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Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,456,964 times
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lilypad
The simple references you seek are out there en masse. A high school drop-out would have no trouble queing them up online.
So, "Muslims are the fastest growing religion in North America"? Where exactly do you find that? Or maybe I've just been too busy watching CBN, SkyAngel, Trinity Broadcasting, Gospel Music Channel, Catholic Cable, and the other dedicated "Christian" cable networks, to notice all the new 'Muslim' channels popping up on TV.
Well, at least you're consistent with the other "faith-based" folks here, by trying to pass off glib, unproven prejudices as fact. Or as our friend here, the Tom-meister put it, "I can't prove it, but that's the beautiful part of faith".
I suppose that's just another way of saying, "Ignorance is bliss".
So, "Muslims are the fastest growing religion in North America"? Where exactly do you find that? Or maybe I've just been too busy watching CBN, SkyAngel, Trinity Broadcasting, Gospel Music Channel, Catholic Cable, and the other dedicated "Christian" cable networks, to notice all the new 'Muslim' channels popping up on TV.
Well, at least you're consistent with the other "faith-based" folks here, by trying to pass off glib, unproven prejudices as fact. Or as our friend here, the Tom-meister put it, "I can't prove it, but that's the beautiful part of faith".
I suppose that's just another way of saying, "Ignorance is bliss".
Am actually just a little agnostic being out there in the big bad world of the "faith based" vs. the "godless".
Location: On the "Left Coast", somewhere in "the Land of Fruits & Nuts"
8,852 posts, read 10,456,964 times
Reputation: 6670
Quote:
Originally Posted by lilypad
Am actually just a little agnostic being out there in the big bad world of the "faith based" vs. the "godless".
Understood, and thank you for clarifying. Am curious though, why any "agnostic" (by definition, a skeptic re: "god"), would be so concerned about either of those other two categories, let alone care about the so-called "godless".
It may not have been your intent, but terms like "godless", and several unflattering comments re: muslims, did leave the impression that you might be more of the "christianist" persuasion.
Just as you could have assumed I was in the "godless" category...
Since you received your "multiple degrees" (where... Oral Roberts U.?), then surely you're also aware of the tradition in academia (and here), to always back up your factual claims with references.
Or should we just take all your claims on "faith"...?
See the books of doctor Robert Price,
an insightful biblical scholar.
The ones that addresses this topic best is, in my opinion, The Pre-Nicene New Testament: Fifty-Four Formative Texts, and Inerrant the Wind: The Evangelical Crisis of Biblical Authority
but there are others of interest: Deconstructing Jesus The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man The Paperback Apocalypse: How the Christian Church Was Left Behind
Jesus Is Dead The Incredible Shrinking Son of Man
There is even an interesting book about the Old Testiment: The Bible Unearthed, by Finkelstein and Silberman.
Finkelstein, director of Tel Aviv University's excavations at Megiddo (ancient Armageddon), and Silberman, author of a series of successful and intriguing books on the political and cultural dimensions of archeology, present for the first time to a general audience the results of recent research, which reveals more clearly that while the Bible may be the most important piece of Western literature--serving concrete political, cultural and religious purposes--many of the events recorded in the Old Testament are not historically accurate.
As was said, just some random googling will bring a wealth of information up, much of it by acknowledged scholars.
Understood, and thank you for clarifying. Am curious though, why any "agnostic" (by definition, a skeptic re: "god"), would be so concerned about either of those other two categories, let alone care about the so-called "godless".
It may not have been your intent, but terms like "godless", and several unflattering comments re: muslims, did leave the impression that you might be more of the "christianist" persuasion.
Just as you could have assumed I was in the "godless" category...
Theology and history have long been interests of mine. Godless is an accurate term for atheist, not sure why that would be considered "unflattering". Knowledge of the reality of islam does not require Christian leanings. It does require rational thinking and the ability to exert good judgment.
Might want to check out your copy of the Constitution, Tomo.
Thank you, thank you, thank you. You just proved my point. You did it. You used a 1/2 truth. (in this case 1/2 of the comment) It's like trying to take on sentence out of a book, say the Bible, and make it the the do or die argument of the entire book.
I said that only those who have earned the rights are entitled to the rights, those of us who haven't have been given a gift by those who did. I was obviously speaking of the attitude we should live with.
Why is it hypocrisy to hold you to your own standard? It would be silly in the extreme to expect Christians to conform to, say, the Quran.
I work hard every day to live to the standards of Christianity. Nothing I have written in this thread should dissuade you from that.
I have written that many faithful fanatics foolishly do misuse their religion to empower themselves. I agree with anyone who has a problem with such people. What I am asking readers to do, is to challenge themselves to study the Holy Bible and find fault with it. Note: I said study, not just read.
However, nobody can truly understand the message of Christ. You can believe that you understand the message, you can have faith that you understand the message, you can massacre people by the thousands for not understanding the message, but you are a pompous windbag if you categorially asert that you understand the message of Christ and castigate people who do not believe what you believe.
People infinitely smarter than you are have spent the past 2,000 years dedicating their entire lives to "understanding the message of Christ" (those people you have just comically challenged) and they still disagree with each other. Think about what you have just read.
"By grace are you saved through faith and that not of yourselves lest any man should boast". Sounds pretty simple to me. Maybe I'm a windbag too.
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