God is not Great
is the title of a NEW YORK best seller book. The author, Vanity Fair magazine columnist mocks all 3 Abrahamic religions beliefs and calls them violent & fanatic. The Jewish messiah, the resurrection of jesus, The shia's Mahdi & sunni's end-of-days battle with Jews are all signs of religious call for apocalypse & the reason for the conflict in the middle east.
The book extensively explained how the Old Testament is a nightmare, the New Testament is evil & the Quran is borrowed from both Jewish & Christian myths.
To be honest, I was intrigued in the beginning then lost interest by the sixth chapter & got annoyed actually.
Yet, I’m still intrigued by atheism.
Some of the author ideas make sense. But what is the substitute for not believing?
What do Atheist believe?
How come they believe in nothing?
CNN last week aired an interesting documentary reported by Christiane Amanpour about Middle East conflict & its link to Jewish, Christian & Muslim faith. Astonishing in-depth report of Christian Zionist, West Bank settlement, Shia’s Messiah, & much more reports about Religious god’s warriors.
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A MUST SEE documentary
Neither Jesus nor Buddha were 'GOD's
My Dear child have you visit my Confession Booth Lately?
For the sake of good order (as they say) :P
You said "I believe in GOD..be it Allah, Jesus, Buddha or Hindu God".
Neither Jesus nor Buddha were 'GOD's
God is blamed because it's easier to do that than to say that you do not understand therefore you hate
A recent poll found that 59 percent of American evangelicals believe Israel is the fulfillment of biblical prophecy.
The Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs estimates 85 million evangelicals believe God tells them to support Israel -- more than six times the world's Jewish population.
One of the most successful Jewish fundraisers, Rabbi Yechiel Eckstein, raised $39 million last year from Christian Zionists to fund human services and humanitarian work in Israel and the settlements.
Christian Zionists often converge on Washington by the thousands to lobby members of Congress in support of Israel.
Sen. Joseph Lieberman, I-Connecticut, was among the speakers at last month's convention of Christians United for Israel.
I am not an Atheist... but ashiest are not people who believe in 'nothing'. They believe in themselves, they are accountable for their deeds. They don't blame it on fate or destiny. I am not religious but I believe in GOD..be it Allah, Jesus, Buddha or Hindu God.
I personally think morality to an extend..depends on culture, what is considered as immoral in east may be moral in west. It all depends on many factors like our upbringing, family values, cultural background etc..
why God has to be blamed?
Cheers!
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"I find it wholesome to be alone the greater part of time. To be in company, even with the best, is soon wearisome and dissipating. I love to be alone, I never find a companionable solitude"
What is morality? Who or what created morality. Is being gay immoral? Is destroying an unborn feotus immoral? Is killing another human so you and your family can survive immoral?
Why believe in something that cannot be proved? If I said I would give you a million dollars would you believe me? So why believe what some old geezer wrote in a story thousands of years ago?
People find enough reasons to hate each other, the colour of the skin, the way they talk or act, the country they come from....without adding religion which makes people belive they have a right to hate others because their beliefs are right.
Welcome to QL tecigurl hope to hear more from u.
There are three sides to every argument: your side, my side and the right side
I will definitly pass on this one...good luck arguing about this topic.
"We cannot control the negative atmosphere of the world, but we can control the atmosphere of our minds"
Could I meet you? !
:) J/k
You don't want to meet me the Red_Pope is very controversial.
I love your writing very sincere and straight forward.
IXOYE sister....Maranatha
When a religion is good, I conceive it will support itself; and when it does not support itself, and God does not take care to support it so that its professors are obliged to call for help of the civil power, 'tis a sign, I apprehend, of its being a bad
Hi Knoxcollege :)
Your question on God's inaction is very relevant; but i will start with a counterexample. Interestingly, i have heard of many complaints from other seekers/unbelievers about the violence in the Bible, particularly in the Old Testament (OT), particularly inflicted by God Himself. It was only when i got to read it for myself that i realized that the plagues, wars, famine and other punishments in the OT were brought on by God (1) on the non-Jews who lived heinously immoral lifestyles, but also (2) on the Jews who knew of God's commands yet knowingly broke their agreement ("testament") to follow Him as God, time and time again.
However, God often gave out warnings through His prophets and His angels. For example, God called Jonah to warn the foreign city of Nineveh; Nineveh repented and God held back from destroying them. At other times people like Moses and Abraham pleaded with God to spare their kinsmen from getting their (just) punishment.
God is *just* and *loving*; a tough act to balance (i had some idea of this when i taught at university; but i believe parents could relate to this in a more profound way). But love, mercy, kindness and grace win out over justice: the Bible speaks of God as "a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger and abounding in love, a God who relents from sending calamity." Whenever God seems unfair, it is actually for my benefit or someone else's, with the perfect example of Jesus taking on the punishment for *my* sins.
When i look back at all the wrong things i've done, i realized that God could have "spanked" me right there, or simply shown up when i said He didn't exist...Or, He could have stopped me from choosing to do wrong. But now i realize that all along He was the perfect gentleman :) He gave me the freedom to make my own decisions, even to the point that i had to face he consequences of my actions, but always just graciously waiting for me to turn to Him for help.
i will end with some Bible passages that i have seen to be true even in my relatively short, three-and-a-half-year walk with God:
"The LORD Almighty has sworn, 'Surely, as I have planned, so it will be, and as I have purposed, so it will stand.' "
"No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not let you be tempted beyond what you can bear. But when you are tempted, he will also provide a way out so that you can stand up under it."
"And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age."
"Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid."
Thank you for taking the time to read this :) May God bless and be with us all! :)
For EVERYONE who calls on the name of the LORD will be SAVED. (Romans 10:13; Acts 2:21; Joel 2:32) :)
ag·nos·tic (g-nstk)
n.
1.
a. One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
b. One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
2. One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.
Atheism is the disbelief[1] in the existence of a deity or deities.[2] It is commonly defined as the positive denial of theism (ie. the assertion that deities do not exist),[3] or the deliberate rejection of theism
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"Every adult of sound mind, should be able to choose to do whatever they want, as long as they cause no harm to others".
An Agnostic does not believe in religion, but believes in God. An Athiest only believes in what they see and what is proven to them. God is not proven, therefore they do not believe in God.
"I fight with love and I laugh with rage, you have to live light enough to see the humor and long enough to see some change." Ani Difranco
Am the light said a Muslim person.
Am the light said a Pentecostal.
Am the light said a Catholic"
Am the light said a Baptist.
Am the light said a Hindustan
AM the light said a Buddhist.
AM the light said a politician.
Am Old man in the corner said:
I got the only flashlight that lights my way, plus I got a compass to guide me.
Not so lost like you are religious folks out there!!
Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery
None but ourselves can free our minds..
There is the tendency in the media to do away with Religion..of all kinds.
Not Long ago John Lenon sang "Imagine":
Imagine there's no Heaven...
Imagine all the people Living for today...(Slaves?)
Imagine there's no countries....(New world Order?)
And no religion too....
Imagine no possessions....(slaves have no possessions)
A brotherhood of man...(Freemasons..?)
Imagine all the people ...Sharing all the world..(United Nations...& New World Order???)
The song sounded beautiful to me when I first heard it....but today when I go through the words ...I m not entirely comfortable.
(Just mix this song on the video footage of Nazi camps & you get the picture).
There is also the tendency in the media to promote "Paganism" , "Scientology" & "Witchcraft".
An 'Athiest' does not believe in God.
An 'Agnostic' only believes in what he sees or is proven to him.
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"Every adult of sound mind, should be able to choose to do whatever they want, as long as they cause no harm to others".
I like your observation about 'how would we know about sin if no-one ever told us' !
I really struggled to find something to confess when I made my First Confession at the tender age of, I dunno, about 6 or 7 I guess - I resorted to making stuff up, just so's I had something to say!
"What do Atheist believe?
How come they believe in nothing?"
The "a-" is a prefix in "atheism" and "atheist". The 'a' means 'not'
It means "not a theist."
As opposed to A "theist" who has some belief in a deity or deities.
Bit like we would say someone is 'amoral' if they have no morals. or 'asexual' if they aren't interested in sex!
I think that an atheist is, generally speaking, someone who can see no proof that there IS a God and until they can they prefer not to follow any religion. But I believe there are various forms of atheism, including stuff like religion causing social repression, poverty etc. Or just a plain and simple belief in the atom (the big bang) and "since only matter exists, god - being immaterial - cannot exist"
Very general observations, but .....
I have to admit that I always considered any countries the Christian Missionaries went to always ended up poverty stricken and socially repressed!
Knoxcollege said,
" But what will they get in the after world for prostitution? They will again burn in hell according to all the religions."
According to ALL religions ???..Not really !
"A prostitute was forgiven by Allah, because, passing by a panting dog near a well and seeing that the dog was about to die of thirst, she took off her shoe, and tying it with her head-cover she drew out some water for it. So, Allah forgave her because of that." Volume 4, Book 54, Number 538, Narrated Abu Huraira.
It is not for us to decide who is going to burn in hell and who isn't .
Massalama.
a search on Humanism, which is the belief that we can live good lives without religious or superstitious beliefs.
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"There's this thing called being so open-minded your brains drop out". - Richard Dawkins
Could it be that our time here is so short, so any sort of suffering is irrelevant compared to the eternity of the afterlife?
I struggle with indoctrinated religions, I guess I struggle to believe the words of the powerfull people who wrote these books.
I would also like to know what happens to the people who are sitting in a forrest somewhere, living a hard working life, never hurting anyone, doesn't know what sin is.
Are they to be dammed due to ignorance?
I think, if you are good God will recognize it.
There was a funny sketch years ago where Rowan Atkinson was playing the part of St. Peter receiving the souls at Heavens Gate.
He was seragatingg them into religious groups and sending then "down stairs".
When they complained he said casually to them "oh yes the Jews were right, on you go".
Replace the word Jews with any other religious group and shows the irony of it all.
Call me Maninibat!
a substitute, except for science.
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"There's this thing called being so open-minded your brains drop out". - Richard Dawkins
God is supposed to do justice to humans but where do u see justice?
Why doesnt God intervene and stop the bloodshed of the innocent. If God cannot help the poor, the needy, the seeker is it that he cannot or he does not?
if you still believe in God then read the following
http://edition.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/meast/08/15/iraq.prostitution/index.html
These women are not living for themselves they are living and sacrificing for the sake of their children. But what will they get in the after world for prostitution? They will again burn in hell according to all the religions.
Just Enjoy life, whatever God gives you, take it and dont complain. God is testing you as you are the choosen one.
lolz