Sometimes but it's mainly to enjoy the architecture.
The old Churches are pretty amazing to be inside. The ruined ones are pretty neat as well, the decay adds to the beauty.
Too bad the faithful can always be relied to blow up their own buildings. God, I'm an atheist, and dont ever want to see any of these human legacy sites destroyed. I wish the people who believe in the Gods taught inside these buildings thought the same way.
is there some secret christian movement that I don't know about that wants to destroy old churches?
Protestants and Catholics currently, alongside with a whole host of interfatih schisms for the last 2000 years. Then you have Muslim conquests that either demolished or converted churches and cathedrals into mosques.
Too bad the faithful can always be relied to blow up their own buildings. God, I'm an atheist, and dont ever want to see any of these human legacy sites destroyed. I wish the people who believe in the Gods taught inside these buildings thought the same way.
is there some secret christian movement that I don't know about that wants to destroy old churches?
Protestants and Catholics currently, alongside with a whole host of interfatih schisms for the last 2000 years. Then you have Muslim conquests that either demolished or converted churches and cathedrals into mosques.
is there some secret christian movement that I don't know about that wants to destroy old churches?
Protestants and Catholics currently, alongside with a whole host of interfatih schisms for the last 2000 years. Then you have Muslim conquests that either demolished or converted churches and cathedrals into mosques.
@mrbojangles25: Well non-profits aren't without shady issues either. Misappropriation of funds does happen in non-religious charities for instance.
Yes it is wise to be selective of who you choose to share personal issues. Ultimately each person has their select few individuals, they feel more comfortable sharing very dissapointing shortcomings or hardships. If not, then as a church or individual; we try to provide that outreach outlet. And we did have a female member of our church, share today how she was able to be there for an international female student. Who didn't have American friends she can speak to about her martial problems.
In what is perpetually a disliked response on these boards:
Yes, I attend church. No, I don't request or expect you to, and whether you do or not has zero bearing on my level of respect for you. I'm very picky about what church I'll attend because there are some practices/theologies with which I vehemently disagree and I'd rather not attend a church than support those actions/viewpoints.
As said be for I'm a Seventh Day Advent Hoppists. My parents were very religious though, taking the Bible scriptures at face value. The Hoppists were primarily concerned with a particular verse from the New Testament. St. Paul's first epistle to the Corinthians, chapter 13, verse 13 had been misprinted in a certain edition of the Bible. In their version, the verse read "And now these three remain: Faith, Hop and Charity. But the greatest of these is Hop".
spent every seventh day hopping. They would hop to church, hop through the service and then hop home again. Even served their Sunday lunch whilst hopping.
baptized catholic as a baby and went to catholic school through hs so went to mass all the time. they did a good job in beating any religious urges out of me.
only time i go to church now is occasionally for family events for christmas / easter / weddings / funerals / baptisms etc..
I spend most Sundays with my fiance, my soon to be mother-in-law, and my fiance's 93 year-old grandmother at her assisted living place having lunch. I often regret not going to church, but I feel like spending time there is far more important because the time with her is likely short. Similarly, my family has a weekly movie night where my fiance and I go see both of my grandmothers every Tuesday. It's never really about lunch or the movie, it's about spending time with the people we love and care about while there's still time to do so.
Yes. I attend an independent Christian church regularly.
In the course of my life I've explored pretty much every faith I came across by attending their services. Been to mosque with Muslims, sat in meditations with Buddhists, attended services with more sects of Christians than I'm willing to take the time to name. I've also had animated discussions with "pro-active" atheists, who I sometimes derisively refer to as "worshippers of the non-god" and plenty of amiable conversations with atheists who aren't demanding of agreement as well as agnostics which are pretty close to the same thing.
Spirituality is a very interesting aspect of the human condition.
I believe religion is the root of all evil, for it has caused the most wars and torturous epidemics across the globe, and the harshest forms of intolerance and prejudice among people. I do not wish to be a part of something that is evil.
I believe religion is the root of all evil, for it has caused the most wars and torturous epidemics across the globe, and the harshest forms of intolerance and prejudice among people. I do not wish to be a part of something that is evil.
I'd say you're a bit off there. People will find a reason to go to war and hate each other regardless of religion. Every major war in the history of the U.S (With the possible exception of the Iraq/Afghan wars) has had nothing to do with religion.
Revolutionary War: Fought to gain freedom from the British Empire.
War of 1812: United States declared war for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by the British war with France
Mexican American War: Land disputes between the states and Mexico leads to conflict in which the U.S takes most of the current Western U.S
Civil War: States rights, slavery, tariffs, taxation, you name it it was fought over.
Spanish American War: Primary issue Cuban independence from the Spanish empire.
WWI: The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, setting off a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, and entangled international alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world.(38,000,000 dead)
WWII: Fought for everything from patriotism, to racial purity, to the expansion of empires (60,000,000 dead)
Korean War: Fought to repel invading communist forces
Vietnam War: Also a fight over land and communism
Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait and are repelled.
War in Afghanistan: Part of the "War on Terror"
Iraq War: part of the "War on Terror"
Not to mention nearly every major recorded genocide.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths (conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.) So yes religion did play a factor there.
I'm not trying to say by this lengthy post that religion can't/doesn't play into violence and yes evil (looking at you, Islam). But to say something like "religion is the root of all evil" is just patently false. Humans are capable of evil regardless of their excuse for it.
I believe religion is the root of all evil, for it has caused the most wars and torturous epidemics across the globe, and the harshest forms of intolerance and prejudice among people. I do not wish to be a part of something that is evil.
Actually if you look at the entirety of wars to date religion is the cause of approximately 10%.....far from your hyperbole.
I believe religion is the root of all evil, for it has caused the most wars and torturous epidemics across the globe, and the harshest forms of intolerance and prejudice among people. I do not wish to be a part of something that is evil.
Every war that has been fought "over religion" would likely have been fought anyway without it. The most obviously "religious" wars ever, the crusades, were as much about sending younger brother aristocrats off to somewhere so they wouldn't dispute their elder brother's inheritance as they were about anything else. Claiming they were about conquering the infidels just made them sound better.
I believe religion is the root of all evil, for it has caused the most wars and torturous epidemics across the globe, and the harshest forms of intolerance and prejudice among people. I do not wish to be a part of something that is evil.
I'd say you're a bit off there. People will find a reason to go to war and hate each other regardless of religion. Every major war in the history of the U.S (With the possible exception of the Iraq/Afghan wars) has had nothing to do with religion.
Revolutionary War: Fought to gain freedom from the British Empire.
War of 1812: United States declared war for several reasons, including trade restrictions brought about by the British war with France
Mexican American War: Land disputes between the states and Mexico leads to conflict in which the U.S takes most of the current Western U.S
Civil War: States rights, slavery, tariffs, taxation, you name it it was fought over.
Spanish American War: Primary issue Cuban independence from the Spanish empire.
WWI: The trigger for the war was the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria, heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary, setting off a diplomatic crisis when Austria-Hungary delivered an ultimatum to the Kingdom of Serbia, and entangled international alliances formed over the previous decades were invoked. Within weeks, the major powers were at war and the conflict soon spread around the world.(38,000,000 dead)
WWII: Fought for everything from patriotism, to racial purity, to the expansion of empires (60,000,000 dead)
Korean War: Fought to repel invading communist forces
Vietnam War: Also a fight over land and communism
Gulf War: Iraq invades Kuwait and are repelled.
War in Afghanistan: Part of the "War on Terror"
Iraq War: part of the "War on Terror"
Not to mention nearly every major recorded genocide.
Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths (conflict between the three main ethnic groups, the Serbs, Croats, and Muslims, resulted in genocide committed by the Serbs against the Muslims in Bosnia.) So yes religion did play a factor there.
I'm not trying to say by this lengthy post that religion can't/doesn't play into violence and yes evil (looking at you, Islam). But to say something like "religion is the root of all evil" is just patently false. Humans are capable of evil regardless of their excuse for it.
Some great stuff there, but honestly I was kinda being semi-serious and semi-sarcastic and ironic to call it "evil". But no, with all due respect I don't follow religion but I consider myself an Ignostic in the sense I can neither prove nor deny the existence of a God, or Gods, but it's also not my desire to seek answers either for I have come to realize I can live and enjoy life perfectly fine without relying on any such religion.
I also believe religion sometimes gets in the way with progression. For example, scientific growth can get confronted by the moral compass of religion, and in my opinion that sometimes makes our progression in advancements slower than it could be. But on the flipside I can understand why religion can and will step in the way. Just because there are crazy advancements that could be made, it does not mean they're always going to be well-intended.
I try to be moderate most of the time, but, well...I really just don't like religion. I've got a lot of Catholic friends and I see them pretty much forced (by their girlfriends/wives/family) into going to church, it's sad. They go to church as kids, they hate it, they get free of their family and they don't go. They find a sweet Christian girl and damn it they start going again. They break up and they stop going and they're happy and then they find another Catholic girl lol.
It's brainwashing at it's purest, most public form and society just let's it happen. I really do not understand how the US is OK with it. Thankfully, most of the first world is quickly abandoning organized religion, and it's even on the downfall in the US as well (not fast enough, if you ask me).
Hail Satan.
I am a proud Christian and yes TC I do attend church. . I was raised in a Christian home but it's not because I was forced to believe. In my 29 years of living I have been through things and seen things that can't just be passed off a blind luck nor can it be explained by science. Not saying I am threatened by science, but for me science is proof that there is a God because I look around the world we live in and find it hard pressed to think all the animals, plant life, landscapes, oceans, and us humans all just are the result of a cosmic accident. Also, there are holes in the evolution theory that just don't add up. The fact is no human knows for sure how we got here, as no human was around to document it. To say religion is bad because it caused wars, well there have been plenty of wars that were not inspired by religion. Also to say religion is brainwashing is rather ignorant. There are some bad apples in religion but there are also bad apples that are atheist. It's sad, we live in a world were someone is considered a bad person for believing and living for Jesus because non believers think you are out to oppress gays, women, or people of color and that is NOT the case. It's also sad we live in a world where believing in God is considered bad or stupid, but ending a child life AKA abortion for sometime SELFISH reasons is progressive, and I man who thinks he is a woman walking around in a dress is considered a hero, but Christian is a idiot and horrible person. We also live in a world that makes a mockery of marriage and things like adultry and such is the norm and is also considered progressive. I am not a hateful person and I treat anyone with dignity and respect as long as they do me the same, but I do take offense to folks who have no idea what is is to be a Christian to make baseless assumptions. And to be honest, I would RATHER be a Christian rather than live for nothing and to live and believe in some of the things non believers stand for because it honestly is just insane.
Agnostic, so nope. Organized religion causes so much violence, hatred, and stupidity. I'd be happy to see it die off. I also really have to question the intelligence of anyone who takes Bronze Age fairytales literally.
If there is a god, he's either lazy or a sadistic sociopath. Bad things happen to good people, and evil people are rewarded for their bad deeds. What kind of god would allow something like WW2 or the holocaust to happen? God either doesn't exist or he exists but he's lazy or a complete asshole.
No. One my exe's made me go to hers once when we were dating, it was horrible. Listening to some rubbish in attempts to make people feel good about themselves then we stood up and sang a song, back to preaching, stood up sang a song, back to preaching. Then comes the tray...2 of them. I was noticing how people were turning their necks to stare at the tray as it's being passed along, watching for every single person to put some money in as I'm thinking, what's it to you nosy fcks? My then g/f handed me some money to drop in cause she knew I wasn't buying that preacher a new bobble head Jesus to go on the dash of his brand new Cadillac. I saw $50 dollar bills, $20's...hardly any change. No wonder he had a new caddy.
The disturbing part was afterwards, hearing all these overdressed bitty's literally talking crap about other people, gossiping junk. Likely to go back home to their hypocritical life once again.
I try to be moderate most of the time, but, well...I really just don't like religion. I've got a lot of Catholic friends and I see them pretty much forced (by their girlfriends/wives/family) into going to church, it's sad. They go to church as kids, they hate it, they get free of their family and they don't go. They find a sweet Christian girl and damn it they start going again. They break up and they stop going and they're happy and then they find another Catholic girl lol.
It's brainwashing at it's purest, most public form and society just let's it happen. I really do not understand how the US is OK with it. Thankfully, most of the first world is quickly abandoning organized religion, and it's even on the downfall in the US as well (not fast enough, if you ask me).
Hail Satan.
I am a proud Christian and yes TC I do attend church. . I was raised in a Christian home but it's not because I was forced to believe. In my 29 years of living I have been through things and seen things that can't just be passed off a blind luck nor can it be explained by science. Not saying I am threatened by science, but for me science is proof that there is a God because I look around the world we live in and find it hard pressed to think all the animals, plant life, landscapes, oceans, and us humans all just are the result of a cosmic accident. Also, there are holes in the evolution theory that just don't add up. The fact is no human knows for sure how we got here, as no human was around to document it. To say religion is bad because it caused wars, well there have been plenty of wars that were not inspired by religion. Also to say religion is brainwashing is rather ignorant. There are some bad apples in religion but there are also bad apples that are atheist. It's sad, we live in a world were someone is considered a bad person for believing and living for Jesus because non believers think you are out to oppress gays, women, or people of color and that is NOT the case. It's also sad we live in a world where believing in God is considered bad or stupid, but ending a child life AKA abortion for sometime SELFISH reasons is progressive, and I man who thinks he is a woman walking around in a dress is considered a hero, but Christian is a idiot and horrible person. We also live in a world that makes a mockery of marriage and things like adultry and such is the norm and is also considered progressive. I am not a hateful person and I treat anyone with dignity and respect as long as they do me the same, but I do take offense to folks who have no idea what is is to be a Christian to make baseless assumptions. And to be honest, I would RATHER be a Christian rather than live for nothing and to live and believe in some of the things non believers stand for because it honestly is just insane.
Ah, yes, the "Christian-as-a-victim" card...I was wondering when that was going to pop up.
First off, let me apologize if I came off militant or offensive in my initial post. I can see why I might have come off that way, I only meant to come off as a smartass, though. Now I will come off as militant.
Second, I really don't care about the history of religion. Well, I do in an indirect way. Religion has done a lot of bad. But it's done a lot of good. Religious art and architecture is pretty damn incredible, and many great works were financed by the Vatican and other religious institutions; I've been to the Sistine Chapel, stared up at that ceiling, and truly felt moved. Others were inspired by religions to do great and wonderful things, be it charity, work, or just motivation to get out of bed in the morning.
As for science and God, that's fine too in a really cosmic and vague sense. Like "Hey you can't make something from nothing and that's why I believe in God, but I am OK not understanding it. It's just shit's pretty and there's a pattern to it and man, that's why I believe in a higher power"....that's cool. But when you get really specific and say "No, evolution is wrong, the Earth is 2500 years old, humans rode dinosaurs" then you just come off crazy.
As for the rest of your argument, I just think it's amusing how you (and your ilk) have this kneejerk response to go "Oh and it's ok for gays/minorities/etc to do _____________ but when a religious person does it, it's bad". The reason for that argument is because it is the religious groups hypocritically criticizing these people in the first place:
-Religious people were the strongest lobby to argue against same sex marriage, their main argument being "they don't want to destroy the sanctity of marriage". The irony, of course, is that American heterosexual couples have a depressingly high divorce rate while homosexual couples have a divorce rate that is much, much lower.
-I don't know a single person that thinks abortion is progressive, and the very few women and couples I know that had to have an abortion did not take it lightly; in fact, it was one of the more traumatic experiences of their lives. But it is a critical, necessary, and important healthcare option for women to have available, and to prohibit that option based on religion (something that should be completely separate from one's healthcare considerations) is, for lack of a better word, complete fucking INSANE. This is why they call it pro-CHOICE; because you get to choose what to do based on your beliefs (get an abortion or don't! who cares), whereas pro-life is fascist and forces you into one option that can be incredibly harmful, damaging, and irreparable.
-As for "living for nothing" versus "...rather being a Christian" in your last point, I don't know man. When I see Christians, I don't see bad people. I think you are making an assumption there that I dislike Christians. I Don't! My best friend is a Christian...Catholic...whatever, all the same to me. I would kill for that dude, help him bury bodies...you name it. I like him more in many ways than I do my own flesh and blood. I live in the US, which means most of the people I know, talk to, encounter, love, and socialize with ARE CHRISTIANS! I don't have an option, but even if I did, I'd still get along fine with them.
I just don't like the overall principles of it. I think when you opt in to religion, you lose out on a lot. I know you get a lot out of it, but by going into it you essentially say "No" to so, so much of the world. Not just that, but you close your mind to many possibilities simply by association.
----------
Anyway, I know we've been talking about Christians, but it's really religion that I object to. ALL religion. But I can't really talk about how much I dislike Judaism without being called a Nazi, or how much I dislike Islam without being called racist alt-right nationalist....
Agnostic, so nope. Organized religion causes so much violence, hatred, and stupidity. I'd be happy to see it die off. I also really have to question the intelligence of anyone who takes Bronze Age fairytales literally.
If there is a god, he's either lazy or a sadistic sociopath. Bad things happen to good people, and evil people are rewarded for their bad deeds. What kind of god would allow something like WW2 or the holocaust to happen? God either doesn't exist or he exists but he's lazy or a complete asshole.
I question people who think they know all the answers to the universe and know for a fact there is no higher power or an afterlife? Really? There are holes in theories atheist like to pop off, for example, how does evolution add information to a genome to create progressively more complicated organisms? How is evolution able to bring about drastic change so quickly? How could could the first living cell arise spontaneously to get evolution started? None of that is really explained but atheist just say evolution is absolute fact but honestly it is just a theory and nothing more. Things like that is why I believe in God. I actually believe what we learn through science shows us how God created the universe and how it works. Anyway, evil exist in the world because of human choices as we have free will and yes, God sometimes prevents things from happening and sometimes he doesn't but it's all for a reason (and it's not him being cruel or lazy or stupid). It takes a lot more faith to believe we all just got here randomly, by a cosmic accident, and it just so happens us humans formed the way we did, and it just so happens animals, plants, and the various landscapes all just happened the way it did. You can use the old excuse of religion caused some wars, but it's been way more wars that were not religiously inspired than those that were. Yes, there are some hateful/ nasty, evil people in religion but there are some nasty, evil, hateful people who are atheist.
I am a proud Christian and yes TC I do attend church. . I was raised in a Christian home but it's not because I was forced to believe. In my 29 years of living I have been through things and seen things that can't just be passed off a blind luck nor can it be explained by science. Not saying I am threatened by science, but for me science is proof that there is a God because I look around the world we live in and find it hard pressed to think all the animals, plant life, landscapes, oceans, and us humans all just are the result of a cosmic accident. Also, there are holes in the evolution theory that just don't add up. The fact is no human knows for sure how we got here, as no human was around to document it. To say religion is bad because it caused wars, well there have been plenty of wars that were not inspired by religion. Also to say religion is brainwashing is rather ignorant. There are some bad apples in religion but there are also bad apples that are atheist. It's sad, we live in a world were someone is considered a bad person for believing and living for Jesus because non believers think you are out to oppress gays, women, or people of color and that is NOT the case. It's also sad we live in a world where believing in God is considered bad or stupid, but ending a child life AKA abortion for sometime SELFISH reasons is progressive, and I man who thinks he is a woman walking around in a dress is considered a hero, but Christian is a idiot and horrible person. We also live in a world that makes a mockery of marriage and things like adultry and such is the norm and is also considered progressive. I am not a hateful person and I treat anyone with dignity and respect as long as they do me the same, but I do take offense to folks who have no idea what is is to be a Christian to make baseless assumptions. And to be honest, I would RATHER be a Christian rather than live for nothing and to live and believe in some of the things non believers stand for because it honestly is just insane.
So the argument from ignorance, with a hint of watchmaker thrown in for good measure.
@iron_legion87 said:
I question people who think they know all the answers to the universe and know for a fact there is no higher power or an afterlife? Really? There are holes in theories atheist like to pop off, for example, how does evolution add information to a genome to create progressively more complicated organisms? How is evolution able to bring about drastic change so quickly? How could could the first living cell arise spontaneously to get evolution started? None of that is really explainedbut atheist just say evolution is absolute fact but honestly it is just a theory and nothing more. Things like that is why I believe in God. I actually believe what we learn through science shows us how God created the universe and how it works. Anyway, evil exist in the world because of human choices as we have free will and yes, God sometimes prevents things from happening and sometimes he doesn't but it's all for a reason (and it's not him being cruel or lazy or stupid). It takes a lot more faith to believe we all just got here randomly, by a cosmic accident, and it just so happens us humans formed the way we did, and it just so happens animals, plants, and the various landscapes all just happened the way it did. You can use the old excuse of religion caused some wars, but it's been way more wars that were not religiously inspired than those that were. Yes, there are some hateful/ nasty, evil people in religion but there are some nasty, evil, hateful people who are atheist.
Theres so much off with this post
Saying God did it is not the answer though, there is even less evidence of that, also I dont think you understand what the word theory means.
A Theory is based on a body of facts that have been repeatedly confirmed through observation and experiment. Theories are not guesses they are reliable accounts of the world.
Did you know Gravity is also a Theory ?
Can you tell me what we have learned through Science points you towards a belief in God, none of what we have learned has pointed towards the existence of God.
Evolution does a God job of showing how life evolved to what we say today, it doesnt take faith to grasp evolution it takes an understanding of biology.
@bigfootpart2 said:
Agnostic
Agnostic is a position on Knowledge, not belief they are two separate Questions. Everybody is either a Atheist or a Theist.
The evolution theory does not answer the questions I mentioned above. Yes, a theory is based on some facts, but it's not ablsoute truth in this case. It's well known there are holes in that theory. The fact is no human knows for a fact how life started as no one was around to document it. It could be random or it could have been caused by a higher power, I believe the later.
Since I believe God created the universe, even we learn through science explains how it was created. For me, it's hard to imagine the human body forming and functioning the way it does simply because of a cosmic accident. And all the plants, animals, and landscapes just came about randomly. And it just so happens the earth is a suitable environment for it all.
Further more, I see people in my church who were diagnosed with deadly cancer by doctors. Doctors basically kept assuring them that they were going to die and nothing could be done. However, they kept believing that God would heal them. Well those people are cancer free and are very much alive. The doctors to this day can not give an explanation. Atheist would just pass this off as blind luck or something scientist will maybe gave an explanation for 5, 10, 20 years or never.
There are instances in my own life where there is no explanation available. I researched tons of scientific theories and non religious explanations and non of it added up or was logical in anyway. It only lead me to believe there was a higher power. There was a time I had doubt's about the existence of God but there is just to much evidence for me to make it claim there isn't. If you don't believe totally fine, but I would look down on those that do because no knows for sure.
@thehig1: Nope wasn't luck. It's cool if you are a non believer, but science does not have all the answers to the universe and no human does either no matter how smart they are or think they are.
How could could the first living cell arise spontaneously to get evolution started?
The biologically important lipid-bilayer self-assembles without living intervention.
Loading Video...
All 4 RNA bases (as well as formamide) are formed from impact shockwaves (impact synthesis): Linky
We can now emphatically state that all biologically important precursors are formed naturally. The only thing left is to discern how they all came together, and tidal pools would do just that; evaporation during low tide would cause any non-evaporate to concentrate.
Many believe there was an RNA world before the DNA world, but that's another discussion.
Every time science progresses, religion has to hike up its skirt and say 'well, okay, that's that, but you still can't explain this'.
Hasn't religion always been a gap-filler? When we didn't know better, lightening was an intentional act of God. That's why in many communities in less educated times if a house was struck by lightening, they'd try to stop the spread of the fire to other houses but they'd let the house that was struck burn; because God obviously intended it.
I've got more time than I thought (waiting for someone to show up so we can leave) so I'm going to tackle a bit more here. I may break off abruptly and if I do I apologize and will pick back up when I get home.
@iron_legion87 said:
There are holes in theories atheist like to pop off, for example, how does evolution add information to a genome to create progressively more complicated organisms?
Various means. Transposition. Polyploidy. Even Meiosis can result in unconventional recombination.
@iron_legion87 said:
How is evolution able to bring about drastic change so quickly?
Currently, mostly Meiosis. As the parents must survive to reproductive age one has to give a nod to natural selection as well. This is why evolution happens most quickly when the environment changes: those creatures who survived likely had some genetic variation that allowed them to prosper better in the changing environment. Stress pushes evolution into overdrive.
@iron_legion87 said:
It takes a lot more faith to believe we all just got here randomly, by a cosmic accident
No, it just takes a hell of a lot more education over various fields for someone to truly understand the complexities of genetics, chemistry and physics. It's so much easier to just pass off such events to a higher being and be done with it.
You do realize things are popping into and out of existence all the time, right?
Make any sense to you? If not, then you're in over your head. Contemplating these questions should really be left to those with enough education to answer them.
@br0kenrabbit: Doesn't matter how intelligent you are or think you are. The fact remains that know human, past, present, or future will be able to say with 100 % certainly X is how the universe was created. No human was around to doucement it so who really is to say the Big Bang WASN'T caused by a higher power? Who really is to say there ISN'T an afterlife such as heaven or hell??
I been to college and I have a degree. I am not the smartest man alive, but I have a average intelligence at least. It be pretty arrogant to say I know everything and that anyone who believes in God is an idiot . I have friends who also went to college and had like insane G.P.A's like 3.5 and the like and they attend my church weekly as believers in God. Like I said, I seen and been through things that just can't be passed off as luck since science currently has no explanation for it. Your free to believe whatever you want but I will continue to believe in God.
@br0kenrabbit: Doesn't matter how intelligent you are or think you are. The fact remains that know human, past, present, or future will be able to say with 100 % certainly X is how the universe was created. No human was around to doucement it so who really is to say the Big Bang WASN'T caused by a higher power? Who really is to say there ISN'T an afterlife such as heaven or hell??
I been to college and I have a degree. I am not the smartest man alive, but I have a average intelligence at least. It be pretty arrogant to say I know everything and that anyone who believes in God is an idiot . I have friends who also went to college and had like insane G.P.A's like 3.5 and the like and they attend my church weekly as believers in God. Like I said, I seen and been through things that just can't be passed off as luck since science currently has no explanation for it. Your free to believe whatever you want but I will continue to believe in God.
@thehig1: like I said you are entitled to believe whatever you want. If you believe there is no God and scientist hold all the answers to the universe more power too you. I will continue to believe what I believe and it doesn't make me less intelligent.
I been to college and I have a degree. I am not the smartest man alive, but I have a average intelligence at least. It be pretty arrogant to say I know everything and that anyone who believes in God is an idiot . I have friends who also went to college and had like insane G.P.A's like 3.5 and the like and they attend my church weekly as believers in God. Like I said, I seen and been through things that just can't be passed off as luck since science currently has no explanation for it. Your free to believe whatever you want but I will continue to believe in God.
Do you understand the difference between "Here's some evidence" and "here's some old stories"?
About those old stories...can you read Hebrew? Let's hope so, because here we go.
Elohim = The first name given to God in Genesis. Also, the name of the entire Canaanite Pantheon headed by the Father God El (oh, another name given to God later on), who has 70 sons, two of whom are Ba'al and Yahweh (oh, yeah).
Moses's father-in-law was a priest of Yahweh in Midian under the polytheistic Canaanite pantheon. This is where the Kenite Hypothesis comes into play.
Do you want to go on? Because we can talk about the word Nephesh and discuss how the entire basic idea of Christianity has changed from how the apostles and their contemporaries viewed it. It'll turn your understanding upside-down, I promise.
@thehig1: like I said you are entitled to believe whatever you want. If you believe there is no God and scientist hold all the answers to the universe more power too you. I will continue to believe what I believe and it doesn't make me less intelligent.
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