I was raised on a Native American reservation, so i believe in nature.

I used to go to church, but i believe i don't have to go to church to pray...

I personally, do not believe in any religion. I used to go to Church, when I was questioning my faith. I won't be the only one. I have no regrets of that. However, religion is now for me. For several reasons. I could be considered an Atheist, but only to an extent. I believe in certain spiritual beings which would make me more part-Atheist. My beliefs are:

I do not believe their to be a God, if in fact, there is a God. If there is a "God" I believe there not to be one, but there to be many. Such as the beliefs of Ancient (and Modern) Greek and Egypt.

I do not believe in a Heaven or a Hell. If such places do exist, I do not believe them to be run by one superior beings. But rather, many beings or none at all. In my eyes, Hell should be place where the "evil" people run free to do whatever the fuck they like. That's punishment enough. If demons and the like exist, even better! If Heaven exists, all "good" people would already know what to do and what not to do.

I do not believe in God due to false hope. I believe Christians cling onto God like a bad smell. It gives them a sense of hope that I do not believe to be healthy. A sense of denial, if you will. I believe Christians are afraid of what death lies. Death is death, it is the end. Only the dead know if such a place lies after it. And it should stay that way. Christians have no right pleading about their beliefs. I don't about mine.

I do not believe in God because s/he is a hypocrite and contradictive. The Bible is meant to be a book which is to be read by humanity so that they can find out what to do to be allowed passage into "Heaven." The Bible is fucking cryptic. And half the crap in it no one can fucking understand. 14 words is all it needs - Don't fuck with God. You don't fuck with me, I let you into Heaven. Or it just needs to be the Decalogue (10 Commandments).

It states clear as fuck in the Bible that God himself created everything. Earth, the Planets, the Universe. Everything. So my question is. Who created God? A popular question asked by Atheists and yet, Christians can never answer it. Ever. It also states God created us in his image and we were meant to be the perfect beings.

Well, God must fucking suck because humanity is a fucked up race. HUMANS are the blight upon nature. The worst disease you can ever have is to be a human. That's my philosophy. If we were made to be perfect, how come we are not? It also states God is all-knowing and all-powerful. If so, wouldn't he have known that humanity would not have been perfect? And if he had, why would he continue to create us only to be surprised by the fact that we were not perfect? That's not possible.

My religion is this website. I believe everything on it, and everything on it can be proven by looking into your precious Bible.

Fixed the topic title.

Personally, I'm agnostic, I have yet to find a religion I think makes any sense to me, and personally I don't think it would really be possible for mankind to posit a divine being or beings with any accuracy at all - so the entire exercise is outdated and pointless to my mind. That's not to say I believe there can't be any higher being, the possibility exists - though I think not in the ways we've guessed.

Basically, I'm sitting on the fence, and don't think there's really anything which would convince me one way or the other - because I'm naturally critical of most things.

You, are the classic example of any good Agnostic.

I question faith, but, when I go to church, I end up going to sleep.

I am sort of like this, but only to an extent. I was never raised as a Christian. But I was told a lot about Christian ways and some of my friends were Christians and/or believed in Christianities God or another religions God(s). I myself, like I said, went to Church. I questioned my faith, I went to Sunday School. It bored me.

The people there, were too... strict. You couldn't say one thing without someone implying it was a sin. Everything is a goddamn sin to these fucking people. And, they wonder why people go insane over Christianity. I'm honestly not surprised. I hate what Christians believe in, but I do not despise the Christian themselves.

In saying that, there are a few type of Christians I do despise. I have a hatred for them and they disgust me to the very bone. These people state they're Christian, but in truth, act nothing like a true Christian is supposed to. I have encountered many, many "Christians" who like to make fun of my for my Atheistic view. They also like to point out that I'm going to Hell and insult me because of my beliefs. These people aren't what I was told a Christian is. These people are wankers. Assholes, bastards. They're fuckers. I have no sympathy for any of those people.

What sickens me about them, is that I choose to accept their beliefs. Yet I'm an Atheist. However, they choose to mock mine. Well fuck them. This has lead to my fucked up view on Christianity. I assume most Christians a like this. Why? Because most have treated me like shit, mocked my views and beliefs, and like to beat the dog when he's down. It's not just me they go against. It's the world. What about those "Christians" who teach their children pure racism. Saying that black people or homosexual/lesbian people aren't "normal?"

That is just sick and wrong. I may be an Atheist, but if my children were ever to believe in Christianity or some othere religion. Then I say go for it. As long as you don't mock me for my own beliefs, we have no problem.

Mostly everyone has gone to church once in their life (forced )

I remember when i was young i used to have to go with my grandfather... The only reason i went was because i got to go out to eat after words.... lol

I follow no particular faith and often wonder if Christians and the like need to believe so that they don't feel so lost and alone in the big, seemingly empty, universe.

As for the Bible... well, I came across an ebook once that was titled '101 contradictions in the Bible' here are the first 10 -

1.Who incited David to count the fighting men of Israel?
(A.) God did (2 Samuel 24: 1)
(B.) Satan did (I Chronicles 2 1:1)

2.In that count how many fighting men were found in Israel?
(A.) Eight hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9)
(B.) One million, one hundred thousand (IChronicles 21:5)

3. How many fighting men were found in Judah?
(A.) Five hundred thousand (2 Samuel 24:9)
(B.) Four hundred and seventy thousand (I Chronicles 21:5)

4.God sent his prophet to threaten David with how many years of famine?
(A.) Seven (2 Samuel 24:13)
(B.) Three (I Chronicles 21:12)

5.How old was Ahaziah when he began to rule over Jerusalem?
(A.) Twenty-two (2 Kings 8:26)
(B.) Forty-two (2 Chronicles 22:2)

6.How old was Jehoiachin when he became king of Jerusalem?
(A.) Eighteen (2 Kings 24:8)
(B.) Eight (2 Chronicles 36:9)

7.How long did he rule over Jerusalem?
(A.) Three months (2 Kings 24:8)
(B.) Three months and ten days (2 Chronicles 36:9)

8.The chief of the mighty men of David lifted up his spear and killed how many men at one time?
(A.) Eight hundred (2 Samuel 23:8)
(B.) Three hundred (I Chronicles 11: 11)

9.When did David bring the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem? Before defeating the Philistines or after?
(A.) After (2 Samuel 5 and 6)
(B.) Before (I Chronicles 13 and 14)

10.How many pairs of clean animals did God tell Noah to take into the Ark?
(A.) Two (Genesis 6:19, 20)
(B.) Seven (Genesis 7:2). But despite this last instruction only two pairs went into the ark (Genesis 7:8-9)

-------------------

Not being in possesion of a Bible I'm unable to verify any of this, and TBH I can't be ass to waste my time doing so.

What I DO believe though, is the ride of life is what you make it and you only get one go, So don't Fuck it up!

http://www.evilbible.com/Biblical%20Contradictions.htm

I have looked at Bibles for proof of these. And they are, in fact, real contradictions. Proving the Bible is bullshit.

I wouldn't say that they are all contradictions... The bible is pretty much a collection of stories from thousands of years ago, so of course there are going to be some differences between two people's accounts of something.

Yes... maybe so. But it proves that they just added a whole lot of shit in it without reading it over to look for errors such as these. Besides, the bible is meant to be Gods way of informing us how not to go to Hell, it's so fucking cryptic though that you casn't understand a word of it.

There are always questions, There are many more questions that Atheists can't explain then Questions that the Holy Bible can't...

I have no religion. Nothing makes sense to me (ie the Christian god says 'MAGIC IS BAD' if he doesn't have magic, what does he have?)
I like making up my own gods and trying to make them make sense.
Greek mythology intrigues me, however.
I have never gon to church, unless you count daycare when I was 4 that was in a church. We didn't learn any religious stuff, though.

Religon is a great thing, really. Okay, maybe not.

In a large context religon can easily be viewed as bad, but my local community church has done nothing but help me out and support me when I needed it. I think religon is great when its not a business.

i went to this church the other day, and its not what you'd expect a church to be. It was a skate comp, and it was actually not bad... XD

Religions gave nothing to mankind but separatio nand division. Think of the Holy Crusades and whatnot. However, I agree with magnus - they give a person a sense of belonging.

No idea what i was raised up as, I come from a Iraqi "muslim" family, Reverted to islam few years back.

Nexus
Caught my attention, Any particlar reason for this belief?

Personally I'm not a religious or spiritual person. I have been brought up around the christian faith though from a young age never really excepted it.
I've been to church numerous times but never was interested in it. I have gone through points where Hinduism had interested me.
Though I don't believe in "God" or anything like that all. PersonallyI have no problem with religion until people start forcing their beliefs upon me.

I'm a Muslim, but I'm not too religious I don't pray for example

that's true but why is it strange??
I think that there is a very very big misunderstanding of Islam nowadays, and this makes me feel sick because It's something great but people just don't know anything about it.

For all you non-Christians.

Allright For those of you who believe on the big bang.

Take a puzzle box shake it and if all the parts get put together by themself then you proved the Big band theory to be true.

Now for those of you how are trying to point out contradictions.

The Bible was made for real Christians and for us to understand the Bible God gave us the Holy spirit and through the holy spirit we get understanding of the Bible. All of the most famous atheists went through the Bible trying to show us Christians contradictions, but if you look hard you will find that they are not contradictions at all. But as I said the Bible was made for Christians and not UN believers. Also many archaeologists tried to disprove the Bible in trying to find out if the things that the Bible said happened really happened. But every time they do it they just prove the Bible true. One Story in the Bible is about sadden and Gomorrah where God destroyed the city with fire because of the wickedness. And archaeologists have recently found a city completely destroyed by fire and some records were left showing how evil that city was. Now I am not a Christian theologian but in the next few weeks I will disprove these Bible contradictions on here.
Two more things some one on here is wondering who made God, the answer is nobody. God has been for eternity and will be for eternity and I know we can't understand it but we only can use less than half of our brain so how could we understand it?

And secondly If I was an atheist and i was not sure whether there is a hell or heaven I would get saved because i would not take a chance of burning in hell for ever. Take the biggest fire you have seen multiply it by 10,000 times and that is what hell is like.


I will also get my sunday school teacher on here to help me.

I wonder, would you mind telling me where you got your Physics degree? There is ample evidence to support the idea of a hot big bang, largely in the form of the background radiation recorded in the COBE experiment. The results are completely consistent with the theory, with error bars too small to see. You could argue that an omnipotent entity created the universe (and thus was responsible for the big bang) or that it was made such that the world be one just like it HAD been made that way, but you're not on strong ground arguing that the theory of the big bang is flawed, because it has strong support among the experts in the field.

I've once seen a documentary (by BBC) about the creation of the universe and it said that most of the scientists agree that the chance of it being something random is 0. (40 thousand zeros ) 1 % which is like (as they said ) putting TNT under bricks and wires and paint etc. then explode the TNT expecting to build a house.


((excuse me of my poor English))

I haven't seen this documentary, so I don't know what you mean by that at all. What is "something random"? Because without knowing what it's significance is the probability of this "something random" is pretty inconsequential.

What I do have a reference for is that "few researchers now doubt the Big Bang occurred" (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Big_Bang#Feat...es_and_problems)

OK, I know this topic is kind of old, but I'm posting in it anyway because it is the most important topic ever. (literally)

I am a Christian, having been raised by my parents to be one. This may sound like I just believe it because my parents do or something, but that is not at all how I see it. I got saved when I was around 5 years old, and just kind of "believed" everything that my parents told me. I didn't really think anything of Heaven or Hell, besides the fact that Heaven was a happy place, and Hell was (as my parents would say it) "not nice". It wasn't really until I was around 13 years old that I really started questioning my faith. I heard some people talking about different things like the "Big Bang", and thought I'd look into it. I found out that some people believe that the universe was created entirely by chance, and I almost laughed out loud at the thought. I don't pretend to have a PHD in physics or anything like that, but then again I don't think you need one. (I know that might cause a lot of controversy, but that can't be helped.) I think that people believe in the Big Bang because they don't want to believe in an omnipotent God who created the universe. I also looked into some different stuff (controversies, etc.), and found that none of them were convincing.

In conclusion, then, I would have to agree with everything that wesley said about this.

I hope this causes some good discussion, and I hope that everyone here comes to the truth.

Dragolux

sometimes too much confusions lead us to our destructions..

Believe me.

Hmm...Isn't that what this topic is about - believing?

If you believe in Christ Jesus as your Lord and Savior, then all the confusion just fades away.

Dragolux

You shake that box for trillions of millions of years and if it doesn't put itself together I will believe you.

I am actually Buhddist and people say i aint i bleieve all of u ahve rights to wat u believe muslim chrisitan watever

Great, another atheist war. How can "god" exist as an omnipotent being in our world? Have you ever seen "god" with your own eyes? Have you ever smelt "god" with your nose? Have you ever felt "god" with your own hands? If not, then by the five protocols of science, "god" does not exist.

Hello people !

I have a quick question to posters Dragolux and Wesley: the issue of The Big Bang is a little removed from our [mankind's] existence. I mean, it happened at the beginning of the Universe and the phrase "a long time ago" seems rather weak to describe the time elapsed since then.

Let's talk about things that we can immediately relate to. Like the presence of mankind on this fragile planet.

My question is this: what do Wesley and Dragolux think really happened -- the incidents at the Garden of Eden [with Eve being born out of Adam's rib and Adam naming all the animals and so on] or the Darwinian theory of evolution [of species]...

EDIT 1: This question is applicable to almost all the other Origin Myths found in all religions and folklore [and not just Christianity -- Hindusim, for instance, is full of these]. So what seems true: the religious account[s] or the Theory of Evolution?

EDIT 2: Although neither Wesley or Dragolux mentioned this, but I find the Christian account of Universe's Origin rather endearing since the phrase "Let there be light!" [along with the rather dramatic circumstances in which this phrase was supposedly uttered] always makes me think of an explosion in which heat energy is converted into light. And an explosion, when mentioned in connection with the Universe's origin, makes me think of a bang. A big one.

So Wesley and Dragolux could say that the earliest Christians had the knowledge of the Universe being created out of an explosion.

This is like the story about the Dogon tribe and their knowledge of the existence of Sirius B [the star] allegedly from a time before this star was scientifically discovered.

so what dude you dont believe in the big bang? random universe man
i believe we came here some way and i think that theres a reason why
we were put on this planet we live we die we learn and the wheels on the
bus go round and round sorry couldnt help myself
just watched the bucket list yesterday

I haven't recalled reading this in the bible..."And the Lord said, MAGIC IS BAD"
God, does not have magic. God has something else, called the priesthood. According to Christian believe, the preisthood is the power of God, not magic, but power. Through the priesthood, God and Jesus were able to create our world we live in, the stars, the universe, everything. The power of the priesthood, is a power that we can tap into ourselves...according to Mormon religion, you receive this power/blessing when you are the age of 12. There are two levels of the priesthood. The Aaronic, and the Machealztic. The Aaronic priesthood is the priesthood of Aaron, the man who baptized Jesus. This is the lesser priesthood. You recieve the other priesthood when you become and 'elder' of the church, age 18. You are prompted to go on a mission, at this age. Missionaries go around the world serving their fellow mankind, and spreading the word and power of God...the Priesthood.

I don't consider myself religious, but I also don't consider myself a person of scientific belief. I know about this because my best friend is a devout Christian (Mormon). I can tell you that God does not use magic, he has power. A different concept. To have power over something, means to control it. He has power over the seas, nature, weather, the earth, and the universe. However, God does not have power over us. We contain the priesthood, the same power he has. He loves us, and cares for us. He wants us to learn for ourselves, so he can not push us to be obedient if we don't want to, it is our own salvation at stake.

I learned that from my friend, and I just wanted to rebuttal your accusation that God says 'MAGIC IS BAD'.

i suppose religions usually have some moral laws as well as beliefs. For the belief part, what you believe in doesn't hurt anyone else. but for the rules... well it would work if people did follow the rules.

I am sorry Tom, but was the purpose of this discussion to critique others? or discuss about religion, my bad for misreading the title (sarcasm)
I replied to Beam's post directly because he asked a question.
The part that is bolded is the question he asked.

I really think you should have to choose a religion, a religion that you find the best, the most logically and the most interesting: You have to read many books about many religions and read also many Holy books.
Think about the day,after you dead, when God will ask you why you did not believe on him ? What do you answer here ? Will you said I was thinking that the life is only eating, sleeping, and of course making money ? That you don't have the time to look for the true religion?
Ok, first of all make sure that there is only one God, and only one true religion, when God send prophets one after another, logically the last will be who we must believe, why ?
This is the answer in example, when the government publish a law, we respect it, then when she publish a new other law, we respect the last, this is the rule: the last law is the true one, so the last religion is the true one, and here I'm speeching about the sky's religions (Christian, Jewess and Islam )...(I'm Muslim)
So you have to look by yourselves after the true religion and me I'm really sure that it's the Islam, but of course this is my opinion and I don't oblige any one to be like me.
Thank you.

I don't neccessarily belive in the bible, although I do believe in a supreme being and a maker (God). However, I don't believe he has a list of "sins" that if you don't obey them, you are sent to a firery pit for all eternity.. and they claim that THAT god loves you. (That was a valid point that I heard a comedian say) Something just doesn't match up. I believe if you live through life with high morals and have a clear concious then in the after life, you will live happily.

If you are into the whole religous controversies, you may find >>>this link interesting.<<<

If I were to believe in a God, it would have to be totally on faith, I certainly could not take the word of the bible, it either reads like a childrens story book or a horror story but is rarely consistant.

Up to the age of 14 I went to chapel every sunday, after that...well I did not.

I think I have the same opinion as you in this matter - believe based on faith, not a collection of age old stories passed down from generation to generation. Even tho the bible stories emphasize on the importance of faith.

personally I think the poeple who say "no religion" are not beliving it becuase they dont understand it or they dont like having a being over powering them and the religious ppl are taht way because its how man is.....in order to expand we wonder...how can we help but wonder how is?

I am a Muslim and strongly believe in Religion and the oneness of Almighty God.

I'm very proud to be a Muslim

I do not have a religion because I know personally it is a joke. Sorry if I offend anyone but I am a firm believer in that we write our own history and make history everyday by what we do and how it is done. No one has a set destiny, we choose it in the ways that we live our lives.

Jacob.

That is the worst argument going!
Firstly there are not 5 senses, there are about 11. For example your perception of balance, movement, temperature and pain are some.
But that is besides the point. Not everything you believe in is something physical that you can touch. Do you believe in love? Have you ever seen love? Have you smelt it? Have you touched it? etc.
I think not. You can only see what it does and the effects it has on people. Im my personal opinion the same is with God. You cannot see him or feel him, granted, but I personally see the effects of an omnipresent God every day. You may not see this or you may not put it down to God. That is about your personal faith journey but don't try to tell me that God does not exist according to science because we can't see him.

I follow a Christian faith but I wouldn't say I was religious. The church/Christian religion is corrupt and has based itself on traditions formed over the last 400 years or so. For me being a Christian is having a personal relationship with God. I don't try to convince anybody that they should believe in God or not because it is hard for people to believe something they don't understand, especially when they don't even want to try and understand. In my opinion this is the problem with the modern Church. It does not connect or engage with people where they are at.

This is getting pretty intense.

Jacob.

Hey there, I have been reading this thread and thought to answer a few questions.

The reason we are so messed up isn't because of God, it's because of us. We chose to go the opposite way, we made the error and now we are living with the consequences. You can't blame it on God, he had to give us a choice to do right or wrong so we wouldn't just be robots, programmed to be good. Where's the fun in that?

Also on the fact that Christian institutions have been pretty nasty over the last few centuries. I would like to point out that the crusades were not done by "christians", rather by random people who were told by the pope that all their debts to Jews would be written off if they went to war. That is an institution, not a Christian organization. Jesus died because he loves you and would never want to be a part of what they did. All these corrupt happenings are again, because of humans and not God.

The simple fact is, we messed up, Jesus died to solve our sin and all we have to do is believe. What harm would their being in believing if you think yourself an atheist anyway? If you believe we disappear after we die, then what have you to lose???

Do you read what you write before you hit post? If you're an atheist, you believe there is no God, how can you also believe in a God? The two view points are mutually exclusive. Also, why would you choose a Christian God over the others even if doing so made the remotest bit of sense? The logical conclusion of that argument is that you should believe every possible religion, and this is not a feasible situation since most religions will contradict the others.

Yawn.

Maybe you should take into account the fact that I was simply suggesting one God. The logical conclusion would not be to choose all religions as I was suggesting there would be no harm in choosing this one, rather than saying "you better cover all your bases and follow them all". Following all gods would not be possible and I acknowledge that.



Just FYI, I do. You don't need to take an offensive tone, this is a discussion. Anger seems to be seeping through your "logical statements". This proves you are pretty eager to disprove my cause. What about Christianity offends you so much?

But if you're suggesting one there is no reason why it should be that one? Suggesting that you might as well be Christian is no different than saying you might as well be Muslim or whatever. One leads to the other, and the only way to avoid that is to already believe that one of the choices is somehow more correct than the others (in which case you are not atheist but agnostic).

And perhaps I did snap, but I find these oft-repeated statements which don't really make any sense tiresome. You can ascribe that to my not liking Christianity, but I think you have blinkers on if you think that's the only thing I'll argue against. I did not pick out your post because it was pro-christian, I picked it because I think (and this is my opinion) that that part of your post was nonsense.