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Its not do as I command or burn in hell. What radical churches have you all been to? Yeah, theres 10 commandments but noone keeps to those. Youd have to be perfect to do that. The belief is that God sent his son to die for our transgressions so that we may live. Through prayer and the acceptance of God's gift, we are saved. Christianity is based on GRACE. God loves us and he forgives us if we ask him to. All have fallen short of the glory of god. All have sinned. But he is willing to accept us as we are-broken. You can ask for forgiveness 10 times a day and he will forgive you and love you just as you are. If you accept God and ask him to change you and forgive you of your sins, you are saved. Yes, you should continue a relationship with him but you are still saved! You will sin again...and he will save you.
If there is a god, and he is truly all-loving and so forgiving, then surely when my time comes he'll gladly forgive me for finding the very concept of him unbelievable. I live a more "Christian-like" life than most Christians I know, I simply don't believe in God. I would think a god would take far more offense to the constant gossiping I hear from my Christian coworkers.
The debate on God or no God has stricken our generation moreso than any other. Here is my philosophy on the matter:
Say that you are an Atheist...you dont believe in God or you hate God...
When you die, you have a 50% chance of being wrong. No person on this earth would gamble their careers, homes, cars, and other belongings on a 50% chance. Why gamble the future away? Consider this: what if God does exist? what if you are wrong? what if when you die you go to hell? Was it worth being skeptical? If God doesn't exist, then when you die, you will reincarnate or walk the earth as a spirit or whatever you believe. Then you can say you were right. But that 50% chance is still lurking in the back of your mind until you die. Why take that chance? Believe in God, take a chance, and at least if we are all wrong you wont have anything to lose when you die.
So you should believe in God solely for the sake of insurance? Doesn't sound very sincere to me.
Believing in a God (or a few Gods) is like an insurgent joining a faction of fighting force -- they think they bought the insurance policy of being safe. How it always turned out is each and everyone of them are not safe, and they're all in the high risk of being killed by other factions of insurgents. The real question is: why do humans have to form all these different factions such as religious groups? They would be happier if they don't have all the factions that divide.
Vic, be realistic. Even if all the people on Earth thought the same way they would still disagree for the sake of disagreeing. Factions divide for a lot of reasons. Martin Luther divided the Church (albeit accidentally) because he found fault in them. Calvin because he disagreed with several Church teachings such as free will. The King of England because he wanted to have a divorce that the Pope wouldn't give him.
And thousands upon thousands of other splits, breaks, divisions, and not just in Christianity, but in politics, etc. Even if the world was suddenly perfect for whatever reason following the unification of all peoples, I find it hard to believe no one would oppose it.
Now, don't you dare get on about atheism being better because there aren't denominations, Vic... There are certainly different factions of atheism, my friend.
Which god had the only path to salvation based on love for each person? pagan religions believe in animals being gods...god demanding us to suffer.
Yeah, agree, you have to do different and mutually exclusive things to satisfy all of these various concepts of god. Picking the right thing for one means you're in serious trouble with a multitude of others. That's why playing the odds in this case is a losing game - no matter which possible god you pick you're annoying a lot more possible gods than the one particular one you're making happy. That's a losing bet.
Atheism would be better answer for religious matters. Because that would mean there is one less reason to divide people. I did not say that answers all questions, but it surely answered the religious question very well.
some people are so ignorant- they get an idea in there head and without any research at all they think they already know
So true...
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vic235
Christianity controls through coercion -- like any religions around.
Christians are raised and taught to believe they are no good (with sins) since births, and they must pay church go to church and pray, or they will go to hell. And, guess what? They will never be "saved" -- no one was ever "saved". Why? Because, if anyone were "saved", would that person need religion anymore?
(Christians are not fighting with their religion because they got Stockholm Syndrome: they see robbers as loving protectors)
Say that you are an Atheist...you dont believe in God or you hate God...
When you die, you have a 50% chance of being wrong. No person on this earth would gamble their careers, homes, cars, and other belongings on a 50% chance.
I've had religious people tell me that to my face but there's all sorts of problems with it. First of all you're using the figure of 50% because you apparently think that there are two possibilities so you can split it down the middle and end up with a 50/50 chance but that's not true. Because there is absolutely no evidence for God whatsoever and it clearly appears to be a manmade idea I think a more accurate percentage for the possibility of God to be real is actually a tiny fraction of a percent. Also, belief isn't something you can fake, you either believe it or you don't and if God exists I don't think he's going to send someone who just pretends to believe on a trip to the Pearly Gates.
First of all you're using the figure of 50% because you apparently think that there are two possibilities so you can split it down the middle and end up with a 50/50 chance but that's not true.
This is probably the biggest head-scratcher to me. What if the "real" religion is actually voodoo? Be genuine. If you believe something, you do. If you don't, just pretending is, as SLCPunk pointed out above, insincere, and if you believe in any type of god at all you must surely believe that he, she or it will realize this. So you wouldn't "get in" anyway, because the god you picked as an insurance policy would be pretty disgusted with your M.O. (ETA: "You" meaning any given person, not MontanaGuy!)
Be sincere and honest with yourself. Rushing around trying to "cover all the bases" is not only impossible given the amount of beliefs actually out there, but no god worth his, her or its salt would want such a person around for an eternity anyway. Don't "gamble" "for" there being a God. You believe of you don't.
It is my personal belief that God, as I see him, could not possibly hold against a person the fact that that person, during life, could not find logical proof of a god and therefore ended up with questions rather than some rock-solid unilateral belief in one of the thousands of religions out there.
There are many religions, but I wish they would all just be peaceful towards eachother....Ths USA was built on a foundation of religion, or based on it, without a doubt, but we don't have to fight over it, who cares if we have to say "under God" or read "In God We Trust" on money?
There is nothing in the foundation of this nation that is remotely religious. Our laws and government are based on reason and secular ideals of The Enlightenment.
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