Religion

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Garth
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PostRe: Religion
by Garth » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:30 pm

Jenuall wrote:Ultimately following everything or not isn't what determines whether I am a good person - my actions are, and that is the same for everyone, religious or not.

That's pretty close my thinking. I just try to be a good person, no need for religious rituals or worshipping invisible beings to do that.

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OrangeRKN
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PostRe: Religion
by OrangeRKN » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:30 pm

Brb gonna go start a kickstarter for The Bible BOTY edition (includes all New Testament apocrypha!)

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still
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PostRe: Religion
by still » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:33 pm

Garth wrote:
Jenuall wrote:Ultimately following everything or not isn't what determines whether I am a good person - my actions are, and that is the same for everyone, religious or not.

That's pretty close my thinking. I just try to be a good person, no need for religious rituals or worshipping invisible beings to do that.


That's actually pretty close to what the Buddha taught, "your actions are your only belongings".

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Moggy
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PostRe: Religion
by Moggy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:36 pm

Preezy wrote:Why doesn't God heal amputees? Since records began (waaaay back when, like before the 80s) there hasn't been a single documented case of a person managing to grow back an amputated limb. Surely God is getting amputees praying to Him to help them, but He clearly isn't answering their prayers. I find that a bit off to be honest, it shows that He's only interested in answering the easy prayers like finding your car keys or winning a Grammy, as opposed to the really serious human condition stuff like helping children avoid molestation or disease, or stopping natural disasters.


When I was doing my Open University degree, I did a small optional module on religion. When you are doing an OU course you get access to specific module forums and the religion one was hilarious. I had seen a woman on TV claiming that prayer could and had been proven to help amputees regrow limbs, so I posted about it on the OU forum. This utterly mental woman then spent weeks having a go at me for mocking religious people (I only mocked those who thought a prayer could regrow a limb!) and that prayer could help with the regrowth of a leg or arm.

I didn’t bother with the forums much after that. :lol:

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Religion
by Jenuall » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:40 pm

Hexx wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
Hexx wrote:
Garth wrote:Most religious people I've met turn out to be massive hypocrites and pick and choose which parts of thier religion to follow. Waste of time if you ask me.


Yeah if a religious actually followed all aspects of their chosen text, I'd have some respect for them.

But the approach of "respect the beliefs I've cherry picked" position always makes me chuckle.


Obviously I can't speak for all religions, or indeed all Christians, however I think this strikes at a misunderstanding of what the Bible is. It's not a Version 4.0, Final, Remastered GOTY edition manual of "all things one must do to live their life correctly". It's a series of different documents written across a large span of time that serve varying purposes for the reader and illustrate a process of developing understanding of what it means to be a Christian - a process that is still ongoing to this day.


Well that's fine. But you (generic you, not Jenuall you) can't have it both ways.

If you want to treat "religious beliefs" as some sort of special status sacrosanct rule set that society shouldn't interfere in or impose restrictions on - it can't also be that wiffley.

Otherwise it's just a "belief", same as any other on any topic, and should hold no special status.


Quite - I don't think that religious beliefs require a special status as you say. People should be able to follow a religion of their choosing - so long as the practising of that religion falls within the boundaries of what is acceptable within wider society.

The way that society operates may change over time, based on the will of the people and religious people should be as free as anyone to have a say in shaping that society - no more or no less. If a group of people, religious or not, wants society to change in a certain way then hey, go for it - put your ideas across using the legal and acceptable mechanisms available to you and if people agree with you then things will move forward in that direction, but don't get upset if it turns out everyone disagrees with you! :D

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Vermilion
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PostRe: Religion
by Vermilion » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:41 pm

At one time i had a militant atheist in my facebook contacts, the endless propaganda which kept popping up in my news feed was enough to send anyone to church.

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Preezy
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PostRe: Religion
by Preezy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 2:43 pm

One thing I do love though are those exceptionally polite people who hand out the Watch Tower "magazines", they're all so super nice it's really hard to sling abuse at them or put them on the spot with difficult questions. God bless 'em :wub:

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Moggy
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PostRe: Religion
by Moggy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:02 pm

Preezy wrote:One thing I do love though are those exceptionally polite people who hand out the Watch Tower "magazines", they're all so super nice it's really hard to sling abuse at them or put them on the spot with difficult questions. God bless 'em :wub:


Years and years ago I was outside of my work having a cigarette and two very attractive ladies started talking to me. They then asked if they could put their magazine into our staff room (not a euphemism unfortunately) and that’s when I noticed it was Watchtower.

Bloody Watchtower cockblocking me. :x

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Moggy
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PostRe: Religion
by Moggy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:04 pm

Vermilion wrote:At one time i had a militant atheist in my facebook contacts, the endless propaganda which kept popping up in my news feed was enough to send anyone to church.


I'm a militant fundamentalist atheist. I'm going to get on a crowded train, unbutton my coat & say rational things. People will be hurt.

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Religion
by Jenuall » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:06 pm

Moggy wrote:
Vermilion wrote:At one time i had a militant atheist in my facebook contacts, the endless propaganda which kept popping up in my news feed was enough to send anyone to church.


I'm a militant fundamentalist atheist. I'm going to get on a crowded train, unbutton my coat & say rational things. People will be hurt.


Will you be fully clothed under the coat? If not then it may just be psychological damage! :P

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Jenuall
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PostRe: Religion
by Jenuall » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:06 pm

Preezy wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
Preezy wrote:Do you believe that God hears and answers prayers (i.e. does He intervene?)?

In all honesty I have gone back and forth on this issue, but generally I would say yes. But is that a firm belief or a more tentative hope? Hard to quantify and as I say my views have changed lots.

As I said I appreciate your responses, and I don't want to gooseberry fool on anyone's beliefs (unless it would be hilarious to do so) but I do have some follow up questions to this point (fully aware that your views on this aren't necessarily permanent and defined):

If God answers some prayers, why doesn't he answer others? I'll use a bog-standard analogy of a footballer praying to God before a football match and then thanking Him for letting his team win, whilst over in Africa a child is dying of AIDS and the mother is praying to God to save it, but the baby still dies.

Why doesn't God heal amputees? Since records began (waaaay back when, like before the 80s) there hasn't been a single documented case of a person managing to grow back an amputated limb. Surely God is getting amputees praying to Him to help them, but He clearly isn't answering their prayers. I find that a bit off to be honest, it shows that He's only interested in answering the easy prayers like finding your car keys or winning a Grammy, as opposed to the really serious human condition stuff like helping children avoid molestation or disease, or stopping natural disasters.

Also bonus silly question for the lolz:

Could God create a being more powerful than Himself?

Answers on a postcard.


Preezy - good question - I don't have a lot of time to respond now (although I'm not sure I'll be able to come up with anything any more satisfying even if I had all the time in the world! :P) so here's my quick reply:

Why doesn't God answer all prayers? Ultimately, I don't know. It's something that obviously I have questioned many times - both when I was an atheist and since becoming a Christian, and honestly I don't believe it's something that I have ever found a wholly satisfying answer for - either through my own thoughts or reading those of others.

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Blue Eyes
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PostRe: Religion
by Blue Eyes » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:07 pm

Jenuall wrote:
Preezy wrote:
Jenuall wrote:
Preezy wrote:Do you believe that God hears and answers prayers (i.e. does He intervene?)?

In all honesty I have gone back and forth on this issue, but generally I would say yes. But is that a firm belief or a more tentative hope? Hard to quantify and as I say my views have changed lots.

As I said I appreciate your responses, and I don't want to gooseberry fool on anyone's beliefs (unless it would be hilarious to do so) but I do have some follow up questions to this point (fully aware that your views on this aren't necessarily permanent and defined):

If God answers some prayers, why doesn't he answer others? I'll use a bog-standard analogy of a footballer praying to God before a football match and then thanking Him for letting his team win, whilst over in Africa a child is dying of AIDS and the mother is praying to God to save it, but the baby still dies.

Why doesn't God heal amputees? Since records began (waaaay back when, like before the 80s) there hasn't been a single documented case of a person managing to grow back an amputated limb. Surely God is getting amputees praying to Him to help them, but He clearly isn't answering their prayers. I find that a bit off to be honest, it shows that He's only interested in answering the easy prayers like finding your car keys or winning a Grammy, as opposed to the really serious human condition stuff like helping children avoid molestation or disease, or stopping natural disasters.

Also bonus silly question for the lolz:

Could God create a being more powerful than Himself?

Answers on a postcard.


Preezy - good question - I don't have a lot of time to respond now (although I'm not sure I'll be able to come up with anything any more satisfying even if I had all the time in the world! :P) so here's my quick reply:

Why doesn't God answer all prayers? Ultimately, I don't know. It's something that obviously I have questioned many times - both when I was an atheist and since becoming a Christian, and honestly I don't believe it's something that I have ever found a wholly satisfying answer for - either through my own thoughts or reading those of others.

It's because He doesn't exist, mate.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Religion
by Moggy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:08 pm

Jenuall wrote:
Moggy wrote:
Vermilion wrote:At one time i had a militant atheist in my facebook contacts, the endless propaganda which kept popping up in my news feed was enough to send anyone to church.


I'm a militant fundamentalist atheist. I'm going to get on a crowded train, unbutton my coat & say rational things. People will be hurt.


Will you be fully clothed under the coat? If not then it may just be psychological damage! :P


What's the point of a coat if you wear stuff underneath?

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Dblock
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PostRe: Religion
by Dblock » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:13 pm

99% of grcade are atheist. It's a god forsaken religion .

''Saying it's because I was controlling you and making you sad when actually I just asked you to wear some trousers'' :lol: :lol:
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Preezy
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PostRe: Religion
by Preezy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:19 pm

Dblock wrote:99% of grcade are atheist. It's a god forsaken religion .

99% of us are GRcadians, it's the Truth, the Light, the Way 8-)

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Rax
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PostRe: Religion
by Rax » Wed Feb 14, 2018 3:27 pm

Preezy wrote:
Dblock wrote:99% of grcade are atheist. It's a god forsaken religion .

99% of us are GRcadians, it's the Truth, the Light, the Way 8-)

Our flock has grown with the arrival of these new refugees, we must be closer to the return of our prophet, Mockmaster, the time of salvation is almost upon us brothers! His return is imminent!

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Rightey
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PostRe: Religion
by Rightey » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:02 pm

I'm a Christian, I'm down with Jesus.

Pelloki on ghosts wrote:Just start masturbating furiously. That'll make them go away.

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Moggy
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PostRe: Religion
by Moggy » Wed Feb 14, 2018 4:08 pm

Rightey wrote: I'm down with Jesus.


I thought that sort of thing was frowned upon?

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Cumberdanes
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PostRe: Religion
by Cumberdanes » Wed Feb 14, 2018 5:41 pm

Say want you want about Christians, they sure have some catchy songs...


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kerr9000
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PostRe: Religion
by kerr9000 » Wed Feb 14, 2018 6:08 pm

I went to a Christian school as a kid but I became quiet anti religion because of it and because of how closed minded and nasty some of the teachers could be . I was a very die hard if your not an atheist then your stupid person for a bit. Now though I'm still not religious but I talk about read about and think about the good and bad in all of them.

My fiancee is a Christian and I'm a chilled out atheist and we talk about religious matters a lot learning from each other. I basically think the key is to learn to live with each other and respect people's religions or lack of religion etc.


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