[WKTrailRunner]

I might be half-smart and I believe that what I experience, live and breathe daily did not happen by chance. I don't fall lock-step with my church but I do sing in the choir.

[jb4]

Originally Posted by RockWoRM

huh?!!

oy-vey!

if you can't keep up, why bother participating

Originally Posted by LibertyBell

You are correct, it makes no sense..so, it's very possible it means--'Whoever does not receive the kingdom of God in that manner that a child does, will not enter it.'

or it could literally mean what it says (according to some it has to mean what it says) - so if there can't be reconciliation over this mundane passage, how can there be for the totality of scripture

and honestly LibertyBell - i'm not saying you feel it is to be interpreted literally, I don't think we've traded paint (so to speak) enough for me to claim that about you

[Country Boy]

If you do a bit of digging through history and myths, you will find many of the bible's key stories happening long before the christian religion came to be. Our pastor kept going on and on about how the bible was error free and we should believe it without question. He got more than a little pissed when I highlighted spelling and grammar mistakes in mine and showed it to him.

In my not so humble opinion, religion is just another way of controlling people. Think about how many people the pope gets to control. Do you really think that the catholic church (or any church for that matter) only cares about people's souls? I think not.

[Dr. Righteous]

Originally Posted by PJL

Deuteronomy 3:2-7

Yeah, that doesn't sound murderous at all. A kind and loving people, indeed.

Funny I don't seem to remember any Jewish suicide bombers running into crowded shopping centers and yelling "Yahweh Is Great" and blowing themselves up.
You are citing an instance where God has Israel's army wipe out a pagan and in many cases people that worshiped their demonic gods with human sacrifice.
A much more dramatic instance with God himself came to Abraham and told him his intentions for the cities of the plain.

Then the LORD said, "The outcry against Sodom and Gomorrah is so great and their sin so grievous that I will go down and see if what they have done is as bad as the outcry that has reached me. If not, I will know."
Genesis 18:20-21

[WinstonWolf]

Originally Posted by Kyoseki

What do you call this then?



There are any number of implications that can be read into that statement, you were either trolling or lack comprehension skills yourself.

A constant need to bash those whom believe different is a strong indicator of a lack of conviction in ones own beliefs.

[Kyoseki]

Originally Posted by WinstonWolf

A constant need to bash those whom believe different is a strong indicator of a lack of conviction in ones own beliefs.

Where do I bash anyone? I do not attack anybody personally unless provoked.

Furthermore, we need to constantly test our beliefs, as well as stand up for them.

This is a discussion forum, if you don't want to be challenged, don't take part.

[WinstonWolf]

Personally, I think atheists and Bible/Talmud/Koran/BoM/Buddhas belly/8 legged Elephant/ etc... thumpers to be FOS. It strikes me as asinine to devote so much energy debating that which cannot be proven or disproven, which could not possibly do anything for mankind whatever the truth may be.

We're here now, let's make the most of it.

[Kyoseki]

Originally Posted by WinstonWolf

Personally, I think atheists and Bible/Talmud/Koran/BoM/Buddhas belly/8 legged Elephant/ etc... thumpers to be FOS. It strikes me as asinine to devote so much energy debating that which cannot be proven or disproven, which could not possibly do anything for mankind whatever the truth may be.

You don't think that getting people to stop wasting so much time on religion and focus on other, more constructive things instead is worthwhile? Especially in a country like the US that seems to spend so much time and money on religion (tv evangelists ) instead of say, curing cancer?

Or the reverse, those who believe are compelled by their religion to try to convert the rest of us.

Louisiana is in the process right now of passing a bill that will allow creationism into public schools, of course it's worded so vaguely that it also would allow the teaching of alchemy and astrology as science, I wonder how that will go down.

You don't think it's worth railing against that kind of thinking?

As Burke said, "Evil triumphs when good men do nothing".

Originally Posted by WinstonWolf

We're here now, let's make the most of it.

Well quite, some of us are stuck at work though

[PJL]

Originally Posted by Dr. Righteous

Funny I don't seem to remember any Jewish suicide bombers running into crowded shopping centers and yelling "Yahweh Is Great" and blowing themselves up.

The first suicide bombers in the Middle East in the early 20th century were Zionists, when the land was called Palestine, was Muslim, and still an English colony. You REALLY need to learn about what you're talking about. The Jews now don't need to do it because they have a fully armed military supported in a major way by the United States. Why use a human bomb when they can use tanks or helicopters or bulldozers? I'm not saying what those people are doing is right and the Israelis are wrong, but both of them have their tools of mass death and both use them. Using military vehicles and wearing uniforms doesn't make them more just.

You are citing an instance where God has Israel's army wipe out a pagan and in many cases people that worshiped their demonic gods with human sacrifice.
A much more dramatic instance with God himself came to Abraham and told him his intentions for the cities of the plain.

Again, if they're killing them just because they're pagan, they're as guilty of the hatred as you blame Muslims for. Massacring CHILDREN? Oh yeah, that's the sign of a very loving and kind people. And if you read the Book of Deuteronomy, Ch. 2, you'll see that the only reason cited is that those were the lands "the Lord was giving them." Dr. Righteous, God told me I can have your house. Get out or I'll have to get Biblical on you.

[WinstonWolf]

The orgins of man are of little consequence in the world. Neither is the orgin of the universe. Many contemporary concerns could be solved with the vast fortunes wasted on either of these two questions, whose answers have no practical value even if they were definitively known.

[WKTrailRunner]

You folks are getting way too serious about this.

[Kyoseki]

Originally Posted by WinstonWolf

The origins of man are of little consequence in the world. Neither is the origin of the universe. Many contemporary concerns could be solved with the vast fortunes wasted on either of these two questions, whose answers have no practical value even if they were definitively known.

Evolutionary theory coupled with molecular biology has given us retroviral drugs amongst a host of other medical advancements, mapping the genome will take us even further, so saying that searching for the origin of man is a waste of time is disingenuous.

I don't see that seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe is anything but a good thing (unless we accidentally create a black hole in switzerland, but hey )

[kiksroks]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...-God'.html

Professor Richard Lynn, emeritus professor of psychology at Ulster University, said many more members of the "intellectual elite" considered themselves atheists than the national average.

A decline in religious observance over the last century was directly linked to a rise in average intelligence, he claimed.

But the conclusions - in a paper for the academic journal Intelligence - have been branded "simplistic" by critics.

Professor Lynn, who has provoked controversy in the past with research linking intelligence to race and sex, said university academics were less likely to believe in God than almost anyone else.

A survey of Royal Society fellows found that only 3.3 per cent believed in God - at a time when 68.5 per cent of the general UK population described themselves as believers.

A separate poll in the 90s found only seven per cent of members of the American National Academy of Sciences believed in God.

Professor Lynn said most primary school children believed in God, but as they entered adolescence - and their intelligence increased - many started to have doubts.

He told Times Higher Education magazine: "Why should fewer academics believe in God than the general population? I believe it is simply a matter of the IQ. Academics have higher IQs than the general population. Several Gallup poll studies of the general population have shown that those with higher IQs tend not to believe in God."

He said religious belief had declined across 137 developed nations in the 20th century at the same time as people became more intelligent.

But Professor Gordon Lynch, director of the Centre for Religion and Contemporary Society at Birkbeck College, London, said it failed to take account of a complex range of social, economic and historical factors.

"Linking religious belief and intelligence in this way could reflect a dangerous trend, developing a simplistic characterisation of religion as primitive, which - while we are trying to deal with very complex issues of religious and cultural pluralism - is perhaps not the most helpful response," he said.

Dr Alistair McFadyen, senior lecturer in Christian theology at Leeds University, said the conclusion had "a slight tinge of Western cultural imperialism as well as an anti-religious sentiment".

Dr David Hardman, principal lecturer in learning development at London Metropolitan University, said: "It is very difficult to conduct true experiments that would explicate a causal relationship between IQ and religious belief. Nonetheless, there is evidence from other domains that higher levels of intelligence are associated with a greater ability - or perhaps willingness - to question and overturn strongly felt institutions."

[WinstonWolf]

Originally Posted by Kyoseki

Evolutionary theory coupled with molecular biology has given us retroviral drugs amongst a host of other medical advancements, mapping the genome will take us even further, so saying that searching for the origin of man is a waste of time is disingenuous.

Thus denying evolutions main tenet of survival of the fittest, by allowing the unfit to breed and piss in the gene pool for another generation.

Originally Posted by Kyoseki

I don't see that seeking to unravel the mysteries of the universe is anything but a good thing (unless we accidentally create a black hole in switzerland, but hey )

When most of our contemporary problems are solved, why not; until then it is a waste of resources. I think a lot of mankind's problems are due to the rabbit like breeding of the unfit.

[WinstonWolf]

Dumb people will not into heaven. They are gluttonous. Heaven shouldn't look like Walmart.