(November 25, 2017 at 8:17 am)Chad32 Wrote: We did mention the killing of babies, Alpha. And when someone mentions an individual acting as judge, jury, and executioner, it's not meant as a virtue. If someone has complete control, with no checks and balances, corruption is inevitable.

Chad32, who can do anything in such scenario? Tremble in fear? Heh. What a mind**** faith is.

I hardly think that anything that exists is truly invincible. But if, in the end, we can do nothing, the only thing to really do is get as far away from that thing as possible.

(November 25, 2017 at 8:26 am)Chad32 Wrote: I hardly think that anything that exists is truly invincible. But if, in the end, we can do nothing, the only thing to really do is get as far away from that thing as possible.

How long were you a believer?

About twenty years. It was fairly liberal. Not much fire and brimstone talk. I remember being involved on some church related thing for four days out of the week at one point.

(November 25, 2017 at 8:56 am)Chad32 Wrote: About twenty years. It was fairly liberal. Not much fire and brimstone talk. I remember being involved on some church related thing for four days out of the week at one point.

And what killed your faith? I got surprised by the universal idea of "Submit to God or prepare for agony". That's...

Access to the internet, more than anything. You get way out of your bubble, talking to people online.

The more I thought about these stories, the more I asked myself if I really agreed with everything. Eventually I concluded that there most likely is no real god, and if he is real I probably wouldn't want to worship him anyway. I don't want to go to heaven and hang out with a guy that sends people to a flaming pit for all eternity as I was taught. I never bought into the "you send yourself to hell" bit. 

Hell doesn't frighten me. I couldn't do anything about it if it was real anyway, because I can't genuinely worship Yahweh/Jehova/Jesus.

We live in a country where our leaders are supposed to work for us. They don't in reality, but they're supposed to. We have freedom of speech, and all that good stuff. Yet we're supposed to be unquestioning servants in a celestial dictatorship?.....

(November 25, 2017 at 9:05 am)Chad32 Wrote: Access to the internet, more than anything. You get way out of your bubble, talking to people online.

The more I thought about these stories, the more I asked myself if I really agreed with everything. Eventually I concluded that there most likely is no real god, and if he is real I probably wouldn't want to worship him anyway. I don't want to go to heaven and hang out with a guy that sends people to a flaming pit for all eternity as I was taught. I never bought into the "you send yourself to hell" bit. 

Hell doesn't frighten me. I couldn't do anything about it if it was real anyway, because I can't genuinely worship Yahweh/Jehova/Jesus.

We live in a country where our leaders are supposed to work for us. They don't in reality, but they're supposed to. We have freedom of speech, and all that good stuff. Yet we're supposed to be unquestioning servants in a celestial dictatorship?.....

Would you accept permanent death for rebellion?

Yeah. That seems to be the best option. Eternal existence will become a sort of hell eventually, no matter where you are.

(November 25, 2017 at 6:57 am)alpha male Wrote: Rather, a simplistic conclusion based on a faulty premise. While murder is necessarily killing, killing isn't necessarily murder. My late father volunteered to go to Europe and kill Germans. No one called him a murderer. Millions of turkeys were eaten in the US a couple days ago. They were killed. Police aren't raiding the turkey farms.

Obvious troll is obvious.

I remember the stories I was taught in church as a kid. We made drawings, had songs, did plays and everything all about these stories from the Bible for kids.
-Noah’s ark saved a family and animals, but everyone else died. Omg! The god is so good, because he saved Noah!  
-She looked back when the god told her not to, so she turned into salt. Omg let’s never disobey.  
-A bear attacked a bunch of kids for calling a god’s favorite baldy. Omg never get a minister angry. Ever. (This actually harmed me, because I believed this wholeheartedly)
- People got too smart in the Tower of Babel, so PUNISH! Don’t get too cocky.
-The pharaoh wasn’t following orders, so first borns die. Damn! Glad I’m the middle child.

I grew up being taught to love a gross, cruel, blood thirsty god and nobody questioned it. Lol Creepy, if you ask me. How did I reconcile it? I did... until I didn’t.