Do you believe in God?

[Got Gear?]

Re: Re: Do you believe in God?

Originally posted by TKO
Whats up Man...

Try the Q'uran, you won't find ANY contradictions there...There is not a question you can have that is not answered in this Holy Book....If you have any questions, feel free to ask.

1st Question: What's the Q'uran?

BUY A T-SHIRT

lol... knew it was just a matter of time..

[goliath.jr]

I don't believe in god...but if believing in god and the bible makes you feel like a better person and helps you get through the day, knock yourself out.

[goliath.jr]

why do christians believe that dogs don't have a soul, and don't go to heaven?

[Keiser]

Originally posted by goliath.jr
why do christians believe that dogs don't have a soul, and don't go to heaven?

[goliath.jr]

Originally posted by Keiser

so you think that dogs have a soul? what about cricketts?

[TKO]

Re: Re: Re: Do you believe in God?

Originally posted by Got Gear?
1st Question: What's the Q'uran?

It is the Holy Book Muslims believe God revealed to the Prophet Mohammed. It is similar to the bible, only for a few slight differences, and one major difference

[WillJitsu]

Originally posted by Got Gear?
The weight of the act may have changed. But the fact remains, god wanted the blood of animals. Is god really that vain that he wants you to sacrifice animals or your possesions just to prove your devotion? Isn't he already supposed to know that sort of thing?

There are some things that we as humans cannot understand. God has reason for everything that he has said. Of course he is all-knowing, but we were created to worship him, and in those times, a sacrifice was a way of showing our devotion to the Creator.

Good point. I can't remember the story very clearly. But God was aware of the act and corresponded with the character afterwards as if he was one of gods "favored"

There are many times in the Bible where Jesus associated with people that might have been considered "unfavored". He talked with prostitutes and the blind and sick. People that no one associated with, Jesus made an effort to reach them. He came to save the souls of people, not to pick the best looking or nicest people around. The outside appearance did not matter to him at all. It says in the Bible that everyone will be judged for their sins, but this is after death. We are not punished on Earth every single time we do something wrong.

The meaning hasn't changed: To force someone to work against their will. God was very clear on this.. he didn't say "get some labourers". True, this was pretty commonplace back then and nobody would have given it more than a passing thought... but the fact still remains. God told him to caputre some people and make them into slaves.



But Vandoo has a good point. The bible was written by humans.. so it's subject to error. But why do these religions hold some of it as scripture, yet ignore other parts? They are guessing at what god wants at this point..

Scripture of course must be interpreted by humans, and many differ on what God actually meant in certain circumstances. However, the Bible is God-inspired and written by men of God that wrote down his teachings. The history in the Bible has been proven correct time and again.

[goliath.jr]

Originally posted by WillJitsu
The history in the Bible has been proven correct time and again.

Can you give examples?

[TheGame1976]

God is personal to everyone so one can't put down another person for their beliefs, I would hate to think that we die and turn to worm food but some people believe that. My aunt is a Catholic nun and when I was in her convent I did feel a powerful presence.

[edvedr]

Originally posted by teekahty
My belief is this , even if the bible is all bunk , it is still a good outline for life , the golden rule , the ten commandments , all of it , so where is the risk to believe in and honor God , if I am wrong in the end . I am buried , but if the people who do not love and honor God are wrong ....... i think i would rather not risk it. by the way my cynicsm comes from bad religous expierences just like almost everyone else . I am somewhat intelligent , (my opinion) and I have figured out some things as I have grown up , and to me it seems the more people have to tell you or show you how religous they are the less it is true .

teek I agree with you on just about everything, but I don't believe in GOD. So here is my question. you say it is a good outfit for life (i agree) and why not believe. What if you can't believe. my mind just won't let me, it all contardicts itself to me and nothing makes sense or is logical to me, I do want to believe but I just can't. so the end comes and there is a god, will i be looked down on because I did not believe, even though I led a good life.

[WillJitsu]

Originally posted by goliath.jr
Can you give examples?

Unfortunately without being a historian, it would be difficult for me to prove this point to you. I have just read many articles in the past years about things such as a boat frozen in ice considered to be the ark. Also, the civilizations mentioned in the Bible have left behind artifacts recovered by archeologists many years later. The cities mentioned in the Bible are in existance today. I'm not going to sit here and try to prove this however, because I know I can't. This is something you would have to study on your own. It would just seem strange to me that a book written that long ago could be so accurate when compared with things we have found today. Do you know of any discrepancies with the history in the Bible?

[WillJitsu]

Originally posted by edvedr
teek I agree with you on just about everything, but I don't believe in GOD. So here is my question. you say it is a good outfit for life (i agree) and why not believe. What if you can't believe. my mind just won't let me, it all contardicts itself to me and nothing makes sense or is logical to me, I do want to believe but I just can't. so the end comes and there is a god, will i be looked down on because I did not believe, even though I led a good life.

For some people it does take a lot more to convince them. My suggestion to you is read all that you can. Talk to people that have a good knowledge of the Bible and ask many many questions. Maybe this board is not the best place to get your answers, because most of us probably are not as knowledgable as may be required to convince you. If you honestly do want to believe, then study. Many things in the Bible I do not understand, but I have asked and people are able to make sense of them. I fortunately grew up in a Christian household and most of what I have learned makes sense to me. However, I do understand what you're saying and I definitely would not put down someone for wanting to know more facts before making a decision like that. I don't know if that answered your question or helped you at all, but hopefully it did.

[TheGame1976]

Amen Brother Teekathy although you hate my DEVILS

[goliath.jr]

Originally posted by WillJitsu
Unfortunately without being a historian, it would be difficult for me to prove this point to you. I have just read many articles in the past years about things such as a boat frozen in ice considered to be the ark. Also, the civilizations mentioned in the Bible have left behind artifacts recovered by archeologists many years later. The cities mentioned in the Bible are in existance today. I'm not going to sit here and try to prove this however, because I know I can't. This is something you would have to study on your own. It would just seem strange to me that a book written that long ago could be so accurate when compared with things we have found today. Do you know of any discrepancies with the history in the Bible?

Fair enough. I know of one major one - Noah's Ark. Here are a couple excerpts i have taken:

One of the Biblical stories that forms a central part of creationist beliefs is the supposed universal flood of Genesis. According to the account, the flood took place when Noah was 600 years old; the data provided by the genealogies in Genesis allow us to calculate that this would have been about 1,600 years after creation. If we assume the earth to have been created in 4004 BCE, the flood would have happened about 2348 BCE, around the time the pyramids were being built at Giza.

Amazingly, the Egyptian historical records of the period, which are reasonably full and complex, do not document a flood or the complete annihilation of population from the Nile valley. Nor is there any indication that in the years following the otherwise undocumented flood, the region was recolonised by the descendants of a Mesopotamian boat-builder and the animals they had rescued from the antediluvian world. Further afield, Chinese records make no mention of this universal flood. The archaeological record of the Indus Valley civilisation fails to show a mid-third-millennium hiatus. There is simply no evidence from any part of the world to support the Biblical account of a worldwide flood that wiped out all humanity with the exception of eight people from Mesopotamia and the recolonisation of the earth by their descendants and the animals that accompanied them on the Ark.

In the mid 1980s, another explorer named Ron Wyatt (1933-1999) rehabilitated the identification of the Doðubayazit formation as Noah’s Ark. He claimed that the formation contained large quantities of ‘gopher wood’, from which Genesis says the Ark was built. The Turkish Ministry of Cultural Affairs and the High Commission on Ancient Monuments declared the area a national park to protect the site from the unwanted attentions of looters. A number of supposed artefacts were recovered from the site and the surrounding area, including what was said to be an iron bracket. Microscopic studies showed that the ‘bracket’ was entirely natural and had formed from weathered volcanic minerals. The supposedly fossilized ‘gopher wood’ bark turned out to be metamorphosed peridotite. Ground penetrating radar surveys that had been thought to reveal metal-braced walls proved to show naturally occurring concentrations of limonite and magnetite in steeply inclined sedimentary layers. Fossiliferous limestone cutting across the syncline that forms the feature shows that the structure cannot have been Noah’s Ark according to the creationist rules because these supposed flood deposits are younger than the supposed Ark. Pierced cylindrical stones found at Kazan, traditionally identified as the anchor stones of the Ark, are local andesite and not minerals from Mesopotamia, where the Biblical story indicates that they should have originated.

The Doðubayazit ‘Ark’ is an entirely natural formation and it is misleading of creationists to claim that there is evidence to show that it is a ‘fossilised’ ship.

The origins of the flood story
The stories surrounding the Sumerian hero Gilgamesh include a Flood legend so like the one in Genesis (even with a Noah character, Ziusudra), that it is obviously the source for much of the Noah story. In the Assyrian Epic of Gilgamesh proper, the survivor of the flood is called Utnapishtim. There is also an Old Babylonian poem that mentions a universal flood, this time with a hero called Atrahasis. Most Biblical scholars (with the exception of Christian fundamentalists) agree that the ancient Hebrews adopted a flood story into their mythology at some point during a period of close contact with Mesopotamia, perhaps during the Exile or perhaps much earlier, in view of the differences between it and the Babylonian version.

One of the investigators in the 1980s, David Fasold, quickly recognised that the feature at Doðubayazit is not Noah’s Ark, but an entirely natural, geological formation. However, as an interesting corollary, he suggested that it may well have been the very shape of the site that encouraged ancient populations to think of it as a ship and to invent the story of a Deluge to account for its presence 2,000 metres up a mountainside.

[edvedr]

i wasn't really looking for an answer, i just wanted your opinion, i see your point, but I honestly feel like I will never believe, every time the subject comes up too many questions go unanswered even a priest can't give me a straight answer which just leads to more confusion which is fine. I'm a good person because I want to be, not so I'm rewarded when I die. and if there is a GOD i'm sure he will see the real person.