On religion

[sasguru]

So execution it is. Or judicial murder within a tyranny, if you prefer.

Not only that, but since it was God himself who hardened the Pharoah's heart, there was no likelihood of avoiding the execution. Bit like being a Jew in Nazi Germany: your fate is a foregone conclusion.

[NotAllThere]

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

Wrong. From this week's New Scientist.

In ancient Egypt the buck stopped at the embalmer. The ancient Greeks knew that many conditions mimicked death. Their test was to cut off a finger before cremation.

[sasguru]

Wrong. From this week's New Scientist.

In ancient Egypt the buck stopped at the embalmer. The ancient Greeks knew that many conditions mimicked death. Their test was to cut off a finger before cremation.

Yes but would some uneducated Middle Eastern fishermen have the sort of state of the art knowledge that was represented by the Greeks?

[sasguru]

Anyway do none of you believers think that the human propensity for Chinese Whispers means that any truths in the Bible (and any other texts) would be well distorted?

[NotAllThere]

You disapprove of some of God's actions. So what? Who made you arbiter of what is right and decent and moral? Back in Roman times, it was entirely right and proper to abandon disabled kids on a hillside to die.

If God is good and the definition of good, then the natural corollary is that your definition of good is wrong.

Or maybe God isn't good, in which case, what're you gonna do? You've still got to play by his rules.

[sasguru]

.

Or maybe God isn't good, in which case, what're you gonna do? You've still got to play by his rules.

Or maybe what happens in the world is mostly random and there's no God.

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

Or maybe what happens in the world is mostly random and there's no God.

I watched this programme on the BBC yesterday about the human immune system. Anybody who thinks all that is in existence is random is just bonkers IMO. HTH

[d000hg]

Yes but would some uneducated Middle Eastern fishermen have the sort of state of the art knowledge that was represented by the Greeks?

No but the Romans were pretty expert at killing people. And Luke (i.e he who wrote the gospel) was a physician.

[speling bee]

You disapprove of some of God's actions. So what? Who made you arbiter of what is right and decent and moral? Back in Roman times, it was entirely right and proper to abandon disabled kids on a hillside to die.

If God is good and the definition of good, then the natural corollary is that your definition of good is wrong.

Or maybe God isn't good, in which case, what're you gonna do? You've still got to play by his rules.

But the interesting thing is is that (As you suggest) morality is relative and contextual to social norms. So living by the rules of many thousand years ago is crazy. Of course, if as a person of faith you believe the opposite, then why are you not campaigning for the death penalty for witches and others:

“Do not allow a sorceress to live.

Anyone who has sexual relations with an animal must be put to death.

Whoever sacrifices to any god other than the Lord must be destroyed."

Exodus 22:18

[NorthWestPerm2Contr]

You disapprove of some of God's actions. So what? Who made you arbiter of what is right and decent and moral? Back in Roman times, it was entirely right and proper to abandon disabled kids on a hillside to die.

If God is good and the definition of good, then the natural corollary is that your definition of good is wrong.

Or maybe God isn't good, in which case, what're you gonna do? You've still got to play by his rules.

How about this:

We are weak, insignificant beings which are like specs of dust in the grand scheme of things. If God wanted to ask one of his angels to flick Earth into the Sun then it would be easy for Him to do. Look at our petty existence in this tiny planet which is part of a tiny solar system which is part of a tiny galaxy when placed in front of a great universe.

God does not need us and does not care what we do or say - this thread is living proof of that. Either we wake up and smell the bacon or we await our fate after we die....