some can spin anything... lol "The Benefits of Burning Heretics at the Stake." http://biblelight.net/burn-heretics.htm "Does it seem logical that heretics were burned alive, with their mental faculties intact, to give them one last chance to repent before being sent into the "eternal fire"? Could it be that burning an individual at the stake was seen as a merciful death, as a means of giving that person one last chance to save his or her soul before final damnation??? I have read that "burning at the stake was believed by some medieval authorities and scholars to liberate the sinner from his or her formerly damned state and offer some hope of salvation to the now 'cleansed' soul"."
A militant athiest is anyone who responds to posts attacking athiesm. Go through the Religion and Philosophy forum and you will find way more OPs like this one touting religion and/ or attacking atheism than you will find OPs started by Athiests Believe this is a reflection of insecurity on the part of the theists..
A good many were burned at the stake for wanting scripture to be available to common non-clerical folks.
disagreeing with the leaders of the church could defiantly get you jailed, tortured or burned at the stake back then for heresy, if you were lucky just run out of town
Religion is a tool toward spiritual enlightenment, not the end goal. Even Buddhism has people who don't "get it". When I was in Bangkok, Thailand back in the early 1990s, I noticed how many people put on ostentatious displays of their Buddhism which, IMO, is decidedly un-Buddha-like. The most common form of Buddhist jewelry is a pendent "rented" from a temple. There's a fine line between materialism and Buddhist principles, but Buddhist jewelry is accepted as long as the wearer is fortifying their identity as a Buddhist and not placing emphasis as being labeled a Buddhist over what it means to be a Buddhist. What I saw was a lot of people wearing huge silver (cheaper than gold) Buddhist pendants which struck me as them seeking to be labeled a Buddhist instead of following the Buddhist path and applying Buddhist principles in their daily life. Here is an example: This is the one in my possession: This is not to smack Buddhists, but to point out human nature: just like people have different abilities to excel in intellectual or physical areas, they also have different abilities in spiritual areas. The best some can muster is the "religious" aspects of their faith and are unable to go beyond that to the next level.
Sure, but so could defying authority, owning a weapon, failure to pay taxes and a whole list of other things. Feudalism and authoritarian regimes aren't just about religion. They often use religion as a tool of authority, but there are other means too.
The fact is, energy hasn't always existed. As for "God", that's a place marker for a power behind the creation of the Universe. The mistake you are making in your "who created the creator" argument is that you are placing Natural Universe limitations on something that is outside the Natural Universe. Time and Space didn't exist until after the Big Bang. In fact, even saying "before the Big Bang" is a bit illogical because there is no "before" before time began. However, due to the limitations of our language, that's the best we can do.
your doing the same for energy, a god is much more complex then energy, so the more likely answer would be the simpler came first, rather then the more complex sure time existed, just not the same, kinda like satellites have a different time then your watch on earth, time inside this universe started when the universe was born, time still existed for the multiverse that gave birth to our universe by a transfer of energy
I believe that Alan Watts was correct; intelligence doesn't spring from stupidity. It comes from other intelligence.
then if you think God is intelligent, he needed a creator I do not claim to know where our life force came from, maybe we, the universal connectedness of all of us life forms created everything and we are the God, were just living in a environment of our own creation, our life force is in another dimension and when we die, we choose to re-enter this creation or head towards enlightenment, remembering what is really real
Scroll up dear. Claiming not to know is fine. As I've stated repeatedly, agnosticism is the only logical position. Both atheism and theism are faith-based, not fact-based.
I am an Atheist, open to the possibilities, but until there is proof of a God, no reason to believe there is a God, I definitely do not believe in a jealous God as described in the bible
Do you accept the position "I'm a Theist, open to possibilities"? Agreed on the "jealous God as described in the bible". However, that's the Old Testament, not the New. Well, at least not the Jesus parts AKA Gospels. What Paul and others did with that is, IMO, odd, but also understandable since they put the Dogma in Christian religion.
You do understand there has always been leaders of the Church that are self-ordained and do not follow Jesus. Example: read the parable of the "wheat and the tares".
Every single "Leader of the Church" can be seen (and is) as self ordained and blasphemous by another congregation, sect, or denomination of Christianity. There really is no single Cristian Church or even an agreed upon doctrine. This is true for all religions and at times leads to violent conflict between followers.
So you discount Christianity entirely. Well say so. There is definitely a unity in the Body of Christ and to those who study His Word. And as Jesus said, "the gates of hell will not prevail against it!"
Jesus never said that and I dislike all religions, yours does not get the special treatment you crave.