easy - statistically all the same things happen to everyone and everywhere.

no matter what they believe or whether they believe at all.

show me statistic evidence that devout christians do better than the rest - or conservative muslims....

http://quotes-lover.com/wp-content/u...chievement.jpg

prejudice taken to mean 'pre judged' as in closed mind, not as in racist hopefully... and 'ignorance' as in 'not knowing' or unaware... not as in 'stupid' I will assume?

so making a decision or choice without knowledge or understanding... correct?

so basically you have 'faith' that there is no 'god' since there is no way to produce proof either for or against while living this live... so who is prejudice and ignorant?

just sayin' ... you know? :2 cents:

I agree that politicized religion or state sponsored religion is an issue however how do we not know that these people wouldn't do the same thing, acting the same way with out ala?

isn't the Islamic fighter just using Islam as a shield to hide their real intentions which are completely political?

people suffer greatly by 'man's inhumanity to man' not by god... and as I believe, god is not involved in religion in any way other than hateful people name dropping :2 cents:

you mean like the conservative christians when it comes to gay marriage, abortion, divorce, PORN etc?

I don't believe the actual guy doing the fighting and killing is doing it for political reasons. I think they BELIEVE 100% that it is for "God". Now the guys at the top? The "Mullahs" or whatever stupid name they come up with to control people?
Yes, he is definitely doing it for political reasons.

I don't believe that the Ayatollahs believe in their "God" anymore than the Pope believes in his "God".

They know it's bullshit and use it for power over the masses.

hmmm, I thought the difference was supposed to be what happened after death. I don't recall ever hearing that my life was going to be better because I was raised Catholic.

:1orglaugh :1orglaugh :1orglaugh

commercialised wishy-washy zionist christianity amounts to just a mind control cult with some flare. leaders of such churches can't think they can bend the rules and get away with it, you just can't. i think if christianity or any religion is to be on this planet it needs to stay orthodox otherwise why bother for their sakes. christianity is a brutal and demanding religion, chopping off of limbs, stonings (large stones are thrown), regular prayer, regular church attendance, community service, it is just all too much for one. i believe if you put your mind to something, and your mind is in it, you can do it, but christianity will always be a far cry for me i'm afraid. :Oh crap

Oh yeah...I hear it all the time. Maybe not Catholics...but definitely in protestant churches and especially evangelical churches.

They claim that once you "walk with the Lord" your life will be "blessed". They preach that nonsense all the time.

people who equate religion with the excuse of religion by those who start and/or advocate war(s) should maybe take a closer look at what this sentence means.

No, I'm not even in the slightest bit religious.

Thing is, their interpretation of 'blessed' is very different than ours, so in that respect, they actually are 'blessed' in their own view, which is their own reality, which means they are :2 cents: :)

What I'm saying is that belief in "God" has been at the root of most of mankind's misery since the beginning of recorded history. It's been used by those in power to control and motivate people to take up arms and invade and kill other people.

And any kind of religion is still just...superstition.

It's kinda scary to think that the President Of The United States has to profess his "Faith" constantly when trying to get elected.
George Washington certainly didn't carry on about "faith"
Nor did Thomas Jefferson, etc., etc.

It's kind of a "recent" thing where politicians have to proclaim to have faith...and ironically, in a country founded on "religious freedom"...they HAVE to proclaim to be Christian and ALSO make sure to proclaim that they are not, under any circumstances a "Muslim" (or worse, an "atheist").

"Muslim" is to 2013 what "Communist" was to Mcarthyist's in Congress in the 1950's.

I've actually watched evangelical preachers on television claiming that if you send them $100 that "God" will "bless" you and "enrich" you "ten fold"

So they are saying: "Give us $100, and 'God' will make circumstances occur that will get you $1000!"

It's such a scam. :(

not to the same degree... but yes... anything 'different is frowned upon' rules and regulations for sure... this is the only way society's could survive in in the past... no real freethinkers...

and no Christians has stuck a bomb up his ass and walked into a gay bar that I know of..., if yo7u are implying that I am a Christian you might want to read some of the statements I've posted..

i can eventually remotely accept that some people believe in a divine spark (aka Big Bang) that started the universe (even though i don't believe that either personally) - but here you lost me completely

i am not implying anything - just pointing out that no religion is better than the other

read an interesting article about the inquisition in the 14th century today - and where the quote "kill them all - let god sort them out" comes from

Equating all religion with TV evangelists is the same as equating all pornographers with CP. :2 cents:

You have heard of heaven and hell.

very many of the actual 'martyrs' have low aptitude i.e. retards... I view the 'leaders' as serial killers :2 cents:

and no one wants to lose a good gig

So what they've made you go along with, lol

Never said I did equate anything of the sort.

Protestant churches do that in their brick and mortar churches as well. I was raised a Southern Baptist and heard it every week.

My point is that MILLIONS of sheep (they actually TELL you that you are a sheep lol) are told that God will help them have everything they want if they only believe, pray and GIVE.

If you weren't aware of them doing that, then you are now.

yeah - i just think it's a fairy tale that was invented to keep people in line

and to make money by letting them pay for absolution

everything that comes from organized religion - no matter which one - carries no relevance for me anyways since it's all written by man - sometimes hundreds of years after the reported incidents supposedly happened.

if someone wants to believe that there's a higher power - fine with me

if someone wants to tell me I am supposed to take seriously what's written in the bible - no way

Then my response is that perhaps you were taking the word "blessed" a little to literal.

Whatever, I answered your question, now you can answer mine.

It seems that the people who "believe" in their "faith" have never asked just a few simple questions:

In the bible...God "communes" with man (Moses for instance), Angels come down and talk to people, "Miracles" are done, etc. All in the distant past.
For thousands of years now...NOTHING.

Where is "God"? Where are all these "Angels" who in the distant, distant past couldn't seem to keep away from doing shit on Earth? Why isn't anyone being raised from the dead in 2013? Why isn't anybody walking on water or performing "miracles" (not magic tricks)?

Why? Because it's a superstition!

Now ask yourself this: If ANYBODY in 2013 suddenly made any of the claims that Moses, or David, or JESUS himself made...what would you say?
I'd tell you what you would say: You would say he's fucking crazy.

And yet people believe it because it's in a book by Jewish goatherders (that was re-written by people working for a British King centuries later)

Nope, we wouldn't believe one word of that crap.
I can find plenty of guys who are just like the "prophets" who "wrote" the bible...just go to any homeless bum on the street and talk to them a few minutes.

Their babbling and hallucinations are pretty much the same thing.

i dont know what your question was...

i just know you always trick me with your one liners in writing much more than i originally wanted

No, I was saying that people actually believe that "God" will "enrich" them if only they live their lives according to "his word".

And when it doesn't work out that way...well, it's because they didn't have enough "Faith".

It's a perfect con game that has worked for millennium.

Isn't science god?

the inquisition was more political than religious from I've read.. .. the church was the ONLY power at the time, involved in many power struggles.. hard to blame that on the teaching of Jesus... be like me blaming you if I got hit by a Mercedes walking down the sidewalk..

information will always be subverted to personal gain, or always has been... certainly not 'gods' fault is it?... one of the cornerstones of Christian is free will correct? I have no idea about Islam and free will though.....

speaking of hallucinations - there's one thing in the bible i found interesting

http://www.biblegateway.com/passage/...1&version=NKJV

that guy either smoked really heavy stuff, or was some ancient Jules Verne, or saw some UFO

:winkwink:

parts of the old testament are historically accurate to a point and the writing and the poetry are amazing... how else could a book last 3500 years? talk about a best seller :winkwink:

mental illness maybe... :2 cents:

oh, i am pretty sure many of the historical elements in the bible are true (at least to a certain extent)

Robbie there is a definite documented and traceable change in Jewish philosophy which you refer to when you speak of the old testament. the new testament is for the most part a 'careful selection of heavily edited ' letters to a from early church members.

the gospels are of confusing source at best written generations after the events, they literally portray a different Jesus in each one, of the 4. our common perception of Jesus is a combination of the 4 gospels.

somewhat and like most history written to make the winners look good :winkwink:

right, the excuse of religion there, which is what I'm getting at. It's a fine line, but it's the one that causes all this 'us versus them' whenever conversations like this thread occur :thumbsup

They are 'enriched' though, just not in a monetary or materialistic way. It's like if you give a tramp $10 - the good feeling you get out of helping out that guy who desperately needs it, enriches you, even though that's not why you gave over the $10 in the first place. True religious people don't see it as give 10 receive 100, it's not about that at all for them :)

What happens, and this is just my own personal observation, is that it's basically a placebo. It works 100% though, and then creates the religious person/nut's reality, which is genuinely enriched for them. Does it make them weak, or needy for a 'crutch'? Meh, not really imo, they want to be like 95% of the other people on the planet - kind, considerate, and so on. If they choose religion to focus that, fucking good luck to them I say :)

https://gfy.com/showpost.php?p=19745747&postcount=86

I know this will fall on deaf ears, but OT vs NT

just came into this thread...did anyone actually read the poll?

not much choice there..lol

this was my answer

https://gfy.com/showpost.php?p=19745806&postcount=101

in short: believing in god and how your life turns out has nothing to do with each other - statistically

And I pointed out that the "reward" is after you die; I kind of thought your answer would change since it is a little difficult to do statistics on dead people.

But okay. :)

like i said earlier - i dont believe in any reward or punishment

i "believe" there will be a big black nothing.

to believe that there will be something after death would mean to believe in the man made concept of religion (opposed to the remote believe in a higher power that "sparked" the universe i mentioned earlier).

and i completely reject any man made concept of religion

i just have sympathies for the spirituality of Buddhist people, but i'm far from being a follower. just a sympathizer

http://i.imgur.com/ZrzFj.jpg

http://conservativenewager.files.wor...mb-atheist.jpg

:stoned

ADG

here's how I personally view god... I believe in service, I provide work for a model, I provide a fee for an agent, I provide content for my clients, I provide images and video for members to enjoy as they might see fit... I am of service to a variety of people on various levels.

I am rewarded for this service, financially, emotionally and spiritually. I am grateful for the opportunities to be of service to many, and look forward to more opportunities to be of service. I treat the people I come into contact with on a daily with respectful curtsey as best I am able to.

I take care of my possession to show my gratitude for having them, I treat my family with respect and am grateful to have them in my life most of the time.

do I think god will kick me down some cool shit? I think god will allow me to earn what I may if I continually provide service to the best of my abilities. are my prayers answered? my prayers are of gratitude, so in a sense my payers are answered because I am thanking god for what I have been provided, for my services.

do I see an end game in this? I don't do this for an endgame, I live this way to enhance the quality of my life and the lives of those around me. one of the rewards of a life of service is the company of similar minded people. like goes to like, a backwoods saying from my kin as I was growing up, meaning your life will be filled with those you choose by your actions and thoughts. if you want a life filled with quality people, be a quality person.

do I care if you agree with me? not really... do I have the answers? I do for me. do I wonder what it all means? no, I would know if I was supposed. do I fuck up? all the time, I just try to stay focused on what's important and move forward.

this is how I express my understanding and relationship with god... so is there a god, yes in my life.... do you believe in god, none of my business. I do notice all the non believers are very angry about god and belief... read this thread is you don't think this is true, look a the anger in the word and phrase choices used to deny the existence of god.

do you know there is no gravity? how can I possibly say that right? we see the effects everyday, you can prove this to me numerous ways blah blah bla... the reality is scientist and physicist have no idea at all about gravity or what it is or does it even exist, or where it comes from... they can only measure the effect. gravity is a complete unknown force or power that we all agree to 'apply the word' gravity too, so we can discuss and measure the phenomena. so does gravity even exist? not my problem....

same with 'dark matter' we've all heard or read the phrase dark matter, makes up 75% of the known universe...blah blah blah... you know what dark matter is? no? guess what... no one does... it's a name applied to the missing understanding of our concept of the universe... that's all... we have the ability to measure 25% of the known universe... but scientist figured out that things can't run on 'x' amount and there are some big holes in the theory's, so... to make the math add up.... shazzam!!! dark mater was created... :winkwink:

I do believe Jesus was real, and was sent by God.

Just read the bible, and if you are an intelligent person, you'll realize it's very profound stuff, impossible for someone to have invented it all.

Reading that book with intelligence is a great way to make someone an atheist, to be honest. That book is so ridiculous and contradictory, you have to try very hard to stay faithful after reading it.

Do you have any example of a contradiction or ridicoulness?

nice post :thumbsup

That's why I get so afraid of people I meet who say they believe the bible is the word of their god. If they are crazy enough to believe it or lack the mental capacity to see it for what it is, what else might they be capable of.

I have to say I met a lot of Christians and a few Muslims in my life and the majority of them seemed unstable, either emotional or mentally.

I blame.....everyone.