Belief in God found in decline worldwide...Can I get an Amen!

[spookyturtle 9,466]

Why do the non believers spend so much time and energy trying to convince others that there is no God? Are they really that insecure?

[mawilson 2,133]

Why do the non believers spend so much time and energy trying to convince others that there is no God? Are they really that insecure?

I don't. I think it's great that you guys have imaginary friends in the sky.

[ready4ONE 5,400]

I don't. I think it's great that you guys have imaginary friends in the sky.

"Get out the rye bread and the mustard grandma, it's a grand salami!"

[웃 910]

trite as his answer was, it's still less ugh than you scrabbling on to these horrid stories, using dead children to grind your axes against religion. you know full well that there is no religion that condoned or called for the death of those children. no one cares what you believe or don't believe. but for **'s sake, leave these kids out of it.

I asked LuckyTxn if he believed that old men talked to donkeys and bushes and snakes and possibly whales thousands of years ago. Hilariously, he responded that he did, because he believed in miracles and as proof of that God has personally appeared in his life to perform miracles.

I said to myself that in this specific area he is delusional. And LuckyTxn would be extremely low on the priority scale for such a busy God.

What would be high on the priority scale? Well, how about an UnluckyTxn that also believes they can communicate with God. They think God is telling them the world is going to end, their children are going to suffer, and to kill their children immediately. "This is the voice of the lord."

So it is indisputable proof that there is no God that is going to perform a miracle because He could have just not allowed those imaginary voices to be heard, or He could have just audibly talked (never has happened and never will), or perform a miracle by having the crazy lady feel very tired in that moment where she has to lay down and go to sleep. Maybe she'd wake up and not be so hyper religious and delusional. There are a million and one ways for a Loving Miracle Performing God to have prevented these incidents which probably occur at least once a month.

And FYI: last time I checked God told Abraham to kill his child in order to test his faith. Abe tied up his son and took him to the top of a mountain and was ready to plunge a knife into his chest. But at the last second God started talking to him and told him to stop. Issac must have been terrified!!! Fortunately the tale never even happened in the first place...

It is one of the stupidest stories in the bible. http://www.biblegate...+22&version=NLT

Also, to fulfill an old testament prophecy they had to write a tale about King Herrod killing all children under two years old in Bethlehem and its vicinity:

"The Massacre of the Innocents is at Matthew 2:16-18, although the preceding verses form the context:

When [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to

Joseph

in a

dream

. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

^[7]

When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

^[3]

http://en.wikipedia....f_the_Innocents

There is verse after verse in the bible about killing children so it must be ok.

Hosea 13:16

The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords."

The list goes on and on...

Numbers 31:17-18

"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

Ezekiel 9:6

"Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women . . . "

Isaiah 13:16

"Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished."

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

"If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear."

Edited April 20, 2012 by ☠

[luckytxn 2,265]

I asked LuckyTxn if he believed that old men talked to donkeys and bushes and snakes and possibly whales thousands of years ago. Hilariously, he responded that he did, because he believed in miracles and as proof of that God has personally appeared in his life to perform miracles.

I said to myself that in this specific area he is delusional. And LuckyTxn would be extremely low on the priority scale for such a busy God.

What would be high on the priority scale? Well, how about an UnluckyTxn that also believes they can communicate with God. They think God is telling them the world is going to end, their children are going to suffer, and to kill their children immediately. "This is the voice of the lord."

So it is indisputable proof that there is no God that is going to perform a miracle because He could have just not allowed those imaginary voices to be heard, or He could have just audibly talked (never has happened and never will), or perform a miracle by having the crazy lady feel very tired in that moment where she has to lay down and go to sleep. Maybe she'd wake up and not be so hyper religious and delusional. There are a million and one ways for a Loving Miracle Performing God to have prevented these incidents which probably occur at least once a month.

And FYI: last time I checked God told Abraham to kill his child in order to test his faith. Abe tied up his son and took him to the top of a mountain and was ready to plunge a knife into his chest. But at the last second God started talking to him and told him to stop. Issac must have been terrified!!! Fortunately the tale never even happened in the first place...

It is one of the stupidest stories in the bible. http://www.biblegate...+22&version=NLT

Also, to fulfill an old testament prophecy they had to write a tale about King Herrod killing all children under two years old in Bethlehem and its vicinity:

"The Massacre of the Innocents is at Matthew 2:16-18, although the preceding verses form the context:

When [the Magi] had gone, an angel of the Lord appeared to

Joseph

in a

dream

. Get up, he said, take the child and his mother and escape to Egypt. Stay there until I tell you, for Herod is going to search for the child to kill him. So he got up, took the child and his mother during the night and left for Egypt, where he stayed until the death of Herod. And so was fulfilled what the Lord had said through the prophet: "Out of Egypt I called my son."

^[7]

When Herod realised that he had been outwitted by the Magi, he was furious, and he gave orders to kill all the boys in Bethlehem and its vicinity who were two years old and under, in accordance with the time he had learned from the Magi. Then what was said through the prophet Jeremiah was fulfilled: "A voice is heard in Ramah, weeping and great mourning, Rachel weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are no more."

^[3]

http://en.wikipedia....f_the_Innocents

There is verse after verse in the bible about killing children so it must be ok.

Hosea 13:16

The people of Samaria must bear the consequences of their guilt because they rebelled against their God. They will be killed by an invading army, their little ones dashed to death against the ground, their pregnant women ripped open by swords."

The list goes on and on...

Numbers 31:17-18

"Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves."

Ezekiel 9:6

"Slay utterly old and young, both maids, and little children, and women . . . "

Isaiah 13:16

"Their children also shall be dashed to pieces before their eyes; their houses shall be spoiled, and their wives ravished."

Deuteronomy 21:18-21

"If a man have a stubborn and rebellious son, which will not obey the voice of his father, or the voice of his mother, and that, when they have chastened him, will not hearken unto them: Then shall his father and his mother lay hold on him, and bring him out unto the elders of his city, and unto the gate of his place; And they shall say unto the elders of his city, This our son is stubborn and rebellious, he will not obey our voice; he is a glutton, and a drunkard. And all the men of his city shall stone him with stones, that he die: so shalt thou put evil away from among you; and all Israel shall hear, and fear."

Just answer the question I asked.

[SMOKE 1,426]

Just answer the question I asked.

give him a minute. he's looking for someone else's words to copy & paste.

[luckytxn 2,265]

give him a minute. he's looking for someone else's words to copy & paste.

Yeah I know. Futile to expect more.

[james&olya 1,121]

In my opinion, many, ?most, people seem to be drawn to religion more out of a need to indulge their 'tribal' instincts than out of any spiritual awareness! The evidence I have seen for this, at least among 'christians, is the high prevalence of racist attitudes and right wing politics among the most religious of these groups! They are very much into the us vs them mentality, the 'we are going to heaven and they are going to hell' kind of attitudes. I have seen some of the most UN-christian attitudes practiced among the religiously devout. I know of what I speak, having grown up as a member and attended the religious schools of a very fundamentalist protestant group! The exclusionary attitudes and diverse theologies are absurd when looked at objectively. For those who need it, fine, give your money and time to these charlatans and live your lives by their narrow and arbitrary rules. Just don't try to compel others that don't need your religious crutch to comply with your version of 'shariah' laws!

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

In my opinion, many, ?most, people seem to be drawn to religion more out of a need to indulge their 'tribal' instincts than out of any spiritual awareness! The evidence I have seen for this, at least among 'christians, is the high prevalence of racist attitudes and right wing politics among the most religious of these groups! They are very much into the us vs them mentality, the 'we are going to heaven and they are going to hell' kind of attitudes. I have seen some of the most UN-christian attitudes practiced among the religiously devout. I know of what I speak, having grown up as a member and attended the religious schools of a very fundamentalist protestant group! The exclusionary attitudes and diverse theologies are absurd when looked at objectively. For those who need it, fine, give your money and time to these charlatans and live your lives by their narrow and arbitrary rules. Just don't try to compel others that don't need your religious crutch to comply with your version of 'shariah' laws!

you agree that when using the Service, you will not:

Post Content intended to degrade, intimidate, or incite violence or prejudicial action against a broad demographic or group of people identified by a unifying trait or characteristic (discrimination). For instance, racist or sexist content may be considered hate speech.

http://www.visajourney.com/content/terms

[I AM NOT THAT GUY 5,715]

In my opinion, many, ?most, people seem to be drawn to religion more out of a need to indulge their 'tribal' instincts than out of any spiritual awareness! The evidence I have seen for this, at least among 'christians, is the high prevalence of racist attitudes and right wing politics among the most religious of these groups! They are very much into the us vs them mentality, the 'we are going to heaven and they are going to hell' kind of attitudes. I have seen some of the most UN-christian attitudes practiced among the religiously devout. I know of what I speak, having grown up as a member and attended the religious schools of a very fundamentalist protestant group! The exclusionary attitudes and diverse theologies are absurd when looked at objectively. For those who need it, fine, give your money and time to these charlatans and live your lives by their narrow and arbitrary rules. Just don't try to compel others that don't need your religious crutch to comply with your version of 'shariah' laws!

I was thinking my church was way too friendly, and full of way too many liberals.

[luckytxn 2,265]

In my opinion, many, ?most, people seem to be drawn to religion more out of a need to indulge their 'tribal' instincts than out of any spiritual awareness! The evidence I have seen for this, at least among 'christians, is the high prevalence of racist attitudes and right wing politics among the most religious of these groups! They are very much into the us vs them mentality, the 'we are going to heaven and they are going to hell' kind of attitudes. I have seen some of the most UN-christian attitudes practiced among the religiously devout. I know of what I speak, having grown up as a member and attended the religious schools of a very fundamentalist protestant group! The exclusionary attitudes and diverse theologies are absurd when looked at objectively. For those who need it, fine, give your money and time to these charlatans and live your lives by their narrow and arbitrary rules. Just don't try to compel others that don't need your religious crutch to comply with your version of 'shariah' laws!

It certainly is your opinion only and total bunk. Every bit of this is wrong.

[B_J 2,752]

For those who need it, fine, give your money and time to these charlatans and live your lives by their narrow and arbitrary rules. Just don't try to compel others that don't need your religious crutch to comply with your version of 'shariah' laws!

In the interest of fairness, these threads aren't started by believers trying to compel others to comply with anything. It seems the believers on this site are quite happy letting others live their lives. Why can't the atheists, or one atheist, be more tolerant and let others live their lives in peace?

[spookyturtle 9,466]

In the interest of fairness, these threads aren't started by believers trying to compel others to comply with anything. It seems the believers on this site are quite happy letting others live their lives. Why can't the atheists, or one atheist, be more tolerant and let others live their lives in peace?

He's insecure in his non belief and fears being skewered on a rotisserie and being slow roasted over an open fire. Forever.

[james&olya 1,121]

In the interest of fairness, these threads aren't started by believers trying to compel others to comply with anything. It seems the believers on this site are quite happy letting others live their lives. Why can't the atheists, or one atheist, be more tolerant and let others live their lives in peace?

This atheist is only too happy to allow religious types the right to believe and practice whatever religion gives them comfort and the ability to sleep at night! I would never advocate for any law compelling them to take actions or be restricted from actions that allow them to practice their religion so long as it does not adversely affect other peoples rights! I only hope they will do the same and keep their religious laws to themselves. We do not need any version of religious law imposed on us here in the USA!

But these threads are voluntary in nature, voluntary both in posting and in reading! Sometimes it is fun to post ones beliefs and read the responses. That is the VJ P&R forum, is it not?

[SMOKE 1,426]

But these threads are voluntary in nature, voluntary both in posting and in reading! Sometimes it is fun to post ones beliefs and read the responses. That is the VJ P&R forum, is it not?

its not ok to be a wankstain by insulting others and their beliefs.

Edited April 23, 2012 by SMOKE