Your 2 cents

[knowitall]

I've found some quotes regarding religion. Pick a quote and give you 2 cents. Do you agree or disagree, like or dislike the quote, whatever. There's no right or wrong answer.

All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance, ferocity; and modern religions are only ancient follies. ~ Paul Henri Thiry

America has freedom of religion, although I'm not sure which religion is free. ~ Anonymous

Anyone who can worship a trinity and insist that his religion is a monotheism can believe anything just give him time to rationalize it. Forgive me for being blunt. ~ Robert Heinlein

A religion, even if it calls itself a religion of love, must be hard and unloving to those who do not belong to it. ~ Sigmund Freud

I am as firmly convinced that religions do harm as I am that they are untrue. ~ Bertrand Russell

I can’t talk religion to a man with bodily hunger in his eyes. ~ George Bernard Shaw

I do not think that the real reason why people accept religion is anything to do with argumentation. They accept religion on emotional grounds. One is often told that it is a very wrong thing to attack religion, because religion makes men virtuous. So I am told; I have not noticed it. ~ Bertrand Russell

Once there was a time when all people believed in God and the church ruled. This time is called the Dark Ages. Ricjard Lederer

People are divided into two groups -- the righteous and the unrighteous -- and the righteous do the dividing. ~ Lord Cohen

Religion consists in a set of things which the average man thinks he believes and wishes he was certain of. ~ Mark Twain

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion. ~ Steven Weinberg

Religion is excellent stuff for keeping common people quiet. ~ Napoleon Bonaparte

Religion is poison. ~ Mao Zedong

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. ~ Seneca the Younger

Religion is the masterpiece of the art of animal training, for it trains people as to how they shall think. ~ Arthur Schopenhauer

Religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. ~ Stendhal

Some people just can't understand that they can't understand what they can't understand. ~ Brandon Miller

The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. ~ Psalm 14:1

The religion that is afraid of science dishonors God and commits suicide. ~ Ralph Waldo Emerson

We do not want churches because they will teach us to quarrel about God, as the Catholics and Protestants do. We do not want that. We may quarrel with men about things on earth, but we never quarrel about the Great Spirit. ~ Chief Joseph

We have just enough religion to make us hate, but not enough to make us love one another. ~ Jonathan Swift

[knowitall]

Agnosticism

Robert G. Ingersoll
"The Agnostic does not simply say, 'I do not know.' He goes another step and says with great emphasis that you do not know."
"As a matter of fact, no one knows that God exists and no one knows that God does not exist. To my mind there is no evidence that God exists - that this world is governed by a being of infinite goodness, wisdom and power, but I do not pretend to know."

Robert J. Sawyer
"I don't know whether or not God exists, but I don't deny the possibility (on the other hand, I do deny that any God that has any personal interest in us as individuals exists -- you simply have to look around at the horrors of the world to know that that can't be true)."

David E. Trueblood
"The person who admits that he does not know, and is consequently open to learning."

[knowitall]

Atheism:

"ATHEISM: A godless religion that retains all the dogmatic posturing of the faiths it so confidently denies, with few of the consolations."
— Rick Bayan

"I cannot conceive of a god who rewards and punishes his creatures or has a will of the kind we experience in ourselves. Neither can I nor would I want to conceive of an individual that survives his physical death; let feeble souls, from fear or absurd egotism, cherish such thoughts. I am satisfied with the mystery of the eternity of life and a glimpse of the marvelous structure of the existing world, together with the devoted striving to comprehend a portion, be it ever so tiny, of the Reason that manifests itself in Nature."
— Albert Einstein

"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. ... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
— Albert Einstein

"I prefer rationalism to atheism. The question of God and other objects-of-faith are outside reason and play no part in rationalism, thus you don't have to waste your time in either attacking or defending."
— Isaac Asimov

"One who doesn't believe in himself believes in God"
— Aravind Chandrasekaran

"Faith is believing what you know ain't so."

"In no instance have ... the churches been guardians of the liberties of the people."
— James Madison

[Inept]

thank you, this is the reason i dont believe in god but i still dont wish to be seen as some athiest that sounds bad.....lol

[Inept]

"It seems to me that the idea of a personal God is an anthropological concept which I cannot take seriously. I also cannot imagine some will or goal outside the human sphere. ... Science has been charged with undermining morality, but the charge is unjust. A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death.
— Albert Einstein

this basically is true and anyone who believes in a religon or god is too ignorant to come to terms and believe in not believing, so to speak

[knowitall]

this basically is true and anyone who believes in a religon or god is too ignorant to come to terms and believe in not believing, so to speak

Is there a difference between believing in god and knowing god?

[Brando]

All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance, ferocity; and modern religions are only ancient follies. ~ Paul Henri Thiry

Actually this statement is erroneous in regards to "all religions".
Their is actually proof that God exists, all one has to do is look at the prophecies that have been fulfilled in the bible. For the novice, this will require laborious research on the subject. Once the novice has concluded that the Christian bible is 100 percent correct in telling what is going to happen in the future, he or she will ask the question: Is this humanly possible?

The answer to that question is no! It is mathematically impossible for any man to accurately tell what is going to happen in the future over 900 times! Jesus Christ himself fulfilled 300 prophecies. The probability of a man only fulfilling 48 prophecies is 10 to the 157th power! Do you know how small that is? The electron is about as small an object as we can imagine.

If we had a cubic inch of these electrons and tried to count them, it would take us (at 250 per minute) 19,000 time 19,000 time 19,000 years to count them. What chance does a blindfolded man have of finding the right electron? --- The same chance as one man of fulfilling 48 of the prophecies about Christ, without being the Son of God!

Here is a short listing of some of the hundreds of prophecies concerning Christ:



Linage Genesis 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; 49:10; 2 & Samuel 7:12-16

Son of God Psalm 2:6-7

Birthplace Micah 5:2

Piercing of side Zechariah 12:10

Vinegar Psalm 69:21

Mocking Psalm 22:6-8

Nakedness Psalm 22:17

Gambling for clothes Psalm 22:18

Unbroken bones Psalm 34:20

Burial Isaiah 53:9

Resurrection Psalm 16:10; Hosea 6:2; Psalm 30:3,9; Isaiah 53:10

Assention to right hand of God Psalm 110:1; 68:18; Proverbs 30:4; 24:3-10

[knowitall]

All religions are ancient monuments to superstition, ignorance, ferocity; and modern religions are only ancient follies. ~ Paul Henri Thiry

Actually this statement is erroneous in regards to "all religions".
Their is actually proof that God exists, all one has to do is look at the prophecies that have been fulfilled in the bible. For the novice, this will require laborious research on the subject. Once the novice has concluded that the Christian bible is 100 percent correct in telling what is going to happen in the future, he or she will ask the question: Is this humanly possible?

What religion makes the statement erroneous? What is the proof that god exist? The bible? One first has to accept that the bible is the word of god before it becomes an authority on god. You mention a christian bible. There's no such thing as a christian bible. God, his prophets and messengers never taught christianity, nor did a christian write the bible.

The answer to that question is no! It is mathematically impossible for any man to accurately tell what is going to happen in the future over 900 times!

What is the mathematical equation that gives you this answer?

Jesus Christ himself fulfilled 300 prophecies. The probability of a man only fulfilling 48 prophecies is 10 to the 157th power! Do you know how small that is? The electron is about as small an object as we can imagine.

What prophesies did jesus fulfill? Again, what is the equation you used to come up with this answer?

Here is a short listing of some of the hundreds of prophecies concerning Christ:

Linage Genesis 3:15, 9:26, 22:18; 26:4; 28:14; 49:10;

What does this have to do with Christ? And when you say christ, I take it you mean jesus?

2 & Samual 7:12-16

What does this have to do with jesus?

Son of God Psalm 2:6-7

Same question.

Virgin birth Isaiah 7:14

This isn't talking about Jesus either.

Birthplace Micah 5:2

Same thing here.

Piercing of side Zechariah 12:10

Darkness Psalm 22:2

Vinegar Psalm 69:21

Mocking Psalm 22:6-8

Nakedness Psalm 22:17

Gambling for clothes Psalm 22:18

Unbroken bones Psalm 34:20

Burial Isaiah 53:9

Resurrection Psalm 16:10; Hosea 6:2; Psalm 30:3,9; Isaiah 53:10

Assention to right hand of God Psalm 110:1; 68:18; Proverbs 30:4; 24:3-10

None of these are referring to jesus.

[Brando]

What religion makes the statement erroneous? What is the proof that god exist? The bible? One first has to accept that the bible is the word of god before it becomes an authority on god. You mention a christian bible. There's no such thing as a christian bible. God, his prophets and messengers never taught christianity, nor did a christian write the bible.



What is the mathematical equation that gives you this answer?



What prophesies did jesus fulfill? Again, what is the equation you used to come up with this answer?


What does this have to do with Christ? And when you say christ, I take it you mean jesus?


What does this have to do with jesus?


Same question.


This isn't talking about Jesus either.


Same thing here.



None of these are referring to jesus.

Aha, so we have a debate, that is good. Let me reiterate this first: YOU HAVE TO DO YOUR OWN RESEARCH ON WHAT I JUST TOLD YOU IN ORDER TO SEE IF THE PROPHECIES ARE TRUE OR NOT. Secondly, youre missing the point on what I was trying to convey. I said the novice has to do their own research first. Of course someone who doesn't know anything about the bible isnt expected to just take ones word for it because I said it. Thats why I said that your own research will be an arduous and laborious task.

Now I will answer your questions or refute some of your statements.

1. In order for one to accept that God exist, somethings must happen. He or she must recieve sound doctrine from a Pastor. That person must read and study for themselves to see if the prophecies have come true or not. In your case, you can't possibly say that God doesn't exist until you have actually read the bible and analyzed what prophecies have come true as of today.

2. I don't quite understand what you meant by being an authority on God by accepting the bible. But I will again reiterate that you have to read and study the bible in its entirety before you can really say if it is false or not. No one can make you see the truth if you refuse to even read the bible in the first place.

3. You said that there is no such thing as a "christian bible." Im sorry my friend but according to the new testament this is absolutely false. Yes, it is true that the Old Testament prophets referred to Yaweh as God only but when or if you begin reading the bible, you will see that Jesus Christ and God are one in the same. He came as Jesus Christ in the flesh but he was already God.
I ask you to read Romans and 1 and 2 Corinthians and see what is says about Christ. By the way, anyone that accepts Christ as their personal savior is a Christian. One who follows Christ as you will see in the New Testament if you read it first.

[Brando]

4. As far as the mathematical equation is concerned, this has to do with probability. P =n/N or the rapport of favorable causes over total causes.
Probability can be also understood as the expected number of successes in one trial. It can also be used to count the odds of something happening. I won't lie mathematics is not my forte or my first love but this is what the equation is based on. Here again, you will have see for yourself how small the odds are through research.

5. Now, as far as some of the scriptures are concerned, I must apologize for a few of them being out of subject like Psalms 22:2, that one is actually referring to King David.

6. However, I reveal what some of those scriptures mean: Genesis:22:18; 26:4; 28:14. This is pretty much self-explanatory, Jesus was the "son" of David meaning he came from the lineage of King David who inturn came from Judah. All nations were blessed from Jesus Christ appearing on earth through him offering eternal life from all who accepted him.
Genesis 49:10 This is actually explaining the coming of Jesus Christ who is from the lion tribe of Judah. I apologize for the first 2 verses Genesis 9:26, 3:15 do not refer to Jesus' lenage. I got a little caught up without editing what I put down.

[dmnqfndl]

Jesus never existed...

I REPEAT!

JESUS NEVER EXISTED!

He was a fabrication of the Roman Empire for reasons I don't feel like typing at the moment...

I could give proof, but why? All anybody is gonna do is call it a lie and say I'm depressed and live a hard life, blah blah blah...

You know, blind faith closes the mind.

I know there's people that say you should respect a persons beliefs but I can't "respect" something that I view as fatuous and illogical (just as much as human sacrifice). If I said that I believed that there is a primitive parallel world in another dimension miles away, how many of you would "respect" that?

But this really my problem... When I try to have a dissussion about it (online and off), many people have this fatuous double standard... They say "god" wants people to do A & B, but, when I ask "Well, then why doesn't "god" just use his infinite power and make us do this, better yet, why won't it make its presence known throught the WORLD (not just one or a handful of people)", they'll say "You shouldn't ask this or that cause we're not supposed to know." Then they turn right back around and tell me what "god" wants me to do...

But I thought they wasn't supposed to know...

[MFlip]

As for #4. There are two possibilities a "yes" the prophecy came true or "no" the prophecy did not come true. Therefore the odds of getting 900 predictions correct is 1/2^900 or 1/8.452712498^270

1/84527124980000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 00000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000

That's it exactly^^ lol Damn, can't believe I did that shit out for you

[Brando]

7. Samuel 7:12-16: This one is complicated, this applies to both King Solomon and Jesus Christ himself. King Solomon was to build a house for Jehovah because Davids hands were too bloody. Now, Samuel 7:13 is clearly talking about Jesus Christs kingdom for as we know the Jews haven't had a king on a throne in a long, long time. Jesus Christs Kingdom is a spiritual one that will never fade away while mans will. Verse 14 the first half refers to both King Solomon and Jesus Christ but the second part of Verse 14 refers to all other kings besides Jesus Christ because he has no sin, he is perfect.
Verse 15 and 16 refers to Jesus Christ because he is perfect and he is eternal. As reiterated, the Jewish monarchy has not been around for a long time.

8. Psalm 2:6,7- Actually if you read the whole chapter, you will see that it is talking about Jesus Christ I.E. Verse 12 Kiss the son lest he be angry and you be destroyed in your way..... In the old testament,the term son of God or Son or man always meant angels or God himsef until you reach the first testament then the terms added another meaning which meant it was meant to define man as well.

[dmnqfndl]

Jesus Christs Kingdom is a spiritual one that will never fade away while mans will.

Sorry, but once man "fades" then so will all the "kingdoms" that our inquisitive minds have fabricated...

[dmnqfndl]

On the topic...

Those are all some good quotes knowitall, but here are the ones that stand out...

Anyone who can worship a trinity and insist that his religion is a monotheism can believe anything just give him time to rationalize it. Forgive me for being blunt. ~ Robert Heinlein

Religion is an insult to human dignity. With or without it, you'd have good people doing good things and evil people doing bad things, but for good people to do bad things, it takes religion. ~ Steven Weinberg

Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by rulers as useful. ~ Seneca the Younger

Religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few. ~ Stendhal

[Brando]

9.Micah 5:2 In Micah 5:1, the Messiah is called the "judge of Israel" in a verse that prophesies the torture and death of the Messiah. But far from being an ordinary human judge, his divine nature is also hinted here: "his origins are from of old, from the days of eternity" (Micah 5:2). It also said that he would be from the town of bethlehem, but it is clearly talking about Jesus Christ, what other man in the bible has origins from the days of eternity? No one.

10. Zachariah 12:10- Well you might want to read the book of Matthew for this one, there you will find that they pierced Jesus' side on the cross.

11. Psalm 69:21- I'll I will say is go to John 19:28-30 and see if this is the scripture that coincides with that chapter.

12.Psalm 22:6-8 - Again I reiterate look at Matthew 27:39,44 and see if this didn't happen to Jesus.

13.Psalm 22:17- Go to Luke 23:35 and see if that doesn't mirror what was said in the old testament.

14.Psalm 22:18-Go to Luke 23:34 and see if the last part of that verse doesn't mirror what was said in the old testament

15.Psalm 34:20-Go to John 19:36 and this will reaffirm what was said in the old testament.

[dmnqfndl]

The Bible (or just parts of it) is taken from Sumerian Mythology or the Epic of Gilgamesh to be exact...

http://www.magickalshadow.com/gilgamesh.html
http://www.theologywebsite.com/etext...h/gintro.shtml
http://gilgamesh-online.bolchazy.com/whygilg.html

BTW, the Bible has been PROVEN to be historically inaccurate...

The Bible = Hebrew re-spin of Mesopotamian MYTHOLOGY!

PS: Brando, I'm not posting this to evoke any harsh feelings from you, but I feel like I should inform the misinformed, feel me?

[Brando]

16.Isaiah 53:9-Go to Matthew 27:57-60 and see if this doesn't mirror what was said in the old testament in Isaiah.

17.Psalm 16:10-Go to Acts 13:35 and see if it doesn't correspond to what was said in Psalm 16.

18.Hosea 6:2-This is both talking about Isreal and Jesus Christ, if you read the 24th chapter in Luke it will say that Jesus was raised on the third day. We will one day live in his presence if we accept him as our savior.

19.Psalm 30:3,9;This scripture may seem ambiguous but it both applies to David and Jesus Christ. Just Read Luke 23 and 24.

20.Isaiah 53:10- This one is rather easy as you may know, the Israelites sacrificed their husbandry as a guilt or sin offering to their God not man. So it is clearly talking about Jesus Christ in the new testament in Luke 22-25

21.Psalm 110:1-Go to Mark 14:62 and see if doesn't mirror what was said in Psalm

22.Psalm 68:18-This is talking about Jesus' ressurection in the last chapter of Luke 24:50-53. You will see Jesus' ascension their which was confirmed in the old testament.

[Brando]

23.Proverbs 30:4; 24:3-10 Actually this refers to what was said in the old testament but not his actual resurrection but you can read it anyway.

Now, that this is cleared up, you will see that Jesus fulfilled all of the prophecies that I have explained. The old testament verses that I explained all refer to events in the future not the past except for a few of them.
Again I ask you how uncanny is this that alot of the old testament scriptures coincide directly to what either Jesus did or went through?
The answer is that it is very uncanny and mathematically impossible as previously stated.

Im open to your questions and comments, but I will say that the bible can be very complicated and often the novice will not understand what he or she reads at first and think that it doesn't apply to events in the future. I have proven that the old testament prophecies coincide with what happened to Jesus in the New Testament. I ask you to take the time and read it before you make any comments or ask any questions.

[Brando]

The Bible (or just parts of it) is taken from Sumerian Mythology or the Epic of Gilgamesh to be exact...

http://www.magickalshadow.com/gilgamesh.html
http://www.theologywebsite.com/etext...h/gintro.shtml
http://gilgamesh-online.bolchazy.com/whygilg.html

BTW, the Bible has been PROVEN to be historically inaccurate...

The Bible = Hebrew re-spin of Mesopotamian MYTHOLOGY!

PS: Brando, I'm not posting this to evoke any harsh feelings from you, but I feel like I should inform the misinformed, feel me?

I don't have any harsh feelings because I have just explained that it is mathematically impossible for a man to fulfill over 48 prophecies. Man doesn't have that capability. I would ask you to read and see for yourself if most of the prophecies in the bible haven't come true yet.
Even Satanist' like Edgar Cayce and Nostradamus were not nearly as accurate in telling the future like the bible has been. It is a fact that can be proven with a lot of research.

I will agree that the bible has been revised numerous times but the prophecies remain the same and most have been fulfilled. Im aware of the book of Macabees as well as some "lost" texts, all of this is completely inaccurate and contradicts whats already in the bible.
Sir, about the other religions having stories similar to the bible, I don't doubt that and already know.

However, it is a lie that Judaism was a product of "other" religions. Anyone can say anything with a PHD. but can they really prove it? Lastly, I have never heard or seen any "proof" thereof.