Michael

The cross with a circle is not a Catholic symbol - it is a pagan symbol denoting the zodiac. Do you think imacatholic2 has any idea where he's plagiarizing from?

I'm not talking about conversational prayer here. I'm talking about memorized, repeated prayer, such as a Hail Mary.

They both seem equally nutty to me, for the same reason.

What is praying like? How do you do it? Can you describe it physically? How do I know if I am doing it right or not? What are the benefits of prayer, and do you feel they outweigh the time invested?

I've been seeing a lot of questions lately about Christians "leading others to Christ".

If you have personally converted anyone to Christianity, could you tell me some information about the individual(s) you converted?

At the time they converted, what was their:

a) Age

b) Relationship to you

c) Level of education

d) Financial status (upper class, middle class, lower class, poverty)

e) Marital status (single, married, divorced)

f) Housing status (homeless, living on their own, living with parents, etc)

How do you think any of these factors affected their conversion (either enabling or preventing it)?

Are they still Christian today? What denomination are they, and is it the same as yours?

Thanks.

...to the Bible?

And then why do they tell me it's not mythology, if the only connection between what I said and the Bible is the word "mythological"?

...that one particular mythological book compiled over a millennium ago contains the truth of existence, and that all of the others are false?

...And that all the other mythology in the world and throughout history is false?

It's pretty obvious that the power of the imagination is limitless; why do people, in the information age, claim ancient stories as existential truth? And why should I respect them when they do?

For example, the Westboro Baptist Church, a small cult in Kansas, regularly pickets the funerals of U.S. soldiers with signs saying "God Hates F.ags" and "Die F.ag Troops". They bring their young children to their 'protests', where the children chant out hateful slogans without even understanding what they mean.

Do you think that it is moral for us as a society to allow this? Is this child abuse? How will these children function in society as adults, having been raised steeped in hate?

"Insane" people are merely people that have unjustified beliefs about the world. Such as believing there are entities that can hear their thoughts or control their mind. We institutionalize these people, protecting everyone else from them.

But when other people claim there are entities that can hear their thoughts, they're called religious, since there's so many of them. We don't institutionalize them; we allow them to gather and reinforce their beliefs; and we offer them tax-exempt status.

Why is this?

It seems that the current controversies (in the US) over abortion, stem cell research, gay marriage, and evolution all arise from a belief in the literal word of the Bible. I've never seen a non-Christian argue against any of these concepts.

Would they be non-issues to a society that has matured past the need for religion (a "vestige of our society before its ascent from darkness")?

(Bonus points if you identify the quotation.)

Without even considering that there is no evidence for any miracles, and that all of the Gospels were written by people born after the death of Jesus... Why were Jesus' miracles so flimsy and useless? They seem like David Blaine tricks and not the miracles of a deity coming to save humanity.

For example:

Jesus brought back a child to life... leaving all the other billions of innocents who had died to rot in their graves.

Jesus walked on water... when there was a boat right next to him.

Jesus turned water into wine... further dehydrating the people and encouraging public drunkenness.

Jesus turned a few loaves and fishes into many... feeding only a small group of people around him for that single meal, and ignoring the rest of the starving world. Hunger is a major problem in the world today.

Jesus cured a few lepers... and left us to deal with leprosy. Thankfully, scientists have discovered a cure where Jesus did not.

And kept out of the hands of children?

Without even mentioning the extreme violence, the Bible is full of rape, incest, and sexual prohibitions. ( http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sex_in_the_Bible , http://englishatheist.org/indexr.shtml , http://www.biblesexstories.com/ )

Why do we gloss over the fact that children are being exposed to this pornography, much less the setting they are introduced to it?

Think about it for a moment. 20% of the world is atheistic, while the rest believe in one religion or another.

Obviously the atheists think all religions are hogwash.

Now look at any particular religion, say Christianity. They believe that Christianity is true and that all the other religions (except Judaism) are false. They believe that all other religions are man made.

This holds for most religions; their truth relies on all other religions being false.

Therefore, the one idea that unites us all is that most of the religions in the world are hogwash.

I simply take it one religion further!

The beliefs of yesterday are now referred to as mythology (Greek, Roman, Norse, Native American mythology), and no one in their right mind claims them as true.

Yet we still have rampant religion today... What separates these two?

Why is your religion special when there are dozens in practice today?

I have one constraint (or challenge, if you will), and if you cannot word your response under this constraint, you should not respond. That response ignores the question and therefore I will ignore that response.

The constraint maintains that you explain your belief, and your reason for believing so, without using any forms of the verb "to be". (The forms of "to be" include the words: "is," "are," "were," "was," "am," "be," "been," and their contractions.)

Fire away!

I have asked many different Christians for an explanation of the Trinity, including teachers, fathers, and brothers. I have only received answers that further confuse me.

In both rhetoric and science, writers clarify difficult concepts by rewording them in a version of English known as E-Prime. E-Prime bases itself on the same rules as English with one additional rule that abolishes all forms of the verb 'to be'. (The forms of "to be" that E-Prime excludes include the words: "is," "are," "were," "was," "am," "be," "been," and their contractions.) This concept should remind everyone of their high-school English classes and research papers.

So, can someone explain the concept of the Trinity to me using E-Prime (excluding 'to be' verbs)?

None of us are responsible for Eve's sin. Eve isn't even completely responsible, as she was tricked into it by the talking snake that God created and put in the garden. If I had a tree I didn't want anyone touching, I certainly wouldn't put a snake there that encouraged whoever came by to eat from the tree. Seems like God is responsible for that.

And, for our own sins, isn't realizing you were wrong, feeling sorry, and mending your ways the proper way to improve yourself and prevent the sin in the future? And not crucifying your Messiah? How does human sacrifice redeem us for our mistakes?

Please, don't respond with Bible quotes. I've read the Bible from front to back, and it does not address this. I'm interested in what you have to say.

If Jesus is God and not just a man...

1) Why would he have to be conceived, and birthed? Why couldn't he just come down to Earth? And where was he before he was born? Because there's no mention of him anywhere.

2) How can God die? Why did he need the other God (the Father) to resurrect him? Couldn't he do that himself?

3) Why did Jesus perform his miracles by praying to God (the Father) and asking him to perform the miracle, instead of doing them himself?

4) Why were Jesus' miracles limited to the people in his vicinity, and not the entire Earth? Why did he pick and choose the small amount of people he helped, and then left everyone else on Earth to continue suffering?

5) Why would Jesus, who is God and therefore perfect, need to spend 40 days in the wilderness fasting and letting himself be tempted? Isn't he God, and perfect? Isn't it pointless to tempt perfection?

Why is it that 99% of the species that have ever existed on Earth are now extinct?

Is your God just incompetent?