Fucking A this guy makes sense.

[dammit]

On the plus side, religion is in a declining point, at least catholicism.

Personally, I think the Internet is helping to kill organized religion. People can see what's going on in remote countries and get ideas from other people. The anonymity of the Internet allows people to say what they've needed to say all along, that believing in a god that floats on a cloud is just stupid.

92 percent of people still believe in some sort of "god" at least in the states thats the way it is.

yep, but they dont follow an institution...
they follow their own beliefs

[Falcon]

i tend to look at the best example of my idea is the show legend of the seeker, in which the spirit world is simply under the physical world. and there is nothing more than that.

It's funny that you bring up Legend of the Seeker...

"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People’s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."

[LifesBeenGoodToMeSoFar]

i tend to look at the best example of my idea is the show legend of the seeker, in which the spirit world is simply under the physical world. and there is nothing more than that.

It's funny that you bring up Legend of the Seeker...

"People are stupid; given proper motivation, almost anyone will believe almost anything. Because people are stupid, they will believe a lie because they want to believe it's true, or because they are afraid it might be true. People’s heads are full of knowledge, facts, and beliefs, and most of it is false, yet they think it all true. People are stupid; they can only rarely tell the difference between a lie and the truth, and yet they are confident they can, and so are all the easier to fool."

Falcon: +1

[Tommy_is_here]

wowwwww.

i really need to read the books. (and have wanted too)

i read a crazy article somewhat recently.

basically it says that because the universe isnt a sentient being that it doesnt have the capability to create physics, mathematics, alga rhythms, only to house them.

basically the theory is that the universe has to be governed.

i was thinking about it today, and found it rather ridiculous that all i am is flesh and bone. that makes no sense to me.

i was reading about some lawyer who researched the afterlife using objective scientific research.

he claims that he has undoubtedly proved the afterlife exists using several different machines.

but i think of it this way.

you only have to die once, right?

[Sad-Loser45]

wowwwww.

i really need to read the books. (and have wanted too)

i read a crazy article somewhat recently.

basically it says that because the universe isnt a sentient being that it doesnt have the capability to create physics, mathematics, alga rhythms, only to house them.

basically the theory is that the universe has to be governed.

i was thinking about it today, and found it rather ridiculous that all i am is flesh and bone. that makes no sense to me.

i was reading about some lawyer who researched the afterlife using objective scientific research.

he claims that he has undoubtedly proved the afterlife exists using several different machines.

but i think of it this way.

you only have to die once, right?

I agree with the "you only die once" thing. Not sure about the afterlife as such

[Falcon]

you only have to die once, right?

I agree with the "you only die once" thing. Not sure about the afterlife as such

Speak for yourself.

[The_Klepto]

i live my life to the full, when i die i want to have done everything i could have and always have taken the path less traveled when i felt it was appropriate, i want to have LIVED.
otherwise life is a waste, if you sit in awe of some "being" for which there is NO proof, NONE, then you waste the precious seconds. many religious people also stop themselves from increasing their understanding of the world by believing in a literal interpretation of the rubbish that their religion sells.
religion or freedom, well if these religions are true i would rather burn in hell than be forced into decisions that i dont agree and told not to do the things that i wish to do.
by religion i really mean organised "big" religion, i do have respect for peoples personal beliefs but i wish that some religious people would educate themselves more on what they try to preach to others.

[Sad-Loser45]

you only have to die once, right?

I agree with the "you only die once" thing. Not sure about the afterlife as such

Speak for yourself.

I was

[thisisit?]

I believe in God when I'm afraid of burning in hell. I know, I just can't seem to shake it. lol
Life, all the points you stated are exactly in the book I'm reading, God's Problem. It just points out all the contradictions of why people suffer. Good read.

[Sad-Loser45]

I believe in God when I'm afraid of burning in hell. I know, I just can't seem to shake it. lol
Life, all the points you stated are exactly in the book I'm reading, God's Problem. It just points out all the contradictions of why people suffer. Good read.

God's Problem, you say? interesting...might look that up

[thisisit?]

I believe in God when I'm afraid of burning in hell. I know, I just can't seem to shake it. lol
Life, all the points you stated are exactly in the book I'm reading, God's Problem. It just points out all the contradictions of why people suffer. Good read.

God's Problem, you say? interesting...might look that up

Very interesting. Personally, it helps me not feel so guilty for questioning God, life, etc. when it's viewed logically and points are argued and supported.

[LifesBeenGoodToMeSoFar]

I believe in God when I'm afraid of burning in hell. I know, I just can't seem to shake it. lol
Life, all the points you stated are exactly in the book I'm reading, God's Problem. It just points out all the contradictions of why people suffer. Good read.

To be honest, some of the points I make are regurgitations of what I've learned from others (along with my own personal revelations on the topic).

There's a fairly famous video on youtube called "Why Won't God Heal Amputees?" which poses ten questions to educated Christians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3VAEYEG53w I've listed the questions here.

1. Why won't God heal amputees?
2. Why are there so many starving people in our world?
3. Why does God demand the death of so many innocent people in the bible?
4. Why does the bible contain so much anti-science nonsense?
5. Why is God such a huge proponent of slavery in the bible?
6. Why do bad things happen to good people?
7. Why didn't any of Jesus's miracles in the bible leave behind any evidence?
8. How do you explain the fact that Jesus has never appeared to you?
9. Why would Jesus want you to eat his body and drink his blood?
10. Why do Christians get divorced at the same rate as non-Christians?

[Sad-Loser45]

I believe in God when I'm afraid of burning in hell. I know, I just can't seem to shake it. lol
Life, all the points you stated are exactly in the book I'm reading, God's Problem. It just points out all the contradictions of why people suffer. Good read.

To be honest, some of the points I make are regurgitations of what I've learned from others (along with my own personal revelations on the topic).

There's a fairly famous video on youtube called "Why Won't God Heal Amputees?" which poses ten questions to educated Christians. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y3VAEYEG53w I've listed the questions here.

1. Why won't God heal amputees?
2. Why are there so many starving people in our world?
3. Why does God demand the death of so many innocent people in the bible?
4. Why does the bible contain so much anti-science nonsense?
5. Why is God such a huge proponent of slavery in the bible?
6. Why do bad things happen to good people?
7. Why didn't any of Jesus's miracles in the bible leave behind any evidence?
8. How do you explain the fact that Jesus has never appeared to you?
9. Why would Jesus want you to eat his body and drink his blood?
10. Why do Christians get divorced at the same rate as non-Christians?

These are some of the reasons as to why I can't bring myself to believe in God. however, being born into a christian household, i've read the bible, albeit when I was much younger, attended sermons, and I'll be honest with you, as a kid I looked at the bible as being an extended story of sort. I can't remember much from it, but I do know that there are several places where one verse would contradict the other, and i believe there were tales of some types of demonic creatures said to be inhabiting the lands (behemoth) and the seas (leviathan, I believe). Fairytale? It was to me.

And as life pointed out, why is God so inclined to let the human race not only mess up their own lives but also the lives of others, wreak havoc on the earth, etc.

Why the hell does god take an innocent human being and fuck his or her life up horribly? Why then, if said person is unable to abide by his rules, does he punish them by leaving them to burn in the fires of hell for all eternity?

Say, for example, a person's life starts off badly anyway. say they were beaten and/or abused from an early age. Then, as they grow up, they are rejected by society. School is hell in itself, with students mocking them, teachers refusing to listen, bad grades, thus adding to the punishment at the hands of their parents. They leave school unqualified, cannot find a job anywhere and can see no way out. Maybe they also hate their appearance, perhaps this is due to severe paranoia. They can no longer eat or sleep properly. And what if their parents are giving them an ultimatum - get a job, pay rent or get out? who are they going to turn to?

Skip forward ten years, and say this same person is still struggling to find their place in life (I won't go on, but let's just say nothing ever works out) Now, say this person, who isn't emotionally stable enough to deal with all of these things, decides to end it all and decide to commit suicide, according to abrahamic religions (christianity, islam and judaism), this is an act against God, and by this logic, this person will end up in hell. What the fuck did this person ever do to deserve that kind of treatment?

God can't exist, because life doesn't pan out they way it is supposed to according to religious texts

[LifesBeenGoodToMeSoFar]

I can't remember much from it, but I do know that there are several places where one verse would contradict the other, and i believe there were tales of some types of demonic creatures said to be inhabiting the lands (behemoth) and the seas (leviathan, I believe). Fairytale? It was to me.

I take the approach that the original observer probably meant well. They wanted to report a story. And then each of those stories gets handed down for between fifty and a hundred years in some cases so they often get exaggerated. In the case of something like Jonah you have to look at that and think, alright what really did happen because this dude did not live in the belly of a whale for three days. Maybe, the guy got chucked overboard and a shark swam close to him and he screamed to be let back on the boat and they brought him in. And then the story got told and retold until later the shark bit him and then later on the shark swallowed him and spit him out. Years and generations later it's now a whale and it's now an entire three days duration. Honestly, this is easily explainable.

The ones in my mind that are harder are the ones where someone supposedly is talking with God or the angels or with the Devil. I try to think what could have set the story up to be told this way. The more I try to explain this the more I keep coming back to aliens.

In Egypt we have a place where it seems like people from around 3,000 B.C. were doing some pretty advanced stuff from the other people around them. They erected pyramids, they believed in a collection of gods who originated from the sky, they practiced preserving bodies for "the afterlife" with mummification, they made irrigation systems and pumps and built cities from stone. The system of pharoahs persisted for a very long time, ending abruptly around 200 A.D. They had a writing system.

In Peru we have a place where it seems like people from around 1,200 B.C. were doing the same things: pyramids, gods from the sky, mummification, irrigation, stone cities. This system ended abruptly around 200 A.D. In this case, they also created about 100 characters "drawn" into the dessert so large that you can only view them from the air.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nasca ... 007_08.JPG
http://www.celticnz.org/images/Nazca/Lizard&Other.jpg

Why is the length of the lizard glyph (611.6 feet) the same as the diagonal length of the Great Pyramid in Egypt? Doesn't it seem a little... coincidental? One of the Egyptian gods was Sobek and was decidedly lizard-looking.



Mayans? Pyramids, gods from the sky, writing system, mathematics, astronomy, and calendrics.

The Olmecs in Mexico? 2300-1500 B.C.: Pyramids, feathered-serpent god, government, writing, astronomy, art, mathematics, economics, and religion.

It's like... *why* would places so geographically diverse like Egypt versus South America (and Central America) have such similar things going on if they were completely isolated a three thousand years ago?

[Falcon]

The Gods of Egypt did not originate from the sky, the first of them came from the waters of the Nun. Also the reason Sobek is "reptilian" is because he is a crocodile god (crocodiles are not lizards); you know those big reptiles that live in the Nile.

ALSO in regards to Egypt and South America being isolated from one another, they weren't. There is numerous evidence to support trade between the two regions.

The tale of Atlantis comes from Egypt.
Elephants once lived in South America (elephants were mentioned in the tale of Atlantis).
Some Egyptian mummies were found to have tobacco and cocaine in them (tobacco and cocaine only came from the Americas).
Atlantis was a continent with ten kingdoms (one of which was called Atlantis, they also had a city called Atlantis - no imagination those Altantians...). The Americas were Atlantis.
Thor Heyerdahl successfully crossed the Atlantic in a reed boat called RA II (http://www.plu.edu/~ryandp/RAX.html).


And finally the Gods of Egypt were not bloody aliens.