(March 14, 2014 at 11:36 pm)Aral Gamelon Wrote: You know what's really ridiculous? The fact that these people think that this supposedly omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient god of theirs is talking to them through a compilation of books. That is what's goddamned (and I chose the word advisedly) ridiculous.

Thank you.

In my analysis above, I forgot the question of why God needs missionaries? Or a book? Why could the book not be published all over the world, prior to the arrival of any missionaries?

Why was this book and all these prophets only from one small corner of the world? Why not have prophets in China, a civilization far more ancient and literate than ancient Judea?

That the book had to be written by human hands and carried all over the world by human hands is enough to attest that this religion is man-made.

Deist,

You must have had that one pre-prepared. I reckon you covered all the bases in one go.

Nice one.

(March 15, 2014 at 9:22 am)discipulus Wrote: Ideas like righteousness, repentance, worship, glory, honor, humility etc etc... leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the proud and self centered.

I should probably just ignore you since you've demonstrated your dishonest nature. This post is just another in a long line of strawmen and arrogant attributions of motivations contrived to validate your own beliefs. However, because this argument comes up so frequently, I do feel the need to address it using the oft cited three steps to being a Christian.

1. Confess you are a sinner.
I have no problem with admitting I'm a sinner, if by "sin" you mean I'm not perfect and have done things in my past I wish I could do differently.

2. Repent.
I have no problem with committing to "turn from sin", if by that you mean facing my past mistakes, learning from them and resolving to become a better person.

3. Believe Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross to be your redeemer.
And finally, there's the part about thinking the "solution" is to believe that we beat the hell out of a man 2000 years ago and executed him in a torturous manner. If I believed we appease the anger of the gods by throwing a virgin into a volcano, my beliefs would be rightly condemned as being both barbaric and absurd. But to believe roughly the same thing about a man on a cross, and I'm a brother in Christ.

You had me... you had me... you lost me.

(March 15, 2014 at 2:07 pm)max-greece Wrote: Deist,

You must have had that one pre-prepared. I reckon you covered all the bases in one go.

Nice one.

I repeated variations on that theme so often it's not hard. I've been doing this for 10 years since I literally wrote a book on the subject.

I titled that book "God vs the Bible"

I just *noticed* the play on words as to the title of this thread.

(March 15, 2014 at 1:10 pm)Napoléon Wrote:

(March 15, 2014 at 12:17 pm)discipulus Wrote: You may not picket funerals but your words written here in this forum are spoken without respect, without humility and without love. Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. You are no different than those you condemn.

And you're clearly just a judgemental asshole who has no intention of paying attention to anything anyone says or addressing any of their points. Instead you bitch about the fact they might use naughty words and that they call you a little whiny bitch (because that's exactly what you are). How about you grow a pair of bollocks and actually address the points instead of moaning about how they are delivered.

Your posts are all the proof I need that what I say is true. You cannot stop speaking the way you do. It is natural for you. It is "second-nature" for you to spew hate and bitterness out of your mouth because that is what is in your heart.

Every post of yours from now on, if it bears any resemblance to the one's you have already made, will serve only to verify what I am saying.

(March 15, 2014 at 2:31 pm)discipulus Wrote: Your posts are all the proof I need that what I say is true. You cannot stop speaking the way you do. It is natural for you. It is "second-nature" for you to spew hate and bitterness out of your mouth because that is what is in your heart.

Every post of yours from now on, if it bears any resemblance to the one's you have already made, will serve only to verify what I am saying.

Fine. I'll ask you politely. Answer the points I've made in previous posts. Pretty please with a cherry on top.

Every post of yours from now on, if it bears any resemblance to the one's you have already made, will serve only to verify what I am saying.

(March 15, 2014 at 2:10 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote:

(March 15, 2014 at 9:22 am)discipulus Wrote: Ideas like righteousness, repentance, worship, glory, honor, humility etc etc... leave a bitter taste in the mouth of the proud and self centered.

I should probably just ignore you since you've demonstrated your dishonest nature. This post is just another in a long line of strawmen and arrogant attributions of motivations contrived to validate your own beliefs. However, because this argument comes up so frequently, I do feel the need to address it using the oft cited three steps to being a Christian.

1. Confess you are a sinner.
I have no problem with admitting I'm a sinner, if by "sin" you mean I'm not perfect and have done things in my past I wish I could do differently.

2. Repent.
I have no problem with committing to "turn from sin", if by that you mean facing my past mistakes, learning from them and resolving to become a better person.

3. Believe Jesus sacrificed himself on the cross to be your redeemer.
And finally, there's the part about thinking the "solution" is to believe that we beat the hell out of a man 2000 years ago and executed him in a torturous manner. If I believed we appease the anger of the gods by throwing a virgin into a volcano, my beliefs would be rightly condemned as being both barbaric and absurd. But to believe roughly the same thing about a man on a cross, and I'm a brother in Christ.

You had me... you had me... you lost me.

Precisely.

It all comes down to this simple question: Who is Jesus?

How you answer that will determine your eternal destiny.

Make no mistake about it, people can choose to reject Him or accept Him. You have heard the report i.e. that you are a sinner and that your relationship with a Holy God has been broken. Reconciliation comes through faith in Christ's atoning work on the Cross.

But see, a proud person cannot come to Christ. One must be humble in approaching God, not arrogant, not proud. One must be sorrowful, one must see himself as utterly lost and without hope before he can look up to God.

The one's who are too proud are like the Pharisees. They killed Christ because they were envious of Him. They were arrogant and loved the praise of men.

How can any of you here believe when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

---

(March 15, 2014 at 2:34 pm)Napoléon Wrote:

(March 15, 2014 at 2:31 pm)discipulus Wrote: Your posts are all the proof I need that what I say is true. You cannot stop speaking the way you do. It is natural for you. It is "second-nature" for you to spew hate and bitterness out of your mouth because that is what is in your heart.

Every post of yours from now on, if it bears any resemblance to the one's you have already made, will serve only to verify what I am saying.

Fine. I'll ask you politely. Answer the points I've made in previous posts. Pretty please with a cherry on top.

Every post of yours from now on, if it bears any resemblance to the one's you have already made, will serve only to verify what I am saying.

You asked:

What makes you think people are automatically entitled to respect? Do christians who picket funerals have respect? Why should I respect such people.

To which I have stated:

People are entitled to respect because you would want respect. Christians who picket funerals do not have respect for the dead. You should respect such people because you would want respect.

I did not say you had to agree with their actions. I disagree with them personally. But I do not stoop so low as to be like them and mock and ridicule people and scorn and disrespect them.

I am encouraged to be the salt and light of the earth. How can I stand apart from the hate and bitterness and evil in the world if I run right along with the crowd and act as they do?

(March 15, 2014 at 2:15 pm)DeistPaladin Wrote:

(March 15, 2014 at 2:07 pm)max-greece Wrote: Deist,

You must have had that one pre-prepared. I reckon you covered all the bases in one go.

Nice one.

I repeated variations on that theme so often it's not hard. I've been doing this for 10 years since I literally wrote a book on the subject.

I titled that book "God vs the Bible"

Kindle version? Google books version? Anything not an actual physical book perhaps?

I agree with Napoleon, discipulus. Not because I don't believe as you do anymore, but rather you don't seem to really be ''listening'' to what people are addressing here, unless it supports your ideas. Granted most of us here are on opposite sides of the fence to you, but you seem to just drone on and on about Jesus this and that, and think that's an actual answer. You give a lot of non-answers, and don't seem interested in a genuine exchange of ideas. Unfortunately, you can agree or not, religion breeds a rigidness of views. The religious person views everything through the lens of his/her 'holy' book, and that's it. Meanwhile, your holy book is basically a composite set of fables written of the biggest hypocrites in history. (if we are to believe the stories as having any historical value)

But, such is life in religion. You are like on auto pilot, chanting your book's 'rules' and such to us all here, as if you are the authority, simply because you buy that bunk.

People have been living productive, healthy unselfish lives, without Christianity...long before it even came onto the scene. And the person who was responsible for a lot of what you are reading in your beloved book, was Constantine. You know, that sadistic, tyrannical leader? That is verifiable history.