Tap, Rack and Assess were our prompts, and we never "expected" the weapon to work without having ammunition first.

If intelligence is proof of God's existence (and I am a believer) then churches are the most Godless places in our Solar System, filled with feckless individuals who sup spoonfed nonsense that they don't understand because a man in neat clothes is saying it really loudly at the front.

That kind of argument is crazy. It states it is evidence despite presenting no evidence. It states your opinion and even then, it has no authority because you obviously haven't studied animal behaviour.

That's why so many kids get confused in science classes. That's why so many adults can't be assed to think for themselves. Intelligence should be used by the churches to say go out and think. Use it. And if you come back, great.

Well that's great and all. Faith has issues, but what makes your faith different than those who you criticize? What makes the RC god real, and the others not so much?

Well, I'm not a very good RC. Maybe I should change that tag.

I left the church and went back to it in a much more open sense. Regarding the book as a general guide and relying on common sense and critical thinking to work out your way in life, rather than accepting blindly all that you are told.

I realised that I wasn't an atheist, I actually despised religion and how men had twisted it for their own nefarious desires. Religion is constantly used as a stick to beat people into submission, using fear of the almighty.

In the old testament, "God" used people to smite his enemies and commit acts of genocide. This actually means, God was used as an excuse for genocide (as he still is). Then when God smiting went out of fashion, hell was invented to bring people back in line. What could be more terrifying than an eternity of torment.

Yes I may be hypocritical in my condemnation of others. Aren't we all at times? The one thing I cling to is that when shown evidence for a particular theory, I accept it. I do not have an ideological block that cannot be shifted.

I don't think anyone has twisted religion. It seems to be serving the purpose it was designed for very well. You gave perfect examples. It very much seems that religion is twisted.

(November 10, 2011 at 11:54 am)chadster1976 Wrote: Well, I'm not a very good RC. Maybe I should change that tag.

I left the church and went back to it in a much more open sense. Regarding the book as a general guide and relying on common sense and critical thinking to work out your way in life, rather than accepting blindly all that you are told.

I realised that I wasn't an atheist, I actually despised religion and how men had twisted it for their own nefarious desires. Religion is constantly used as a stick to beat people into submission, using fear of the almighty.

In the old testament, "God" used people to smite his enemies and commit acts of genocide. This actually means, God was used as an excuse for genocide (as he still is). Then when God smiting went out of fashion, hell was invented to bring people back in line. What could be more terrifying than an eternity of torment.

Yes I may be hypocritical in my condemnation of others. Aren't we all at times? The one thing I cling to is that when shown evidence for a particular theory, I accept it. I do not have an ideological block that cannot be shifted.

These are some good reasons not to believe in the abrahamic god, so why do you still believe?

Quote:Regarding the book as a general guide and relying on common sense and critical thinking to work out your way in life, rather than accepting blindly all that you are told.

You are not Herr Von Popenfuhrer's kind of catholic.

Good. Gets you a point to the plus side.

(November 10, 2011 at 11:54 am)chadster1976 Wrote: The one thing I cling to is that when shown evidence for a particular theory, I accept it. I do not have an ideological block that cannot be shifted.

There is a way you can put the non-existence of you ideological block to the test.
Answer, if you want to, the following question:

Why is it that the American Indians who had no contact with the rest of the humanity for 14,000 years believed about gods what Europeans, Asians and Africans believed, that is, that the gods fashioned and exterminated one generation of humans after the other, that the gods created humans to serve as their slaves and provide them with food, that the gods mated with human women and that the gods used messengers in order to communicate with other gods and with humans.

My opinion is that the weight of the ideological block depends on the audacity of the theory and that there is no human without mental block.
Prove me wrong!

Native Americans believed what now? Some were polytheists, some monotheists, some animists or deists. There were probably atheists as well, lol. Humans that could become gods, ancestor worship, entire pantheons that sacrificed themselves for us, etc etc etc. America is a big place, there were lots of different cultures, and as such it was a spiritual buffet (much the same as it is now).

(November 10, 2011 at 3:37 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Native Americans believed what now? Some were polytheists, some monotheists, some animists or deists. There were probably atheists as well, lol. Humans that could become gods, ancestor worship, entire pantheons that sacrificed themselves for us, etc etc etc. America is a big place, there were lots of different cultures, and as such it was a spiritual buffet (much the same as it is now).

The point is: Did some of them believe that he gods fashioned and exterminated one generation of humans after the other, that the gods created humans to serve as their slaves and provide them with food, that the gods mated with human women and that the gods used messengers in order to communicate with other gods and with humans?
They did! Comparative mythology is a science and you cannot ignore it.

I know of ways used to avoid answering the question directly, but no one dared say that the American Indians did not believe of the gods what our own ancestor did.

Anyway, let us say that it was only the native American polytheists that believed the same with the European polytheists. What is your explanation of the phenomenon?