Gamma

I'm looking for a site where I can participate in intelligent religious debate and or discussion.

What about Lazarus? Jairus's daughter? The widow's son from Luke 7:12-15?

Acts 1:18 With the reward he got for his wickedness, Judas bought a field; there he fell headlong, his body burst open and all his intestines spilled out. Everyone in Jerusalem heard about this, so they called that field in their language Akeldama, that is, Field of Blood.

Matthew 27:5-6 So Judas threw the money into the temple and left. Then he went away and hanged himself. The chief priests picked up the coins and said, "It is against the law to put this into the treasury, since it is blood money."

So which is it? And don't tell me he fell headlong from a hanging. That would be ridiculous. Besides, that still wouldn't explain the contradiction of what he did with the money.

Matthew 1:1-16 Joseph descended from David's son Solomon in 27 generations, his father being Jacob.

Luke 3:23-31 Joseph descended from David's son Nathan in 42 generations, his father being Heli.

That's a pretty big difference! Explanations?

In Genesis 1, God first creates the creatures of the sea, and birds on the fifth day. On the sixth day he creates the creatures of the land and then finally creates man. However Genesis 2 clearly states that man is created first and all creatures are then created.

Genesis 2:18 - Then the LORD God said, "It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a helper fit for him."

Genesis 2:19 - Now out of the ground the LORD God had formed every beast of the field and every bird of the heavens and brought them to the man to see what he would call them. And whatever the man called every living creature, that was its name."

Is there any explanation for this other than that it is a glaring contradiction?

Maybe it's just me, but the story of Abraham and Issac is one that turned me away from religion early on in life. I can't fathom how anyone could take any kind of moral lesson from it. I know he ended up only having to sacrifice a ram, but the point is, he was going to kill his son. If you were in Abraham's position, would you not question your sanity? If not, then wouldn't you question as to whether or not this is an evil supreme being or perhaps the devil? I know there are some nutcases out there, but would anyone honestly have done what Abraham did? I sincerely hope not.

Had a conversation the other night where I was told about this by a woman who used to be a Muslim. Can't remember the word she used, but her basic point was that many Muslims deny the fact that their religion advocates the killing of non-believers and the destruction of their culture, because they are encouraged to misinform non-believers if it benefits Islam. Anyone know the term and/or any info on this?

What makes some claims of people saying that God is speaking to them more reliable than others? How do you pick out the liars and the crazys from those that are given a place in scripture? It seems to me that this happens quite frequently still, yet no creditability is given to these claims nowadays. Is it solely a faith issue?

What would it take for you to change your beliefs? Or are your beliefs so strong that no amount of science, no personal experiences or world events would ever change them?

Obviously an educated projection as I'm sure we aren't anywhere close yet. But any estimates or plans from NASA or elsewhere? Twenty years? Fifty? I can see this happening within my lifetime, but have there been any "goal" times set yet?

For instance we have made the same amount of progress in the last 10 years as we did in the previous 20. The next five years will bring us the same amount of progress as the last ten or more and so forth. Not that I disagree with this statement per say, but isn't it rather hard to quantify technological advancement? Where are people getting this information? Or is it it just to be assumed as loose observation?

"Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing."?

I recently read this quote from Stephen Hawking. I realize we are talking about fringe science here and that this is all very hypothetical, but it seems to me that he is implying that because gravity exists as a force, this lends support to (not proves) the idea of spontaneous creation. I know Hawking's view on a creator, but this statement does not necessarily have to disclude a God. However, without getting into the debate of the existence of a supreme being, could anyone explain what it is about gravity in particular that would suggest this. Sources if you can please.

I recently read this quote from Stephen Hawking and don't understand how this is so. Is there something about gravity which supports spontaneous creation? Could anyone elaborate?

I've heard some debate the use of the terms "alternate universes" or multiverse, omniverse, etc..., since the universe technically covers everything, but for lack of a better word (maybe alternate timelines?), would you consider the scientific community's view on this subject as more of a possibility or would you say that it is becoming the most probable model at this point?

I realize this will all be mostly conjecture, but do you think extraterrestrial life will follow a similar or at least recognizable path compared with ours? Possibly due to certain attributes being beneficial to life in the universe in general? Or do you think that it will have followed such a drastically different path due to differences in environment, that the further along the "tree of life" it is, the less likely we will be to even recognize it at first, and may even have to redefine what life is.

I've heard recently that the cosmic background radiation is evidence that we may not actually be where we observe ourselves to be, but actually nearer the edge of the universe. The hologram universe is one term I've heard this labeled as. Can anyone elaborate?