You knew it was coming...

[Bioture]

I was a hardcore athiest once. I was at the mercy of the devil.

But then, the light of Jesus - Yes I saw the LIGHT of Jesus

And I was SAVED

[Liquid Blue]

Sounds like someone's on the jesus juice.

[Sarien]

There is no way on earth that this thread can be done right without having The Enforcer around to tell us all how we should feel.

Religion is a private experience, and it's just a pity that more people haven't read Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine, and Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russel. If only more people would keep their religion in some sort of proper perspective.

[geekbot]

I'll give my thoughts before the arguments run off too far.

My answer to SpiderMage's question is the idea of truth. If there exist truths and falsities then there will be things that are true and things that aren't. If I believe something is true and it is important, then I should live by it. As a Christian, I believe the only way to God is through Jesus. And since I believe Jesus is the only way, then a result is that everyone who wants to reach God does have believe in Jesus. I don't believe everyone has to be converted. But I would like to see everyone make it to the big basing map in the sky.

If the truth that I believed in didn't involve only one way then it would be easier, yes. But, hey, if there's only one train to Idaho, what else am I going to do?

As for "faith", my experience is that just as we have physicial and emotional parts of us, we also have spritual parts that can allow us to experience spiritual things that don't rely on logical proof or material evidence.

[Gemfire]

The only reason religion was ever created(As far back as anyone can tell) is to keep some order among the people. If your citizens are afraid of "sinning" and going to "hell"(I only know about Christianity, so if there are any people of other religions out there, Id be glad to hear what the equivalents of "heaven and hell" are), it makes it quite easy to control the masses, no?

[za gophar]

i decided to believe in god, cause i figured it couldnt be too much of a pain. so thats where im at right now.

i go to a catholic college and there are a lot of hardcore holy people there. they only annoy me if they are very imposing about certain things. like i made a friend at the beginning of the year who is very religious and when my friends and i go out and drink he gets angry and pisses everyone off. we tell him he can have a good time even if he doesnt drink, but its like he holds it against us. just an example. i dont care how openly religious people are as long as they dont judge people or impose their religion on people, like the bush administration.

[bloodzombie]

My answer to SpiderMage's question is the idea of truth. If there exist truths and falsities then there will be things that are true and things that aren't. If I believe something is true and it is important, then I should live by it. As a Christian, I believe the only way to God is through Jesus. And since I believe Jesus is the only way, then a result is that everyone who wants to reach God does have believe in Jesus. I don't believe everyone has to be converted. But I would like to see everyone make it to the big basing map in the sky.
.

The thing that drives me nuts about this, and I had this discussion on here with Aenima before he left on his mission, is that you're suggesting that God created people that never had a chance to make it to heaven.

[Jason]

I was told by my born-again Christian friend (a friendship that's quickly deteriorating) that I was going to hell for labeling "The Passion of the Christ" a shitty movie. Religious fanatics need to leave me the fuck alone and go meet their beloved god already.

That's all I care to contribute to this discussion at this point in time. Carry on with your bad selves.

[Pandagirl!]

Religion is a private experience, and it's just a pity that more people haven't read Age of Reason, by Thomas Paine, and Why I am not a Christian by Bertrand Russel. If only more people would keep their religion in some sort of proper perspective.

While you're at it, try reading The Case for Christ and the Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, because it covers everything covered in this thread.

[Zerzera]

And I ask my question to you: Do you really believe you'd be a Christian if you were born and raised in Iraq?

3 out of the 9 Iraqi people I know are Christian. :P

[SpiderMage]

While you're at it, try reading The Case for Christ and the Case for Faith by Lee Strobel, because it covers everything covered in this thread.

So it covers why Christians try to force their religion and beliefs on others and why they say everyone else is wrong and there is no other possible answer?

[Gemfire]

In reality there really is no TRUE way to know if there is a god or not. Some people need to think there is a higher being, some dont, some dont know if they do.

[SpiderMage]

In reality there really is no TRUE way to know if there is a god or not. Some people need to think there is a higher being, some dont, some dont know if they do.

I agree with that, fully and truly. I don't know if there is a god/gods/goddess/goddesses or not, but I do know something had to create everything. Whether they are still around or watching over everything is the mystery.

[Pandagirl!]

So it covers why Christians try to force their religion and beliefs on others and why they say everyone else is wrong and there is no other possible answer?

No, actually the author (Lee Strobel) was a hardcore atheist. The whole book is him going and talking to religious people (not just any old people though, ones who know what they're talking about and have studied the Bible and such), trying to disprove God's existence, talking about things like why there is suffering in the world and things like that. It isn't a one sided book - because Strobel was an atheist when he was gathering information for the book. You see him arguing out his side of the case to all the ministers and things. Quite an interesting read.

[froedrick]

Ok, too the dude who had 'jesus wants people converted because he wants to spread his love..or some shit like that'. Wasn't jesus a jew?

And seriously, why do religious people like the mormons have to come to my door trying to sell me their religion about how great god is and the like. If you don't praise god and the like, you'll go to hell! Good, great, let me go to hell. None of your business. Fuck right off.

Then I always get the whole argument from religious types, about how god created the Universe, because 'THE UNIVERSE JUST CAN'T BE HERE!!!!!'. Uh who created God? God just can't be here. And by your own logic you can't just be created from nothing.

This argument can go on and on. And it will cause more wars in the future.