to be harsh on religions (I love the people, but find GREAT fault with the religion - some religions promote a pedophile as the perfect man, etc.), but we are in the longest war in US history (for one thing), and virtually ALL religious people, by their empowering "faith" and empowering the acceptance of supernatural invisible friends, are actually indirectly running interference for the Jihadists. If all non-Muslims were, say, like the incomparable Mr. Sam Harris, then this war would end rather quickly.

To love them best, we need to see that they understand the TRUTH. Glossing over the truth is doing the world a disservice.

P.S. I'm not sure I ever said my gender.

 

In other words, a more compassionate/loving/real-world world-view.

 

And what is their terrible crime?....it's simply not bucking lottery-like odds to pick what just happens to be the (apparently) one true super-hero out of the 200,000 or so gods/prophets in world history. Ok, we modern Secular Humanists would indeed fail at that, if, say, Zeus turns out to be the one, but we simply followed the science, reason, and common sense that Zeus gave us, and were not malicious in not believing in him, so it's patently UNFAIR that we would be tortured for worse and longer than even the evil Hitler tortured any Jew. Religions strive to be fair, but are not as FAIR as modern Secular Humanism is. But I believe in the goodness of people like YouLie, so I believe there is lots of hope for the future, as people come to realize the truth more and more each day.

 

Religion, though usually well-intended, has robbed the common sense from many many of my friends and family members. You can't BELIEVE how they disregard reality sometimes, due to religion. So I've seen first-hand the incredible need for modern Secular Humanism. I love them, and want to help them.

 

We can do this all day. I'm not addressing a post from you or FreedomSeeker until this is resolved. By resolved, I don't mean we agree. I mean you've given it your best shot to prove the Bible instructs Christians to kill gay people. I've given my best shot to prove it says no such thing. Are you ready or not?

 

My faith is strong....uh, in HUMANITY, that is.