Christianity

no problem shag. I have tons of those links for free stuff. It's great to get them and donate them to your local church. They will thank you for it.

 

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Elite said:

The Bible = Ancient children's bedtime stories that ended up in the wrong hands.

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I wonder why you'd think that? becuz many things from the bible are scientific and many of them, which the human science had found out about hundreds, or thousands years after the recording of the bible. Also, why do you have to bitch around like that? Do you actually try to be hated?

 

Sure why not?

 

ok just wondering

 

Hre's a site, http://home.christianity.com.

 

I also try and accept other people's religious/spiritual views and generally adopt a "live and let live" ethos.

Having said that, I take exception to some of the stricter doctrines taught by many religions and question their relavence in the modern world.

For example, if you take the bible literally, the world is only 10,000 years old (no dinosaurs), evolution is nonsense and all non-believers (most of the world's population) and gays face eternal agony in hell fire.

For me, I just can't accept this as being a reasonable and credible thing to believe in, and therfeore abstain. I'd also hate to introduce my children (when I have'em) to the above teachings.

However, I understand that many Christians don't take everything said in the bible as fact and believe in a watered-down form of Christianity, based mainly on it's positive elements. And I think that's totally fine. Indeed, the church offers people allot of comfort in times of need.

 

It's great to hear that many at least keep an open mind, even if they aren't Christians themselves. MAX and others, thx.

As science progresses, man accepts the new found theories, and discards the old. But some stay stubborn to their past. Religious people aren't all that different. Back in the days, The Church, along with pretty much everybody else, believed in the flat earth. Now, nobody in their right minds believe so, and their religious beliefs are irrelevant regarding. Note that the catholic church (i'm not catholic) afaik, accepts the Big Bang theory as truth, as do many other religious folks. You will find a few pockets of fundamentalists that'll argue against it, denying dinousaurs and whatnot, but if you really take the time to look around, you'll find that most of Christians accept the obvious. As PGHacker noted earlier, the science doesn't negate the bible, rather it supports it. But the people that correlate science and Christianity, do not practice a "watered down" version of Christianity. Nor do the people that take the creation account, literally. It's like this:

The bible spends a few non descript lines narrating the creation account. The bible isn't a scientific log, nor was it ever meant to be. It has a rather different purpose, and as far as the bible is concerned, it doesn't matter if you think dinosaurs are fictious creations of the devil or extinct reptiles. Man is erroneous of much, and confusion of events of no consequence that occurred aeons before his existence, are hardly significant.

Most people that try to disprove the bible/religion haven't even seriously looked at the bible. Rather they just take some of the more common points that float around, and always base their often heard arguments around such. If you really want to cut down on bible/relgion, then give us (Christians) some credit and take a look the bible. You don't have to accept it as the truth, you don't have to become Christian, but it helps to be aware of the material that you have issues with.

Incidentally, a rather well known person tried to disprove the bible with the right frame of mind- intellectually, and while being honest with himself. This person later wrote some of the most beloved Christian literature around- this person would be C.S. Lewis, best known for The Chronicles of Narnia, Mere Christianity, Till We Have Faces, etc. And another noble mind helped Lewis in his thoughts with Christianity. That man would be a close friend of Lewis, a converted Christian himself, and the father of the fantasy genera, J.R.R. Tolkien.

My point is, that again, give us Christians some credit. Lewis, Tolkien, and the many of us, are hardly illogical fools. I mean think of some of the vfers that are noted here. Those of you that know them, must know that they are hardly fools that'd be easily duped. We believe not without reason.

 

Nevermind

 

I WAS christian. i decided to try to find out what the meaning of life is, so i started going to church. and not too long ago, i realized that what i say i believe, i really don't, and what's the point of living a lie? so i decided to say g'bye to christianity. i respect christianity as a whole and the way it tries to improve people. but christians don't follow what the Lord says and for that i'm disappointed. that's part of the reason i decided to end my faith, cuz it was all hollow and empty i felt. and, the most annoying part, i gotta say, is when a christian tries to convert you -_- they won't give up, and when people do that to me, i'm just wondering how good of christians they themselves are. maybe if they started with themselves, the quality of the world would actually improve. pressuring or overly pursuing people's faith isn't right. anyway that's my two cents on this subject. if anyone read through that without getting bored, props.

 

Hmm, I'm definitely not Christian but out of common respect for those who are I will not list my grievances with the religion. I never really found a belief system that I felt comfortable with until I developed my own based on the ancient Egyptian concepts of Gods etc.. Everything else (and I am not referring specifically to Christianity) was taken far too literally, seemed too primitive or was too heavily based on ignorance for my tastes.

Anyways, you would be shocked to know exactly how much of the Christian mythos is based on/borrowed from the ancient Egyptians. The divine impregnation of Mary... The resurrection of Christ... The serpent symbology behind Satan... They can all be traced to concepts lifted from Egyptian mythology. Another example can be found in the way that Christians close their prayers. Whether they know it or not, they are paying homage to an ancient Egyptian God when they say 'Amen'. Well Amen to that! /versus/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Again, my intent is not to instigate but to inform.

 

ETPharoah- yes. Actually, it's not just Egyptian. A lot of the religions share a common theme with divine conception and serpent=evil, resurrection, along with global flooding, God assuming human form, etc. etc. And each of the respective religions generally say that the others borrowed concepts from them. /versus/images/graemlins/smile.gif Note that the basis behind Christianity is far older than 2000 years old. It's the same basis for Islam I think (Muslims, plz correct me if I'm misinformed). Some fundamentalist Christians will shoot me down for this, but I think there is a common root for much of the religions of the world. Since I've noted C.S. Lewis earlier, I'll also say that Lewis implies something of such in The Last Battle, of the Chronicles.

Kagemaru- wow, that's pretty honest. And yeah, it's kinda sad- Christian (religion) credibility has much to lose from Christian (people) behaviour. Anton Levey, you know the author of the satanic bible, states this as the focal reason from turning from Christianity as well. In the end, you gotta kinda realize that we Christians are still human, and still do human things- not much of a justification, but well it's the truth.

 

Aye, I say that the concepts we have referred to are Egyptian in origin simply because the Egyptians are a much older civilization than than any other apart from the Babylonians. The Egyptian stories of resurrection, divine intervention etc predate any other mention of similar phenomenon in other mythologies. The ancient Egyptian culture may have existed as early as 10,000 B.C. (geological data suggests that the sphinx was built sometime during that era), which is far earlier than the cultures that provided us with more contemporary religions.

 

You are correct the christians, jews and muslims belive in the same god and all this stuff about borrowing is just not true (btw I am muslim).

 

I just read that in the Americans are 3 or four times more likely to believe in Jesus' immaculate conception than in evolution. You wonder why America is so fucked and people seem to be so impervious to logic and reasonably construed arguments? Why empty rhetoric and stoking prejudices rule the day? It all points to our doom.

 

Both Christianity and Muslim faiths are derivities of Jeudiasm.

 

Does any one know what faith was Abraham ?

 

Abraham worshipped The God Most High.

Specifically, he worshipped the God that Melchizedek the High Priest-King served.

Of his children, Ishmael, born of Hagar, fathered the Arabs (Muslim faith), and Issac, born of Sarah, fathered those of the Judaeo-Christian faith. It should be noted that Ishmael and Issac, although having lived mostly apart, buried their father together.

 

Hey Snake! Nice to see some religious discussions taking place here. Great to see other people's POV. I myself am a Sikh and though, like most religions, there are many facets to its philosophpy, the underlying message is to uphold one's basic human rights, even if it means dying to preserve that freedom. After all, we're all gonna kick outta this world some time, and this philosophy preaches that your basic hukman right, and upholding those of others is a base concept. In effect, you being a Christian and me being a Sikh, if some kind of government came into power that (hypothetically speaking ofcourse) wanted to wipe out/convert Christians to another religion, it would be my duty to fight to protect your human rights to believe whatever you want to believe, beause you believe that you are just as right in your beliefs as me or anyone else. This isn't just a hollow philosospy with no action either. If it wasn't for the Sikh gurus (of whom there were 10 in total, and now the Sikh holy book is considered as a guru due to its containing the writings of the gurus and other philosophers of the time) the Hindu populus of Inida would today be non-existent with Islam in its place. My ancestors fought to preserve their human rights, and the right to allow their decendants to lead as peaceful a life as possible. It's part of what the Sikh turban is a symbol of: it's advertising the fact that 'I will not be oppressed, and I will die before I give into you...and I'm not afraid to show it'. Effectively, it was a rebellion against an unjust system fought out in the open with no air of pretence.

The closest parallel philosophy I can think of is perhaps a cross between Buddhism and the code of the Bushido as followed by the Japanese Samurai...with God as the central force.

I actually encourage interracial/interreligious relationships/marriages to the extent that it really goes to show how alike we all are. Most beliefs go towards the sme concept of a harmonious human race, but we are often to afraid to take leaps into unknown areas.

Kewl, thanks for the opportunity to share my views.

Outta here.

 

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Abraham worshipped The God Most High.

Specifically, he worshipped the God that Melchizedek the High Priest-King served.

Of his children, Ishmael, born of Hagar, fathered the Arabs (Muslim faith), and Issac, born of Sarah, fathered those of the Judaeo-Christian faith. It should be noted that Ishmael and Issac, although having lived mostly apart, buried their father together

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That is correct but also did you know that Abraham and his son Ishmael built the Kabah (the square building with the black shroud that still stands today in mecca)

 

Something to note is, though they started out the same, it is impossible to say any longer that they all worship the same God in a different fashion. In the Bible, Jesus sends a message of peace, yet in that Koran, it sais that one should fight. Now, I understand worshipping a god in a different way, but when they begin to state contradictory things about the god, they cannot be worshipping the same thing.