heartless_hank

Why do they study the Bible to find little details and flaws to attack in each other's beliefs? Why is excluding as many others as they can so important to Christians? Even God's chosen people are excluded from their "true believers" list.

A. That a loving God will torture anyone who does not become a member of the Christian faith, not any other faith, for all eternity no matter what good works they do in life.

B. That Jesus and God are the same even though Jesus prays to God, sits on God's right hand, died on the cross saying "Why did you forsake me" and did not know when he would return.

C. That when Jesus said many of those standing in front of him would see the kingdom of heaven in their lifetime, he did not mean the Resurrection. He was talking about something else.

Please don't just diss the whole Bible, make a comment of some kind.

When a well known Christian here posted this response, was she revealing the true motivation for becoming a Christian?

"we arent here to have a contest just to spread the good news for those who wish to live forever!!!!!!!!!"

Is that what's really behind all the love and charity talk? Do as I say and you can live forever. Is there any thought more selfish than the desire to go on forever? Even if you claim it's only to bask in the glory of God, it's still selfish because it's you that gets the pleasure forever. How can any deed be pure if there is reward and punishment coming after?

In his first inaugural address:

"No people can be bound to acknowledge and adore the Invisible Hand which conducts the affairs of men more than those of the United States. Every step by which they have advanced to the character of an independent nation seems to have been distinguished by some token of providential agency;"

Sounds like he's giving God credit for creating and guiding the nation. But I thought the founders weren't religious people?

In a letter to Ezra Stiles, president of Yale, one month before Franklin died:

"Here is my Creed: I believe in one God, Creator of the Universe. That He governs it by his Providence. That he ought to be worshipped. That the most acceptable Service we can render to him, is doing Good to his other Children . . "

That sounds awfully religious to me. Did he really write this?

Did the very first Congress in 1787, the year the Constitution was written, pass the Northwest Ordinance that said this:

"Article 3: Religion, morality, and knowledge, being necessary to good government and the happiness of mankind, schools and the means of education shall be forever encouraged."

How could they say that if they didn't believe in religion? It sounds like they actually wanted it taught in schools.

When the one God became mortal under the name of Jesus, who was being God and tending to the faithful? Please, no double talk about one "aspect" being human while the other two were still God. If the trinity can go its separate ways, it is not one God, it's a committee. If Jesus is God, when Jesus becomes mortal, God becomes mortal. Or else they aren't really one God and Jesus is God's son. Which is a wonderful thing, but not the same as Jesus is his own father, God.

If Jesus and God are not exactly the same thing and perfectly identical, then there are two Gods or else one of them isn't God. If the trinity belief is right, Jesus must be exactly identical to God. So why ask Jesus for God's forgiveness? Why not just always pray to God? It makes things unnecessarily confusing to call the one God by two different names.

instead of selfishly for their eternal reward or fear of their eternal punishment? Why does love of God and fellow man need to be enforced with a payment and a threat? Some say it doesn't matter but how can that be believed when Heaven and Hell make up so much of their religion?

Is this what life would be like?

Sakineh Mohammadie Ashtiani -- a mother of two -- could be stoned to death at any moment under the terms of a death sentence that Iranian authorities handed down in 2006.

Originally sentenced to 99 lashes for her alleged "illicit relationship outside of marriage," Ashtiani endured that corporal punishment in front of her then-17-year-old son in 2006. She was subsequently cleared of murder charges against her husband, but the judicial panel then re-examined Ashtiani's adultery sentence, and based on unspecified "judges' knowledge," bizarrely decided that she should be put to death by stoning for the alleged affair.

"At that time, it should have been finished. They should have punished her only once," said her son Sajjad, now 22. "Her documents say she is innocent. She already paid for the crime."

According to Amnesty International, the Iranian penal code specifies the procedures for death penalties and also specifies the types of rocks that should be used in stoning executions. Article 102 of the Iranian penal code states that "men will be buried up to their waists and women up to their breasts" for the purpose of execution by stoning.

Article 104 states, with reference to the penalty for adultery, that the stones used should "not be large enough to kill the person by one or two strikes; nor should they be so small that they could not be defined as stones." This makes it abundantly clear that the purpose of stoning is to inflict maximum pain in a process leading to slow death, which would be tantamount to "cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment" under the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/07/07/iftikhar.ira...

In John 20:17 Jesus says "I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God."

Is there some understandable way that Jesus is his own Father and His own God? No double talk, no holy mystery, just plain ordinary words that explain this? I know what I mean when I say father and God and it never means "myself". Is it the Christian belief that Jesus has no father or that he is his own father?

I think thats why I believe in God.. I was just listening to Pink Floyd's "Gunners dream" and I know there is more going on there than physics and psychology. Same with Roy Buchanan (best guitar player who ever lived) or Linda Jones (overwhelming passion). Sometimes music is just clever but sometimes it's beyond explanation, I think. I guess that's the dividing line, whether every thing is science or some things are more than that. Music convinces me theres more to life than logic and facts.

Roy Buchanan http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DDOIL5OqvYs&feature...

Linda Jones http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TFOGi-t_qCM

Gunner's Dream http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghFN1UFtQho

According to Tulane Physics Professor Frank Tipler's Omega Point Theory, as the universe comes to an end in a specific kind of Big Crunch, the computational capacity of the universe will be accelerating exponentially faster than time runs out. In principle, a simulation run on this universal computer can thus continue forever in its own terms, even though the universal computer is embedded in a universe that will last only a finite time.

Tipler identifies the final singularity of this asymptotically infinite information capacity with God. According to Tipler and David Deutsch, an implication of this theory is that this ultimate cosmic computer will be able to resurrect (via emulation) everyone who has ever lived, by simulating all possible quantum brain states within the master simulation. This will manifest itself as a simulated reality. From the perspective of its simulated inhabitants, the Omega Point is an infinite-duration afterlife, which could take any imaginable form due to its virtual nature.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Omega_Point_(Tipler)

My granddaughter, who's had a hard life, said tonight on her way to bed, Granddad, I like it when you stay up until I'm asleep. Oh my, I wish I could be God and stay up until all the kids are safe in bed. So all you smart atheists and confident Christians, what's the problem here? Why can't we take care of little children? How come it always ends up being Christians against Atheists or Muslims, Democrats against Republicans, Rich against Poor, somebody against somebodyl, on and on. Dear Lord,l we've been at this for thousands of years and still can't take care of our kids any better than the Egyptians did. What is wrong with us? Please, don't post a scripture telling me to trust Jesus. That hasn't worked for two thousend years, that's a fair trial.

Say a bad guy kill's your dad for the $30 bucks in his wallet. And this guy has done bad stuff for years. Comes the trial and you get to make a victim's impact statement. You suck it up and do the Christian thing and say "I forgive him". He gets life without parole.

Then he dies and God puts him in Hell and torments him beyond anything you could ever do yourself. God does medieval stuff to him and it goes on forever. So if you know he's going to get what he deserves and a lot more, how can your forgiveness be sincere? When you forgive somebody, there's no payback after that. Aren't you faking it and lying to yourself? Maybe even looking forward to what he's got coming?

Is it violation of the separation of church and state to have Chaplins in the military or would it be a violation of freedom of religion to send soldiers places where there are no places of worship without sending a Chaplin with them? Especially soldiers who believe they need last rites if they are mortally wounded.

Reading stupid posts by people with issues on Friday night when everybody with a life is doing something else?

I love my rationality, I'm good at it and it's taken good care of me. But I was just listening to some of my favorite music (headphones, lots of volume) and it blows me away. I get tears in my eyes some parts. Music is so powerful, I can't believe it's just chemicals in my brain. Don't you guys feel that too sometimes? There are emotions too powerful to be just our programming via DNA and evolution, I think. Maybe you don't have those feelings and maybe that's the difference between people who think God is possible and those who don't. So I'm asking you nonbelievers, is that what it is? Nothing in your life feels like more than chemicals and electricity and science? No mystery, no magic, it's all the atomic table and accidents?

Random cut and paste from tonight's questions. No editing.

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Why is Answer Seeker Kathy such a five letter word that rhymes with witch?

Does God have a phone number?

If there is a god, why is it that dogs live such a heartbreaking short time?

Question for Catholics who do not believe in evolution. Thanks!?

Spiritually Speaking, what do you think God would have to say about corrupt RAM sticks?

From which end of their bodies do creationists produce worse-smelling waste?

When Abraham was about to kill Isaac as instructed by God, an angel appears and says:

“Don’t lay a hand on the boy!” the angel said. “Do not hurt him in any way, for now I know that you truly fear God. You have not withheld from me even your son, your only son.”

I was thinking that technically Abraham should have obeyed God, not the Angel and continued the sacrifice. Then I noticed how the statement starts as if it were an Angel talking but then switches to saying "withheld from me" as if it were God speaking. In other parts of the Bible it seems clear Angels are not God, there are even bad Angels. But here the Angel seems identical to God so Abraham obeys him. I've looked at the New International, King James and ESV translations and they are identical on the "withheld from me" part. What do you make of this?