How many contradictions in your belief system before you'd leave it?

Discussion in 'Religion & Philosophy' started by FreedomSeeker, Sep 23, 2013.

  1. FreedomSeeker

    FreedomSeeker Well-Known Member

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    OH CRAP....that got me thinking! What if there is death for apostasy in modern Secular Humanism!? I've never checked on that, since I just assumed it was too moral to have that! Holy Shiite, I better do some quick research to make sure there's not or else I can't think for myself from now on, as I'll have to let Richard Dawkins do my thinking for me - the way Muslims have to let Mohammad do the thinking for them (Islam has death for apostasy/blasphemy - so can't think for yourself too much.) Think Mohammad was immoral to say to kill gays? TOO BAD, you can't question him or you'll probably die/burn!
     
  2. taikoo

    taikoo Banned

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    Too much mixed up irony for me to know what your point might be.

    As for secular apostasy tho, I did lose some relatives in the Cultural Revolution.

    They took capitalist roading very seriously.
     
  3. FreedomSeeker

    FreedomSeeker Well-Known Member

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    Sorry about that. Fortunately modern Secular Humanism supports democracy, not communism.

    Jesus didn't understand what democracy was, as he supported totalitarian political schemes (he believed in monarchies, and will return as "king", etc.), so he's probably not divine. If Taikoo had Jesus' super-hero abilities, she would have simply told the people (after she told them the cure for cancer!) that democracy was far better than totalitarian political schemes. I bet thebrucebeat and Margot2 would also do that if they were in Jesus' shoes, because even though they might not realize it, they are better than Jesus/Mohammad/Moses.
     
  4. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    LOLOLOL.. Do you actually believe that there was ever a world wide flood? Is that what you are railing against?
     
  5. Gelecski7238

    Gelecski7238 Well-Known Member Past Donor

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    Esotericism addresses a wide variety of scripture without tripping over any nonsense.

    We both have a penchant for hounding the literalists.



    Data, data, data. Some aspects of our reality do not hinge upon data. You could stand in for a cyborg.

    Demonstration is not required for earnest investigation and tabulation of incidents.

    An absurdly rediculous response. Either you are very much uninformed or just recklessly flamboyant regarding the random number phenomenon, which has been demonstrated with participant and computer separated clear across the country. Likewise the traffic light scenario has nothing to do with coast-to-coast. It was witnessed by a person who was very successful as a debunker but acknowledged a small percentage of persons with proven psi abilities.

    And yet you must know that UFOs and some of their electromagnetic/electrostatic effects have been witnessed by credible persons such as Policemen whose cars went dead for a while.

    That's one of the downsides to tying in things.

    There was no such intended onus, just a distinction.
     
  6. FreedomSeeker

    FreedomSeeker Well-Known Member

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    I faked being worried about if my belief system was as immoral as the second most popular belief system in the world today (Islam) - having death for apostasy. I think Dawkins himself wields the axe that cuts off apostates heads(?), but I'm not really sure. Hitchens can't do it anymore, because he's now in "hell" with Mother Teresa* and some guy with a pointy tail.....


    * she doubted her faith in later years, and if she didn't believe in Jesus on her death-bed, despite an entire lifetime of charity work, the supremacist Jesus was so immoral that he allegedly will see that she is treated as bad as Hitler, or Gandhi, or all Muslims, etc., in the unproven "after-life".
     
  7. FreedomSeeker

    FreedomSeeker Well-Known Member

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    Of course *I* don't believe that, because fear does not trump my common sense like it does for religious people, but Jesus never corrected that crazy garbage that he would have known if he was divine (he's clearly not). Christians that I know believe that crap. If they didn't, they'd revise the texts of their belief system if they cared about what belief system/book they try to give to their children. Many Christians on this forum do believe that their god is moral, yet was so evil that he'd kill virtually EVERY living thing on the planet. If Bin Laden killed virtually every living thing on the planet they'd think he was the most immoral thing ever....instead, the most immoral thing ever is "god" of the Buybull.
     
  8. FreedomSeeker

    FreedomSeeker Well-Known Member

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    Better data than fairy tales, dude. Jesus could stand in for Mother Goose.
     
  9. Never Left

    Never Left Banned

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    Gods word is God's word. We are all accountable to it. Not believeing it or calling it falsehood will in no way change that fact.
     
  10. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    God died when the Babylonian Empire collapsed.
     
  11. Never Left

    Never Left Banned

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    Yeah, OK, go with that.
     
  12. The Wyrd of Gawd

    The Wyrd of Gawd Well-Known Member

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    "God" was the title given to the Assyrian/Babylonian emperors who ruled the Middle East. It's like referring to the President as "POTUS" or the head of the Catholic Church as "Pope." Surely you don't believe in some invisible sky/desert mountain dwelling deity who held long conversations with guys and made all kinds of threats against humanity for ticking him off? The Old Testament God died when the Babylonian empire collapsed and the last Babylonian emperor bit the dust. That's why the Old Testament ends when it does.
     
  13. Never Left

    Never Left Banned

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    God is a generic term, the living God has a proper name YHWH and has no relation beyond the generic to any other god. He is personal, Jesus death on a cross was personal, and in the end judgement or reward will be personal. But go with what you seem to believe is the truth, like Zeus's glitter adorned unicorn on a stick pony.
     
  14. taikoo

    taikoo Banned

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    It is possible that nothing will change you, but IF the bible is gods word, you do him and yourself a gross discredit reading it to mean nonsense.

    - - - Updated - - -

    no parody you can come up with is any more ridiculous than belief in noah and all the little animals on the ark. you are an adult?
     
  15. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    Adults don't believe in a world wide flood.. Its a teaching narrative about redemption and faith.
     
  16. Never Left

    Never Left Banned

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    It is truth. What you do with that truth is between you and the living God. Not believeing Gods word in no way changes the fact that Gods word is truth and we are accountable for what is in it. Its very personal.
     
  17. taikoo

    taikoo Banned

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  18. taikoo

    taikoo Banned

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    I have mixed feelings about democracy. The USA seems virtually ungovernable
    and as such, among other reasons, a great danger to itself and all of the world.
     
  19. lynnlynn

    lynnlynn New Member

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    That is a good question because when I finally gave up my Catholic upbringing belief system, I didn't count the numerous contradictions of the bible. It took many years of research of religions and science's version of how life emerged here that I gradually through educating myself changed my beliefs. Reflecting back, the day I realized that I no longer believe the religious story of how life came to be, I thought, "wow" that old belief system is a big part of who you are. I thought, I am still here in one piece and didn't burst into flames because I let go of that belief system. I can't really describe to you that feeling that day.

    Science still has a long way to go to finding that absolute truth of how life came to be and how that is explained will change as new information is learned. The religious stories have not evolved through time so I believe they are losing in not aligning more with science in the wording of the bible.
     
  20. taikoo

    taikoo Banned

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    In general we go along changing our interpretations aw we get more info.
    Those clouds looked like rain, but now they dont... that sort of thing.

    If a person just looked at the bible and did a little math, he might well conclude that Pi=3,0, a reasonable interpretation based on literal reading.

    Later, when a person found out thro' outside sources that Pi is definitely not 3.0,
    it would be reasonable to think "oh,Pi is 3 must not be what the bible says, that is the wrong interpretation".

    That some things in the bible are not literally so are as obvious as the one about 30 cubits and 10 cubits.

    Yet here on this forum people insist its 100% accurate, and they know not only that,but how to interpret everything.

    That it is impossible to measure anything 100% accurately, let alone with cubits, or make a cast basin to such precision matters not.

    I wonder at what point people stop doing that with their bible? A little child's
    way of perceiving a story wont be like an adults. But at some point it seems to lock into place, and no new insights are possible.

    Any idea how that happens or how you were different and escaped that?
     
  21. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    Try not to judge all Christians by the literalist and creationist.
     
  22. taikoo

    taikoo Banned

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    I've never remotely suggested that "they are all alike"
    and I've been at some pains to say the opposite.

    I dont want to be like those who keep giving us this bigoted stereotyping about atheists and 'secular humanists".

    Do you have a comment on the actual substance of my post? You usually have interesting things to say.
     
  23. Margot2

    Margot2 Banned

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    Among my friends and family we don't have beliefs that were fixed in childhood.
     
  24. Hairball

    Hairball Well-Known Member

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    The Bible is not a belief system.

    One.
     
  25. lynnlynn

    lynnlynn New Member

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    Religion is not a belief system??? I am confused on what the op meant by "belief system"
     

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