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Converting
#71
RE: Converting
(April 25, 2020 at 9:16 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote:
(April 25, 2020 at 8:39 am)WinterHold Wrote: Laughing on what you don't understand is quite common. For example, ancient scholars -who spoke the truth- were mocked in many occasions.

While comedy is made exactly for the purpose of laughing, religion isn't and billions say that it isn't.


While you use the term "trick"; I disagree with you in the case of Islam.


I am not going to trash the OP's topic by replying to your foul language.
Though; go easy on yourself.

Comic writing has purposes beyond making people laugh. It frequently uses humour as a vehicle to examine vital social issues or ultimate existential conundra. 

You’ve clearly never been exposed to the classic novel ‘The Snarkout Boys And The Avocado Of Death’ or its equally brilliant companion volume ‘The Snarkout Boys And The Baconburg Horror’. In the two books alone, you will find more meaning, more insight into the human condition than in all the holy books and religious commentary every written.

Boru

If some authors like to leave a "deep" story behind their humor, many others don't. Actually there are so many popular publications that serve nothing but the sole goal of making the reader laugh, generalizing on the whole industry is quite wrong to me.

I am interested in the novel you mentioned to me months ago, about the dark city with lots of crime and criminals. That one seemed interesting.

(April 25, 2020 at 12:25 pm)onlinebiker Wrote:
(April 25, 2020 at 8:39 am)WinterHold Wrote: Laughing on what you don't understand is quite common. For example, ancient scholars -who spoke the truth- were mocked in many occasions.

While comedy is made exactly for the purpose of laughing, religion isn't and billions say that it isn't.


While you use the term "trick"; I disagree with you in the case of Islam.


I am not going to trash the OP's topic by replying to your foul language.
Though; go easy on yourself.

Of course you don't believe that you were tricked into believing your religion.

That's because you WANTED to be tricked into it - so you can conform to the societal norms it espouses.

If you take a good long look at why you believe it - you will come to the conclusion that you have no real reasons for believing it.

You just want to belong.

That's not a reason. It's an excuse.

Mere "belonging" is not my thing; you see I prefer to have "morals" and "strong reasons" behind my moves. I believe in God because the idea of a universe without a creator is silly to me: the design of it is too perfect it rings a strong bell.

I believe because it is the most logical thing out there.
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#72
RE: Converting
(April 25, 2020 at 2:28 pm)WinterHold Wrote:
(April 25, 2020 at 9:16 am)BrianSoddingBoru4 Wrote: Comic writing has purposes beyond making people laugh. It frequently uses humour as a vehicle to examine vital social issues or ultimate existential conundra. 

You’ve clearly never been exposed to the classic novel ‘The Snarkout Boys And The Avocado Of Death’ or its equally brilliant companion volume ‘The Snarkout Boys And The Baconburg Horror’. In the two books alone, you will find more meaning, more insight into the human condition than in all the holy books and religious commentary every written.

Boru

If some authors like to leave a "deep" story behind their humor, many others don't. Actually there are so many popular publications that serve nothing but the sole goal of making the reader laugh, generalizing on the whole industry is quite wrong to me.

I am interested in the novel you mentioned to me months ago, about the dark city with lots of crime and criminals. That one seemed interesting.

(April 25, 2020 at 12:25 pm)onlinebiker Wrote: Of course you don't believe that you were tricked into believing your religion.

That's because you WANTED to be tricked into it - so you can conform to the societal norms it espouses.

If you take a good long look at why you believe it - you will come to the conclusion that you have no real reasons for believing it.

You just want to belong.

That's not a reason. It's an excuse.

Mere "belonging" is not my thing; you see I prefer to have "morals" and "strong reasons" behind my moves. I believe in God because the idea of a universe without a creator is silly to me: the design of it is too perfect it rings a strong bell.

I believe because it is the most logical thing out there.

An invisible make - believe person won't make you a better person.

When I sell a vehicle - I will tell the buyer all that is wrong about it t hat I know to be wrong. There have been many times where I could have made more money by lying about things or simply keeping my mouth shut. 

I never have.

It's not because Allah, Jesus, The Easter Bunny or The Great Pumpkin commands me to do.so.

I do it because I despise cunts who willingly sell defective things without disclosing those defects.

I do the right thing because it is right.

That's what morals are.

Morals are NOT behaviour inspired by fear of retribution (or hope of approval) by anyone - including invisible friends.


That is simply Pavlovian conditioning.

True morals come from within.
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#73
RE: Converting
(April 25, 2020 at 5:37 am)Nomad Wrote:
(April 25, 2020 at 1:40 am)cleansed Wrote: This was my problem when I first started looking for God.  I had no idea which claim if any were true.  I spent around 8 years researching and going through quite a bit before I was able to come to a conclusion.  I can definitely relate to your frustration.

I thought you said you were "born again".  You do realise that the born again sects demand that you throw away all the evìdence without so much as glancing at it, right?

Not in my experience.  I fellowship with the Assemblies of God and there is schooling in the evidences of the faith at their Universities.  Personally, I didn't come to faith by that kind of evidence, but rather through personal revelation that I received through reading the bible.  Before that I was apathetic about religion and had no personal interest in it.
~Jesus didn't come to make bad people good.  He came to make dead people alive~
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#74
RE: Converting
(April 27, 2020 at 1:54 am)cleansed Wrote: Personally, I didn't come to faith by that kind of evidence, but rather through personal revelation that I received through reading the bible.  Before that I was apathetic about religion and had no personal interest in it.

Really? You came to religion by reading the Bible? So, cleansed, can I guess which verses? Was it this part that won you/ cleansed you?

Quote:Deuteronomy 23:10–11 “If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return “to the camp.”

Or this?

Quote:Leviticus 15:1–33 "When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness: Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean.
[...]
When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
[...]
If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. … You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them. These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.

Or this?

Quote:Leviticus 15:19, 29–30 “When a woman has a discharge of blood which is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. … And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.”
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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#75
RE: Converting
Winter Hold:

Quote:I am interested in the novel you mentioned to me months ago, about the dark city with lots of crime and criminals. That one seemed interesting.

I don't recall mentioning such a novel - not saying I didn't, I just don't remember doing so.

Boru
‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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#76
RE: Converting
(April 27, 2020 at 2:55 am)Fake Messiah Wrote:
(April 27, 2020 at 1:54 am)cleansed Wrote: Personally, I didn't come to faith by that kind of evidence, but rather through personal revelation that I received through reading the bible.  Before that I was apathetic about religion and had no personal interest in it.

Really? You came to religion by reading the Bible? So, cleansed, can I guess which verses? Was it this part that won you/ cleansed you?

Quote:Deuteronomy 23:10–11 “If one of your men is unclean because of a nocturnal emission, he is to go outside the camp and stay there. But as evening approaches he is to wash himself, and at sunset he may return “to the camp.”

Or this?

Quote:Leviticus 15:1–33 "When any man has an unusual bodily discharge, such a discharge is unclean. Whether it continues flowing from his body or is blocked, it will make him unclean. This is how his discharge will bring about uncleanness: Any bed the man with a discharge lies on will be unclean, and anything he sits on will be unclean. Anyone who touches his bed must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whoever sits on anything that the man with a discharge sat on must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Whoever touches the man who has a discharge must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. If the man with the discharge spits on anyone who is clean, they must wash their clothes and bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. Everything the man sits on when riding will be unclean.
[...]
When a man has an emission of semen, he must bathe his whole body with water, and he will be unclean till evening. Any clothing or leather that has semen on it must be washed with water, and it will be unclean till evening. When a man has sexual relations with a woman and there is an emission of semen, both of them must bathe with water, and they will be unclean till evening. When a woman has her regular flow of blood, the impurity of her monthly period will last seven days, and anyone who touches her will be unclean till evening.
[...]
If a man has sexual relations with her and her monthly flow touches him, he will be unclean for seven days; any bed he lies on will be unclean. … You must keep the Israelites separate from things that make them unclean, so they will not die in their uncleanness for defiling my dwelling place, which is among them. These are the regulations for a man with a discharge, for anyone made unclean by an emission of semen, for a woman in her monthly period, for a man or a woman with a discharge, and for a man who has sexual relations with a woman who is ceremonially unclean.

Or this?

Quote:Leviticus 15:19, 29–30 “When a woman has a discharge of blood which is her regular discharge from her body, she shall be in her impurity for seven days, and whoever touches her shall be unclean until the evening. … And on the eighth day she shall take two turtledoves or two young pigeons, and bring them to the priest, to the door of the tent of meeting. And the priest shall offer one for a sin offering and the other for a burnt offering; and the priest shall make atonement for her before the Lord for her unclean discharge.”

No, but I have read those verses.  I've read through the bible a number of times.  How about you?
~Jesus didn't come to make bad people good.  He came to make dead people alive~
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#77
RE: Converting
(April 27, 2020 at 7:58 pm)cleansed Wrote: No, but I have read those verses.  I've read through the bible a number of times.  How about you?

Yes I read it and that's why I'm an atheist because even a cursory look at the bible should be enough to convince a reasonable person that it’s the very last document you should thrust in front of someone if you want to convince them to believe in God.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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#78
RE: Converting
(April 28, 2020 at 12:22 am)Fake Messiah Wrote:
(April 27, 2020 at 7:58 pm)cleansed Wrote: No, but I have read those verses.  I've read through the bible a number of times.  How about you?

Yes I read it and that's why I'm an atheist because even a cursory look at the bible should be enough to convince a reasonable person that it’s the very last document you should thrust in front of someone if you want to convince them to believe in God.

Actually, the truth is exactly the opposite.  I think the vast majority of people who come to faith in Christ do so by reading the scriptures.  I encourage people to read it prayerfully, asking God about what they are reading and to show them the truth.
~Jesus didn't come to make bad people good.  He came to make dead people alive~
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#79
RE: Converting
(April 28, 2020 at 1:42 am)cleansed Wrote: I encourage people to read it prayerfully, asking God about what they are reading and to show them the truth.

The truth is that God is obsessed with sex, human genitals, and discharge from human genitals. And that's not all, the truth is also that God is jealous and proud of it, he is racist, he is petty, he is infanticidal, homophobic, misogynistic and so on.

If you read Bram Stoker's Dracula you find a refreshingly moral person in Dracula compared to God from the Bible because Dracula’s craving was a mere drop in the bucket compared to the oceans of blood demanded by Yahweh. Or Simon Legree from Uncle Tom’s Cabin is a pale copy of the slave-master from the Bible.
teachings of the Bible are so muddled and self-contradictory that it was possible for Christians to happily burn heretics alive for five long centuries. It was even possible for the most venerated patriarchs of the Church, like St. Augustine and St. Thomas Aquinas, to conclude that heretics should be tortured (Augustine) or killed outright (Aquinas). Martin Luther and John Calvin advocated the wholesale murder of heretics, apostates, Jews, and witches. - Sam Harris, "Letter To A Christian Nation"
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#80
RE: Converting
(April 28, 2020 at 1:42 am)cleansed Wrote:
(April 28, 2020 at 12:22 am)Fake Messiah Wrote: Yes I read it and that's why I'm an atheist because even a cursory look at the bible should be enough to convince a reasonable person that it’s the very last document you should thrust in front of someone if you want to convince them to believe in God.

Actually, the truth is exactly the opposite.  I think the vast majority of people who come to faith in Christ do so by reading the scriptures.  I encourage people to read it prayerfully, asking God about what they are reading and to show them the truth.

It's a pleasant thought, but it's wrong.  The majority of the faithful don't even know what's in magic book.  You'd get better info from this group of nonbelievers.  Study after study after study confiorms this rather amusing tick of contemporary faith.

How people who have not read magic book could come to faith through it, would be the real miracle. Additionally, it's not entirely cogent to insist that a person who doesn't believe in gods prayerfully ask them for things.

This may have been what you were doing, ofc- you had an experience while you read magic book. As such it makes sense for you to tell others to do x - the x that you were doing when you had your experience.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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