The great and all powerful religion thread!

[Matt]

@Mathias and rfe: YOUR little Christian sect may be nice and non-confrontational but a large amount of Christians aren't like you and that's obviously who we're talking about. Just look at all the evangelicals. Pat Robertson's hateful TV show is on ABC Family! The Catholic Church is working it's ass off to stop gays from having equal rights while they cover up their sex abuse scandal. We have a right to be pissed off at Christianity.

I would hardly call the Episcopalian/Lutheran/similar religions small. The Catholic Church (I've been saying this over and over) is extremely flawed, as is most Baptist forms. The extremely fundamentalist Christians are fucked up. However, you seem to think that it is only Christians that think this way. Surely many atheists, agnostics, pagans, etc have views that you don't agree with as well.

Also, Muslims are probably the biggest problem the world has right now.

 

[rfe]

@Mathias and rfe: YOUR little Christian sect may be nice and non-confrontational but a large amount of Christians aren't like you and that's obviously who we're talking about. Just look at all the evangelicals. Pat Robertson's hateful TV show is on ABC Family! The Catholic Church is working it's ass off to stop gays from having equal rights while they cover up their sex abuse scandal. We have a right to be pissed off at Christianity.

Notice how I said NOT ALL, dude. Of course there are Christian jackasses still about. The point i'm trying to make is that not all Christians are gay-hating or malevolent. Fuck dude, some of us are ashamed that people like Pat Robertson share the same religion as us. Do you think we're blind?

But yes, you do have a right to be pissed off at Christianity. The point me, Mathias and AChrisK are trying to make is not all of us are like that, which is the vibe I got from BlackMetalWhiteGuy.

 

[cookiecutter]

Not ALL muslims are like that...

Seriously, I KNOW not every Christian is doing bad things. Most aren't. But the very least you share beliefs and create a culture where is accepted and encouraged to believe in religion. I can't qualify my every mention of Christians by saying this, so just assume it from now on.

 

[Matt]

Seriously, I KNOW not every Christian is doing bad things. Most aren't. But the very least you share beliefs and create a culture where is accepted and encouraged to believe in religion. I can't qualify my every mention of Christians by saying this, so just assume it from now on.

What?

 

[cookiecutter]

Notice how I said NOT ALL, dude. Of course there are Christian jackasses still about. The point i'm trying to make is that not all Christians are gay-hating or malevolent. Fuck dude, some of us are ashamed that people like Pat Robertson share the same religion as us. Do you think we're blind?

But yes, you do have a right to be pissed off at Christianity. The point me, Mathias and AChrisK are trying to make is not all of us are like that, which is the vibe I got from BlackMetalWhiteGuy.

See, my other post but for future reference throughout this thread, whenever anyone makes a claim about a religious group (Christians, Atheists, Muslims) we all know that person does not mean every single one of that group. Fair enough?

 

[cookiecutter]

What?

Clarify what you are confused about and I will try to explain myself better.

 

[Matt]

I don't understand the statement. Reword it plz

 

[rfe]

See, my other post but for future reference throughout this thread, whenever anyone makes a claim about a religious group (Christians, Atheists, Muslims) we all know that person does not mean every single one of that group. Fair enough?

Fair enough, thanks for understanding.

 

[cookiecutter]

I don't understand the statement. Reword it plz

Although your denomination/you may discard the more odious aspects of Christianity you are still Christian. In a culture where it Christianity is mainstream and encouraged, fundamentalism can thrive more easily.

 

[AchrisK]

I don't understand the statement. Reword it plz

He's just saying he knows not all Christians are like that, but he's not going to say that every time he refers to "Christians".

 

[Faint]

Intelligent design does not explain biodiversity and it does not explain religion; religion evolved through selection just like everything else.

 

[PanzerKunt]

The great and all powerful William Shatner:

BILL: I can't get behind the Gods, who are more vengeful, angry, and dangerous if you don't believe in them!
ROLLINS: Why can't all these Gods just get along? I mean, they're omnipotent and omnipresent, what's the problem?
BILL: What's the problem?
BILL: What about the men who say 'Do as I do. Believe in what I say, for your own good, or I'll kill you!' I can't get behind that!

 

[AchrisK]

@AChrisK
You should read this link in regards to Daniel 9:
http://www.geocities.com/b_r_a_d_99/daniel9.htm

Also please read this book if you can:
Bible Prophecy- Tim Callahan
Excellent book discussing bible prophecy and Christian apologetics.

I will make an effort to get ahold of it and read it. I am thinking I want to read up on the history of the Bible right now. The dates of the different sources and how they compare, and into the decision making process for how the modern Bible was put together. Any recommendations in regards to this?

Right now I am involved in Darwin on Trial (Johnson) and the 29+ Evidences for Macroevolution (talkorigins.org). I am taking too long because of time management, and because I wanted to finish the talkorigins stuff before continuing with Johnson's book, and that reading is pretty complex.

 

[Evil?]

The great and all powerful William Shatner:

I saw Rollins doing a spoken word show live a few years ago, and he talked about recording that track with Shatner. Funny shit. Hanging out with Bill would be awesome.

 

[A8]

The great and all powerful William Shatner:

his roast a year ago was fuckin hilarious

 

[PanzerKunt]

The album rules \m/

 

[cookiecutter]

I worship William Shatner in place of God.

 

[Thoth-Amon]

I will make an effort to get ahold of it and read it. I am thinking I want to read up on the history of the Bible right now. The dates of the different sources and how they compare, and into the decision making process for how the modern Bible was put together. Any recommendations in regards to this?

Right now I am involved in Darwin on Trial (Johnson) and the 29+ Evidences for Macroevolution (talkorigins.org). I am taking too long because of time management, and because I wanted to finish the talkorigins stuff before continuing with Johnson's book, and that reading is pretty complex.

Well in regards to how the canon of the bible was fixed... it was a lengthy process that involved centuries of debate. I'll have to think for a while if there are any books that I really recommend on this particular subject. But to summarize some basic points: the new testament that we have was written from the mid 50's to the early 100's ad. By the time we get to the late second century most churches have accepted the canonicity of the 4 gospels. It isn't until 367AD that we have the first complete list of our current NT in St. Athanasius' Paschal Letter. This is the first time in known and recorded history that someone said that the 27 books that we have as our current NT is in fact the NT. It wasn't until the councils of Carthage and Hippo in 397 and 407 (?) that the church agreed upon this list formally in a council. Even then there was still not a complete acceptance of this canon until some time afterwards. Interestingly I believe that the Coptic Church has a different NT and OT then Catholics, Orthodox and Protestants.
As far as the OT the Jews had basically accepted the "39" books of the OT as canon by the end of the first century. Actually they numbered these books as 22 (many were combined into single books). The church however did not have a fixed OT canon until at least the 8th century (some books such as Daniel were in constant dispute). Even then we can see that western (now Catholic) and Eastern (now Orthodox) churches didn't quite agree, which is why the Catholic OT has 7 more books than the Jewish OT and the Orthodox OT has 10 more books than the Jewish one. It wasn't until Martin Luther in the 16th century that he decided to ditch the "apocrypha" (or deuterocanonical books as Catholics refer to them) from the OT and just stick with the Jewish canon which was decided well after the formation of the Christian church and after Christianity had been separated from Judaism.

 

[CaGeD iN]

forgive me for being a dumbass and asking random questions, but how the fuck did noah fit al 1071905105743219057 species into a boat made out of wood?

 

[Thoth-Amon]

forgive me for being a dumbass and asking random questions, but how the fuck did noah fit al 1071905105743219057 species into a boat made out of wood?

He didn't. It's a myth. An even better question is "where did Noah keep all of the viruses, bacteria, parasites, fungus' and molds"? Did he have ancient peatree dishes to keep samples of these in?