Religion thread...

Cowboysrock55 said:

We are all on board with aliens and abductions though, correct? Has anyone on here been probed?

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Probed? No. Explored? Hell yeah.

Carp said:

Probed? No. Explored? Hell yeah.

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DCUDoomsday said:

Must be, we get them every time we quote someone.

But seriously - on the math alone with trillions of stars out there, our existence makes it mathematically impossible we're the only ones. But, religious dogma teaches so.

It's not unreasonable to believe mankind creates fiction and always has, and it's alot more simple of a answer than to believe in some all knowing all powerful entity who created everything and centered it all around man, for mankind's benefit. Takes alot less vanity and hubris, alot less self importance, as well.

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Read the thread before you post dude. This has already been commented on. Show me where The Bible teaches that we are the only people God created.

fortsbest said:

This has already been commented on.

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It was already answered too. And again, no one asserted scripture makes any such claim.

Maybe YOU should read the thread before commenting?

DCUDoomsday said:

But seriously - on the math alone with trillions of stars out there, our existence makes it mathematically impossible we're the only ones. But, religious dogma teaches so.

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The implication here is that religious folk think we are the only ones God could have created.

Dogma is a principle or set of principles laid down by an authority as incontrovertibly true. It serves as part of the primary basis of an ideology or belief system, and it cannot be changed or discarded without affecting the very system's paradigm, or the ideology itself.

I have never been to mass where my priest claimed we are the only beings in the universe as your statement claims is dogmatic. As a matter of fact, I've never been to a mass where it was even discussed much part of the teachings. So I say to you, where, or whose religious teaching have you seen that tell you it was the case?

fortsbest said:

The implication here is that religious folk think we are the only ones God could have created.

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No. The implication is mankind's vanity, hubris and self importance led him to create fictional being(s) in his own image who created this Earth and the cosmos, just for us. That implies we're His only intelligent creation, and everything we see is created by Him for our benefit.

The stars are purty and all, ya know?

Arguing against Christianity with "humans are the only beings evar" angle is not a smart way to argue this topic.

I tend to hang with arguing against what the bible itself actually states. It's idiomatic for sure, but even in it's pure translation it's vague and can't be believed outside of massive faith in some supernatural events happening around the time Jesus was alive, and even way before.

Like I have said a million times on this topic... nobody knows. You can only have faith. To say you know without a doubt what happened in the past and will happen in the future is careless and lazy to me.

BTW, to be clear about my post above, I question the vagueness of the bible. I can see the loopholes left open for other worlds. I also see seas splitting, eyeballs healing, people coming back from the dead, and worldwide flooding with animals and more importantly humans procreating from incest after that flood that get my panties in a wad.

Is there a bible for every world?

Iamtdg said:

Arguing against Christianity with "humans are the only beings evar" angle is not a smart way to argue this topic.

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I don't see anyone doing that.

I tend to hang with arguing against what the bible itself actually states. It's idiomatic for sure, but even in it's pure translation it's vague and can't be believed outside of massive faith in some supernatural events happening around the time Jesus was alive, and even way before.

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This also depends on if one believes the fictional character, Jesus, was ever alive and walking the earth in any real sense.

I don't argue against what DC comics says about Batman either, for example.

To say you know without a doubt what happened in the past and will happen in the future is careless and lazy to me.

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One having a belief isn't the same thing as declaring knowledge without a doubt.

DCUDoomsday said:

I don't see anyone doing that.This also depends on if one believes the fictional character, Jesus, was ever alive and walking the earth in any real sense.

I don't argue against what DC comics says about Batman either, for example.One having a belief isn't the same thing as declaring knowledge without a doubt.

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I have no doubt there was a man named Jesus (or whatever his name was) that got executed by Pontius Pilate. No doubt in my mind.

The doubt comes in when he becomes the divine son of god.

Iamtdg said:

I have no doubt there was a man named Jesus (or whatever his name was) that got executed by Pontius Pilate. No doubt in my mind.

The doubt comes in when he becomes the divine son of god.

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That is pretty much a historical fact proven over way too many documents to discount.

Faith never offers proof as it's basis for believing. I will leave it at that.

Kbrown said:

Seeing as most Protestants are sola scriptura, the only other "dogma" could be Catholic or Orthodox, and the lack of extraterrestrials is certainly not in the Catechism. I suspect it is just a popular meme in the scientism community, because EZ used to trot out the same idea. Somebody from a creationist think tank probably said it once, and now it is "dogma."

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You say protestants are sola scriptura, but the Baptists think none of the wine in the bible had alcohol in it and the Church of Christ think the bible prohibits musical instruments, even though neither of those ideas is biblical or even reasonable.

Clay_Allison said:

You say protestants are sola scriptura, but the Baptists think none of the wine in the bible had alcohol in it and the Church of Christ think the bible prohibits musical instruments, even though neither of those ideas is biblical or even reasonable.

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Regarding Baptists, there may be some that hold that position on wine in the bible but they are few and far between.

L.T. Fan said:

Regarding Baptists, there may be some that hold that position on wine in the bible but they are few and far between.

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It was preached by several baptist ministers I heard when I was growing up. I even argued about it with one when I was a teenager. I pointed out that the yeast culture needed to ferment wine occurs naturally on the grapes and it would be impossible without modern technology to preserve it as "grape juice". He said that grapes were different back then. I have had a strong dislike for baptists ever since then.

Maybe that position has fallen out of favor in recent years (because it's ridiculous).

Clay_Allison said:

It was preached by several baptist ministers I heard when I was growing up. I even argued about it with one when I was a teenager. I pointed out that the yeast culture needed to ferment wine occurs naturally on the grapes and it would be impossible without modern technology to preserve it as "grape juice". He said that grapes were different back then. I have had a strong dislike for baptists ever since then.

Maybe that position has fallen out of favor in recent years (because it's ridiculous).

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There are a lot of things with the Baptists that have changed in the last 20 years or so. They now actually put hands up and like play musical instruments not a piano or organ and even ~gasp~ clap!

The branch has gotten a lot more liberal.

Clay_Allison said:

It was preached by several baptist ministers I heard when I was growing up. I even argued about it with one when I was a teenager. I pointed out that the yeast culture needed to ferment wine occurs naturally on the grapes and it would be impossible without modern technology to preserve it as "grape juice". He said that grapes were different back then. I have had a strong dislike for baptists ever since then.

Maybe that position has fallen out of favor in recent years (because it's ridiculous).

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I was brought up in a Southern Baptist church and I questioned/challenged my pastor about the teachings of the church & Bible all of the time as a teenager until he pulled out the "Well, I don't have perfect answers to all of your questions. It just comes down to faith". That's about the point where I decided I was done with it altogether.

I laughed when I read the "grapes were different back then" line because a) that's absurd and b) it kind of reminded me a little of something my hillbilly great grandmother said to me when I was younger. She was an awesome lady and a hard core Baptist. When I was in my early 20s I had long hair for a while. Really seemed to bother my great grandma and from time to time she would tell me I should cut it because guys shouldn't "wear their hair long like that". I eventually was like "Well grandma, Jesus had long hair. You want me to be like Jesus, right?". At first she was all but then she came back with "Well, times were different back then".

CSB

Clay_Allison said:

It was preached by several baptist ministers I heard when I was growing up. I even argued about it with one when I was a teenager. I pointed out that the yeast culture needed to ferment wine occurs naturally on the grapes and it would be impossible without modern technology to preserve it as "grape juice". He said that grapes were different back then. I have had a strong dislike for baptists ever since then.

Maybe that position has fallen out of favor in recent years (because it's ridiculous).

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Evolution believer?

DCUDoomsday said:

Evolution believer?

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Wish I'd come up with that joke at the time.

Iamtdg said:

There are a lot of things with the Baptists that have changed in the last 20 years or so. They now actually put hands up and like play musical instruments not a piano or organ and even ~gasp~ clap!

The branch has gotten a lot more liberal.

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I can tell that you are a Baptist PK cause you think those things fall into the liberal catagory. Perhaps your brain isn't all the way unwashed yet.