Religion is for stupid people

[bullethead]

I don't believe in Unicorns, nor do I spend hours each day talking about them trying to disprove their existence. Futility is a pointless exercise.

I am the same way, almost.

The difference here is that I used to believe in Unicorns(God), and then I started to not believe in Unicorns(God) based off of inconsistencies that I couldn't over look. I did the best that I could to research why what I once was SURE of was not adding up and the more that I researched the more I questioned. The more I questioned the more I researched until I hit the point where I learned the history of my religion and what I learned along the way did not seem god-like at all to me. When I talked to Clergy(of various denominations)at various times about it I was told that I should overlook these things and go with what I've been taught, or go with what is in my heart, and when pressed by me with many things that I ask in here, I was flat out told that maybe Christianity was not for me...
So I continue on. I am flat out curious and incredibly interested in finding out why something that is touted as being the Ultimate Truth is so incredibly hard to back up.
I am dying to talk to someone who can answer my questions. I cannot use a source as evidence to back up that same source(bible). I am fully willingly open for a god, any god, to drop kick me in the face for a wiser-upper. I figure that a god would know EXACTLY what it would take for me to believe again. I cannot say that I even know...but a god should. So & And until that happens I frequent the place that is specifically made for and contains people who want to discuss such things with me. I am open to have my mind changed. I am willing to accept solid evidence.
I am not saying that a god in some sort of capacity does not exist, I am saying that I have not seen any evidence of one and the religions that man has made are not as universally correct as they want me to believe. I am convinced so far that if there is a god man has not been able to narrow it down let alone provide specifics.
I think that people want to make sense of and explain an unknowable force that is our Universe and at the same time deal with their own mortality.
The ex-christian in me is still willing to hear something that may change my mind. The skeptic in me will have me think of every way I can to put it to the test.

Is it too much to ask of someone who makes a claim to back it up ?

We want to see big buck pics or big fish pics if someone claims to have gotten one that is beyond exceptional. In daily life we are skeptical of most everything that is too good to be true and we ask for proof.
Is it honestly too much ask from someone, who claims something is so exceptional that it is the cause of our very existence and is involved in our daily lives, to just back it up with the same type of evidence that we use throughout our daily life for everything else? It baffles me why something touted as a god is so hard to prove. It makes me think someone is not being honest.

 

[bullethead]

I don't believe in Unicorns, nor do I spend hours each day talking about them trying to disprove their existence. Futility is a pointless exercise.

I am not the sharpest knife in the drawer but I get the feeling that you do not hold political office and something tells me that you are not a Democrat or Liberal or are a Commie Union Member... yet I have noticed that occasionally(?) you tend to pop in the Political forum to discuss things about politics and hold some Democrat/Liberal feet to the fire when they seem to make claims that you happen to not agree with. It may be because you are interested in those types of discussions(which at times get insulting, degrading, personal, and even come across as dismissive and condescending) and are passionate about how things can and do affect you in daily life. It seems to me that you enjoy taking some time out of your life to participate in such discussions. I am no different politically. I like to discuss those thing too.
If I am wrong about you, I apologize.
If I am right then hopefully you understand why I frequent here.

 

[bullethead]

We really don't discuss Allah though............and I find it hard to believe that any Christian would protest dead soldiers and kill abortion doctors. That goes against everything I have ever known about Christianity. Maybe to Furtakers defense, the Christian God seems to take the blame for all of that.

Who do they worship?

Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) is an American church known for its use of inflammatory hate speech, especially against LGBT+ people (homophobiaand transphobia), Catholics (anti-Catholicism), Orthodox Christians (anti-Orthodoxy), Muslims (Islamophobia), Jews (antisemitism), Romani people(antiziganism), and U.S. soldiers and politicians (anti-Americanism).[4][5] It is widely known as a hate group[6] and is monitored as such by the Anti-Defamation League and the Southern Poverty Law Center. The church has been involved in actions against gay people since at least 1991, when it sought a crackdown on homosexual activity at Gage Park six blocks northwest of the church.[7] In addition to conducting anti-gay protests at military funerals, the organization pickets celebrity funerals and public events.[8]Protests have also been held against Jews and Catholics, and some protests have included WBC members stomping on the American flag or flying the flag upside down on a flagpole. The church also has made statements such as "thank God for dead soldiers," "God blew up the troops," "thank God for 9/11," and "God hates America."[9] The church has faced several accusations of brainwashing[10][11][12] and has been criticised for resembling a cult.[13][14][15]

 

[Spotlite]

Who do they worship?

The answer is right there in your quote - "it is widely known as a hate group"

 

[bullethead]

The answer is right there in your quote - "it is widely known as a hate group"

Filled with Christians .
I know you do not like it, but they are Christians as sure as you are.

 

[WaltL1]

I don't believe in Unicorns, nor do I spend hours each day talking about them trying to disprove their existence. Futility is a pointless exercise.

Its always interesting to me when you guys put the subject of your god on the same level as unicorns etc.

 

[Spotlite]

Filled with Christians .
I know you do not like it, but they are Christians as sure as you are.

Something inside me wants to give you the benefit of the doubt and not believe that you really are that gullible.

 

[bullethead]

Something inside me wants to give you the benefit of the doubt and not believe that you really are that gullible.

I am not gullible at all.
They all call Christ their Lord. They all find and use scripture to back up their beliefs. They are one of 40,000 denominations that all call themselves Christians.
Despite your differences with theirs, you all get to the same place but in different ways. In their mind you are not as Christian as they are. In your mind they are not Christians let alone as Christian as you.
Where does it end?
Who honestly is the best Christian? Which denomination, which parish, which individual? You?
I know it isn't you because you are violating a couple of Jesus's commands by merely judging the WB crowd.
It is all comical.

 

[Israel]

How is that test simple?

I think it's simple because what once could only be conceptualized (at best) is now fairly commonly able to be pictured. And pictographs are easier for us.

That's the simpler part. Seeing ourselves in the picture then, though still needing some navigating, is also made much easier.

 

[bullethead]

A simple test.
A universe populated only by your own clone.
How does that appear?

Would "another you"...believe YOU are the original? Would you care? Should you?


DO...you?

Or, are you...not? (the original?)

Would you even know?

Would you even know that you are of a population of clone?

Would there be ONE necessity for you to know, (and entrance into that) in any way...what you are, who you are?

What does any of that have to do with a pictograph?

 

[Spotlite]

I am not gullible at all.
They all call Christ their Lord. They all find and use scripture to back up their beliefs. They are one of 40,000 denominations that all call themselves Christians.
Despite your differences with theirs, you all get to the same place but in different ways. In their mind you are not as Christian as they are. In your mind they are not Christians let alone as Christian as you.
Where does it end?
Who honestly is the best Christian? Which denomination, which parish, which individual? You?
I know it isn't you because you are violating a couple of Jesus's commands by merely judging the WB crowd.
It is all comical.

Doesn’t matter what they call who. A follower of Christ and keeping his commandments are important, regardless how one wants to spin it. They are not following Christ doing what they do, it ends when you see the the fruit they bear, not our opinions.

 

[Spotlite]

I am not gullible at all.
They all call Christ their Lord. They all find and use scripture to back up their beliefs. They are one of 40,000 denominations that all call themselves Christians.

And by the way, the label “Christian” that’s attached by so many.......do a little research on that if you want to debate this.

 

[bullethead]

Doesn’t matter what they call who. A follower of Christ and keeping his commandments are important, regardless how one wants to spin it. They are not following Christ doing what they do, it ends when you see the the fruit they bear, not our opinions.

Like judging others...THAT type of not real Christian?

 

[bullethead]

And by the way, the label “Christian” that’s attached by so many.......do a little research on that if you want to debate this.

I want to know what they do that is different from you.
Not the high and mighty internet persona, but what you do when nobody is looking. You already broke a Jesus command above even questioning others.

 

[Spotlite]

I want to know what they do that is different from you.
Not the high and mighty internet persona, but what you do when nobody is looking. You already broke a Jesus command above even questioning others.

Well aren't you just a little pot calling the kettle black

They promote hate. That is different from me.

There`s no such thing as a commandment not to question anyone. Maybe Jim Jones followers should have questioned him???????..........but the way you are going about this they`re better off dying rather than question anyone. In one discussion, we are told that we do not think for ourselves and fail to research, and then in another we are judging if we do question.

Since you dont know where to start researching, start with Galations 5. Then research the word Christian, you brought it up, that's the least you could do.

But I really thought you had already did this in order to rule out the Christian belief.

And if you are convinced that everyone that claims to be something is "that", you are gullible. If that line of thinking is true, it must not apply to politicians.

 

[Israel]

I want to know what they do that is different from you.
Not the high and mighty internet persona, but what you do when nobody is looking. You already broke a Jesus command above even questioning others.

For the christian there's never a time when nobody is looking.

It's only we who may fail at it.

But looking may not be the same as paying attention...just as the understanding of being watched, may differ from the understanding of being watched over.

Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

 

[bullethead]

Well aren't you just a little pot calling the kettle black

They promote hate. That is different from me.

There`s no such thing as a commandment not to question anyone. Maybe Jim Jones followers should have questioned him???????..........but the way you are going about this they`re better off dying rather than question anyone. In one discussion, we are told that we do not think for ourselves and fail to research, and then in another we are judging if we do question.

Since you dont know where to start researching, start with Galations 5. Then research the word Christian, you brought it up, that's the least you could do.

But I really thought you had already did this in order to rule out the Christian belief.

And if you are convinced that everyone that claims to be something is "that", you are gullible. If that line of thinking is true, it must not apply to politicians.

The early church was called “Christians” by the powers-that-be for the first time in Antioch (Acts 11:26). It wasn’t a name Jesus’ disciples gave themselves—it was a name given to them by the society in Antioch.

It changed to mean Christ-like


“Judge not, that you be not judged. For with the judgment you pronounce you will be judged, and with the measure you use it will be measured to you. Why do you see the speck that is in your brother’s eye, but do not notice the log that is in your own eye? Or how can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when there is the log in your own eye? You hypocrite, first take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to take the speck out of your brother’s eye.”

 

[bullethead]

For the christian there's never a time when nobody is looking.

It's only we who may fail at it.

But looking may not be the same as paying attention...just as the understanding of being watched, may differ from the understanding of being watched over.

Whoever has will be given more, and he will have an abundance. Whoever does not have, even what he has will be taken away from him. This is why I speak to them in parables:‘Though seeing, they do not see; though hearing, they do not hear or understand.’ In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving For this people’s heart has grown callous; they hardly hear with their ears, and they have closed their eyes. Otherwise they might see with their eyes, hear with their ears, understand with their hearts, and turn, and I would heal them.’

Seriously, a Pictograph???

 

[Israel]

Seriously, a Pictograph???

yes.

John 3:14

 

[WaltL1]

Like judging others...THAT type of not real Christian?

The whole "judging others" thing is another one of those contradictions that to me, has the stench of man all over it.
As humans, we are wired to "judge". People, situations, benefit vs risk etc etc.
Its a defense/survival thing.
Now if God poofed us into existence he would know that because he wired us that way.
Its another one of those "now why would God make you that way then supposedly make the rule that you cant be the way he made you"?
Only man would come up with a rule that you cant do what you are wired to do.