Do you believe in God and why

[geronimo]

This was always going to be a sticky thread ........

[sweatalot]

18 hours ago, Skeptic7 said:

“The invisible and the non-existent look very much alike.” ~ Delos Mckown

... which does not mean they are the same

[thaibeachlovers]

On ‎5‎/‎17‎/‎2019 at 7:45 PM, giddyup said:

Will not believe that something greater than us does not exist suggests that you do believe, so what you have is faith, because I'm sure that you can't offer one iota of proof that there is something greater than us.

Have you not read all the thread? I said that way back.

Yes, faith. Faith makes us survive. Without faith that things would get better, many of us would off ourselves given the <deleted> lives billions of us live.

If one does not believe that there is something greater than us, they shouldn't believe in things like love either. Love is the greatest con most of us will ever suffer. It makes us sacrifice ourselves for others, based on a feeling- same same faith in something greater than us; it's a feeling.

[thaibeachlovers]

4 hours ago, CMNightRider said:

 It is hard for me to believe how anyone can read the Bible and not see it is the word of God.

Sorry, but having actually read the Bible, I can't take it as anything more than a historical record of the Jews ( Old Testament ) and an invented story ( New Testament except for the first 4 books ) by the men in funny hats to control the people. I believe the first 4 books to be about Jesus, but no "Christian" religion actually abides by his teachings.

 

Besides, unless one reads it in it's original language, how can we know what was actually written? It's been revised so many times and something always gets lost in translation.

[giddyup]

7 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Have you not read all the thread? I said that way back.

Yes, faith. Faith makes us survive. Without faith that things would get better, many of us would off ourselves given the <deleted> lives billions of us live.

If one does not believe that there is something greater than us, they shouldn't believe in things like love either. Love is the greatest con most of us will ever suffer. It makes us sacrifice ourselves for others, based on a feeling- same same faith in something greater than us; it's a feeling.

I think you are confusing faith with hope. If you were born into a society with no religion where would "faith" come from, would you just invent it? There are millions who don't believe there is something greater than ourselves and still manage to lead normal well-adjusted lives.

[thaibeachlovers]

20 hours ago, Odysseus123 said:

And now for the beautiful 'Gloria' of the (historical) Roman Catholic liturgy as performed by a South Korean choir.The universality of beauty...

 

Worth remembering that for the majority of people long ago in what are now western countries, the church was probably the only thing good in their awful, peasant lives. Gathering in a beautiful building and listening to beautiful music was probably the highlight of their miserable lives.

Edited May 22, 2019 by thaibeachlovers

[CMNightRider]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Sorry, but having actually read the Bible, I can't take it as anything more than a historical record of the Jews ( Old Testament ) and an invented story ( New Testament except for the first 4 books ) by the men in funny hats to control the people. I believe the first 4 books to be about Jesus, but no "Christian" religion actually abides by his teachings.

 

Besides, unless one reads it in it's original language, how can we know what was actually written? It's been revised so many times and something always gets lost in translation.

Bible translations were made directly from original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic source texts based on thousands of ancient manuscripts.  The accuracy of today’s Old Testament was confirmed in 1947 when archaeologists found “The Dead Sea Scrolls” along today's West Bank in Israel.

 

"The Dead Sea Scrolls" contained Old Testament scripture dating 1,000 years older than any manuscripts we had. When comparing the manuscripts at hand with these, from 1,000 years earlier, we find agreement 99.5% of the time. And the .5% differences are minor spelling variances and sentence structure that doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.

 

The Bible says that God formed the earth to be inhabited, with us in mind from the start. He gave people his breath of life and a brief stay upon the earth with the full purpose that we would seek him and find him. If we do not come to know him, we have missed the entire purpose for our existence. Who knows better than God the reason for our being?

[Odysseus123]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Worth remembering that for the majority of people long ago in what are now western countries, the church was probably the only thing good in their awful, peasant lives. Gathering in a beautiful building and listening to beautiful music was probably the highlight of their miserable lives.

Yes-I agree with the your main point however the lives of our forebears were certainly far more nuanced than simply 'miserable"

"Montaillou-The Promised Land of Error" by Emmanuel Le Roy Ladurie takes a close look at a French village between 1294 and 1324 thru' the lens of the Inquisition.A most remarkable book!

 

And, of course,they were all aware of the great wheel of life because they lived so intimately with its processes..as this famous song from the same era as "Montaillou" attests.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by Odysseus123

[xtrnuno41]

28 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

Bible translations were made directly from original Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic source texts based on thousands of ancient manuscripts.  The accuracy of today’s Old Testament was confirmed in 1947 when archaeologists found “The Dead Sea Scrolls” along today's West Bank in Israel.

 

"The Dead Sea Scrolls" contained Old Testament scripture dating 1,000 years older than any manuscripts we had. When comparing the manuscripts at hand with these, from 1,000 years earlier, we find agreement 99.5% of the time. And the .5% differences are minor spelling variances and sentence structure that doesn't change the meaning of the sentence.

 

The Bible says that God formed the earth to be inhabited, with us in mind from the start. He gave people his breath of life and a brief stay upon the earth with the full purpose that we would seek him and find him. If we do not come to know him, we have missed the entire purpose for our existence. Who knows better than God the reason for our being?

Concluding then, on how the world is running for thousands of years, god is a sadist.

To the story in the bible, it shows it is a chest game between him and an fallen angel, the devil. IF he cant win then wipes the board (did once) and start over, as the story goes with Noah. I cant give it any other name, its a game and he is a sadist.

Seems he likes the game now running as it is.

Of course a believer tells , we have our own free mind to do what ever we want.god gave us free will.

WIth all free wills running, we see domination and cruelty all over the world for thousands of years and as with more people on earth, we see lots of Napoleons, hitlers or whatever and thats ok with god.

OUr so called leaders are with god, so also sadistic. They swear god almighty to help them. SO suppression and domination is gods will.

We had the crusaders and with the believe, help, support in/of god, they were the power and slashed the infidelities in Israel to regain the holy land. Yha right, slashing people who had other religion with also a god. 

I will not mention any more situations in which millions of people were killed in name of god? No , personal gain of leaders, who are with god.

In the name of god, we conquered America and killed its people, we had slaves from Africa, Asia. Robbed everything they had and left them out to die.

Oh no, of course it was our own free will !! But every time , they are screaming : In the name of god !

The scrolls are stories from the past, maybe a fiction writer. The writers might think , thats nice material for later to make movies. We created religions by that and movies. 

There are  lot of scrolls not implemented in the bible, those are secret. Probably would disturb god religions. The bible is just a story from one particular species, the jews.

However they have their own bible and jesus is not the son of god. 

We humans get clever more and more, but we will never evolve to something else as thinking me me and me. And otherwise i kill you, in the name of ....god. 

[Sunmaster]

Who cares who wrote what when?!
Do you want to waste your time bickering about things that may or may not have happened 1000s of years ago? 

 All that really matters is how you apply the teachings to your own personal life. 
The word "religion" comes from the Latin "religio", which means "to bind back again", to reconnect you with the Divine. It doesn't matter if you follow the path laid out by the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews or whoever, what matters is that you walk the path that you've chosen. 
 

[sunnyboy2018]

Religion is for women, the weak minded and the deluded. 

[VincentRJ]

9 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

It doesn't matter if you follow the path laid out by the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews or whoever, what matters is that you walk the path that you've chosen. 
 

I'm sure you don't really mean that. What about members of ISIS? Should they walk the path they've chosen?

[xtrnuno41]

4 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

Who cares who wrote what when?!
Do you want to waste your time bickering about things that may or may not have happened 1000s of years ago? 

 All that really matters is how you apply the teachings to your own personal life. 
The word "religion" comes from the Latin "religio", which means "to bind back again", to reconnect you with the Divine. It doesn't matter if you follow the path laid out by the Christians, Muslims, Hindus, Jews or whoever, what matters is that you walk the path that you've chosen. 
 

No not wasting time. I think in everybody you have god and the devil. It is just you.

Call it ying/yang, black/white. Then you have the real god, as god being good and devil bad.

But a god just overall to watch? To judge you? Send you left or right after dying?

What happened 1000-sands years ago, still happens. 

 I agree with you your personal actions matters.

So what path you are following? It is your mind, feelings to make it up. Free will.

But looks like many people need a god but then act in the devils way. 

God will forgive them, as they believe in god, hypocrisy. Whole world full of them.

Easy way to make a mess and dont care at all. God is there to forgive them, they believe. 

Religions are bad.  

[Sunmaster]

3 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

I'm sure you don't really mean that. What about members of ISIS? Should they walk the path they've chosen?

There are plenty of misguided and extremist interpretations in other religions, not just in Islam.

But you're right, not every path is equal. Fundamental values like not harming others, respect and compassion (to name a few) should be universal values that apply not only to religions, but to any person, religious or not. These values give legitimacy to your path.

 

[user46546545]

The tooth fairy tale has more credibility than religion

[user46546545]

13 minutes ago, VincentRJ said:

I'm sure you don't really mean that. What about members of ISIS? Should they walk the path they've chosen?

Yes let them keep walking the path they are on-straight into a cloud of pink mist

[Sunmaster]

2 minutes ago, xtrnuno41 said:

No not wasting time. I think in everybody you have god and the devil. It is just you.

Call it ying/yang, black/white. Then you have the real god, as god being good and devil bad.

But a god just overall to watch? To judge you? Send you left or right after dying?

What happened 1000-sands years ago, still happens. 

 I agree with you your personal actions matters.

So what path you are following? It is your mind, feelings to make it up. Free will.

But looks like many people need a god but then act in the devils way. 

God will forgive them, as they believe in god, hypocrisy. Whole world full of them.

Easy way to make a mess and dont care at all. God is there to forgive them, they believe. 

Religions are bad.  

Religions are not good or bad, they are just a system. Religions are just as good or bad as the people who follow them. 
The same can be said about capitalism or socialism. Both can be healthy and valuable for society, and both can also be destructive and repressive if not kept in check. 

[sweatalot]

35 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

The word "religion" comes from the Latin "religio", which means "to bind back again

it means to bind the followers to the will of their church

[Sunmaster]

2 minutes ago, sweatalot said:

it means to bind the followers to the will of their church

It depends on the motivation of the church. The prime motivation was to bring the followers closer to God (which was the original purpose and should be the ONLY purpose), but of course, during the course of history, power and $$ have become far greater motivators.

[jvs]

4 hours ago, CMNightRider said:

The Bible says that God formed the earth to be inhabited, with us in mind from the start. He gave people his breath of life and a brief stay upon the earth with the full purpose that we would seek him and find him. If we do not come to know him, we have missed the entire purpose for our existence. Who knows better than God the reason for our being?

Which God are you talking about?There are many to choose from,it al depends where you were born.

[yodsak]

It depends where and when you were born.

 

 

Edited May 22, 2019 by yodsak

[StreetCowboy]

On 5/21/2019 at 5:33 PM, Odysseus123 said:

Still going?

 

You are kinda like an American Thomas the Tank Engine..just puffing away.-'Puffin' Billy'-perhaps?

 

Still...you have your soapbox for free,I suppose.

Puffin'Billy was a Geordie.

[dick dasterdly]

18 hours ago, xtrnuno41 said:

Concluding then, on how the world is running for thousands of years, god is a sadist.

To the story in the bible, it shows it is a chest game between him and an fallen angel, the devil. IF he cant win then wipes the board (did once) and start over, as the story goes with Noah. I cant give it any other name, its a game and he is a sadist.

Seems he likes the game now running as it is.

Of course a believer tells , we have our own free mind to do what ever we want.god gave us free will.

WIth all free wills running, we see domination and cruelty all over the world for thousands of years and as with more people on earth, we see lots of Napoleons, hitlers or whatever and thats ok with god.

OUr so called leaders are with god, so also sadistic. They swear god almighty to help them. SO suppression and domination is gods will.

We had the crusaders and with the believe, help, support in/of god, they were the power and slashed the infidelities in Israel to regain the holy land. Yha right, slashing people who had other religion with also a god. 

I will not mention any more situations in which millions of people were killed in name of god? No , personal gain of leaders, who are with god.

In the name of god, we conquered America and killed its people, we had slaves from Africa, Asia. Robbed everything they had and left them out to die.

Oh no, of course it was our own free will !! But every time , they are screaming : In the name of god !

The scrolls are stories from the past, maybe a fiction writer. The writers might think , thats nice material for later to make movies. We created religions by that and movies. 

There are  lot of scrolls not implemented in the bible, those are secret. Probably would disturb god religions. The bible is just a story from one particular species, the jews.

However they have their own bible and jesus is not the son of god. 

We humans get clever more and more, but we will never evolve to something else as thinking me me and me. And otherwise i kill you, in the name of ....god. 

Couldn't agree more!

 

Thank you for articulating my similar views far more clearly.

[Odysseus123]

William Wordsworth,the great English romantic poet put it very well..

 

"Our birth is but a sleep and a forgetting; The Soul that rises with us, our life's Star, Hath had elsewhere its setting And cometh from afar; Not in entire forgetfulness, And not in utter nakedness, But trailing clouds of glory do we come From God, who is our home: Heaven lies about us in our infancy!"

 

Ode:'Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood.'

Edited May 23, 2019 by Odysseus123

[CMNightRider]

16 hours ago, yodsak said:

It depends where and when you were born.

 

 

We can thank Satan for the deception.  It would be best to put your faith in God who created the universe, and sent his only Son Jesus to die for our sins.  

[ThaiBunny]

4 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

We can thank Satan for the deception. 

And I do - daily

[yodsak]

reply to post #. 1235 .

OK. good idea.

Edited May 23, 2019 by yodsak

[ThaiBunny]

5 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

It would be best to put your faith in God who created the universe, and sent his only Son Jesus to die for our sins.

So you believe that God needs a blood sacrifice do you? Blood of the Lamb and all that carry on

[yodsak]

anyone know where that ad has come from

?

[CMNightRider]

1 hour ago, ThaiBunny said:

And I do - daily

Please let us know how that works out for you ????