The Bible for dummies...

Discussion in 'Free Thoughts' started by Seattle, May 7, 2019.

  1. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    This book is useless without pictures!! :=}
     
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  3. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Nobody records that! Even those of us who did keep journals at the time had the good sense to destroy them when we grew up.
    And my period of angst was before the internet could embarrass one in front of a much bigger world.
    Sounds like psychobabble. Naw - if you're bright, you have one or two; if your ego is tightly screwed om, you get over it; if you're 'sensitive', you might make a career of it - as a poet, pastor, medium or dress designer.

    Several, probably. Kepler and Faraday come to mind.

    In biblical times, belly dancers were not exactly uncommon in the middle east, and Calvinist prudery had not yet been invented.
     
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  5. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    The reason for the expulsion from Eden was the apple - yes, but only indirectly.
    The gods were possessive of their immortality and didn't want to share.
     
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  7. Write4U Valued Senior Member

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    Hitler definitely consulted a clairvoyant. Jan Hanussen.
     
  8. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I'm told that my best trait is conveying prose in such a way that one can picture it. Are you saying that I've been lied to?

    Seriously, don't you think God could have conveyed through Jesus that deaths in child birth could be cut in half if you would just wash your hands? Instead he turned Lot's wife into a Pilar of Salt just for looking at him. That seems a little harsh doesn't it?

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    You want people to believe in you, you finally show your face and you kill (in the strangest way) the one person who has actually seen you.

    Can you imagine one modern person, who has managed to read the entire Bible, who could still insist that they take the Bible literally? Yet, there are millions in this category.

    Pick a story, like that of Santa Claus, and pick out all the implausible parts of it and now try to backpedal a story coming up with the only lame explanations that you can to justify the flying reindeer, fat Santa coming down a chimney, doing it all over the world in just one night and you will see how ridiculous the "Apologetics" "branch" of Christianity is. It's downright disingenuous. One explanation for how it was "light" 4 days before the Sun was created involved radiation coming from black holes!

    No matter that the definition of a black hole is that gravity is so strong that no light can escape. They referred to radiation escaping and put in parentheses (and science supports this point). They had to be referring to Hawking's theory where a black hole might be able to dissipate in like 90 billion years. This amount of radiation isn't even detectable, isn't "light" and certainly wouldn't light up the Universe. It doesn't light up the Universe now either.

    Not only that but it takes a long time for a black hole to form in the first place. It can't form before the stars, sun and moon have even been "made".

    The disingenuous part (where to start) is that the person providing this explanation, knows enough about Hawkin's radiation to know that the rest of what was written was hogwash. Worse still, they knew that their flock would buy it because "a religious scientist gave this explanation, so there is some divide on that issue and I chose to believe him"

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    Last edited: May 8, 2019
  9. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    Still makes no sense. Why wouldn't an infallible God know that he made people bad?
     
  10. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    Well, maybe it's all in our expectations of what we think a god should act like. Many people think of a god as a being that should never allow suffering, and grant our every wish. Some think he's worth killing others over. And still some, who think he's like an absentee landlord or something - present, but he doesn't care. (deism). It's been said, we don't see things as they are, but as we are. Likewise, how we approach the idea of a god existing, is probably the same.
     
  11. Jeeves Valued Senior Member

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    Maybe thousands. And they're either lying or have short-term memory dysfunction.
    Most believers read a little at time, have it interpreted for them, and never connect up the bits or put the events in a single perspective.
    This is something you always get from lay apologists: they'll say the commandments are absolute and eternal, and then turn around and excuse slavery, savagery, racism, etc as : "Well, in those days, nobody knew any better." ... including, presumably, God's chosen confidants.
    but, well, y'know, He works in mysterious ways.
     
  12. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    If he knowingly creates evil, he might very well exist, but he's not worthy of worship.
     
  13. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I should also mention that I was still writing and using edit so that post is about twice as long now if you want to go back and read it. My bad.

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  14. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    If you believe that, then that would make sense.
     
  15. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    Given the size of the Christian population, it could well be millions but I get your caveat about how through (or not) the readings may be.

    The real wonder is how anyone would get through Genesis?
     
  16. spidergoat pubic diorama Valued Senior Member

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    He couldn't be omniscient and not know he made evil people. He creates the problem and supplies the remedy. Of course I don't believe such a being exists.
     
  17. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    If you read it with a ''helper book'' it flows much better. Even if you read it without any preconceived notions, and just as if you were reading any other book, it's interesting to read ancient writings, and insights. And these were actual ancient, Hebrew writings. I think that's pretty cool, myself.
     
  18. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    The biggest questions for me are the ones never addressed. Why debate who God thinks we should marry without debating how one could possibly know that a God existed if it one did exist. That's one step too large in my book. Even wondering if there is a spirit, just something out there...how do you even get to this step?

    Two thousand years ago, I get it. It's not raining and our crops are drying up, let's sacrifice a virgin. It worked? Ok, cool. Now? Why don't quatum physics and GR work together? God? That is really the way we roll these days.

    So back it all up and since when is "God did it" the first thing that should come to mind? "God" the concept had to be made up in the first place since there was no reality to model it on. It's just a "stupid" first leap to make in the first place.
     
  19. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I think reading it, a little at a time, is interesting for just that reason. To make any literal sense out of it is beyond insane.

    I can read the Santa story with a "helper" book and I suppose if the book changed reality enough I could also "believe it". That doesn't mean that it's true however.
     
  20. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    I don't think it's a fair comparison to compare Santa, to people's spiritual beliefs. But, it's an analogy that has been beaten to death. That poor analogy, it needs a rest. lol

    Do you feel this way about all religions or just Christianity?
     
  21. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    With the helper book, Santa was a dude who liked to make little kids happy (and in a legal way). He made them toys and distributed them on Christmas Eve and into the early morning hours of Christmas.

    This dude had a sleigh and it was pulled by some reindeer. It was a fast sleigh, and man did it "fly". Santa couldn't get all over the world in a few hours so he had a lot of local helpers. Santa did go down a few chimneys but appearances are deceiving. You will note from the pictures that he was a fat dude. That's true, and even though he wasn't technically an elf, he was a diminutive dude, so, yes, he did go down a few chimneys.

    With a "helper" book I suppose you could make sense of the Bible. Unless the "helper" book just outright lied there would still be many inconsistencies, many cases of a God that no one would want to worship, etc.

    Forget about trying to take it literally and it's an interesting book but not one to "worship".
     
  22. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    I feel the same way about all religions because I feel the same way about knowing that there is a God. I know more of the details of Christianity obviously. I'm not saying they have all been misused equally. Some messages may be better than others. The application of some may have been better than others.

    If you take the good messages from Christianity and ignore they rest it's probably as good as any. I would say that IMO the philosophy of most/all religions is better than the religion itself and we would be much better off with only the philosophy. There is little to argue about with a good philosophy.
     
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  23. wegs Matter and Pixie Dust Valued Senior Member

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    lol ^^

    Anywayyyy. The helper book is more of a historic fact type of book listing names of kings at the time, countries, historic cultural norms, etc. It gives you some perspective.
     

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