Thread: Christmas poll

Originally Posted by ENUF2

You may not like his book but when you place it along side Simon Greenleaf, CS Lewis, Lee Strobel, Grant R Jefferies, St. Augustine and many many more it has weight, point and direction. Not to mention the countless lives who by following Christ have moved from the underside of humanity into productive lives. Works religions are about what "I" can do for my god, Christians understand our "best is filthy rags" to God and there is nothing we could do on our own without Christ to merit His favor. He Finished the sacrifice for us because of His love for us.

Christianity is also responsible for some of the most horrible crimes in history.
It doesn't necessarily take a belief in Jesus to turn your life around.

Originally Posted by ZMKA

Christianity is also responsible for some of the most horrible crimes in history.
It doesn't necessarily take a belief in Jesus to turn your life around.

Please cite the incidents you are refering to?

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Please cite the incidents you are refering to?

yes! List the most horrible crimes in history and then highlight those which religions are responsible for, color-coding them by particular religion

this could prove very useful in upcoming conversation threads

I have been telling people Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas..... I have heard this is a pretty heinous crime

Originally Posted by hoglahoo

yes! List the most horrible crimes in history and then highlight those which religions are responsible for, color-coding them by particular religion

this could prove very useful in upcoming conversation threads

I have been telling people Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas..... I have heard this is a pretty heinous crime


Quote:

Originally Posted by hoglahoo yes! List the most horrible crimes in history and then highlight those which religions are responsible for, color-coding them by particular religion this could prove very useful in upcoming conversation threads

I will therefore append all of my future references of Hitler, Stalin, Chairman Mao, to also include Slartibartfast!



Although I'm pretty sure that in actuality it only ranks you amongst the likes of the Grinch, Ebineezer Scrooge, and Old Man Potter of "It's a Wonderful Life" fame....

Regarding the statement that Christianity has committed some hanous crimes (which I do not disagree with). What I would say is that the people who did those things took what they believed Christianity to say and did something about it, however, that does not necessarily mean that is what Christianity stands for. I could be a married Christian man and then go cheat on my wife and say it is ok because I love the new woman (I know people who have done this), this doesn't mean that this is what Christianity says is a good decision, it is only based on what I believe Christianity to be not necessarily what it actually states.

I also think almost every religion has made some really pour decisions, and I think that Christianity gets the blunt of these comments. I was just watching ABC (or NBC) and every single TV show on Thursday night after 8:00pm ripped apart Christianity quite thoroughly during the show, and not subtly, however, you never see comments publicly about other religions. Kind of like how people use the phrase Jesus Christ as a cuss word, no other country or religion uses any religious symbol, whether they agree with it or not, as a cuss word.

Not trying to sound defensive on this subject, as I am not, more so just trying to make a point that Christianity seems to be the one that gets picked on at school but all the other kids aren't...

JT

Really, I'm not sure how you can not agree with it...

Spanish Inquisition - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Crusades - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and some more where they just killed each other over God-knows-what (pun intended)...

French Wars of Religion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Thirty Years' War - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Taiping Rebellion - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia


But that's neither important nor germane to the topic at hand. There were enough wars fought over plenty of stupid stuff throughout history to single out one cause and point fingers.

Just had to counter the fact that some people appear to be overlooking the aforementioned.


And, not to throw my own atheist hat into the mix (as I've been (in)famous for doing before), but a word of advice to the pro-Christianity movement (and I've said this before): if you are trying to convince a population of non-believers to understand your position using a dated reference as your only talking point, you are consistently, and 100% of the time going to come up short.

The Bible is not a reference document. It is not historically accurate in terms of events or chronology (especially dating back past the New Testament). It is merely a book of stories and fables which were designed to be lessons rather than to be accepted as truths. In fact, within Christianity as a whole, there are varying interpretations of the book. Along those lines, these "varying opinions" only contribute to the unreliability of the Bible as a historical document.

Example: Catholicism teaches that the creation story is a fable. According to the Vatican, there was no Adam or Eve, no surgical removal of ribs, etc. However, Bible grinders (Christians, not Catholics) take the whole book literally, even down to placing the creation at somewhere around around 11,000 BC (which has been proven false).

So, would those who take the Bible literally say that Catholicism is wrong? Or vice versa?

Originally Posted by Seraphim

Please cite the incidents you are refering to?

I'm specifically referring to the Spanish Inquisition, for which implements of torture were intricately designed to create the greatest suffering without killing a person, that they might have the opportunity to "confess" Christ prior to being dispatched or released blinded, burned, dismembered or otherwise deformed.

Regardless of the numbers of people harmed during these events, the fact that the ideology would permit such action is bad enough. The fact that the scriptures don't reference a warning against such heinous action is a testament to their errancy. The omnipotent, all-loving God should have seen fit to warn men against it.

Originally Posted by ZMKA

Regardless of the numbers of people harmed during these events, the fact that the ideology would permit such action is bad enough. The fact that the scriptures don't reference a warning against such heinous action is a testament to their errancy. The omnipotent, all-loving God should have seen fit to warn men against it.

If I am not mistaken, the lessons Jesus taught were very pacifistic and did warn against harming others. However, I have also been told that the one true god followed by Christians is the god of Judaism. I believe this god is a god of war in the Jewish faith. (I could be wrong on this one though).

"If I were to suggest that between the Earth and Mars there is a china teapot revolving about the sun in an elliptical orbit, nobody would be able to disprove my assertion provided I were careful to add that the teapot is too small to be revealed even by our most powerful telescopes. But if I were to go on to say that, since my assertion cannot be disproved, it is an intolerable presumption on the part of human reason to doubt it, I should rightly be thought to be talking nonsense. If, however, the existence of such a teapot were affirmed in ancient books, taught as the sacred truth every Sunday, and instilled into the minds of children at school, hesitation to believe in its existence would become a mark of eccentricity and entitle the doubter to the attentions of the psychiatrist in an enlightened age or of the Inquisitor in an earlier time."