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Kimberely

Kimberely

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religion. (Last chance to back out of reading this post! Consider yourself warned.)


Let's face it regardless of where you live in the world religion in one form or another touches your life.

I have a friend who is recently a "born-again christian". More power to him for having something he believes in but that is not my problem with the whole issue. My problem is what he believes.

Another friend of mine told me about this little conversation that they had earlier this week. We will call my "born-again christian" friend Nick and my phone conversation friend Rob. The following conversation is a reenactment......

Rob: Blah blah blah something about how trees have a soul.

Nick: Trees and animals don't have a soul. They are put here to serve us.

Rob: What?!? Where did all this come from??

Nick: Yack yack yack something about how I have come to realize that our god is a vengeful god and you must love him. You also have to accept Jesus Christ as the son of god or you will burn in hell.

Rob: What about Buddha? Wasn't he a good man? Do you think Buddha is burning in hell right now?

Nick: Buddha is probably burning in hell right now....


....:shok:


That's horrible!! I asked my friend Rob if they talked about what Nick thinks about his new found salvation says about Rob and the fact that he's gay... but he said he didn't think to ask that at the moment. If he follows it like they tend to think then my friend Nick thinks that a couple other of our friends are going to burn in hell just because of the way they prefer to practice procreation.

I know he isn't the only person that thinks like that. In one of my chemistry labs we started talking about religion one day. They asked me what I thought on christianity. And this is what I told them:

Its hard for me to swallow christianities ideas because you burn in hell if you don't follow the rules. According to the christian faith if you are gay you burn, if you believe in Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoist, w/e you burn. Of course they all say that if you don't follow a certain set of rules then this bad stuff happens.

In my chemistry lab, the TA was from Thailand, I turned to her and asked her what she believed. Buddha. I told my classmates, "If the Christian religion is right, Jarita here is going to burn in hell because she doesn't accept Jesus Christ as the sun of 'god'. I can't hold faith in a religion that punishes like that."

I know all religions have "rules" that you live by and try to opress other religions but seriously people.... If you don't go out of your way to hurt someone (mentally or physically) or kill someone then your not going to burn in hell.

All religions are pretty much based on the same thing. Don't treat people badly.

In my perfect religion or system of belief.... You can worship what ever form of a god you choose and as long as you are cruel and hurt people... you aren't going to be punished in death (assuming there is a place you go so I guess you call me somewhere in the gray area between atheist/agnostic... or an agnostic atheist????).

I know not all christians are like this... but these are the defected sperm or eggs that some how made it into the world and make the rest of us squeel for stronger methods of birth control.

Am I looking at it wrong? What do you people believe???
 
My personal beliefs...

I try to stay open minded about things. I accept the fact that "I don't know". I think almost anything is possible. I have respect for nearly every religion. One exception being Scientology but it's not really a religion. It's a freaking money scam of a cult. Screw Tom Cruise.
 
I think all religions are fucked up in the head. They all have you worshiping imaginary creatures/people. Go go Atheist! I've already accepted the fact I'm eating dirt when I die.
 
It is only natural that a religeon that shuns meathods of contraception produces more idiots. Even if in the world, a flat 5% of people are idiots, the fact that their numbers grow so large because of their beliefs would also, in turn, mean that their 5% represents a larger segment of the populace.
 
Anyone remember that episode of Family Guy?

The Passion of the Christ 2: Crucify This

I'm downloading the episode. I'll post pics when it's done.
 
What's funny is Buddha is probably one of the few people in history to have actually lived the life that is demanded for the Kingdom of Heaven by Jesus as said in the gospels (not paul's letters). Yay for interpretations and misinterpretations. Oh well it's interesting how christianity toned down what the "requirments" for heaven where. But thats another tale.

Ya know, the world would be a much safer place if the dominent religion was Buddhism, but thats just my opinion, and that's prolly a more over generalized statment.
 
All of the world's religions stem from one common human feeling: the fear of death.

This fear of death has caused humans to come up with stories to try to explain what happens when we die, and to try and feel better about the whole 'death' subject. Some people feel better about thinking about dying if they think that they will go to a far off magical land full of happiness and good feelings with their loved ones that had died before them when they die too. So strong was this belief, that people have made tons of rules to follow to make sure you can get in to the special club after death in order to keep mankind in line, and to try and keep everyone getting along with each other. So 'hell' was invented as a punishment to scare people into conforming with the rules and laws of the time.

Long ago, humans were not as smart and educated on how the world works as we are now. Primitive people living in mud-brick houses and stuff were easy to control using scare tactics and magic talk.

By todays standards, the stuff written in the christian bible are laugh-out-loud histerically funny to think that people actually believe that stuff to be true. If it rains for 40 days, the earth will not be flooded killing all life. There's no way a boat could have been constructed to house all of the millions and millions of different species of animals that exist. A dead guy cannot be raised from the dead. A blind person cannot regain sight from a 'magic-man' touching his eyes. People cannot be magically turned into pillars of salt. Water cannot be magically changed into wine. People cannot walk on water. Etc etc etc

It's all like a magic trick. When a magician pulls a coin out of your ear, he really didn't magically pull a coin from your ear, he's got the coin hidden in his hand so that it appears to have come from your ear. It's fun to think about magic really being real, but once you realize that it's all fake and just for fun, it loses that magical feeling. Same with Santa Claus, when you are a kid the idea of Santa is really magical and wonderful. But when you get older, and logic tells you that there's no way that he could exist, the illusion becomes shattered. Same with christianity. I wish the world would grow up and realize that it's all a trick.

That stuff is all just wishful thinking.

There is no god. There is no devil. There is no heaven. There is no hell. You don't have a soul. Your body is being kept alive by oxygen and fuel from eating food, keeping your cells and electrical impulses going. When you die, your body simply shuts down and that's it. You cease to exist. We are just evolved intellegent animals on this planet with highly advanced senses of imagination.
 
Some of the problems with online posts and forum discussions are the lack of facial expressions and emotions and actual voice which cause lots of mixed reactions and misunderstandings.

Therefore for the record, This response is a NORMAL ROOM decibal conversation. There is in no way any anger, sarcasm, spite, nada. Please treat it as a dignified response.

Kimberely said:
religion. (Last chance to back out of reading this post! Consider yourself warned.)

Let's face it regardless of where you live in the world religion in one form or another touches your life.

I have a friend who is recently a "born-again christian". More power to him for having something he believes in but that is not my problem with the whole issue. My problem is what he believes.

Another friend of mine told me about this little conversation that they had earlier this week. We will call my "born-again christian" friend Nick and my phone conversation friend Rob. The following conversation is a reenactment......

Rob: Blah blah blah something about how trees have a soul.
Nick: Trees and animals don't have a soul. They are put here to serve us.
Rob: What?!? Where did all this come from??
Nick: Yack yack yack something about how I have come to realize that our god is a vengeful god and you must love him. You also have to accept Jesus Christ as the son of god or you will burn in hell.

Rob: What about Buddha? Wasn't he a good man? Do you think Buddha is burning in hell right now?

Nick: Buddha is probably burning in hell right now....


....:shok:


That's horrible!! I asked my friend Rob if they talked about what Nick thinks about his new found salvation says about Rob and the fact that he's gay... but he said he didn't think to ask that at the moment. If he follows it like they tend to think then my friend Nick thinks that a couple other of our friends are going to burn in hell just because of the way they prefer to practice procreation.

I know he isn't the only person that thinks like that. In one of my chemistry labs we started talking about religion one day. They asked me what I thought on christianity. And this is what I told them:

Its hard for me to swallow christianities ideas because you burn in hell if you don't follow the rules. According to the christian faith if you are gay you burn, if you believe in Buddhism, Hinduism, Shinto, Taoist, w/e you burn. Of course they all say that if you don't follow a certain set of rules then this bad stuff happens.

In my chemistry lab, the TA was from Thailand, I turned to her and asked her what she believed. Buddha. I told my classmates, "If the Christian religion is right, Jarita here is going to burn in hell because she doesn't accept Jesus Christ as the sun of 'god'. I can't hold faith in a religion that punishes like that."

I know all religions have "rules" that you live by and try to opress other religions but seriously people.... If you don't go out of your way to hurt someone (mentally or physically) or kill someone then your not going to burn in hell.

All religions are pretty much based on the same thing. Don't treat people badly.

In my perfect religion or system of belief.... You can worship what ever form of a god you choose and as long as you are cruel and hurt people... you aren't going to be punished in death (assuming there is a place you go so I guess you call me somewhere in the gray area between atheist/agnostic... or an agnostic atheist????).

I know not all christians are like this... but these are the defected sperm or eggs that some how made it into the world and make the rest of us squeel for stronger methods of birth control.

Am I looking at it wrong? What do you people believe???
Click to expand...

It seems to me you have a semi painted picture of your friend's new found belief / faith system. My suggestion is that you research it yourself, and look into it and find out what you can about it, and even attend a service or a couple meetings to get a more accurate assessment and understanding of the "born again christian" / protestant belief system before you make a judgement call on it.

Putting it here is not going to get a justifiable response from 99% of this QCDN community because it'll eventually turn into a bash / flame session.
You'll understand it better by being pro-active and looking into it yourself. Statistically, you retain the most information when you research a topic and teach it to someone else.

Bigboy said:
It is only natural that a religeon that shuns meathods of contraception produces more idiots. Even if in the world, a flat 5% of people are idiots, the fact that their numbers grow so large because of their beliefs would also, in turn, mean that their 5% represents a larger segment of the populace.
Click to expand...

The OP stated Non-denominational Born Again Christians, this belief system in no way shuns methods of contraception and bashing on them as "idiots" doesn't help in such a volatile topic as this. Please get your religions / belief systems research correctly before you make rude comments.

Bustaballs said:
Anyone remember that episode of Family Guy?

The Passion of the Christ 2: Crucify This

I'm downloading the episode. I'll post pics when it's done.
Click to expand...

Awesome episode XD I love watching family guy.

Pelori said:
What's funny is Buddha is probably one of the few people in history to have actually lived the life that is demanded for the Kingdom of Heaven by Jesus as said in the gospels (not paul's letters). Yay for interpretations and misinterpretations. Oh well it's interesting how christianity toned down what the "requirments" for heaven where. But thats another tale.

Ya know, the world would be a much safer place if the dominent religion was Buddhism, but thats just my opinion, and that's prolly a more over generalized statment.
Click to expand...

If you want to get technical, 0 people except one has lived the life that is demanded for the Kingdom of Heaven.

Mortanis said:
By todays standards, the stuff written in the christian bible are laugh-out-loud histerically funny to think that people actually believe that stuff to be true. If it rains for 40 days, the earth will not be flooded killing all life. There's no way a boat could have been constructed to house all of the millions and millions of different species of animals that exist. A dead guy cannot be raised from the dead. A blind person cannot regain sight from a 'magic-man' touching his eyes. People cannot be magically turned into pillars of salt. Water cannot be magically changed into wine. People cannot walk on water. Etc etc etc

It's all like a magic trick. When a magician pulls a coin out of your ear, he really didn't magically pull a coin from your ear, he's got the coin hidden in his hand so that it appears to have come from your ear. It's fun to think about magic really being real, but once you realize that it's all fake and just for fun, it loses that magical feeling. Same with Santa Claus, when you are a kid the idea of Santa is really magical and wonderful. But when you get older, and logic tells you that there's no way that he could exist, the illusion becomes shattered. Same with christianity. I wish the world would grow up and realize that it's all a trick.

That stuff is all just wishful thinking.

There is no god. There is no devil. There is no heaven. There is no hell. You don't have a soul. Your body is being kept alive by oxygen and fuel from eating food, keeping your cells and electrical impulses going. When you die, your body simply shuts down and that's it. You cease to exist. We are just evolved intellegent animals on this planet with highly advanced senses of imagination.
Click to expand...

I respect your opinion, but at the same time, what you state here are all opinions. It is a single individual's opinion on whether or not a dead man may be raised from the dead, or that after 40 days of rain the whole earth was flooded. You cannot prove by scientific method that so-and-so was raised from the dead, much like you cannot prove by scientific method that Lincoln was murdered. However, there can always be corroborating evidence to support that it did happen.
 
The ultimate debate. One which can not be answered by anyone that is alive. It's all about money, control and power.

Many others have said it much better than I ever could.

"Religion is what keeps the poor man from murdering the rich" -Napoleon Bonaparte

This meaning that religion is meant to put morals and laws in place that are kept in place by the threat of eternal damnation.

"All religions are founded on the fear of the many and the cleverness of the few." -Stendhal

Every religion requires a leader. Ya know, the ones you tithe the money to. The ones that leech on society by operating under tax free laws because of seperation of church and state. Which are the same ones that so admantly refuse to seperate theirself from the State.

"Religion is regarded by the common people as true, by the wise as false, and by the rulers as useful." -Seneca

Some may even go so far to say that is what makes a person common, wise, or a ruler.

"More people have been slaughtered in the name of religion than for any other single reason. That, my friends, that is true perversion."

Country A: KEEEEEEL U!
Country B: Me?
A: Uh yeah, you.
B: Er... ok. Why?
A: Cause that guy told me god said I have to.
B: Well... bummer. *thwack* *dies*

A few Crusades later, we have a bunch of dead Religious people.

Oh yeah, then there was world war II. Where the jewish people, once again, get the short end of the stick.

These are just a couple of examples. But, I mean, 62 million people died in WWII.
 
Trippyhippy said:
Oh yeah, then there was world war II. Where the jewish people, once again, get the short end of the stick.

These are just a couple of examples. But, I mean, 62 million people died in WWII.
Click to expand...

if only they let Hitler into that art school he prolly woulda been just an artist :\
 
To acts:

I know there are christians in the world that intelligence wise blow me out of the water. Theres just a few that are the bad apples who spoil the whole bunch for me. I was baptised when I was about 10 into a Presbyterian church but since have lost my faith in chrisitianity because of things I have learned in history classes, science classes, and through general observations in my community.

The christian religion is a wonderful religion when you look at simply the moral standpoint. It just seems to me that when you say "Buddha is burning in hell" you are judging Buddha as a bad person. He who is with out sin cast the first stone... I am not a perfect person (very very very far from it). It just seems to me that you are "judging" someone by saying they are going to hell just because they don't believe in Jesus.

I was hoping for more of a christian response to this... not to bash you but to clear up the things that I don't understand. Specifically the judging part.... XD I would rather here it from someone who will listen to my point of view as opposed to going to a church where they might just try to "reel me in".
 
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Mortanis said:
There is no god. There is no devil. There is no heaven. There is no hell. You don't have a soul. Your body is being kept alive by oxygen and fuel from eating food, keeping your cells and electrical impulses going. When you die, your body simply shuts down and that's it. You cease to exist. We are just evolved intelligent animals on this planet with highly advanced senses of imagination.
Click to expand...

Human beings are composed of energy. However miniscule and un-centered as it is, it's still energy. Energy can not be destroyed, it doesn't just fade out of existence. Energy has been, and always will be. When we die, our bodies die, but the energy is recycled. Transferred somewhere else. It's a part of nature. What takes from the Earth eventually goes back to the Earth.

According to Christian religion your dog dies. Contrary to popular belief spawned by Disney movies, dogs do not go to heaven. Their energy is transferred to the soil, which in turn is transferred to night crawlers and worms, which is transferred to birds, which is transferred to a multitude of things. Your body may help plants grow, moss, energy transfer. While conscious life ends, your energy still lives on, however complicated that may seem.

And even then most people don't believe conscious life ever ends. Some Neopagans believe in personal reincarnation, where the energy of one's soul reintegrates with a continuum of such energy which is recycled into other living things as they are born. Though, that's just an opinion and belief system.

I respect what you believe, and I believed it at one point too. But things are too convenient and too mysterious for me to pawn every supernatural occurrence off on wild imaginations.

As for the OP, I have one thing to say to you. If someone offends you with their religion and does not give you the same respect you give them.. simply remove them from your life. No where in the Constitution does it say that you need to put up with someone’s ramblings. They can wave the free-speech banner in front of you as much as they want, but you can turn and walk away. Religions in general will always try to prosecute and destroy what they do not understand. Christianity seems to get the blunt of these blows, some deserving and some not. Fanatics aside, the religion does a lot of good for people. Some of them just decide to focus on the "bad" aspects of the Christian religion from the Old Testament (i.e. homosexuality, sodomy) rather than the teachings of Jesus and the New Testament (i.e. love everyone, be friendly, kind, good to everyone).

Your post seemed to focus heavily on the "homosexuality is wrong" argument. This has been discussed many times before on various different threads and forums on QCDN. Think of it as this: Christianity is a belief system. You can take it for what it is, or you can choose to ignore it. It is not the fundamental building blocks for humanity and human evolution. In fact, I believe that humanity has outgrown religion as a whole. There is not a growing need for it, the philosophies and principles (do not kill, do not lie, do not steal) are so ingrained in our head from everything from Saturday Morning Cartoons to the latest kids movie.

Whether or not your friend disagrees with the homosexual lifestyle is his choice. He does not need to push it on your or your gay friend. If he does then simply remind him that it is a human choice, and one that he can choose. He knows the consequences of doing so, and chooses to do so anyway. Let him walk his path.

Me? I'm a fan of the human choice. Everyone has the freedom to believe what they want to. If Christianity works for you than more power to you. The same with any other religion. Discrimination based upon religion and sexual preference is a thing of the past. Let's move forward, rather than keep ourselves behind. We are evolving, changing, and growing more intelligent about our world and humanity as a whole everyday. Please, let's focus on keeping the world and ourselves intact, healthy, and working, instead of having a fit about who is sleeping with who.

Some reading I recommend:

Age of Spiritual Machines by Ray Kurzweil
Singularity Is Near: When Humans Transcend Biology by Ray Kurzweil
Blink: The Power of Thinking Without Thinking by Malcolm Gladwell
Tripping the Limit by Malcom Gladwell
The Devil's Apocrypha: There Are Two Sides to Every Story by John A. De Vito
Spook: Science Tackles the Afterlife by Mary Roach
Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach
Jesus, the Bible, And Homosexuality by Jack Rogers

That's all I can think of right now. There are, literally, millions of books you can find on the subject of religion, human existance, and homosexuality. Remember, doing the research will help your arguement grow. ^_^
 
The topic of religion came up in a thread about Islam I believe... could be mistaken. However, an interesting post was made about gays and lesbians. Your friend may not go to Hell based on his sexuality. An argument for free will God entitles us to can be used, as well as the lack of evidence against it based in the bible.

Other than that, much of what you say is true imo. Christianity has become very perverted, and as much as I hate to say it, I've been falling further and further from any kinda church, as they all disgust me.

Religion is a belief shared by many, not the righteous path to heaven anymore.
 
Elemmire said:
if only they let Hitler into that art school he prolly woulda been just an artist :\
Click to expand...
yeah he loved italy for some resson talking about hitler how is sig :3
 
acts said:
The OP stated Non-denominational Born Again Christians, this belief system in no way shuns methods of contraception and bashing on them as "idiots" doesn't help in such a volatile topic as this. Please get your religions / belief systems research correctly before you make rude comments.
Click to expand...

Hi, I like to joke. Welcome to the board.
 
Kimberely said:
To acts:

I know there are christians in the world that intelligence wise blow me out of the water. Theres just a few that are the bad apples who spoil the whole bunch for me. I was baptised when I was about 10 into a Presbyterian church but since have lost my faith in chrisitianity because of things I have learned in history classes, science classes, and through general observations in my community.

The christian religion is a wonderful religion when you look at simply the moral standpoint. It just seems to me that when you say "Buddha is burning in hell" you are judging Buddha as a bad person. He who is with out sin cast the first stone... I am not a perfect person (very very very far from it). It just seems to me that you are "judging" someone by saying they are going to hell just because they don't believe in Jesus.

I was hoping for more of a christian response to this... not to bash you but to clear up the things that I don't understand. Specifically the judging part.... XD I would rather here it from someone who will listen to my point of view as opposed to going to a church where they might just try to "reel me in".
Click to expand...

I think your friend means and its what I believe also that works is not good enough. You have too have invited Jesus in your heart too be saved. Nobody is a perfect person. I am glad it's this way or we would all be in big trouble. I know I am not a perfect person, I continue too struggle with sin every day. Thats why Jesus came and died on the cross for us. None of us can go too Heaven without him because our works are not good enough.

I am in the process of reading the bible myself and I pray. I don't attend church either. My advice is too pray instead of going too one too seek your answers. I find prayer works in my life and reading the bible.
 
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