Do you believe religion?

[SansVarnic]

<snip>

 

And there are many others in various forms and wordings too. And don't get me wrong, I know there are also quotes in the Bible that say the exact opposite, I'm just pointing out that there is mention of this in the Bible, which is intended to be followed as well and it's wrong for people to say which version was the 'truth' because we simply do not know, and in the end it just comes down to cherry picking what suits our agenda and morals the best. 

 

Also just wanted to mention Christianity is 100% a religion and I think the 613 commandments which are within the Bible would contradict the notion of not being 'bound' by your religion in rules and regulations. (Even just the top 10, where the first 3 are to do with giving yourself solely to God in a respectful manor) 

But either way there are other religions/faiths that don't have set such set rules and guidelines, mainly eastern based faiths. 

There are many versions of the Bible to use but I like to stick with the version that closest translates from the Greek which is currently the NAS. I chose this not because is suits my agenda or morale but as preference to get as close to what was said as possible. I do read/study other versions in order to get perspective tho.  That said, yes many people do chose versions for the reasons you have stated and I dislike this excuse as it gives those that prefer to be ignorant and can find what fits their preference of a good life rather what asked of us by God/Christs teaching.

 

As for the verses you referenced to, we are not seeing/interpreting the same thing. All I see here is that what God has been consistent in teaching if you do not believe or live accordingly to his teaching you will no be given the gift of living at his side in Heaven but have long suffering in Hell (its pretty black and white no grey). There is nothing there that shows the we (people) should have to force a belief upon another. God says many times we a have a choice its just that (as reference to the verses aforementioned) are the consequences to the choice. You don't have to chose God you can chose what you want. People do not judge you God judges you. (and there is not such thing as purgatory by the way, as a side note).

I cannot force you to live, believe or anything else and to do so goes against what Christ says in the New Testament. Now mind you God did many things in the Old Testament to non-believers but he stopped doing this and Christ spoke of this and that such would not happen again as we were being given the choice and part of why Christ died. 

 

The last part, I really don't want to go into this to much more as like I mentioned it is difficult to explain and I know every thing you pointed out is accurate but I am not good at discussing this particular subject so I'll end it there. The differences of Christianity and religion is a very, very fine line.

[SansVarnic]

On a Side note though, This is a forum for techies. I have no problem discussing faith, religion or whatever else but since the subject of religion is a controversial topic and most will never see eye to eye on this especially in this format. Going off topic is fine but purposeful interjection of highly controversial subjects is never a good idea and doing so can create bad morale and distaste throughout the community of LTT, other forums do this and people leave, good people. Nobody wants to see this happen here (I certainly do not).

I remember seeing a post not to long ago by a newbie to this forum that mentioned he was happy to find a forum not filled with this kind (controversial) of threading, lately there has been more appearing, let discourage this please.

 

Lets please keep this forum strictly to what it is was created for. Techie good stuff. Thanks.  B)

 

@alpenwasser

[Godlygamer23]

On a Side note though, This is a forum for techies. I have no problem discussing faith, religion or whatever else but since the subject of religion is a controversial topic and most will never see eye to eye on this especially in this format. Going off topic is fine but purposeful interjection of highly controversial subjects is never a good idea and doing so can create bad morale and distaste throughout the community of LTT, other forums do this and people leave, good people. Nobody wants to see this happen here (I certainly do not).

I remember seeing a post not to long ago by a newbie to this forum that mentioned he was happy to find a forum not filled with this kind (controversial) of threading, lately there has been more appearing, let discourage this please.

 

Lets please keep this forum strictly to what it is was created for. Techie good stuff. Thanks.  B)

 

@alpenwasser

Too bad. This is off topic and is currently allowed. It does not violate any rules found in the CoC.

[RevoltTrain]

I believe there is some sort of higher power, and an Afterlife, whether that be as a spirit, on Earth, or a heaven type place.

 

I don't believe in God. But there is some type of higher power to me. I don't have any idea what that higher power is. I frankly don't want to know what that higher power is either

[SansVarnic]

Too bad. This is off topic and is currently allowed. It does not violate any rules found in the CoC.

It was worth a shot though.  B)

[Guest]

a respectful manor)

Manor

a large country house with lands.

"a Tudor manor house in the English countryside"

-------------------------------------------

Does the large country house have to we decorated for it to be a respectful manor? Idk

[o0Martin]

Manor

a large country house with lands.

"a Tudor manor house in the English countryside"

-------------------------------------------

Does the large country house have to we decorated for it to be a respectful manor? Idk

 

Wow Mr.coolkingler,

 

 

Really living up to that name 

 

But to answer your question, I'm afraid I don't know if the "large country house have to we decorated "  :unsure:

 

Anyway, on a more related side note, this thread has been fun, it's nice to discuss things like faith with new people instead of the same people over and over!

[Tom is a Door]

Yes, but I don't like shoving down through others throat, usually don't talk about it though I think mine is beautiful, I am Muslim btw

[ThatFatMan1911]

I'm officially a Christian now. I was baptized yesterday. I gotta say, I did feel different as soon as I came out of that water. I went to evening services later in the day and they announced that I was baptized and after services there were so many people coming up and hugging me, shaking my hand, and telling me they were really happy for me. I'd never really seen the love of Jesus Christ before, but in that evening...I saw it. 

 

But people will still be judgmental and hateful of me. People will try to tell me that what I believe is ridiculous but the most simplistic way I can put it to an Atheist would be that I would rather be a Christian, die, and find out that there is no God, than to be an Atheist, die, and find out there is a God. 

[,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,]

The idea of religion to keep people doing good things is cool, but with all the nonsense of blowing each other up and hurting other is garbage. I love it how people try to shove god down throats when no one has seen him or anything. With science at least we can recreate something. It's more believable. Humans are not the ultimate thing, there are more things out there and it wouldn't make sense to have some humanised god revolving around us.

 

I don't believe in super natural forces or a god. None of it makes sense at all. I believe we are our own gods. Life is heaven.

[burnttoastnice]

Proud Christian. I'm a Christian not because anybody told me to be, but because Jesus has helped me cope with a lot with a past. It's hard to imagine living without it at this point honestly.

seconded

[DotoreN]

I'm an atheist (lived in a christian household). I'm okay if people believe in it just don't try and shove it down my throat.

 

Are you sure you're not agnostic?

 

Agnost myself  B)

[burnttoastnice]

What about the people that don't get help when they also need it? People dying of diseases, committing suicide, starving, etc. Is your god picking and choosing who he decides to help?

 

If your deity has the power to stop all the awful things in the world, why doesn't he?

 

This is a genuine question.

 

<-----Atheist

 

 

"it's a test" "he has a plan" etc.

 

Nope. God doesn't help those who don't accept him, it's as simple as that. Praying and expecting something to happen won't make it happen either, you have to genuinely believe that something will happen.

I'm not too knowledgeable in regard to suffering people and God helping them without request, because chances are those people don't know about God anyway.

 

(Off-topic; @Godlygamer23 your name is so ironic)

[GigaSnow]

I'm officially a Christian now. I was baptized yesterday. I gotta say, I did feel different as soon as I came out of that water. I went to evening services later in the day and they announced that I was baptized and after services there were so many people coming up and hugging me, shaking my hand, and telling me they were really happy for me. I'd never really seen the love of Jesus Christ before, but in that evening...I saw it. 

 

But people will still be judgmental and hateful of me. People will try to tell me that what I believe is ridiculous but the most simplistic way I can put it to an Atheist would be that I would rather be a Christian, die, and find out that there is no God, than to be an Atheist, die, and find out there is a God. 

 

The problem with Pascal's Wager is that it doesn't account for all religions, past, present, future, and potentially undiscovered, not to mention a slew of other potential scenarios.

 

I'm not trying to sway your opinion or anything, but I see this Wager a lot and just wanted to put that out there.

[burnttoastnice]

Correction. God did not stop the evil things in the world with Adam and Eve. When they were created, "evil" was unheard of. I've heard the story multiple times, but this does not free your deity from explaining himself as to why he would punish us for things committed by Adam and Eve.

 

If your deity is essentially neutral at this point in the face of all the atrocities in the world, does he really support "good"? If I see someone being burned alive and I remain "neutral,"(not doing anything at all) do I really want to save their life?

 

According to the Bible we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, so rightfully we should pay the price for them.

A modern day example of this would be inheritance tax in the UK, where tax is passed down if it isn't paid off. There are exceptions to inheritance tax however.

[Guest Philosophy]

Agnostic Christian. 

[GigaSnow]

According to the Bible we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, so rightfully we should pay the price for them.

A modern day example of this would be inheritance tax in the UK, where tax is passed down if it isn't paid off. There are exceptions to inheritance tax however.

 

An opposite viewpoint though:

 

Let's say X's father speeds, gets caught, gets a ticket. Should X be held responsible for something his father did? 

[burnttoastnice]

An opposite viewpoint though:

 

Let's say X's father speeds, gets caught, gets a ticket. Should X be held responsible for something his father did? 

 

The father being ticketed would mean that he's already suffered for his wrongdoing. I'm not sure where X comes into this though, could you be a little clearer?

[Godlygamer23]

Nope. God doesn't help those who don't accept him, it's as simple as that. Praying and expecting something to happen won't make it happen either, you have to genuinely believe that something will happen.

I'm not too knowledgeable in regard to suffering people and God helping them without request, because chances are those people don't know about God anyway.

 

(Off-topic; @Godlygamer23 your name is so ironic)

Then your God isn't very loving at all. What about children that are currently starving? "Oh I would help you, but your parents/guardians don't accept me. Better luck next time."

 

Also, yes it is a tad ironic.

[Gix7Fifty]

Religion is not about believing, it's about faith.

[GigaSnow]

The father being ticketed would mean that he's already suffered for his wrongdoing. I'm not sure where X comes into this though, could you be a little clearer?

 

I am referencing this sentence in particular.

 

"According to the Bible we are all descendants of Adam and Eve, so rightfully we should pay the price for them."

 

I would argue that Adam and Eve probably suffered after doing what they did, yet based on this sentence, the suffering should continue to be passed down?

 

I guess I just don't understand why I, or anyone else, should be punished for something that presumably happened 6,000 years ago.

 

The father being ticketed would mean that he's already suffered for his wrongdoing. I'm not sure where X comes into this though, could you be a little clearer?

[ThatFatMan1911]

The problem with Pascal's Wager is that it doesn't account for all religions, past, present, future, and potentially undiscovered, not to mention a slew of other potential scenarios.

 

I'm not trying to sway your opinion or anything, but I see this Wager a lot and just wanted to put that out there.

I have no idea what any of that is. What I said was my personal opinion on religion. 

[burnttoastnice]

Then your God isn't very loving at all. What about children that are currently starving? "Oh I would help you, but your parents/guardians don't accept me. Better luck next time."

 

Also, yes it is a tad ironic.

 

People in deprived countries are getting aid from charities around the world, as well as christian charities. I would see that as God helping them indirectly.

[KemoKa]

I do not like blind faith and that's what this is - you're believing something without having sufficient evidence to back it up. From what I can tell, what you said is not a theory, but a hypothesis. One that cannot be tested until you die or bring someone back from the dead.

See, that's the thing - There are tons of religious people out there who make tons of claims. In this science-driven world, you need loads and loads of cold, hard evidence to back up your claim, and that's cool, that's totally fine, I love good scientific discussion with loads of points of view and evidence to back them up. However, with religion, it's different, or should be different. I make no claims about God existing or not. I don't need to prove what I feel I know to be true to you or anyone else. Not once here have I told anyone that this is what they should believe. You can if you want to. you probably won't, and that's completely fine with me. I have no problem with people believing whatever the hell they want to believe. All I am here to do is present and explain my views here, to show people what my beliefs are. I mean, that was the whole purpose of this thread. I'm not going to pretend I have any evidence to prove anything about the existence of a God to anyone. I don't. I have none to give you. But I have all the evidence that I need to convince myself. I've seen what I believe to be blessings taking place, I've seen religion enrich and uplift people's lives not only spiritually, but mentally, socially, financially, ethically and lots of other ways, people once at the lowest denominator who are now good, upstanding members of society. Anyone with a vested interest in converting you to their faith, as I have said before, is living their faith incorrectly, they are not practicing what they preach. I mean, all Abrahamic texts have in them something along the lines of "choose you this day who you serve... but for me and my house, we will serve the Lord." My faith may appear to be blind to you. It may seem like delusion. It may seem like false hope, doomed to end in a blank abyss just like everyone else, but that's only what it is you. It is not blind to me. I have more than enough reasons, far more than what I could possibly even summarize here, to believe that there is a Creator. I don't believe in God just for the sake of believing in God, I don't just blindly follow what doctrine says because my parents dragged me to church as a lad. I've studied my religion concerning my faith, I've tested it, I've pondered upon it, and it is as real to me as the Higgs Boson was several years ago. Faith is in the eye of the beholder, and quite honestly, it's made me who I am today. Trust me, my life would be a lot more screwy if I weren't involved in some sort of religious practice. Nevertheless, that's just me, and although I disagree with your views on this subject, I do still have every respect for them, and I'll do nothing to prohibit you or anyone else from having them.

[Godlygamer23]

People in deprived countries are getting aid from charities around the world, as well as christian charities. I would see that as God helping them indirectly.

You would you see that as God helping them indirectly. I see that as God being "lazy."