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RE: I just confessed my Atheism to friends and family!
March 13, 2013 at 6:32 pm
(This post was last modified: March 13, 2013 at 6:32 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
@Missluckie
Christ almighty...I hope my wife isn't saddled with my ass for all eternity.......the girl deserves a break at some point....you can only hear a story so many times you know....
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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RE: I just confessed my Atheism to friends and family!
March 18, 2013 at 5:57 am
(This post was last modified: March 18, 2013 at 5:59 am by smax.)
(March 3, 2013 at 2:26 am)Aractus Wrote: Also Jonah was swallowed by a fish, not a whale.
Obviously the story is ridiculous regardless, but I do find the translation issues here to be of particular interest.
You make reference to Jonah 1:17:
Now the LORD had prepared a great fish to swallow up Jonah. And Jonah was in the belly of the fish three days and three nights.
The Hebrew word here is דג גדול (or dag gadol), meaning geat fish.
With just that, one could reasonably conclude that the reference is no more specific than a fish.
However, this passage is referenced again in Matthew 12:40, which reads:
For as Jonas was three days and three nights in the whale's belly; so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. -- KJV
The greek word here is ketos, meaning a large fish, sea monster, or whale.
The point I'm making is simply this: the translators of most early and complete English versions of the bible chose the word "whale" during their translation. The most note worthy of these translations is the King James Version, which is the most published version to date.
It is well known that whales do not have the capacity to swallow large objects, so it stands to reason that any valid reference to a person being swallowed by a fish does not refer to a whale. Not to mention that whales are not fish.
I guess it just strikes me curious that the bible, which is supposedly written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit (2 Tim 3:16, 2 Pet 1:21), could be subject to such obvious translation errors.
You'd think that the holy spirit would have been far more concerned with translations that would be much more widely spread and used than he/it was with impacting the original texts which are remote at best.
Just another challenge (or dilemma) that faith has to overcome I guess.
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RE: I just confessed my Atheism to friends and family!
March 19, 2013 at 3:15 pm
(This post was last modified: March 19, 2013 at 3:15 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
LOL, it wasn't a fish or a whale....thats just the way we started to interpret it so it sounded less absurd (lulz). It was dag, leviathan, a fucking sea monster.....
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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RE: I just confessed my Atheism to friends and family!
April 18, 2013 at 6:07 pm
(This post was last modified: April 18, 2013 at 6:10 pm by Atheist(KM).)
Couldn't some of the gospels simply be, self-fulfilling prophecies?
http://www.businessdictionary.com/defini...phecy.html
No divine inspiration or intervention required.
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RE: I just confessed my Atheism to friends and family!
April 18, 2013 at 8:14 pm
(March 3, 2013 at 2:20 am)AtcAtheist Wrote: I've been wanting to do this for a while now! No one knew my new beliefs but my wife (who is still Christian) and 2 people who I knew were atheists... Maybe I took the easy way out by posting on Facebook, but that was NOT easy to do!! This is what I posted:
*******
I've been wanting to say this for a while now:
I No Longer Believe in God or Jesus...!
I've been doubting and having questions for about a year now. I spoke with 3 of my former pastors, and received typical answers ("we're not supposed to understand", "it's God's will", "just have faith", etc..) After being tired of these unsatisfying 'answers', I started looking for answers myself. The more I dug into the bible, the more disturbing stuff I discovered (especially in the Old Testament), and the more I started doubting the validity of the Bible and religion in general...
Some key factors for my decision: The bible was not written by god, but by man, and for many books, we have no idea who wrote them (including the gospels- no, they were not written by Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John). The bible was written nearly 2000 years ago for a bunch of sand-dwelling people (the true nation of Israel). Most of the stories were passed along by word of mouth for generations before finally being written, so imagine the inaccuracy!! Do we as intelligent grown ups really believe in stories of talking snakes and donkeys, the Red Sea parting for an Israeli shortcut, Jonah living in a whale, people rising from the dead???
There are hundreds of 'Gods' in the world. How many of them do you believe in? Me, I just believe in one less god than you do.
I hope I am not offending anyone, and I hope I don't lose any friends over this... I'm still the same ole Marc!! Please don't judge me, don't think I'm a monster or a heathen damned to hell. I have not taken this decision lightly. I hope you all respect my beliefs, and still accept me for who I am!!
*******
I have gotten some positive replies, but most saying they'll pray for me...
Anyway, my wife feels betrayed that I finally 'came out', and I hope this doesn't put a strain on our marriage.. Anyway, wish me luck!
Bully for you man!! Welcome and let the good times roll!
Stand before the people you fear and speak your mind - even if your voice shakes.
Maggie Kuhn
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