(February 11, 2014 at 3:48 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Wrong. It's the rejection of your jesus shit which has freed the western mind.

Did it free it or enslave it? In any case if Christianity isn't going anywhere though Islam could become the dominant faith in Europe by the end of the century.

Telling people exactly how to live their lives as a species because you claim divine inspiration from a war god is not freeing them of anything.

(February 11, 2014 at 4:05 pm)Sword of Christ Wrote:

(February 11, 2014 at 3:48 pm)Minimalist Wrote: Wrong. It's the rejection of your jesus shit which has freed the western mind.

Did it free it or enslave it? In any case if Christianity isn't going anywhere though Islam could become the dominant faith in Europe by the end of the century.

I have a feeling that religion will die out for the most part in a century or two. I just wish I could stick around to see it.

(February 11, 2014 at 4:11 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Telling people exactly how to live their lives as a species because you claim divine inspiration from a war god is not freeing them of anything.

The idea is Christ supposed to free people into a direct relationship with God, and so free you from sin, death and all that business. So it's not technically supposed to enslave anyone.

"You will know the truth, and the truth will set you free." John 8:32

If atheism is right and God doesn't exist then we're about as free as organic robots determined by physically determined processes/stimulus as understood by science.

(February 11, 2014 at 5:36 pm)KUSA Wrote: I have a feeling that religion will die out for the most part in a century or two. I just wish I could stick around to see it.

Religion will exist for as long as humanity asks the big questions, seeks social/community/family bonds and undergoes the process of death.

Seeing as the only reason we're in "sin" is because Yahweh decided Adam and Eve's punishment would carry on into people who had no control over it, and some of the things he likes and dislikes are things many people would be against just through common sense, I don't really care much if he thinks I'm "sinning" or not.

I don't know if religion will die out completely, since I doubt that science will find all the answers. It will die down quite a bit unless it goes with the flow of science and reality, though.

(February 11, 2014 at 7:00 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Seeing as the only reason we're in "sin" is because Yahweh decided Adam and Eve's punishment would carry on into people who had no control over it, and some of the things he likes and dislikes are things many people would be against just through common sense, I don't really care much if he thinks I'm "sinning" or not.

The story of Genesis is just a symbolic/poetic way of describing the human condition in relationship to a perfect/flawless creator God. We sin because we have our independent freewill from God as physical beings. Because we're physical beings we're subject to suffering and death. Sin severs you from God meaning your relationship with God ceases on death, you're in the ground and that's the end of you much as the atheists believe. However what they wrote at the time they only had half of the story. In the completed edition God cleanses your sin away by grace and restores you to full life and this way you become an immortal being while retaining your individual freedom of will. Jesus provided this part of the narrative/revelation from God so completing the picture as we understand it. They call it the Good News for a reason.

Quote:It will die down quite a bit unless it goes with the flow of science and reality, though.

Science is the study of the universe and God created the universe science is then able to study so that gives us the full understanding of science and reality. The puzzle pieces fit together to form the whole picture.

Quote:A lot of Christians, especially women, reject the entire book of Paul in the Bible. *shrugs*

psst - there IS no 'book of Paul' in the Bible.

That being said, I tend to get on better with 'cafeteria Christians' (those who pick what they like and leave the rest) than the literalists who insist that every passage in the Bible MUST be the Truth and MUST be followed exactly.

Boru

Yeah, I know a lot of old testament stories are "just so" stories that explain why things happen. Why are we afraid of snakes? Why is childbirth painful? Why do floods happen? Why do different cultures speak different languages? It's just that some people do take these literally, and if you don't then it just becomes a storybook like any other. Legends and laws that fit the current cultures at the time. Rarely factual, but supposedly the basis of divine worship.

The old testament/torah was written a thousand years before christianity, and honestly as big a habit as christianity had with incorporating other cultural beliefs into it, I wouldn't be surprised if people just started saying Jesus was the son of Yahweh in the hopes that it would convert jews. That would explain why many hated jews so much, despite that his death was the whole point of his birth.

Science gives us a better understanding of the univers, and the more it finds out, the more people realize that the supernatural is likely fake. Lighting doesn't come from gods throwing bolts from the sky. Volcanoes don't erupt because the great fire spirit is angry. Yahweh does not have a throne on top of the firmament of the world. You can claim Yahweh, or Vishnu, or anyone else created the universe, but you can't prove it. It has noting to do with the scientific method.

If anyone followed all of the Bible word for word as instructed they would be in prison.

(February 11, 2014 at 7:25 pm)Chad32 Wrote: Science gives us a better understanding of the univers

There's no mutual exclusivity so you can have both.

(February 11, 2014 at 7:27 pm)Sword of Christ Wrote: If anyone followed all of the Bible word for word as instructed they would be in prison..

So when Jesus comes back we can just lock his ass up.