On religion

[NotAllThere]

FTFY - possibly

No. The documentary evidence is that he said "died" and "raised from the dead". Whether he himself did that is entirely a separate question.

[vetran]

No. The documentary evidence is that he said "died" and "raised from the dead". Whether he himself did that is entirely a separate question.

whole point, in a time when there was no understanding of such medical conditions it is taken as gospel.

Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Vietnam vs China
Vietnam vs Cambodia
Rewandan genocide
World wars 1 and 2.

Historically, a minority of wars have been fought with religion as the basis. The basis of most wars is a desire for power and wealth.

On the other hand, atheism, on the above evidence, causes people, blinded by their irrational hatred of religion, to be extraordinarily ignorant about history and sociology. And, indeed, religion.

With Christianity, the desire to be good is driven out of love for God - not expected reward.
With Islam, similarly.

With Christianity you get a ticket to heaven by faith in Jesus - not by being good. Though being bad is usually cited as evidence of not really having faith.

With Islam there is no ticket to heaven, it's entirely down to Allah's mercy - at least in the majority theological intepretation.

Oh look. More ignorance about religion.

I think there is inherent good in all people but depending on the surroundings, upbringing, evil actions etc. this gradually goes away. Doing good for the "love of God" and having that spiritual approach to life does certainly make good people. I have met many such people who are genuinely good and you see nothing but good come out of them.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Of course, because then you havent believed and therefore obeyed his representatives on earth. Which of course is the whole and only point of religion, control. Amazes me that there are still people who havent understood and still believe.

The God conveyed by religion is one who gives people chance after chance and continuously offers them the ability to come towards Him. It is those who turn away again and again, ignore His signs and chose ignorance who earn His wrath.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

That's the other problem I have with religion.

There's so many variations on a theme, and all fervently believe their interpretation is the correct one.

That means, even if one accepts there is a God, the vast majority of religious people must be wrong.

I guess the answer to this is quite simple:

Do you believe God is fair and just? If the answer is no then there is little point obeying Him or following a religion.

If you believe he is then you must strive with sincerity and ask Him to guide you to whatever the truth is (whatever religion or system it may be). And you would also believe that he would guide you to that truth because He is fair and just...

[Platypus]

Doing good for the "love of God" and having that spiritual approach to life does certainly make good people. I have met many such people who are genuinely good and you see nothing but good come out of them.

I have met such people, they appear pious to the casual observer, but are in fact mean spirited, nasty and the whole range of unpleasant characteristics.

Not all, of course, but in my experience, it's about 50/50.

[northernladuk]

I guess the answer to this is quite simple:

Do you believe God is fair and just? If the answer is no then there is little point obeying Him or following a religion.

If you believe he is then you must strive with sincerity and ask Him to guide you to whatever the truth is (whatever religion or system it may be). And you would also believe that he would guide you to that truth because He is fair and just...

The big point that your missing here is that most people follow the faith, not the letter, which makes many arguments about god not existing redundant and very hard to argue against

[speling bee]

Not really, and no. But I'm satisfied sufficiently they don't contradict what I know of God, that I don't feel the need to dig deeper. Some people find that topic a stumbling block, others suffering in general, or science, etc. I investigated the areas I found problematic and not those I didn't have issues with.

So picture yourself as a loving dad in ancient Egypt. God kills your son because of Pharaoh's disobedience. Should you entirely blame Pharaoh? God had him bang to rights and killing your son was the correct (by definition) response?

[speling bee]

The God conveyed by religion is one who gives people chance after chance and continuously offers them the ability to come towards Him. It is those who turn away again and again, ignore His signs and chose ignorance who earn His wrath.

I guess the answer to this is quite simple:

Do you believe God is fair and just? If the answer is no then there is little point obeying Him or following a religion.

If you believe he is then you must strive with sincerity and ask Him to guide you to whatever the truth is (whatever religion or system it may be). And you would also believe that he would guide you to that truth because He is fair and just...

So the first born sons of Egypt earned God's fair and just wrath? I find this so puzzling.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Haven't read it. Perhaps I should

Was brought up a Christian and wavered in and out throughout my teenage years/twenties.

Came to the conclusion that the God I sometimes believed in wasn't the God that I was taught about through the church.

If there is a God (and I'm currently on the 'no' side of the fence), I like to think he'd judge people on what they'd done with their lives, how they'd treated others (and their motives for doing so) rather than belief in a particular doctrine.

As succinctly put by the Proclaimers :

And if I'm found wanting
When my case is heard
It'll be by the author
Not some interpreter of His word.

I hear this all the time but how many of us actually do something worthwhile with our lives? I have seen Christian charities operating in Africa and helping the sick and poor - full respect to those who dedicate their lives to helping others and doing good. Those are the kind of people that I am sure, God will look favourably upon.