Because everything is subject to misuse and misinterpratation... Here is a little joke about beliefs

 

A priest and a pastor from the local parishes are standing by the side of the road holding up a sign that reads,

 

The End is Near!

Turn yourself around now before it's too late!

 

"Leave us alone you religious nuts!" yelled the first driver as he sped by.

 

From around the curve they heard screeching tires and a big crash.

 

Then, one of the clergys says to the other: "Do you think we should just put up a sign that says, 'BRIDGE OUT' instead?"

 

It is all relative... But that driver might have been saved had he listened to the priests!

My quest in life is to be a good person by following the guidelines given to me by Jesus through Catholicism. I do not think any of my believes are immoral. Who is to say what is moral and what is not? Ask yourself that question, who in the first place told you what was supposed to be right or wrong?

 

Of course there is nothing wrong with honesty. You may think or say anything you want as long as you do not insult or belittle anyone here. I do not think that you have done any of that.

 

Do not worry... I understand your point of view, even though I do not share it.

I knew this discussion would open a whole other can of worms, but it is all relative to people's maturity and level of understanding.

I hope I'm not acting immature.

 

But belief not absed upon evidence is dishonest, thus immoral in my point of view. Otherwise, most of religion is very moral. It is the way one inquires evidence I question morality.

 

Peace.

Here's an interesting story they say from time to time at youth group....

 

One time there was a huge flood in the city. The city had to be evacuated but this one man decided to stay at his home. The cops knocked on his door to evacuate him and he says, "No. I am not leaving. God will save me." The cops left.

 

The flood had come. The water must have been about 5 feet high above the ground. The police pass by o a boat. "Sir! You must come with us! You're going to drown!" The man says, "No! I am not leaving. God will save me!" The police left.

 

Then when finally the water reached up to the roof, the man had to get up there because if not, he'd drown. Then a helicopter came and the police said from a speaker, "Sir! Please come up! You're going to drown!" The man clearly said, "No! My God will save me!" The helicopter then left.

 

Finally, the man drowns, dies, and he goes up to Heaven. God greets him and the man asks Him, "God, I thought you were going to save me! What happened?" God smiled and said to him, "Son, I came to save you 3 times and 3 times you turned me away."

 

That story is an example of how God is always there for me, even when I don't realize it.

:lol

 

That story really doesn't prove anything, but its funny.

I wasn't trying to prove anything to YOU. I was just posting it because I wanted to show how God helps me, and it also highlights how some people ignore Him.

Don't get so damn angry!

 

 

How's this for the story:

One time there was a huge flood in the city. The city had to be evacuated but this one man decided to stay at his home. The cops knocked on his door to evacuate him and he says, "No. I am not leaving. God will save me." The cops left.

 

The flood had come. The water must have been about 5 feet high above the ground. The police pass by o a boat. "Sir! You must come with us! You're going to drown!" The man says, "No! I am not leaving. God will save me!" The police left.

 

Then when finally the water reached up to the roof, the man had to get up there because if not, he'd drown. Then a helicopter came and the police said from a speaker, "Sir! Please come up! You're going to drown!" The man clearly said, "No! My God will save me!" The helicopter then left.

 

Finally, the man drowns, dies, and he goes up to Heaven. God greets him and the man asks Him, "God, I thought you were going to save me! What happened?" God smiled and said to him, "You had blind faith it didn't inquire the truth with the best of your ability- you assumed a belief you found convenient and ignored the truth, so I punished you."

Good story, but its a matter what words you put in the last sentence.

I am not angry, dude. Chill.

I'm chillin', the CAPS made it look like there was some anger directed.

This is one of my favorite songs. Just wanna share it with you guys. I am not trying to get anyone angry or convert people because that's not right.

************************************************************

In The Light

By: DC talk

 

I keep trying to find a life

On my own, apart from You

I am the king of excuses

I've got one for every selfish thing I do

 

What's going on inside of me?

I despise my own behavior

This only serves to confirm my suspicions

That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

 

(chorus)

I wanna be in the Light

As You are in the Light

I wanna shine like the stars in the heavens

Oh, Lord be my Light and be my salvation

Cause all I want is to be in the Light

All I want is to be in the Light

 

The disease of self runs through my blood

It's a cancer fatal to my soul

Every attempt on my behalf has failed

To bring this sickness under control

 

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?

I despise my own behavior

This only serves to confirm my suspicions

That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

 

(repeat chorus)

 

Honesty becomes me

[There's nothing left to lose]

The secrets that did run me

[in Your presence are defused]

Pride has no position

[And riches have no worth]

The fame that once did cover me

[Has been sentenced to this Earth]

Has been sentenced to this Earth

 

Tell me, what's going on inside of me?

I despise my own behavior

This only serves to confirm my suspicions

That I'm still a man in need of a Savior

 

(repeat chorus 2x)

 

[There's no other place that I want to be]

[No other place that I can see]

[A place to be that's just right]

[someday I'm gonna be in the Light]

[You are in the Light]

[That's where I need to be]

[That's right where I need to be]

Atheist Joke:

A very religious man lived right next door to an atheist. The religious man prayed every single day and night, spending much time at church, while the atheist never even thought of such acts.

However, the atheist's had a good life. An excellent, well-payed job, and a beautiful wife, lovely, healthy, children, whereas the religious man's job was stressful and his wages were low, his wife was getting fatter every day ,and his kids were obnoxious, and non loving.

 

So one day, while deep into his regular prayer, he looked towards heaven and asked, "Oh God, I honour you every day, I ask your advice for every problem and confess to you my every sin. Yet my neighbour, who doesn't even believe in you and certainly never prays, seems blessed with every happiness, while I go poor and suffer many an indignity. Why is this?"

 

A great voice bellowed out from above, "BECAUSE HE DOESN'T BOTHER ME ALL THE TIME!"

 

Another Joke:

Hell Freezes Over

 

Dr. Schambaugh, of the University of Oklahoma School of Chemical Engineering, Final Exam for May of 1997 consisted of only one question. Dr. Schambaugh is known for asking questions such as, ''Why do airplanes fly?'' on his final exams. His one and only final exam question in May 1997 for his Momentum, Heat and Mass Transfer II class was:

''Is hell exothermic or endothermic? Support your answer with proof.''

 

Most of the students wrote proofs of their beliefs using Boyle's Law or some variant. One student, however, wrote the following:

"First, we postulate that if souls exist, then they must have some mass. If they do, then a mole of souls can also have a mass. So, at what rate are souls moving into hell and at what rate are souls leaving? I think we can safely assume that once a soul gets to hell, it will not leave. Therefore, no souls are leaving. As for souls entering hell, let us look at the different religions that exist in the world today. Some of these religions state that if you are not a member of their religion, then you will go to hell. Since there are more than one of these religions and people do not belong to more than one religion, we can project that all people and souls go to hell. With birth and death rates as they are, we can expect the number of souls in hell to increase exponentially. Now, we look at the rate of change in volume in hell. Boyle's law states that in order for the temperature and pressure in hell to stay the same, the ratio of the mass of souls and volume needs to stay constant. Two options exist:

1. If hell is expanding at a slower rate than the rate at which souls enter hell, then the temperature and pressure in hell will increase until all hell breaks loose. 2. If hell is expanding at a rate faster than the increase of souls in hell, then the temperature and pressure will drop until hell freezes over. So which is it? If we accept the quote given to me by Theresa Manyan during Freshman year, ''that it will be a cold night in hell before I sleep with you'' and take into account the fact that I still have NOT succeeded in having sexual relations with her, then Option 2 cannot be true. Thus, hell is exothermic."

The student, Tim Graham, got the only A.

 

Another:

Bus Stop

 

A good catholic man and his wife are waiting at the bus stop with their eight children. An agnostic with a walking stick joins them after a few minutes.

 

When the bus arrives, they find it overloaded and only the wife and the eight children are able to fit on the bus. So the husband and the agnostic have to walk.

 

They set off on foot, with the agnostic taping his walking stick on the ground as they walk along.

 

At first the husband doesn't worry about the tapping sound but after a while it starts to get to him.

 

Finally he has to say something. "Can't you stop that infernal tapping - it's driving me crazy!!"

 

The agnostic looks indignantly at the husband, then replies: "Give me a break! If you'd put a rubber on the end of YOUR stick, we'd be sitting in the bus."

 

 

 

MY fave:

Has he lost his mind?

Can he see or is he blind?

Can he walk at all,

Or if he moves will he fall?

Is he alive or dead?

Has he thoughts within his head?

We'll just pass him there

why should we even care?

 

He was turned to steel

in the great magnetic field

When he traveled time

for the future of mankind

 

Nobody wants him

He just stares at the world

Planning his vengeance

that he will soon unfold

 

Now the time is here

for Iron Man to spread fear

Vengeance from the grave

Kills the people he once saved

 

Nobody wants him

They just turn their heads

Nobody helps him

Now he has his revenge

 

Heavy boots of lead

fills his victims full of dread

Running as fast as they can

Iron Man lives again!

I'm not going to even bother with this thread. ppl have different views of it and im not going to waste time arguing. Religion is one thing that shouldn't be discussed on an open forum unless its about a specific religion.

 

I'm Christian/ Catholic so that should explain my views on this thread.

Only in title. You act nothing like a Christian. (Christ follower) who are you to judge who acts like a Christian and who doesn't? you dont know me.

Your name is Yenta and you are jewish? No way!!!

 

My mom's jewish so that technically makes me Jewish, but obviously that's a label only.

 

Do you believe the torah is the work of God or man? A friend of mine who's a Jew belongs to some sect that attributes it to man alone.

I'm not going to even bother with this thread.? ppl have different views of it and im not going to waste time arguing.? Religion is one thing that shouldn't be discussed on an open forum unless its about a specific religion.

 

I'm Christian/ Catholic so that should explain my views on this thread.

Only in title. You act nothing like a Christian. (Christ follower) who are you to judge who acts like a Christian and who doesn't? you dont know me. Do you think your behavior on this message board exhibits that of Christ? Quit kidding yourself man..."If you are lukewarm, I will spit you out of my mouth."

Good job picking up on the Yenta part! You're one smart cookie.

 

As for you being a jewish label, not according to the Hebrew religion. We are a matriarchal line, so, if you did subscribe to the religion, you would be welcomed with open arms, because in the Hebrew faith, you are Jewish.

 

I believe that the Torah or any religious historical writings (The Bible, the Koran. etc...) are done by the hand of man interpreting the works of something greater than ourselves. I think that scholarly men wrote and explained what they saw or heard stories about. It is inconceiveable to me to think that God or miracles happened only to the people who lived in the Mediterranean region 2000 years ago.

 

Men wrote about miracles 2000 years ago and were called prophets.

 

Men write about miracles today and are called lunatics.

Well said. I wouldn't have any problems marrying a jew though, because technically I would be.

Its okay to accept other people's religions, but it appears that if one is jew/christian/muslim and they believe what it says is true, there are these 10 punishments:

1. Ex. 22:20: He that sacrificeth unto any god, save unto the Lord only, he shall be utterly destroyed.

 

 

2. Lev. 24:16: And he that blasphemeth the name of the Lord, he shall surely be put to death.

 

 

3. Ex. 31:15: Whosoever doeth any work in the Sabbath day, he shall surely be put to death.

 

 

4. Ex. 21:15: He that smiteth his father, or his mother, shall be surely put to death.

 

 

5. Ex. 21:17: He that curseth his father or his mother, shall surely be put to death.

 

 

6. Ex. 22:19: Whosoever lieth with a beast shall surely be put to death.

 

 

7. Lev. 20:13: If a man lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death.

 

 

8. Lev. 20:10: And the man that committeth adultery with another man's wife, the adulterer and the adulteress shall be put to death.

 

 

9. Mark 16:16: He that believeth not, shall be damned.

 

 

10. Mal. 2:1-4: And now, O ye priests, this commandment is for you. If you will not hear, and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory to my name, ... behold, I will corrupt your seed, and spread dung upon your faces.

"Mark 16:16: He that believeth not, shall be damned."

That sounds inherently intolerable of other beliefs.

Okay updated the site and it deals with this topic, enjoy!

 

The Fifteen Commandments

 

You know how Jerry Seinfeld always starts a joke with "Why do people..." or "What's the deal with..."

 

Well, what's the deal with corn-nuts? They're really not corn, they're really not nuts...

 

Wait a second...Oh yeah, what's the deal with the ten commandments? Why do people debate the really give a crap about them?

 

Firstly, the Jews, Protestants, and Catholics all have different 10 commandments! And within the old testament, the ten commandments differ! Within writings supposedly made by Moses, they change. (http://www.positiveatheism.org/crt/whichcom.htm and http://www.positiveatheism.org/hist/lewis/lewten0c.htm)

 

My advice? Just go with exodus, its the least bastardized one. How seriously should you take it? Well, let me ask you this, is God a jelous a**hole? Well, what's this bible quote mean:

 

"...I the Lord thy God am a jealous God..." (Exodus 20:5)

 

So I find it simple, don't take everything so literally. That applies to everyone, including the Godless and or the anal. The ten commandments preach mostly good things (exluding sabbath day and praying to the God of Israel), and if anyone has half the brain they'll take it as face value and say, "You know what, if more people live by these moral values, we would all be better off."

 

So stop your b***hing, both of you. The commandments are neither God's word and they are neither wrong either- stop getting such a butt ache from it. In protest, I post the ten commandments on my site.

 

 

 

However, from History of the World Part I, there were indeed 15 commandments. Well, take my word for it, God has come to me and given me the 5 additional commandments. They are fully translated from the language of Gods, to God's chosen language: English!

 

5 Additional Commndments from the Blog of C. Anthony T.

 

1. You shall not willingly believe in a lie

 

2. You shall not believe in something that you cannot know is true, because such is equivalent to a lie

 

3. You shall forget my original 1st, 3rd, and 4th commandments. I really do not care, Moses took it too seriously.

 

4. You shall justify the means to an end only when that end leads to a greater moral good then any moral loss incurred by the means.

 

5. The powers not delegated to the mankind by the 15 commandments, nor prohibited by it to the seperate different moral systems in existence, are reserved to the cultures respectively, or to mankind.

 

 

:hat http://www.xanga.com/craigramblings

whatever. Make fun of my beliefs. Tell me they are wrong. I dont really care. Some say religion is for the weak. I think failing to believe in something that can't be proven is for the weak. It's pretty weak if you cannot believe in something because you can't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's truth.

 

I believe there is a such thing as a million dollars, even though I've never seen it.

whatever. Make fun of my beliefs. Tell me they are wrong. I dont really care. Some say religion is for the weak. I think failing to believe in something that can't be proven is for the weak. It's pretty weak if you cannot believe in something because you can't know beyond a shadow of a doubt that it's truth.

 

I believe there is a such thing as a million dollars, even though I've never seen it.

Make fun of it? How am I making fun of it?

I made fun of those people opposed to posting the ten commadnments. Then I made fun of the tenth ammendment and made it the 15th commandement.

 

 

"Mark 16:16: He that believeth not, shall be damned."

I didn't make this up. If you truly believe in your religion, then this sets a definite precedent for intolerance or the religion would be wrong. The above is either right or wrong, which is it?

 

The weak believe something without logic and reason. If you concede that you are illogical and unreasonable, then so be it.

 

 

P.S. Fu** the bills just lost, its all over

the Bible is correct.

 

 

Whoever doesn't believe is damned. That pretty much sums it up. Fortunately, For God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believes in him, will not perish (or be damned), but have everlasting life (heaven). (John 3:16).

 

For all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. (Romans 3:23). For the wages of sin are death, but the Gift of God is eternal life. (Romans 6:23).

 

So, yes, God is offering us his Gift of Life, all we have to do is accept. Or you can try proving him wrong.

Try proving him right, all you have (unlike better theist that acutally try to figure things out like Swinburn, Aquinas, Liebienz (sp?)) is the bible. You have tried to figure out nothing for yourself. If the bible is wrong, then you're full of crap.

 

Newsflash: every religion thinks its true. What makes you think somehow you're the special group out of over 6.2 billion people? That's udderly ridiculous, because your ancient book pretty much is intolerant- you are damned if you don't have faith in jesus.

 

That's crap. If Jesus would rather have me believe that he truly existed and died for my sins and so I can be an a**hole and then genuinely believe then be moral, then your God is not worthy to me. Morality is far more important than belief. You can be a friggin' idiot, but as long as you are moral, that is far more important than how off the wall one's beliefs are.

 

So believe in you 100% correct bible. the same one that cannot agree which exactly were truly the 10 commandments, as they change through moses own writings and other parts added to it. It all sounds pretty made up with people that have poor attempts to stick with the story. If Jesus truly said that faith in him will give us eternal life, then how do you know he was actually the son of God? Is it somehow new that people trick others all the time. What if Jesus was misquoted? We're relying on other people's works- other people who had their own agendas. They were simply men.

 

So is the bible 100% true? The probabilty of that cannot be 100% and it is immoral to assume something is 100% correct when you know it cannot be.

 

You must concede that you're belief through faith can never be based on evidence, thus logically the probability of your belief system being true is irrelevant- its not supposed to be high. All of the great theist concede to this. Unless you have truly come to terms with being happy with a pragmatic version of truth, then you have no right to believe in what you believe in, because otherwise you would be believing in empty ideas.

 

I'm against all faith. The christian, jew, muslim, and atheist are all in the same boat. They cannot prove it- they make an assumption that's fitting to them. Well, that doesn't make you right, and that does not damn me to your imaginary hell or imaginary vengeful, jealous God.

 

If God is vengeful and jealous, it is not God. It is an a**hole super-human and no more. Believe in that? Never.

 

I apologize for the explosion, but when someone pretty much tells me the equivalent of "you're going to hell", the only way I can respond is "prove it or you are full of crap."

 

I'm a highly moral person. I'm going to teach in order to help people, I take time out of my day to help people... If that's not good enough for God, then that entity is ridiculous and hypocritical. How do you even know God dispenses justice? How can you conceive God's intentions, are you God? That's all ridiculous.

 

So you can say I'm going to your imaginary hell, but I can say on this very real Earth your method of acquiring beliefs is highly immoral until you better understand the concept of faith and dogma (thus your pragmatic justification) which you base you beliefs upon.

 

Peace out.

A bit late to the discussion, to say the least. I am Catholic, go to church every week and had perfect attendance at sunday school (religious education) for 8 years. So yes, I believe in God.

my beliefs are based on the Bible, which may or not be able to be proven true. But what makes my faith is that I can and do believe in it, and what it has to say, and about God, and his Son Jesus.

 

So, you can go through life believing in only things you can see and touch. It's a shame. If logic and reasoning and science can prove it true, then go ahead and believe it. It's easy to do.

 

I will believe in something that I won't see until I die. Something I won't be able to touch or hear until I die. But I know He is there, and that He is there for me, you, and everyone else. All he asks is for you to believe in him, and what he has given us (the Bible). This doesnt sound like too bad of a God. I mean, he has said that whoever sins will be punished (as it should be!). But, after seeing all the sin going on, he sent his Son down to be slaughtered by the Romans (and Jews), eventhough there was no reason for killing him. He took the sin on his back, so that we would be forgiven.

 

Sounds like a loving God to me.

 

"Peace Out."

my beliefs are based on the Bible, which may or not be able to be proven true. But what makes my faith is that I can and do believe in it, and what it has to say, and about God, and his Son Jesus.

So would you be opposed to me saying, "I really like Zeus and athena, I think if I honor those two Gods, that's the best I can do. I have faith in them, I realy do."

Yes or No?

 

I will believe in something that I won't see until I die. Something I won't be able to touch or hear until I die. But I know He is there, and that He is there for me, you, and everyone else. All he asks is for you to believe in him, and what he has given us (the Bible). This doesnt sound like too bad of a God. I mean, he has said that whoever sins will be punished (as it should be!). But, after seeing all the sin going on, he sent his Son down to be slaughtered by the Romans (and Jews), eventhough there was no reason for killing him. He took the sin on his back, so that we would be forgiven.

 

Sounds like a loving God to me.

The same God that cast us out of paradise, flooded the entire world and killed us, allowed the holocaust to happen, gives us famine pain and sickness, creates people like michael jackson, the God that damns moral people in favor of immoral people with faith, the God that killed a moral man's family and ruined his life to spite the devil (Jobe)...that God is loving?

 

Do you know how ridiculous it sounds when you try to prove to me your God is loving by saying, "I feel him" and dogmatic statements? What's he feel like, a bad ham sandwich? If I feel something inside of me, an voice that tells me to kill people, I am called crazy. So what should I call you? It would appear such a feeling is more of a cognitive/psychological phenomena, not God- it is far more likely. Furthermore, until you understand your faith does not increase the likliness of your religion and one can believe your faith is as crazy as the faith held by the ancient Greeks or Aztecs, you cannot properly understand your own viewpoint. Faith is a "cop-out."

 

Do you believe truth is pragmatic? Yes or No. why?? If you have no idea, you have no right to have your beliefs, they are pretty much irrelevant in my mind and your own in actuality.

 

So, you can go through life believing in only things you can see and touch. It's a shame. If logic and reasoning and science can prove it true, then go ahead and believe it. It's easy to do.

 

 

Furthermore, I don't need to quote end quote "religious" people to feel sorry for me. I feel sorry for them, because if there is a God that dispenses justice, it is just as likely that God cares about faith as much as morality. Furthermore, god might reward you for being an a**hole. Why not, are you God? How do you know? Oh, your bible tells you not! The same bible that is in many parts illogical, where Moses contradicts his own writings, where depending upon which religion's new testament you read, there are different stances on everything! So what's your proof, that a bunch of men throughout history could never get the story straight? Are Lutherans going to heaven and everyone else going to hell? That's ridiculous.

 

I feel sorry for those who are the victims of the immoral fashion people attain beliefs by the precedent set by religion since our youth. Racism can be awfully dogmatic and of faith, because there is no evidence supporting genetic inferiority between ethnicities. Yet, people's faith in that led to the enslavement of Jews, the deaths of millions during world war two, it just goes on and on. Yes, lack of evidence, the refusal to require logic, reason, and inquiring the truth has very dire consequences. Perpetuating such immorality is terrible, and I hope you are happy with that- you're selfish. You would rather feel personal fulfillment at the cost of the betterment of the entire human race (this assumes you understand that faith is not a proof, and faith being personal would cost everyone else through the perpetuation of immoral methods of thought.)

 

I'm not unrealistic. Religions and their falsehoods will exist as long as man does. Many people, including yourself, will never come to understand moral principals as I have. The ultimate goal is to be good to one's neighbor and act morally and not "sin." The final sin to eliminate is the sin of faith, because setting the precedent that one does not need evidence to fabricate a belief system sets man, a creature of rason and logic, amongst the brutes of the animal kingdom. Then and only then will our minds be clear and man can live in a world free of wrongdoings. This is impossible, so just try to be a good person. I can live with people living being immoral, all of us are immoral in many ways. However, if you expect me to be silent in the face of baseless lies are very unlikely truths, then you are mistaken.

 

"Peace Out."

This makes me laugh as much as it makes me angry.

 

You, the follower of Jesus, does not turn the other cheek? You don't like what you hear and so you ridicule me?

 

You preach me your religion and you fail to follow it. The irony is not even subtle.

A bit late to the discussion, to say the least. I am Catholic, go to church every week and had perfect attendance at sunday school (religious education) for 8 years. So yes, I believe in God.

Do you believe in a personal god? Or an indifferent god?

If there's a God, it dropped the ball after creation...well, maybe, I cannot substantiate that.

 

Sham, I thought the theistic God was inherently a personal God.