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Old 01-05-2011, 10:51 AM   #631 (permalink)
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Yes, I think you're missing the point altogether. What I'm saying is that, whether there is or isn't a god, a lot of believers have this incredibly shallow, self-serving take on it. Thinking god helps them win at blackjack, god helps their team win the Superbowl, god gets them a raise, etc., etc. It's so incredibly self-absorbed, anti-philosphical and self-contradictory that it's pretty sad, and it's very much the antithesis of believing in "something greater than ourselves".
Gotcha now..whats your take on it? I mean I know what you think of Christianity. But whats your thoughts of why were here? Or the standards by which you live by?
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Old 01-05-2011, 12:15 PM   #632 (permalink)
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My reason for life is to live. I need no higher purpose, no divine plan. It is my aim to live a long and fulfilling life, and to make those close to me happy, and if I can, make a change in the world for the better. The standards I live by are basically to do as little harm as I can to my fellows, and to be polite and respectful to as many people (and animals!) as I can. I realise that I am not perfect, and that I will not always manage this, but so long as I try, that's what matters to me.
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Old 01-05-2011, 12:16 PM   #633 (permalink)
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Originally Posted by Janszoon View Post
Yes, I think you're missing the point altogether. What I'm saying is that, whether there is or isn't a god, a lot of believers have this incredibly shallow, self-serving take on it. Thinking god helps them win at blackjack, god helps their team win the Superbowl, god gets them a raise, etc., etc. It's so incredibly self-absorbed, anti-philosphical and self-contradictory that it's pretty sad, and it's very much the antithesis of believing in "something greater than ourselves".
Well, it doesn't help the fact that a large portion of modern Christianity is built off the concept of "All you really have to do is love Jesus, and he'll bless you".
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Old 01-05-2011, 12:42 PM   #634 (permalink)
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Gotcha now..whats your take on it? I mean I know what you think of Christianity. But whats your thoughts of why were here? Or the standards by which you live by?
Honestly, I think "why are we here?" is a loaded and counterproductive question. The point is that we are here, the real question is what are we going to do with the circumstances we find ourselves in.
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Old 01-05-2011, 12:43 PM   #635 (permalink)
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Well, it doesn't help the fact that a large portion of modern Christianity is built off the concept of "All you really have to do is love Jesus, and he'll bless you".
Agreed. And the rest of the building blocks involved aren't so hot either.
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Old 01-05-2011, 12:45 PM   #636 (permalink)
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To each their own I say. I dont care what you beleive as long as it doesnt infringe on me and my rights and my familys. We each have the right to the pursuit of happiness in this country and im thankful for that. I try not to get caught up in the non sense of the world as much as possible. I try to free myself of hate for no reason as much as possible. I treat people with respect until they obviously arent worthy of any. Or dont show any in return. I dont go off rumors or here say to make an assumption of somebody. All to often what we assume is far from the truth. I think there is something to be said for simplicity in itself. Not everything has to so be complex in life. You get what you put into life. Or anything for that matter. I try not to always think I know everything cause nobody does. I wasnt brought up to pick on or gang up on the underprivaledged or weak. Whatever weakness that maybe. Nothing makes me any better than the next guy. There is always someone who knows more, is more athletic or more talented, or whatever the case maybe. Have fun in life let loose a little. Dont waste it living in pure misiery and dump it onto the undeserving. However we got here I dont think it was intended to be lived for those purposes.
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Old 01-05-2011, 02:10 PM   #637 (permalink)
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Dont mistake my motivations foundation. The Heaven would be a perk as would be avoiding hell. As humans we naturally know right from wrong..well most of us. Yes the desire to do good things is for good of humanity. Im not trying to compromise my integrity here with whats promised and consequence. I hope thats not how that came across.
Nah, it wasn't really aimed at you but your comment brought the subject up in my mind. Unfortunately a lot of people are like that (doing good only for the "heaven" benefit), and I've met my fair share, and it's sad because a lot of people like that are nowhere near as genuine and trustworthy as people I know who've never even laid a hand on a bible or been to church.
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Old 01-05-2011, 03:27 PM   #638 (permalink)
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Earlier today, there was a film about Moses on the telly and it got me wondering quite a bit as I watched it.

The story of Moses is good, old fashioned Christianity. God is a pretty scary deity who kills a whole lot of egyptians, for example through the 7 plagues like killing all Egyptian first born children or when the pursuing egyptians are swallowed by the red sea.

Later in the story, Moses gets the ten commandments, one of which is "thou shalt not kill" which seems to me a little contradictory coming from a God that supposedly caused all kinds of suffering a little earlier in the film. What do you christians think about this?

Also, God is very active in this story. If you were not a christian, you would almost have to become one because his direct involvement in the lives of the people in this story is undeniable. It's not a voice in hearts or heads, but real stuff happening physically to people and the world. For example, the Nile's water turns to blood and he splits the red sea. Why is it that God has stopped interacting with people in such a direct way?
I'm taking a bit of a late stab at this one. I have to confess that I’ve never seen the movie, but the book of Genesis is easily one of my favorite books of the bible. It means a lot to me and I continue to glean new insight and wisdom each time I read it.

Firstly, I have to give my obligatory disclaimer and say that I’m not a conventional Christian, which in this case means that I probably believe that more of the supernatural events in this story are allegorical than the typical literalist Christian may believe. Having said that. the story of Moses and the great exodus out of Egypt is all about heeding God’s revelations and living in a state of faith that is not reflective of one’s immediate external circumstance.

You have Moses (in Hebrew, Moses, literally translated, means to draw out) who ironically, was benevolently abandoned by his Hebrew mother, adopted into Egyptian royalty, Sees the injustice of the brutality that is being inflicted on his people, and is chosen by God for a task that seems infinitely beyond his capacity, Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue... Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else - Exodus 3:10-13. Moses wrestling with his own faith over being chosen to lead an entire nation out of the bondage of slavery and into freedom is just one facet of the entire faith dynamic of this story.

You then have the Pharaoh Ramses, who after each round of Moses beseeching him with God’s command to let his people go and worship Him, The Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them - Exodus 7:13. It started out with the Pharaoh requesting a miracle of Moses so as to prove to him that he was really the ambassador of God’s word, to which Moses responded by throwing down his staff which turned into a snake, a rather innocuous sign. After each of the Pharaoh’s subsequent refusals, the consequences of dismissing Moses’ authority becomes more and more severe until finally the last plague results in the death of every one of Egypt’s first born. If you take this as being allegorical, like I do, the primary lesson here is that when one ignores the writing on the wall, so to speak, in favor of clinging to one’s one pride or particular wants, the consequences become more and more severe. I think that everyone has experienced this to a certain degree in their own life.

And Finally, the Jews who, after spending over 200 years in captivity, are led out of bondage and out of a country and a way of life that they’ve known for generations by a man that they do not fully trust, or trust at all. The estimated number of Jews following Moses range in number between 120,000 and and 600,000, regardless, that’s a huge caravan to be traipsing across the desert for what turned out to be 40 years. The Jews were required to trust God and subsequently Moses implicitly. All of their provisions were provided for through some seemingly supernatural act of god: The water pouring out from the rock, the Manna from heaven, the defeat of the enemies that they encountered along the way. They had to rely on their own faith that the veneer of the external circumstances that they perceived was not indicative of their ultimate fate. They had to have faith both in the man that was chosen to lead them and in God to provide what they needed on the journey and more often than not, they failed at displaying this level of faith they were dominated by their own fear, behaved rashly because of it, and this made the journey to the promised land all the more longer.

The ten commandments, which for most is the highlight and the main focal point of the story, to me does not carry the degree of importance as it does in most Christian’s eyes. I see it as God’s practical ground rules for living harmoniously within a society, which the Jews after spending over 200 years in captivity desperately needed, especially considering their numbers. Sure the first commandment Thou shalt not have any god before me seems to contradict that, but given the circumstances the Jews very existence depended on a very implicit faith in God to lead them to where they were going. I think that degree of faith is still necessary for some, including myself, as a guide on their own path.

I think some distinctions need to be made between a human killing another human and an act of God taking another or many lives. God’s discretion and judgment is not marred by human emotion. God does not have to live with the potential doubt or remorse regarding the justification, or lack thereof, of taking another life and God also does not have to deal with the societal complications that arise when taking another's life for one’s own self interests is condoned. Because of this, I don’t see the contradiction between the justification of God killing and the unjust act of humans committing murder. If one believes in God’s sovereignty, then any act that God commits is just. God does not have the weight of a regrettable crime weighing on his shoulders and eating away at his soul, whereas humans are very susceptible to that.

As far as the supernatural is concerned, I think it is a contradiction in terms. There is no such thing as a supernatural occurrence, only an occurrence that lies beyond our capacity for understanding. Everything happens within nature. It is our lack of true understanding of nature which causes things to appear to be supernatural, but also I think that the more we discredit the miraculous, write it off as coincidence, or laugh at the naivete of those who believe in things that cannot be empirically deduced, the more we lose our capacity to see the hand of the divine working throughout our life. We lose the spiritual lens which affords us our perception of the seemingly supernatural events that occur everyday in our lives.
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Old 01-05-2011, 03:44 PM   #639 (permalink)
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I'm taking a bit of a late stab at this one. I have to confess that I’ve never seen the movie, but the book of Genesis is easily one of my favorite books of the bible. It means a lot to me and I continue to glean new insight and wisdom each time I read it.

Firstly, I have to give my obligatory disclaimer and say that I’m not a conventional Christian, which in this case means that I probably believe that more of the supernatural events in this story are allegorical than the typical literalist Christian may believe. Having said that. the story of moses and the great exodus out of Egypt is all about heeding God’s revelations and living in a state of faith that is not reflective of one’s immediate external circumstance.

You have Moses (in Hebrew, Moses, literally translated, means to draw out) who ironically, was benevolently abandoned by his hebrew mother, adopted into Egyptian royalty, Sees the injustice of the brutality that is being inflicted on his people, and is chosen by God for a task that seems infinitely beyond his capacity. Pardon your servant, Lord. I have never been eloquent, neither in the past, nor since you have spoken to your servant. I am slow of speech and tongue... Pardon your servant, Lord. Please send someone else - Exodus 3:10-13. Moses wrestling with his own faith over being chosen to lead an entire nation out of the bondage of slavery and into freedom is just one facet of the entire faith dynamic of this story.

You then have the Pharaoh Ramses, who after each round of Moses beseeching him with God’s command to let his people go and worship Him, The Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them - Exodus 7:13. It started out with the Pharaoh requesting a miracle of Mose so as to prove to him that he was really the ambassador of God’s word, to which Moses responded by throwing down his staff which turned into a snake, a rather innocuous sign. After each of the Pharaoh’s subsequent refusals, the consequences of dismissing Moses’ authority becomes more and more severe until finally the last plague results in the death of every one of Egypt’s first born. If you take this as being allegorical, like I do, the primary lesson here is that when one ignores the writing on the wall, so to speak, in favor of clinging to one’s one pride or particular wants, the consequences become more and more severe. I think that everyone has experienced this to a certain degree in their own life.

And Finally, the Jews who, after spending over 200 years in captivity, are led out of bondage and out of a country and a way of life that they’ve known for generations by a man that they do not fully trust, or trust at all. The estimated number of jews following Moses range in number between 120,000 and and 600,000, regardless, that’s a huge caravan to be traipsing across the desert for what turned out to be 40 years. The Jews were required to trust God and subsequently Moses implicitly. All of their provisions were provided for through some seemingly supernatural act of god: The water pouring out from the rock, the Manna from heaven, the defeat of the enemies that they encountered along the way. They had to rely on their own faith that the veneer of the external circumstances that they perceived was not indicative of their ultimate fate. They had to have faith both in the man that was chosen to lead them and in God to provide what they needed on the journey and more often than not, they failed at displaying this level of faith they were dominated by their own fear, behaved rashly because of it, and this made the journey to the promised land all the more longer.

The ten commandments, which for most is the highlight and the main focal point of the story, to me does not carry the degree of importance as it does in most Christian’s eyes. I see it as God’s practical ground rules for living harmoniously within a society, which the Jews after spending over 200 years in captivity desperately needed, especially considering their numbers. Sure the first commandment Thou shalt not have any god before me seems to contradict that, but given the circumstances the Jews very existence depended on a very implicit faith in God to lead them to where they were going. I think that degree of faith is still necessary for some, including myself, as a guide on their own path.

I think some distinctions need to be made between a human killing another human and an act of God taking another or many lives. God’s discretion and judgment is not marred by human emotion, indiscretion, and imperfect judgment. God does not have to live with the potential doubt or remorse regarding the justification, or lack thereof, of taking another life and God also does not have to deal with the societal complications that arise when taking another's life for one’s own self interests is condoned. Because of this, I don’t see the contradiction between the justness of God killing and the unjust act of humans committing murder. If one believes in God’s sovereignty, then any act that God commits is just. God does not have the weight of a regrettable crime weighing on his shoulders and eating away at his soul, whereas humans are very susceptible to that.

As far as the supernatural is concerned, I think it is a contradiction in terms. There is no such thing as a supernatural occurrence, only an occurrence that lies beyond our capacity for understanding. Everything happens within nature. It is our lack of true understanding of nature which causes things to appear to be supernatural, but also I think that the more we discredit the miraculous, write it off as coincidence, or laugh at the naivete of those who believe in things that cannot be empirically deduced, the more we lose our capacity to see the hand of the divine working throughout our life. We lose the spiritual lens which affords us our perception of the seemingly supernatural events that occur everyday in our lives.
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Old 01-08-2011, 12:17 PM   #640 (permalink)
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"Atheism itself must therefore be considered a form of blind faith, in that it adopts a belief system that cannot be defended on the basis of pure reason." - Francis Collins
Anyone find any validity in this statement?
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