I just spent two weeks on pilgrimage in Israel, where the three great world religions trace their beginnings. This is my first time in the place that Christians refer to as "The Holy Land." In a sort of spiritual photo essay, here are 20 important questions for the contemporary believer.
Christianity : Pictures, Videos, Breaking News - Huffington Post
1) No. The world is much more meaningful to me in the context of it being a rare jewel of evolutionary biology floating in a mostly sterile universe.
2) No, God IS a wonder of human creativity.
3) God doesn't need our devotion, human beings do.
4) No, I get enough conversion in the winery moving from metric to American measurement.
5) No, as I refuse to be lobotomized for that purpose.
6) No, because the more I consider religion, the more I realize that it is a vessel of exclusion and violence.
7) No, yes, yes and no. Righteousness often carries a sword under its robes.
8) Yes, if they actually wish to better themselves and not just take what is offered.
9) Always. But I also reserve the right to to criticize and hold all faiths accountable.
10) No. My human brain moves me to new experiences. not a fantasy father in the sky.
11) No. That's *my* job.
12) Yes. If by doing so I am actually helping another human being.
13) No. "Dryness" is the sign that God does not exist. Nature is speaking to you in those moments in a truthful way. Of course, Job didn't see it that way and look what happened to him.
14) No. I search for wonder and epiphany, though.
15) No, but I will still be a good friend without God.
16) No, but I will meditate and quiet my mind for my own edification and wisdom.
17) Sure, if they are respectful of my atheism.
18) No. Humility in modern society means you make no money and don't get laid. Pride in myself is a boon. I am a wonder.
19) No. They are perfectly and wonderfully human.
20) Only if He shows up on my doorstep and proves fully that he exists, is omniscient and explains how he sent his Son to be purposefully tortured and killed, and how that doesn't make him a total jerk.
"I find atheist mythology fascinating: the intrepid loner atheist-- the isolated hero who is the only one with the courage to accept the cold hard reality: and that reality is that there is no God--misunderstood and persecuted by the deluded jedermann."
Mythology? What mythology? You are the one dealing in mythology and delusion. Your sarcasm re the "isolated hero" etc is misplaced. The cold hard reality of your God is that there isn't any cold hard reality to prove his existence.
I don't believe in a God or indeed anything supernatural because I see no evidence to prove otherwise. The fact that you choose to believe in a God without the cold hard reality of concrete evidence (no pun intended) isolates you and billions of others from rational thinking.
I think you made a few typos in your post above as it doesn't make any sense.
Wow, what a wasted effort. If I was omniscient and jealous, as the Bible tells us God is,
(for you thumpers: for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God” (Exodus 20:4-5)) I would make sure the entire world would have known I existed since Homo Sapien came into its modern, evolved state around 200,000 BCE.
I suggest the Bible shows itself to be inaccurate in this instance: why would a jealous, omniscient God allow mankind to be divorced from his will for 198,000 years? Or are you going to start up with that, 'Satan's been burying fossils to confuse us' stuff?
God is not begging you to love or accept Him. Who are you in the great scheme of things to create a manifesto about what you believe? The entire world knows Jesus...no one knows you. Secular humanist (atheism) is always based in moral relativism-never deep intellectual issues. The characteristics of a person of atheist are:
1. Denial of the existence of God. It’s based in moral relativism; when this person can't have his/hers way about God's rules, like a child they whine, and pout and deny God...only purely emotional reasons.
2. Piousness. "I'm good with out God. That is what the Communist said as they were butchering millions. A Secular Humanist is really a Neo-Communist.
3. Slanderous. The so called "good people" are classic for calling people, in discussion, 'idiots", "morons”, "stupid", "weak-minded" or followers of "fairy tales".
4. Persecuting in behavior. While claiming to be "good" people, an atheist will camp out on religious boards to recruit followers to attack Christianity o anything spiritual. One would think that if s/he didn't believe in God, they would be spending their valuable time doing something truly productive. But their lives are empty and must persecute...it give them reason to exist.
If you think I'm here because my life is empty and I have the need to 'persecute', you are about as far off an accurate portrayal as I could imagine. I love people, I love learning, and I am open to learning new things about faith, religion and mythology. I have read every major religious work published in the world, and I find the archetypes and nature of human spirituality a fascinating subject. I didn't receive a Masters Degree in Comparative Mythology studies to persecute people. I did study it to educate and to offer criticism where I find religion to overstep its bounds. This is an American trait--we call BS where we see it. Twain did it, and I continue that tradition proudly.
Bottom line: I cannot fathom the hubris of a human being that says: "I know, without a single doubt, that all transcendence can be defined within the context of a human-like Godhead."
If you believe that the Bible portrays the Universe, its creation and its complexities with unerring accuracy I am saddened that you have turned your brain off to the wondrous possibilities of allowing science and humanism to guide you to stunning realizations of just how precious this life is on this planet spinning 70,000 miles per hour through space.
I look forward to continuing this discussion in an intelligent and respectful manner.
I am a human being, just like the human beings who wrote the Bible. My question to you is: what makes 3000 year old poetry (written by those that would be considered culturally and scientifically illiterate by modern standards) more 'believable' or 'valuable' than what I have to say?
The whole world does NOT know Jesus. Even Biblical scholars admit that the Historic Christ has little to do with the Christ of faith. And why would God only offer Jesus' redemptive power after humans have been wandering this planet for almost 200,000 years?
You saying that secular humanists are neo-communists is laughable. I've read Marx/Engels, I've studied the history of communism and fascism, and I reject both political/economic policies as failed remnants of history. Hitler was a Catholic and Stalin was a divinity school dropout. We can agree that God does not make or stop a man from committing murder, yes?
This article asked some questions, and I decided to answer them all honestly and forthrightly.
Moral relativism is endemic to Christianity as well. Why do people freak out about gay marriage and abortion, but stay quiet on Old Testament laws concerning stoning disobedient children and wearing clothing of mixed fibers? Because Christians pick and choose (wisely) which of the antiquated law poems make sense in a modern culture, and which fit their own (relative) moral guidelines. . (Continued...)
The take away – We need to consult with God– His presence/spirit force is always at our disposal. And God ask of man, in prayer and in petition -- we ask all things in Jesus name our Savior! God’s only Begotten Son, and only creation – for all things were created through and for him (Jesus)!
Another take away – not a drop of blood should be lost protecting this region for holiness sake – for the territory is no more holy than where your two feet are presently planted!
Where the heck do you guys get off.
The main experience of non Christians in the Holy land had nothing to do with beauty, but blood and slaughter. So explain the crusades and the slaughter of Jerusalem?
Finally, it is good to remember the people who have tried to overcome enmities and past wrongs through their great love of their brother and sister such as St. Maria Skobslova who died in Ravensbruck and is recognized as righteous by Israel. How good it is for brothers and sisters to dwell in unity.
How unified can Christianity be when there are more than 30,000 separate sects, and the number grows, which to me is clear evidence that no one really knows what the hell (?!) is going on.
But hateful atheists tend to wield logic more often, and the religious tend to be a little more violent in their theological arguments.
This begs the question: Are you ready to experience Nature through the natural world? It doesn't argue for or against God's existence. It only leaves out the subjective association to the individual.
2) Ditto on creativity.
3) Are you ready to live a life of real devotion to God?
There are many examples in history of so-called non-believers who devoted their lives to a better world, just as there were believers who rose to that calling.
4) Are you ready to be converted...? To what? Catholicism? Islam? Hassidic Judaism? Mormonism? Bahai? Evangelical? Sufism? Hindu? Any discipline excluded from the True Path?
5) Are you ready to leave behind whatever keeps you from moving closer to God? Are you also ready to leave behind whatever keeps you from moving further from God?
None of YOU/US know it all! So don’t be that arrogant in your narrow mind and myopic views, let the Believer believes in their heart and the Atheist thinks in their brain, but No ONE is better than the Other or has an exclusive perch on reality and spiritualism….
If I told you I believed that everything mysterious, transcendent and spiritual could be encapsulated in a human-like being out there in Space, and you had no knowledge of Judeo-Christianity, what would your conclusion be?
How is the natural world beautiful when it is to be denied for our eternal home in the sky? Original Sin (which the most basic foundation of Christianity is based upon--Jesus' blood and sacrifice paying for Adam and Eve's transgressions) turned the world corrupt, 'cursed' to use the Bible's own word. I don't remember anything in the New Testament about Jesus also being the savior of the natural world.
Genesis 3:17–18 (NASB95)
17 Then to Adam He said, “Because you have listened to the voice of your wife, and have eaten from the tree about which I commanded you, saying, ‘You shall not eat from it’;
Cursed is the ground because of you;
In toil you will eat of it
All the days of your life.
I suppose a tsunami, earthquake, hurricane, tornado or being told your child has a life threatening illness would constitute quite a surprise.