Beliefs

WaltL1

Senior Member
I wouldn't know who or what to pray to without the words of the untrustworthy men who wrote the things telling us who to pray to.

You would have absolutely no knowledge of any god had it not been written first by men.
This ^
Because it becomes so real, so important, such an integral part of a believer's life, they "hear" God, "feel God", have a "relationship" with God and completely forget they wouldnt even know what/who God is if they haven't been told/read about him.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
The "All In" god people AFTER the fact just slay me.

None knew of a god until they were told about a god or read about a god. Then once the seed is planted the imaginations run wild connecting invisible dots that all lead the individual to think that somehow they are more special than not only every non believer but also every other believer. And act as if they came up with their beliefs all on their own...when in reality the same faithful would be bowing to spoiled coconuts as their gods had they been brought up on some remote island and feeling just as special and just as sure as they are now about the religion that they have been groomed to be a part of.

When you were little and your Great Uncle patted you on the head and slipped you a dollar saying "shhh, dont tell your brother or sister" and you thought it was because you were his "favorite"....he was giving them a dollar also and telling them the same thing.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
Faith without doubt leads to moral arrogance, the eternal pratfall of the religiously convinced. — Joe Klein
 

SemperFiDawg

Political Forum Arbiter of Truth (And Lies Too)
Congrats Brother David on one of the longest, if not the longest thread ever started in AAA.
 

Brother David

Senior Member
Yep.
100%

You absolutely rely on the words of men as your beliefs.

Absolutely , I can find no evidence why anyone would lie to someone about leading a loving caring life . If they did , oh well I am better for it . Putting others before myself has filled so many voids in life . I think I am going to continue to pray seek guidance from God the Creator , it has absolutely made me a better person .
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
I also don't trust men ! Hence my prayers and medication !
Ok. So far we have established that you Do not trust men, but you rely on them because you trust that nobody would lie about leading a loving and caring life.

Are you often contradictory?
Let me gues, Yes and No!!!!!
 

Brother David

Senior Member
Ok. So far we have established that you Do not trust men, but you rely on them because you trust that nobody would lie about leading a loving and caring life.

Are you often contradictory?
Let me gues, Yes and No!!!!!

You know what I meant in my post . No need for the back and forth it's childish .
 

ky55

Senior Member

Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
I know, I know, I know...you don't need "them" now that you've used what they put together to get you started and you have filled in your own blanks since the initial baseline with the spirit stuff.
Like your KJV...written roughly 1300 years AFTER the earliest copies, and written by Englishmen who had no idea about Hebrew. And taken from what copies the Catholic Church allowed to exist (they burned the rest) But , you use it because it works for you and therefore you excuse the errors with "the spirit makes up for all that" thoughts.
I get it.

Don't forget who decided Acts made the book though...
Nah...it’s not even about that. You can weave in and out of history with research and find tons of “errors” seen as misquotes, misinterpretation, etc. I’m not foolish enough to state that with man’s translating there are no errors.

But I can tell you one thing, Acts is real. It’s not the overwhelming emotion you describe related to a ball game either.
 

Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
Faith without doubt leads to moral arrogance, the eternal pratfall of the religiously convinced. — Joe Klein
You can’t have both in one sentence.
 

Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
I understand what faith is and what faith means.
It is not faith that I have a problem with.
It is the source that tells me to have faith.

This may come as a surprise to you but....I just do not believe nor do I have faith that the contents of the bible are the words of any sort of deity. To the point of exactly ZERO on a scale of ZERO to Ten or Zero to Infinity on how much faith I have in it.

I am convinced to the point that I think it is more likely than not that the Bible and it's contents are the works of man. Period.
I think that it is more likely than not the works of various mostly anonymous authors (OT) who wrote about their history as a culture in a time when many if not all ancient cultures were truly convinced that they were special because a God or Gods liked them more than it liked their neighbors. History is FULL of those stories.
Then I think, mainly because the history of religions worldwide and mainly for this discussion, the Jewish religion was constantly being challenged from inside and out with new cults and leaders and sects and splinter groups (just like Christianity is) which all had their followers....comes a time where some latched on to a young Apocalyptic preacher and followed him(just like others before..during..and after..did). He made his run and got killed for it.
But, there was always someone else willing to Capitalize on it and Saul/Paul was able to say the things that people wanted to hear at the right time to start a religion around a man who was long dead.
If you study the history of how Christianity was decided upon to be the main religion for the most powerful Empire of the world, you will see it had NOTHING to do with divinity. It had everything to do with politicians, clergy and what was felt that would best be able to control the masses.


I am sorry, but I do not buy into the writings of some old guy telling me that some god told him that I should disregard all the things that just do not add up because I should just have faith.

I dont have faith in that source of faith.
What would you be disregarding? 99% of religion could care less about the age of the earth, don’t care if the Big Bang is how it was created, don’t care if man was created through the evolution process (formed from the earth) , don’t care if the sea really parted, etc.

What they care about is the ability to read these stories for instruction and the assurance that a way will be made in their situation.
 

Spotlite

Resident Homesteader
I don't want to think wrongly.
None of us do. But many are deceived into thinking that there’s not a possibility that they’re wrong.

Now.....I’m taking my ball and going home for a few days. My son is getting married this weekend and I have some family / friends to entertain and a lot of preparation ahead. ?
 

ky55

Senior Member
None of us do. But many are deceived into thinking that there’s not a possibility that they’re wrong.

Now.....I’m taking my ball and going home for a few days. My son is getting married this weekend and I have some family / friends to entertain and a lot of preparation ahead. ?

Have fun, and I hope your son and his bride have a super nice wedding!
 

Israel

BANNED
I don't want to think wrongly.
I don't want to think wrongly.

I don't

want

to think wrongly.

I don't want to build wrongly.
I don't want to drive wrongly.
I don't want to speak wrongly.
I don't want to discharge my firearm wrongly.

The last 4 examples make it a little more plain that there can be a thing done that is not itself the desire for rightness in it, nor the concomitant hope of not experiencing wrongness in it. The thing of not wanting to "do it wrongly" must precede, and is therefore not that very act (and separate from them) of the doing.

How then is that squared to "I do not want to think wrongly"? It might be of better accuracy, if not usefulness to say "I think I do not want to think wrongly" unless one plainly and concisely can separate that want from the very act of thinking.

In other words "I am myself, in myself, all that is separate from the proceeding act of thinking what is "to the right, and not the wrong".

"Before thought...my essence is of right"

Unless one is able to concede "I am only what thinks I do not want to think wrongly"

The liking of the color red is not, and cannot be itself, the color red.
Yet the thinking one has the desire to not think wrongly...remains itself...only, and no more than...thinking.

And some men yet find laughter in the thought of speaking in tongues!

When they awaken to the fact that they speak to their very own selves not even knowing what they say...they may find hope for more sense.

But brother...you are no more to the right of things than I, or any other man born of water. All "I"s like the way they think. And think they do not want to think "wrongly."

So it may ultimately be of most accuracy to say "I am what wants to think of itself as what does not want to think wrongly"

But then one would simply be saying "I am just a man".

And really, we all already knew that.
 
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bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
Nah...it’s not even about that. You can weave in and out of history with research and find tons of “errors” seen as misquotes, misinterpretation, etc. I’m not foolish enough to state that with man’s translating there are no errors.

But I can tell you one thing, Acts is real. It’s not the overwhelming emotion you describe related to a ball game either.
It's the added words, added verses and changed words Spotlite. They are not errors. They are willful changes.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
What would you be disregarding? 99% of religion could care less about the age of the earth, don’t care if the Big Bang is how it was created, don’t care if man was created through the evolution process (formed from the earth) , don’t care if the sea really parted, etc.

What they care about is the ability to read these stories for instruction and the assurance that a way will be made in their situation.
Spotlite, why do I get along in life just as well as any other person without all that assurance.?
I think you touched on it...the bible is a crutch for those that need it. It is a safety blanket.
 

bullethead

Of the hard cast variety
None of us do. But many are deceived into thinking that there’s not a possibility that they’re wrong.

Now.....I’m taking my ball and going home for a few days. My son is getting married this weekend and I have some family / friends to entertain and a lot of preparation ahead. ?
Have a blast! Enjoy the celebration. Congrats to you and your Son. Please accept a long distance handshake from Pennsylvania.
 
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