Tony_the_heretic

Both Sam Harris and Richard Dawkins, noted atheists, claim that it is only our cultural bias that makes our religion seem "right". That the multiple gods of Greece or the Hindus would seem no less credible than the virgin birth of Jesus?

What do you think. Can one really be demonstrated to be more objectively correct than the others?

Even though the idea of a "brotherhood of man" is very nice, the song dismisses two core values for a lot of Americans, religion and patriotism.

I am certain the song is not appreciated by many, but it seems to be more popular than one might expect.

Also, I don't think it it is simply because it was written by Lennon. After all, songs like "The ballad of John and Yoko" never say such success

“For the Son of Man is going to come in the glory of His Father with His angels, and will then repay every man according to his deeds. Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.“ (Matthew 16: 27, 28)

In the Old Testament, Satan is best known for essentially making a bet with God that Job will curse God if he bestows various evils upon Job, including the killing of all of Job's children, livestock, and .... well, you know the story

Apparently, the Devil is a Christian invention, a clever attempt to "personify", even though technically the Devil wasn't a person, the negative aspects of our personality probably resulting from our evolution

Some notions thought unique to Christianity were surprisingly common in Christ's time. For example, the idea of a god or gods impregnating a woman from which a miraculous birth occurred was extremely common, with Zeus responsible for getting a lot of women pregnant, from which gods or god-like figures emerged. Similarly, there are many accounts of ascension into heaven.

Apolonius and Jesus were both seen as beings that had divine origins, that ultimately got in trouble, and ascended into heaven. Romulus, the founder of Rome, was fathered by Mars, the god of war, and later ascended into heaven and was worshipped as a deity.

Of course, none of this proves that Jesus was not the son of God. Only that such things as being born of god and ascension into heaven were not so rare in the days when he walked the earth

I appreciate the abundance and quantity of food I enjoy daily.

There is few things, in my opinion, that are more important than appreciating what you have, whether it be adequate food and shelter, loved ones, a beautiful day, beautiful music, etc.

However, if you say grace, it suggests that God, for reasons we cannot understand, somehow is providing you with fine, often excessive amounts of food, while others are starving, or , indeed dying for want of food.

Imagine you are one of 4 siblings. For reasons you cannot explain, your father decides to give you plenty of food, while giving little or nothing to the others

Would you feel comfortable thanking your father, with your hungry/starving siblings within earshot?

I didn't say anything, but I imagine that if his granddaughters had been born physically deformed, or mentally-cognitively impaired, he would have managed to explain that in terms of God, too.

In other words, in my opinion, if one wants' "proof" of God's existence, he will always find it. Once one believes, more and more things are seen as the work of God, or at least evidence of His existence. Any thoughts?

Even the devout Christians sin, are sinners because of Adam. If we get to heaven, why don't we keep on sinning?

And if we aren't going to sin there, won't we be like robots?

It seems that killing lots of people randomly is growing in popularity. People are understandably shocked and often devastated by these seemingly senseless acts of violence. But, how much more saddened they would be if, in addition to the horrible and brutal way they died, people had to adjust to the reality that for these poor, unsaved souls, this senseless murder is only the beginning. They now have an eternity in Hell to deal with. And just think, had they been alive longer, they may have been saved

So, is this their fate?

Starting with Plato, Christianity adopted the idea that there is an essence that survives the body. Why, other than the Bible saying so, should we believe it?

People, and animals, die in seemingly arbitrary ways:(1) natural disasters;(2) life-styles;(3) disease;(4) famine; (5) auto accidents(the animals usually escape this one) ; (5) war....

The list goes on and on. It is comforting to believe that the insect you just (hypothetically) killed and you differ in what happens after death. But if one accepts the pretty established "theory" of Evolution, then why should that be so?

We are very similar to the non-human primates, yet no western religion bestows a soul upon them

Babies often spontaneously abort or die in other ways before they've even had a chance to live. Do they have a soul?

Is there really any reason to believe that, other than wishful thinking?

It is a comforting thought, especially given the difficulties that often are entailed in this existence. But, other than so called "near death" experiences, which, given the state of the brain, are highly unreliable, I don't see any reason to believe it

When I taught math, there was another math teacher who was bizarre by most measures. However, no one realized that he was deeply troubled emotionally.

One day, a few years ago, he took his life. It surprised everyone, but somehow he felt life wasn't worth living anymore

Does the merciful Christian God have a place in Hell for him?

Whether one looks at Pandora's box or other creation myths, it is clear that this world is somewhat lacking in what one might expect from a caring, benevolent designer. Attempts at dodging this by explaining that this world isn't "really" real, in that a glorious next life awaits us is yet another attempt at getting away from this issue

Consider sin. One might take certain behaviors and call them sinful. The often noted act, during war, of an invading army killing men and raping innocent women might seem like a good example. Yet it is highly common amongst other higher primates for one band of male apes to invade another camp, kill all of the males, and return to their camp with the females

No need for Original Sin, just plain, simple evolution

I realize this isn't really a fair question, since you cannot know how I think.

I have noticed that some Christians on this site can get pretty nasty, as can some non-believers.

Christians claim that atheists are fools, that they hate God, and that they just want to avoid God's authority.

Such comments lead me to believe that, at least those Christians, really don't get it.

I look around, and I see a universe that I cannot, and won't pretend, to know the answers to some very big questions, e.g. why we are here, how we got here, and, given that we exist, what is the best way to live

For me, God isn't a satisfactory answer.

Science can offer partial answers to issues having to do with the universe, our place in it, design, if any, etc

So, why do you honestly think we don't believe.

Sit a Christian, Catholic, Mormon, and Muslim down, and the one thing they will all agree upon is that the others are wrong. And the reasoning will be "well, someone is right, and that someone is me"

I sit back and look, and think, perhaps they are all wrong, or perhaps there are elements of each that are true.

But this notion of being so certain that those who don't think like me are wrong doesn't limit itself to religion. It could be patriotism, in which the citizen, being properly brainwashed, believes his country is the best, even if he knows little of the other countries in the world

“When you call yourself an Indian or a Muslim or a Christian or a European, or anything else, you are being violent. Do you see why it is violent? Because you are separating yourself from the rest of mankind. When you separate yourself by belief, by nationality, by tradition, it breeds violence. So a man who is seeking to understand violence does not belong to any country, to any religion, to any political party or partial system; he is concerned with the total understanding of mankind.”

J. Krishnamurti

My 23 year old just got baptized a few Sundays ago. She told me that I am spiritually lost.

It may be true that she has found something deeply meaningful for her life. I do not argue that.

But this idea of dismissing all other forms of religion or spirituality seems a stretch.

From what I have read the whole "evolution/creation" debate is pretty specific to America . That is, at least in other developed countries, people accept evolution on the same level that they accept gravity and other established sciences.

I believe that even the Catholic Church accepts this scientific doctrine, as do many American Christians.

But such said, then I don't see how there could be one Adam and one Eve on which the original sin is based, Original Sin being central to both the OT and NT.

So, are they reconcilable?

Unless you are a young-earth creationist, you accept the fact that people have been around for many tens of thousands of years.

As people tried to make sense of reality, they invented many types of gods; sea gods, air gods, etc. in which various aspects of reality were given the best explanation.

Now, according to Christianity, these pre-Christians were born into the sin of Adam and Eve, although I doubt they knew it.

As an aside, I sometimes wonder, given the premises of Christianity, why God allowed all the false religions and idolatry before He decided to create the Judeo-Christian religions.