EternalShinyAndChrome 4,144 Posted February 24, 2023 1 minute ago, squistion said: That is complete and utter nonsense. Negative. It's 100% true and that is undeniable. Not even up for debate, especially from the Archbishop of the faith. Only those in the cult itself say it's not a cult. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinCharge 2,397 Posted February 24, 2023 4 hours ago, RaiderHaters Revenge said: when i was searching for answers after finding my dads bible when he died, and never having even known anything about religion or church in my family, I started going to a southern baptist church. I went every sunday for 6 months, hoping maybe just maybe it would be easier to cope with things if I could "find" this faith. All it did was reconfirm what I believed. The people were amazing, their faith was unwavered. After 6 months when the pastor said is there anyone here who has not accepted jesus into their life raise your hand, I did. That days sermon was on god giving us free will I went into his office after the service and we first did the lords prayer, do you accept jesus as personal savior stuff, I stopped the pastor right there. We talked for about 2 hours. And at the end I summed up by saying, no disrepect but your sermon was about freewill today, and so therefore if there is a God, isnt him giving me the freewill to oppose and deny his existence part of his plan anyways? Wouldn't a God respect and look for people to challenge him? He conceded and in the nicest way possible told me that my problem was I was looking for faith in my mind, and faith is in your heart 6 years later, he is still my pastor, its still my church, I go semi regularly, and everyone there loves me, however I went from agnostic to further athiest what is your issue? you would rather have a God that made you a robot that was forced to comply? out of respect for you as a being, he gives you the free will to choose to acept him or not. that doesn't mean there is no price to pay for not following him. you have the free will to choose to eat junk food all your life. that doesnt mean the world is unfair if you die of a heart attack at 40 in doing so. do you think you can be a piece of shiit all your life without remorse and go to Heaven? what kind of Heaven would that be where all the nasty people reside? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBayXXXVII 2,554 Posted February 24, 2023 I don't think there is a God, but I think people being religious is a good thing. I don't think being a zealot is. I also thing that any time someone puts out stuff like God is gay, blah blah blah, is only doing so to antagonize and ends up creating more zealots and more problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinCharge 2,397 Posted February 24, 2023 3 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said: I don't think there is a God, but I think people being religious is a good thing. I don't think being a zealot is. how do you define zealot? because you can go too far the other way and "religious" people will watch society break every commandment and sin in every way and if they speak up even once to defend their morality, they get shouted down as a "zealot". so when and where would you applaud a religious group criticize society and take action to defend their religious views? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBayXXXVII 2,554 Posted February 24, 2023 Just now, JustinCharge said: how do you define zealot? because you can go too far the other way and "religious" people will watch society break every commandment and sin in every way and if they speak up even once to defend their morality, they get shouted down as a "zealot". The people who place the religion as the end-all-be-all and believe that their religion is the one everyone should ascribe to. They think that anyone who disagrees with them is amoral. Those are the zealot's. Yes, it could go the other way. I think the very people who antagonize the religious are an example of that, like those in the OP. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinCharge 2,397 Posted February 24, 2023 6 minutes ago, TBayXXXVII said: The people who place the religion as the end-all-be-all and believe that their religion is the one everyone should ascribe to. They think that anyone who disagrees with them is amoral. Those are the zealot's. that describes EVERY moral code though. i assume you are against knifing someone in the back of the neck until dead. i assume you do not look at a culture that believes it is ok and say "i won't judge them. i would even welcome them to move into the house next to mine and play with my young kids every day." i think you believe that everyone should ascribe to your moral code against murder, correct? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
TBayXXXVII 2,554 Posted February 24, 2023 10 minutes ago, JustinCharge said: that describes EVERY moral code though. i assume you are against knifing someone in the back of the neck until dead. i assume you do not look at a culture that believes it is ok and say "i won't judge them. i would even welcome them to move into the house next to mine and play with my young kids every day." i think you believe that everyone should ascribe to your moral code against murder, correct? You think every moral code believes that their code is the end-all-be-all and anyone who opposes them are evil? I'm quite confident that isn't true. Both, the religious and non-religious believe that to kill someone, without cause, is wrong. The only people who are ok with it, are zealots. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RaiderHaters Revenge 4,363 Posted February 24, 2023 39 minutes ago, JustinCharge said: what is your issue? you would rather have a God that made you a robot that was forced to comply? out of respect for you as a being, he gives you the free will to choose to acept him or not. that doesn't mean there is no price to pay for not following him. you have the free will to choose to eat junk food all your life. that doesnt mean the world is unfair if you die of a heart attack at 40 in doing so. do you think you can be a piece of shiit all your life without remorse and go to Heaven? what kind of Heaven would that be where all the nasty people reside? I live my life much better than most "christians" I know and everything we know from "god" is just written by men christianity was the first religion who put in a believe or goto hell clause as for your final line, according to your cult (religion) a piece of sh1t child molester can just accept jesus before he dies and hes saved and in heaven, thats not a heaven I would want and obviously I dont care nor believe in heaven or hell so whatever, I dont believe in souls either Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkeye21 2,400 Posted February 24, 2023 I’ll never forget this conversation in one of my college classes. Let’s say there is a secluded island with locals who have never met an outsider before. You come upon this island and greet the locals only to find they are cannibals. Do you think these local islanders should be punished because it is immoral in your opinion or do you accept their way of living? It’s not exactly how the question was worded but it’s close. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RaiderHaters Revenge 4,363 Posted February 24, 2023 Just now, Hawkeye21 said: I’ll never forget this conversation in one of my college classes. Let’s say there is a secluded island with locals who have never met an outsider before. You come upon this island and greet the locals only to find they are cannibals. Do you think these local islanders should be punished because it is immoral in your opinion or do you accept their way of living? It’s not exactly how the question was worded but it’s close. its kind of like. If you aren't taught about god you dont know it so therefore you arent a sinner, but the minute you are told and refuse to change you goto hell Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkeye21 2,400 Posted February 24, 2023 1 minute ago, RaiderHaters Revenge said: its kind of like. If you aren't taught about god you dont know it so therefore you arent a sinner, but the minute you are told and refuse to change you goto hell Yep. When I’m class I said it wasn’t immoral of them because they didn’t know any different. That was their belief. Who’s to tell them it’s wrong? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fnord 2,293 Posted February 24, 2023 46 minutes ago, JustinCharge said: what is your issue? you would rather have a God that made you a robot that was forced to comply? out of respect for you as a being, he gives you the free will to choose to acept him or not. that doesn't mean there is no price to pay for not following him. you have the free will to choose to eat junk food all your life. that doesnt mean the world is unfair if you die of a heart attack at 40 in doing so. do you think you can be a piece of shiit all your life without remorse and go to Heaven? what kind of Heaven would that be where all the nasty people reside? So you consider yourself a christian? Interesting, and not surprising. Do you feel as if your intolerance of everything "leftist" is a godly trait? Do you feel as though you are living God's word by doing so? People like you are the reason people like me can't stand the religious hard right. Practice what you preach and show some grace. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Fnord 2,293 Posted February 24, 2023 3 minutes ago, Hawkeye21 said: Yep. When I’m class I said it wasn’t immoral of them because they didn’t know any different. That was their belief. Who’s to tell them it’s wrong? The missionaries, crusaders, and invaders, that's who! They will be subjugated and abused until they see the light. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hawkeye21 2,400 Posted February 24, 2023 5 minutes ago, Fnord said: The missionaries, crusaders, and invaders, that's who! They will be subjugated and abused until they see the light. That sounds about right. The best part of religion. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 15,515 Posted February 24, 2023 It just cracks me up that people that deride religious people think they are smarter than them, just based on them being religious. Plenty of extremely stupid bastards that aren’t religious. Plenty. And if you’re so much smarter than the millions of people that are religious, with a head start on all the multitudes of stupid people there are, I assume you’re living in a mansion living it up, because you’re so smart. Lol. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
MLCKAA 576 Posted February 24, 2023 Copy and paste of my own post here a month ago… Raised Christian. Always a believer. Always a strict adherent to the notion that many, many Christians don’t know the bible well and the notion that context is uber important to understanding the bible and to applying it. Today, at 49, I find that it is extremely difficult for me to attend church. There are an appalling number of franchised churches (not hyperbole, actually franchised) with pastors who don’t prepare sermons. I have disdain for topical sermons and want the service to be bible based teaching, verse by verse. This is extremely hard to find in 2022. Also, now at 49, I find myself sliding toward basic theism and away from Christianity. Unfortunately, I’m having trouble looking away from the biblical contradictions between what we’re told to believe about the character of God and the actions of God. And these start where the Bible starts— Genesis. Throughout my life I have consistently been told that God is loving, forgiving and compassionate. I can no longer say that reality supports that idea for me. If I had time— and I don’t and won’t answer much if this post garners any responses— there are several nuanced examples I’d give. But if you start with Genesis, you read that God creates in his own image, gives a guideline about the Tree that couldn’t make sense to A & E, allows a temptation into their garden, doesn’t warn them they’ll face temptation, and responds with extreme prejudice when A & E fail. Even the ministry of Jesus, which is wonderful, can be construed as needless and predictably ineffective. If an omniscient loving father wished to reveal himself to his creation so they we know him and know he should be loved and worshipped, I can suggest perhaps 100 or more plans likely to succeed. The ministry of the Son is, frankly, foreseeable as ineffective and therefore predictable to exclude billions from the promise of the Kingdom. I find creation to be self-evident. A loving, involved creator is almost gone from my belief system, though. Mark 9:24 “I believe; help my unbelief!” 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DonS 3,292 Posted February 24, 2023 God is in my fingers God is in my head God is in the trigger God is in the lead. God is freedom God is truth God is power God is proof God is fashion God is fame God gives meaning God gives pain You can be right like me We've got it all Your righteous soul I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round me I'm not the same as you Cause I've seen the light And I'm gaining in height now I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round my head God is on the cell phone God is on the net God is in the warning God is in the threat God is freedom God is truth God is power God is proof God is fashion God is fame God gives meaning God gives pain You can be right like me We've got it all Your righteous soul I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round me I'm not the same as you Cause I've seen the light And I'm gaining in height now I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round my head You can be right like me We've got it all Your righteous soul I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round me I'm not the same as you Cause I've seen the light And I'm gaining in height now I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round me I've got a halo 'round my head Cause I've got a halo 'round my head Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 4 hours ago, Hardcore troubadour said: It just cracks me up that people that deride religious people think they are smarter than them, just based on them being religious. Plenty of extremely stupid bastards that aren’t religious. Plenty. And if you’re so much smarter than the millions of people that are religious, with a head start on all the multitudes of stupid people there are, I assume you’re living in a mansion living it up, because you’re so smart. Lol. For me it's nothing about intelligence or thinking I am smarter than them. In my experience, I have found the very religious to be intolerant of others, hypocritical, and close minded. I get it- they have faith that I don't, and when you believe that live/death and heaven/hell is on the line, it makes you prone to those things. Again, this is just my POV from my real life experiences. And no- I don't think all people who go to church are like the people I just described. Like anything else, there are extremes in the group - and I just happen to grow up around some hyper-religious Lutherans that really clouded my views of religion. It was my peripheral family, not my mom/dad - but their lack of belief was the reason for all the fallouts and intolerance, not the other way around. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinCharge 2,397 Posted February 25, 2023 4 hours ago, Hardcore troubadour said: It just cracks me up that people that deride religious people think they are smarter than them, just based on them being religious. Plenty of extremely stupid bastards that aren’t religious. Plenty. And if you’re so much smarter than the millions of people that are religious, with a head start on all the multitudes of stupid people there are, I assume you’re living in a mansion living it up, because you’re so smart. Lol. i think the most annoying argument used against religion is that there is no proof. a religion is faith-based. faith means believing without proof. if you had proof, it would stop being a religion and become a science. faith is important because there are a LOT of things in the world that we need to accept without proof to make the world function like: love, compassion, empathy, kindness, etc. if you are going to be a skeptic of religion for lack of proof, you will be a skeptic of all of those things and many others, which leads to a very toxic society that will crumble. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinCharge 2,397 Posted February 25, 2023 1 minute ago, BuckSwope said: For me it's nothing about intelligence or thinking I am smarter than them. In my experience, I have found the very religious to be intolerant of others, hypocritical, and close minded. as i said before in this thread, those are traits of any moral code. thats why its a moral code. if your moral code is "i will be tolerant of people regardless of how much they offend my moral code", then you have no morals and are satanic. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 15,515 Posted February 25, 2023 3 minutes ago, JustinCharge said: i think the most annoying argument used against religion is that there is no proof. a religion is faith-based. faith means believing without proof. if you had proof, it would stop being a religion and become a science. faith is important because there are a LOT of things in the world that we need to accept without proof to make the world function like: love, compassion, empathy, kindness, etc. if you are going to be a skeptic of religion for lack of proof, you will be a skeptic of all of those things and many others, which leads to a very toxic society that will crumble. 5 minutes ago, BuckSwope said: For me it's nothing about intelligence or thinking I am smarter than them. In my experience, I have found the very religious to be intolerant of others, hypocritical, and close minded. I get it- they have faith that I don't, and when you believe that live/death and heaven/hell is on the line, it makes you prone to those things. Again, this is just my POV from my real life experiences. And no- I don't think all people who go to church are like the people I just described. Like anything else, there are extremes in the group - and I just happen to grow up around some hyper-religious Lutherans that really clouded my views of religion. It was my peripheral family, not my mom/dad - but their lack of belief was the reason for all the fallouts and intolerance, not the other way around. I can’t think of another country where it is easier to not have religion be a part of your life and it have no affect on you. I did it for years. I just think people make it up that religion has an affect on them and they are rebelling against some sort of power because they are so smart and those people are so dumb. Whatever they think they are rebelling against is the ultimate straw man. They love to say they don’t believe in a man in the sky. Fair enough. But that’s more likely to be true than religion having an affect on you if you don’t want it to in this country. Seems both sides might believe in a fantasy. Now who’s stupid? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 6 minutes ago, JustinCharge said: as i said before in this thread, those are traits of any moral code. thats why its a moral code. if your moral code is "i will be tolerant of people regardless of how much they offend my moral code", then you have no morals and are satanic. I understand that. That's why I usually don't get along with them, because that's not how I view many things. I was just clarifying for me it has nothing to do with intelligence. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 6 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said: I can’t think of another country where it is easier to not have religion be a part of your life and it have no affect on you. I did it for years. I just think people make it up that religion has an affect on them and they are rebelling against some sort of power because they are so smart and those people are so dumb. Whatever they think they are rebelling against is the ultimate straw man. They love to say they don’t believe in a man in the sky. Fair enough. But that’s more likely to be true than religion having an affect on you if you don’t want it to in this country. Seems both sides might believe in a fantasy. Now who’s stupid? You lost me on this post. How many beers are each of us onto tonight? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 15,515 Posted February 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, BuckSwope said: You lost me on this post. How many beers are each of us onto tonight? To/dr- people complaining about religion in the United States are dumber or as dumb as the people that are religious. Religion has no affect on you here if you don’t want it to. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kutulu 1,681 Posted February 25, 2023 10 hours ago, Hawkeye21 said: Epic Sounds like a midlife crisis. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
The Real timschochet 6,851 Posted February 25, 2023 I don’t believe in God, but I’ve read the Bible amd I like many of the things that Jesus Christ had to say in the New Testament. I don’t think Jesus would have condemned gay people. He counseled us all to love each other, which is a fine thing. I believe Jesus would have welcomed gays and trans, would have been fine with them. I think Jesus, if He lived today, would have been woke. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 19 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said: To/dr- people complaining about religion in the United States are dumber or as dumb as the people that are religious. Religion has no affect on you here if you don’t want it to. Untrue in my experience with those family members. Because my dad married somebody that was not Lutheran, they cut ties with our family. That is the intolerance that I was talking about that I experienced. Of course it affected me and my family. I will agree with you that what you said is largely true, just sharing examples I've encountered where it's not. My day to day life now, other people's religion affects me besides the occasional bitchy "Merry CHRISTmas!", things like that. I think I speak for other non-religious people in saying that it's hard to trust how much you are separating that from your decision making on policies. E.g. I think the hardest line in the abortion debate comes from the religious right - life at birth. I am sure it happens, but I have yet to encounter that sentiment from a non-religious person. So the argument is that the relgious do affect others when they don't want it to, and vise versa. We don't live in that much of a vacuum. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 1 minute ago, The Real timschochet said: I don’t believe in God, but I’ve read the Bible amd I like many of the things that Jesus Christ had to say in the New Testament. I don’t think Jesus would have condemned gay people. He counseled us all to love each other, which is a fine thing. I believe Jesus would have welcomed gays and trans, would have been fine with them. I think Jesus, if He lived today, would have been woke. Thanks a lot, now I am picturing a trans Jesus. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 15,515 Posted February 25, 2023 5 minutes ago, The Real timschochet said: I don’t believe in God, but I’ve read the Bible amd I like many of the things that Jesus Christ had to say in the New Testament. I don’t think Jesus would have condemned gay people. He counseled us all to love each other, which is a fine thing. I believe Jesus would have welcomed gays and trans, would have been fine with them. I think Jesus, if He lived today, would have been woke. You don’t think so? You need to read some more. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 20 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said: You don’t think so? You need to read some more. Jesus did, or The Bible does? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Hardcore troubadour 15,515 Posted February 25, 2023 2 minutes ago, BuckSwope said: Jesus did, or The Bible does? Jesus loved all. There’s nothing to think about. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
BuckSwope 654 Posted February 25, 2023 3 minutes ago, Hardcore troubadour said: Jesus loved all. There’s nothing to think about. Gotcha, I didn't get your meaning. I also understand that the follow up with his example of gays is that loving <> accepting. If you think something is a sin, you can still love a person committing that sin, but it doesn't mean you should agree with that choice or help them commit that sin. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shorepatrol 1,871 Posted February 25, 2023 15 hours ago, edjr said: My fraud, is an awesome fraud. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RaiderHaters Revenge 4,363 Posted February 25, 2023 2 hours ago, BuckSwope said: Thanks a lot, now I am picturing a trans Jesus. He probably looks like Dylan mulvaney Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
frank 2,307 Posted February 25, 2023 8 hours ago, kutulu said: Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
frank 2,307 Posted February 25, 2023 8 hours ago, The Real timschochet said: I don’t believe in God Well I believe in God, and the only thing that scares me is Keyser Soze. 1 Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
DonS 3,292 Posted February 25, 2023 3 hours ago, frank said: God is dead and no one cares Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
League Champion 1,911 Posted February 25, 2023 Your God is a Supernova that brought life into existence some 4.5 billion years ago. Sorry to break it to you. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
JustinCharge 2,397 Posted February 26, 2023 the thing to notice about the video in the OP is that it is a black man who created it. hes got a shirt on that says BORN FREE and is wearing a red baseball cap. hes selling shirts that say FATHERS MATTER and MAKE MEN MEN AGAIN. you see this more and more on youtube and tiktok, where blacks are shifting to the GOP and GOP values. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites