At what point would you super-relgious types admit that you're wrong?

[gran guerrero]

i'll just turn gay for satan with boobies on the side. That way hell will be the good life, with 1 negative.

But cmon, how many days in your life can you say that you take a 20 inch red evil cock up your ass.

[Squeezer]

i'll just turn gay for satan with boobies on the side. That way hell will be the good life, with 1 negative.

But cmon, how many days in your life can you say that you take a 20 inch red evil cock up your ass.

...waiting for the Xog joke.

[Spider]

Isn't that 1/2 of the point of religion anyway?

1/2 of it is because no one knows what happens when you die, so we need something to cling onto

1/2 of it is to create a moral code which binds people who might not otherwise live by a certain code. This is to ensure society can function smoothly.

This pretty well sums up my personal feelings about religion. I am a staunch atheist. While I freely admit that we (at this time, and likely for all time) cannot fully explain our existence I firmly believe there is no God and no true religion.

First, if there really was one specific God or collection of Gods, I see no reason why people on one part of the planet would believe in the Christian God, while people in another part of the planet would just as strongly believe in another God. Second, human existence far predates todays relatively modern religions. Christianity was born about 2,000 years ago, Judaism a little before that. Christianity, Judaism, and the Muslim faith, are, humorously enough, basically the same religion. People were wandering around chasing down animals to eat long before that. God created us then came back 100,000 years later? Imagine this exchange between God and one of his subjects.

Oh, I forgot to mention, I am your God. Nice to meet you! This is my son. He is a hell of a guy. He does this trick where he can cure leprosy, that disease I made. Oh, sorry about that by the way. Woke up on the wrong side of the bed. It can happen to anyone.

I believe that religion makes perfect evolutionary sense for exactly the reasons Epinephrine was hinting at. It provided order in society, something we all know is very beneficial. Having an enemy does the same thing, by the way.

Today, religion no longer fulfills this objective and as a result no longer provides humanity with any reason to keep it around. In fact, in todays modern states which provide socialization and order through other means religion is redundant. Societies are becoming less and less homogeneous with new means of transportation like planes, trains, and automobiles. Immigration in the first world accounts for a large percentage of the total increase in population. As a result varying religions within a single nation simply feed fear and mistrust among citizens of a country. It has a negative effect now, while it used to have a positive one.

As a result religion is dying out. It did it's job, just like hunting and gathering did. Then farming provided us with everything we needed. Now our economy, while we obviously have to still eat, is now more based on silicon than anything else. Religion has also been replaced, and will continue to die off.

In fact, even if the basic assumptions of religion (Christianity I assume we're talking about) are correct my reasons for its demise would still stand. So, even if there is a God, he wont have any worshipers 100 years from now. Any humanity will be less violent for it.

In the spirit of the original point of the thread, if I died, and since I am an atheist for me I would met this Heaven's gate guard dude with the check list, I would shocked, and probably shit my pants. As far as I understand, one of the rules is if you don't believe you go straight to hell. Which, of course, makes total sense. If religion needs to serve the purpose of providing rules for a society it can't be optional. Hey, wanna join this religion, we make great cookies? No thanks, I'd rather be a heathen. No. That wouldn't work at all.

Also, I don't think religion is very important for morality. I am easily one of the most moral people I know and I've met less tolerant atheists but I've never met one who is much more confident than I am that there is no after life, God, or true religion. I almost never drink, don't smoke, don't steal, there have been times when I returned a $5 because the person incorrectly gave me $5 too much change. I quit doing that when I realized I was robbing the poor (myself) to give to the rich (the business) and according to my beliefs that's more unethical than keeping the money. Not because I felt I needed the five bucks. WOW THIS IS FUCKING LONG. My reason is we have a blizzard in my city and I am stranded in my house alone and not allowed to use the roads according to the police. Therefor I am bored and had nothing to do but write this crap. I apologize.

[DoTheFandango]

what is with all the freaking religious talk around here nowadays?

any how, I'm very interested in what happens in the end. I really wish that religion made sense, then I would abide by it.

Who cares, do what you love and fuck the rest.

[Epinephrine]

WOW THIS IS FUCKING LONG.

Spider... there will be a place for religion for a very long time yet. People need #1 and #2 of my criteria. #1 can somewhat be mitigated by science, but #2 can't. Unless you're a country like Japan, or are a strict communist country where there's a prevailing ideology to act a certain way, society will need religion in order to make sure people don't just do whatever they want because they realize there aren't enough consequences for things which laws do not regulate.

[Facetious]

let me know when you get hit by a bus.

OK!!!!

[Bilbo]

you don't get pussy or weed in hell.

Shit, looks like hell won't be so bad after all, because I don't get those now either.

[HeavenSent]

Some people choose a religion to answer questions or to feel good about their spirituality.
Some people choose something to believe in because they had a paranormal experience that sets them on a path with a mission.

[HeavenSent]

I have studied the bible like few people have.
I base my knowledge on the many patterns I've discovered reading the bible and extra-biblical text.
The Mayans & Hebrews have various cycles of time. What's really interesting is noting where various cycles merge. The year 2012 is really interesting because most of the time cycles complete in that year.

So... if nothings happening by 2015... my faith might grow less & less, possibly to the piont of admitting the topic of this thread.

However, because of my studies & the experience that started me on my way, I highly doubt that doubt will ever come into play.

[Reaver]

This thread is really a slap in the face of people that use the forums and are super-religious, or even religious, for reasons already stated by TK. Although I consider myself to be religious I don't think I can consider myself super religious. What I have noticed from this thread is that people who dislike openly religious people are just as open and in your face about the fact that they don't like openly religious people as openly religious people are about the fact that they're religious. The openly religious people don't need to be so in someone's face about religion either. In my opinion it's important that you don't denounce your faith, much like this thread would like you to do, but that doesn't mean that you need to let everyone know what you believe in every 10 seconds either.
Furthermore, the fact that you titled it "At what point would you super-relgious types admit that you're wrong?" and the fact that you don't give a crap whether we think it's not possible or not only makes it more obvious that you're blatant ignorance and complete disregard for other people's beliefs points all too clearly at how naive you are.
I don't dislike you any more or less but It would be nice if I could match you in ignorance on the same level which you have done to myself and others. To be honest, I wouldn't have said this much to a thread started by most others, but as an active, generally intelligent forum user, and now a moderator, the fact that you'd have the audacity to make a thread that insults some of the people you've been put in place to moderate makes the sting that much more.

[Galleleo]

In other words, heavensent is saying that if the world does not end by the time it's 2015.. he will stop believing.

[HeavenSent]

In other words, heavensent is saying that if the world does not end by the time it's 2015.. he will stop believing.

Not necessarily. I'll just have to accept that man cannot be trusted for anything... not even sacred scripture. At most, i'd probably just believe that there is a God but not any religion or religious text... that the afterlife is indifferent.. Christian or not.

[HeavenSent]

I would be more interested in people's interpretation of the book of Job.

Why? Interesting question, since most of everything between the start & end of that book are just the babblings of man. Job's friends telling him to curse god etc.. for all the sudden hardship.

[Bioture]

Job got hit by a bus alright. But he didn't die though. That's one tough motherfucker.

[Facetious]

Furthermore, the fact that you titled it "At what point would you super-relgious types admit that you're wrong?" and the fact that you don't give a crap whether we think it's not possible or not only makes it more obvious that you're blatant ignorance and complete disregard for other people's beliefs points all too clearly at how naive you are.
I don't dislike you any more or less but It would be nice if I could match you in ignorance on the same level which you have done to myself and others. To be honest, I wouldn't have said this much to a thread started by most others, but as an active, generally intelligent forum user, and now a moderator, the fact that you'd have the audacity to make a thread that insults some of the people you've been put in place to moderate makes the sting that much more.

Practically any thread about religion gets de-railed by people quoting the bible to prove that non-believers are wrong. Perhaps I didn't phrase it in the nicest way, but I wasn't directing that at everyone, merely the one or two people around here who quote endless passages from the bible any time the word God shows up in a thread. My point wasn't that "I don't give a crap" in general, if your religion gives you happiness, that's great. What I meant was that I was suggesting a hypothetical, and that saying "well, your hypothetical is impossible because of these bible verses" is completely irrelevant to my thread.

It would have been pretty easy for this thread to turn into the typical Blueblaze vs. the world flame fest had I not said that, and I think he actually held back a little from what he would have normally said. I wouldn't have learned that HeavenSent, who I viewed as extremely Christian, believes to some degree in Mayan prophecy as well. That's interesting to me.

As far as me being naive about religion, you've got me there. I grew up with two agnostic parents, I've been to church probably less than five times in my entire life (and going to church, for me, is definitely not a great way to learn about religion, it pretty much just creeps me out). Practically all my friends are agnostic, atheist, or those people who kind of pretend to be religious just out of habit. Living in a country where Christianity has such an influence on culture and laws, it's something that I really wish I understood better. I wasn't trying to insult anyone, though, I just forget about the concept of faith a lot of the time because it's so foreign to me.

Keep in mind though, if this thread insulted you because I believe you are probably wrong about the afterlife, it's just as insulting to me when people say I'm wrong about the afterlife. Of course, since my beliefs are so vague, and there are so many of you that believe the exact same thing, it's easy to feel like I'm attacking your beliefs more than anyone who quotes the bible is attacking mine, but it's not true. If you're pissed at me for starting a thread based on my agnosticism, you should also be pissed at the people who start threads about their Christianity.

edit: By the way, I'm here as a moderator to move posts, close threads, and hopefully try to explain to people why certain decisions are being made about the forums. Let me know if you think I'm doing a bad job at that, but if being a moderator means I have to change the way I act on the forums, forget it.