What Heaven is Like

[frankiej]

I'll have to win the lottery first or find a suitcase filled with cash at the side of the road.

[KichigaiNeko]

I'll have to win the lottery first or find a suitcase filled with cash at the side of the road.

At least once in your life ... get Down Under! If only for two weeks mate!

[frankiej]

Yeah, I will try at some point.

[KichigaiNeko]

Yeah, I will try at some point.

I hope that you do!

[Thor]

lol he is the one who started complaining that Christians "can't even agree with each other".

And Christians can't agree with each other! Do you deny this? If I'm wrong, why are there so many different versions of Christ-inanity?

Words are defined by how they are used, so if this trend at all continues, I wonder what the word "atheist" will mean in 10 or so years.

It will mean the same thing it does today: disbelief in any god or gods. Your absurd survey makes no sense! How could 21% of atheists say they believe in a god? By definition, this means they ARE NOT ATHEISTS!

How about this survey:

Question: Are you a bachelor?

Of all the people who responded "yes", this followup question is then asked:

Are you married?

21% respond yes.

My survey reveals that 21% of bachelors are married!

Makes as much sense as the asinine survey you referenced.

[Adjusted Sanity]

Some self described atheists might believe in god, but only because they've been misinformed about the definition and think atheists are people who hate god. But 21% is way too high a number even if you allow that. That number should only go as high as 1% in that case.

[Taqiyya Mockingbird]

Hemmorrhaging its membership in (HELLO: Educated!) Europe and America, while gaining members in (HELLO: Uneducated!) third world countries. And that is not the only reason to say it is in its death throes.

That isn't a reason to say its in its "death throes" at all.

It's one of many, as I already pointed out. And all your rambling doesn't change change the fact that it is bleeding out its membership.

And I note your attempt to dodge the fact that that they can't get new clergy to SAVE THEIR LIFE.

This has been done to death elsewhere, and of course you steadfastly refuse to face and admit the facts. You ain't fooling anyone.

What facts? It is a fact that this is how the Catholic Church estimates its numbers: for the service appeals on behalf of the Archdiocese. Higher numbers = more money owed to the Archdiocese.

And higher worldwide estimates of its membership = attempts to exert influence by appeal to the Herd -- which is exactly what you are trying to do here.

WAITAFUKINMINIT -- Buddhists do not believe in any creator god AT ALL.

Maybe? That poll says nothing about "creator god" or whatever,

It says "God". It doesn't say "pantheon of lesser beings that resemble gods but are pitied for their indulgent natures, which how the Buddha portrayed extant beliefs of gods as he was shuffling them out the door.

and its obviously true that the Buddha openly admitted to the extance of gods (Straight from the Dhammapada: "Even the gods emulate those who are awakened.") , so....hm.

Except that the Dhammapadda was not a teaching of the Buddha: he never uttered that nonsense. Aren't you the one who is always claiming others are ignorant of your religion?

I call BULLSHIT. What is your source for this table?

Pew Research Forum's 2007 Religious Landscape study
http://religions.pewforum.org/pdf/report...ndings.pdf

They are actually a very major polling organization, and track many of the statistics associated with religious belief in the US.

And I STILL call bullshit, because it's bullshit. Buddhists don't believe in a god-figure. The study is obviously badly flawed.

This study made headlines a few years ago. Its the main reason why researchers cannot ask someone "Are you an atheist?" in order to measure belief in God since so many self-described atheists do (and a small minority of Christians etc. don't).

Interesting stuff.

It's not interesting at all, because it's bullshit.

[Mister Agenda]

[quote='Mister Agenda' pid='298631' dateline='1339515843']
How do you make out that 'Do what I say or I won't let you stay dead' is not also a non-choice?

? Nobody "stays dead" so I'm unsure what you are referring to.

Um, that's exactly what I'm referring to. If true, permanent death isn't an option, clearly God doesn't have a problem with restricting our choices. Your point was that 'do what I say or I'll end your existence' isn't consistent with free will. My point is that excluding permanent death from the choices is also not consistent with free will. It's basically saying that no matter what, you have to play the game, no one can quit.

I have read some of her posts. I am just saying that it's not representative of the bulk of Christianity.

What you actually said is that your view represents the view of the majority of Christians here. GC is here, too.

lol he is the one who started complaining that Christians "can't even agree with each other".

If you told me the Karfnugen sect isn't composed of Christians because they deny the divinity of Jesus, reject all his miracles, and think he gave spectacularly bad advice; I'd agree they don't fit the definition of Christian. I wouldn't keep bringing up the fact that Karfnugens believe they are Christians as examples of Christians who think Jesus was a dumbass.

Words are defined by how they are used, so if this trend at all continues, I wonder what the word "atheist" will mean in 10 or so years.

Current trends suggest it will mean 'someone who doesn't believe in God, someone who is not a theist'.

[Epimethean]

"Words are defined by how they are used, so if this trend at all continues, I wonder what the word "atheist" will mean in 10 or so years."

Speaking of which, "christ" is used as a swear word very effectively and makes the top 25 on the BBC's list of profane terms, so really, one must wonder what christ really means even today. I find it easy to test by substitution, and "jesus christ" is easily substituted in for "holy shit," and since we seldom use "holy" without the "shit," it would seem that christ = shit.

[Taqiyya Mockingbird]

And now that I am looking at this "survey", I can confirm that the statistics with respect to Buddhism are utter bullshit. FIRST, the survey is strictly limited to Americans, which represents a very small proportion of Buddhists, which is also extremely disproportionally over-represented by the tibetan religions and "mahayanist", which are woo-filled stark departures from the teachings of the Buddha.

Americans also tend to dabble and cherry-pick religion, and it is not surprising that Americans who dabble in the tibetan religions, for example (which are so far removed from the Buddha's teachings as to be an entirely different group of religions, primarily they are Bon and animism with a sprinkling of principles from the Buddha's teachings), might also admit to a vague belief in the x-tard "god" figure.

This reflects their utter ignorance of the Buddha's teachings, and also illuminates some major flaws in this study.

The Buddha saw speculations about any gods, and especially a creator god, as woo.