praying before you eat

[Dezcaban²]

Well that's cool and all if you think that's the best answer, but that's not exactly what the Bible says. So if a Christian is saying that, it's because he's ignorant of his own beliefs

The 'Bible' was written by men who claimed to have communicated with God and wrote his 'word'. With that being said I don't think it has much credibility. As far as I'm concerned the writers of the bible could have just been corrupt politicians who wanted more money in the form of church donations and military generals who wanted to excuse their horrendous war crimes by saying 'It was God's will'.

Does that make me an Atheist? No, I believe the Bible still exists for a reason, but I have no inclination to believe all the content in it considering some of it is immoral / against my beliefs. All I'm inclined to believe in as a Christian is that there is a God and he started reality.

Not every goddamn Christian is a cultist bigot, I don't understand why people still believe that garbage in 2013.

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[Mysteroo]

I was going to reply to quite a few different posts, but it was beginning to get lengthy and I know that online debates never solve anything. If you really want to debate or something feel free to PM me. Doing it in a topic always just ends up with numerous things being taken out of context and a few people being ganged up on.

Although I will say this-

All I'm inclined to believe in as a Christian is that there is a God and he started reality.
Not every goddamn Christian is a cultist bigot, I don't understand why people still believe that garbage in 2013.

So you're not a Christian, you're a theist. A theist is someone who believes in a God and not much else specifically. A Christian literally means "Christ-like," someone who tries to follow Jesus' example and listens to what he said in the New Testament as well as what the old testament says.
Also where the heck did that second part come from?

[Katadeus]

well every christian (possibly jew as well, depends) should know this stuff. its shocking how little they care about their own history or creed.

I kinda got the story already, but never really bothered to piece it together.
It's kinda fascinating that it can go in such an opposite direction.

[Headcrab Zombie]

I don't understand the logic behind Pascal's Wager. If you don't believe in God but you pretend to  in case their might be, are we assuming God to be too stupid to know the difference?

Plus it completely dismisses that idea that there are infinite possibilities for gods for people to believe in

[Stocking]

The 'Bible' was written by men who claimed to have communicated with God and wrote his 'word'.

If we're assuming God exists, then part of the Bible might be divinely inspired, but it's impossible for all of it to be.

For example, none of the Gospels match up and make 0 sense at all, a lot of stories in the Bible are straight up impossible even with divine intervention, and you have straight-up fallacious scientific claims in the Bible like this gem here:

“And since they bred when they came to drink, the flocks bred in front of the sticks and so the flocks brought forth striped, speckled, and spotted.”

Basically in the story, Jacob puts sticks in the trough of the strong animals so that when they breed they are born with striped and spotted coats. He makes all the weak animals drink out of troughs without sticks, so when Laban asks how they're going to split up the herd, Jacob takes all the strong animals (which are spotted and striped) and leaves Laban with all the weak animals (which have plain coats).

It's just stupid stuff like this that people don't bring attention to that makes the divine inspiration of the Bible seem rather silly.

[Dezcaban²]

Also where the heck did that second part come from?

it was aimed towards everyone mindlessly stereotyping Christians in the thread, not you

[Mister Cheese]

I don't understand why people want to yell at each other about what's really right

Like seriously, if you were at all mature you would have the common sense to keep it to yourself and let others believe what they want to believe, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Athiest, whatever.

[Mysteroo]

Plus it completely dismisses that idea that there are infinite possibilities for gods for people to believe in

Pascal's wager works well in showing people that they should look into some kind of religion more in depth with a more open mind than they might normally be willing to. That's all it really meant to do anyways

Also the whole thing Stocking posted really doesn't work at all because the Angels clearly had free will. If they didn't, Lucifer never would have fallen.

For example, none of the Gospels match up and make 0 sense at all, a lot of stories in the Bible are straight up impossible even with divine intervention, and you have straight-up fallacious scientific claims in the Bible like this gem here:

That's because they were written by witnesses at least several decades after the events happened. Nobody has perfect memory, so OBVIOUSLY the gospels won't be the same. Heck, we can't even get eye witnesses to say the same thing in court
The word miracle also kind of implies that it defies scientific possibility

it was aimed towards everyone mindlessly stereotyping Christians in the thread, not you

Oh ok, nevermind that then, hehe

Like seriously, if you were at all mature you would have the common sense to keep it to yourself and let others believe what they want to believe, Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Athiest, whatever.

Ugh, is the motive behind trying to convert people so hard to understand?
If I really think there is a heaven and a hell, how much do I have to hate somebody to not tell them that?

[Mysteroo]

edit- sorry about the double post, brain fart

[Headcrab Zombie]

Pascal's wager works well in showing people that they should look into some kind of religion more in depth with a more open mind than they might normally be willing to. That's all it really meant to do anyways

I've never seen it used in any case other than "You should believe in my god just in case"

Ugh, is the motive behind trying to convert people so hard to understand?
If I really think there is a heaven and a hell, how much do I have to hate somebody to not tell them that?

Everyone who has grown up in an area where Christianity is the dominant, or even large religion, knows the story already
People don't believe not because they haven't heard it, but because they have heard it and think it's bullstuff.
Telling them the same story over and over again is nothing more than annoying.

[Mister Cheese]

Ugh, is the motive behind trying to convert people so hard to understand?
If I really think there is a heaven and a hell, how much do I have to hate somebody to not tell them that?

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for talking about your faith and trying to convert. I'm Christian myself.
However, if that person is not wanting to convert and you keep trying, I think that's where it should stop. Really the only way someone could really convert is through a personal experience, but that's just me

[Mysteroo]

I've never seen it used in any case other than "You should believe in my god just in case"

Mmk. That doesn't really change anything.

There are definite lines people shouldn't cross, like when you start to rub your belief in someone else's face. But I don't think anybody should ever just keep their beliefs to themselves, whether or not I agree with them. If people were just more open to talking and listening to one another, conversion to anything would be much easier.

I'm not talking about repeating the same story at somebody, I'm talking about trying to convert somebody. Although some people treat the latter as if it's inherently the former, they're not the same thing.

[Mister Cheese]

There are definite lines people shouldn't cross, like when you start to rub your belief in someone else's face. But I don't think anybody should ever just keep their beliefs to themselves, whether or not I agree with them. If people were just more open to talking and listening to one another, conversion to anything would be much easier.

Point taken, I see where you're coming from now

[Headcrab Zombie]

Mmk. That doesn't really change anything.

That's literally what pascal's wager is though. "It's better to believe just in case." A much more simplified version, but the meaning is the exact same. I don't understand how you can interpret it to mean something else.

But I don't think anybody should ever just keep their beliefs to themselves, whether or not I agree with them.

I'm going to give you the benefit of the doubt and assume you didn't notice my response to this because I edited it after I originally posted the post containing it:

Everyone who has grown up in an area where Christianity is the dominant, or even large religion, knows the story already
People don't believe not because they haven't heard it, but because they have heard it and think it's bullstuff.
Telling them the same story over and over again is nothing more than annoying.

[XR-7]

yea but then I am christian so it's pretty normal