Christianity is.....
Posted on: March 12, 2010 - 8:52am
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Christianity is.....
.....polytheism.
The Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost; which came first?
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It is believed that the Romans, who conquered Egypt in 30 B.C.E., adopted from the Egyptian bureaucracy, this census tactic from the Egyptians because it was so similar. For example, the Roman governor of Egypt in 104 C.E. gave an edict which is now conserved in the British Library and reads: "Gaius Vibius Maximus, Prefect of Egypt (says): Seeing that the time has come for the house to house census, it is necessary to compel all those who for any cause whatsoever are residing out of their districts to return to their own homes, that they may both carry out the regular order of the census, and may also attend diligently to the cultivation of their allotments."Interesting. Do you know cases of it being used outside of Egypt? Also, did it specify what "their own homes" meant? It reads to me that people had to go to their home village where they grew up or where ever they had property that needed tending to. That would be something completely different than requiring people to go to where their 1000 year old ancestor lived.
So, if the supernatural had never appeared in the Bible, you would have no trouble believing in the God of the Bible, Jehovah?
The world makes sense?
I could never really understand a fear of death. As an unbeliever (the Atheist get upset when anyone claims to be a former Atheist) I had no fear of death. I figured when you die that is it. You are dead and burried. When I studied the Bible I learned that is exactly what it says, except for the possibility of a resurrection. Nothing really to fear except the uncertainty of it.
If you argue that secular morality and Christian morality are the same, then I hardly see the point in either of these having any real effect on your quest for spiritual enlightenment. Is it possible that you are only assuming these are reasons people use to justify their own spiritual quest and so you are rejecting those reasons in order to sort of justify your own atheistic position?
Then what is the purpose in believing in a supernatural being and following his tenents, as written by those who claimed that he spoke to them?
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
Oh, no . . . I see what you mean, sorry. No, they had only to go to the place of their birth. Bethlehem was "David's city", where David had been born as well.
Edit: I forgot to answer your other question regarding of cases outside of Egypt. Not that I'm aware of but it really wouldn't be necessary since both cases would involve the Romans.
Purpose in believing? What an odd phrase. Do you not know that the entire meaning of the Bible, from Genesis to Revelation can be summed up in one short sentence, namely; The vindication of Jehovah God's name through the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus.
What did you think it was about, Rob?
Reread the quote I pointed out and get back too me.
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin
That depends on what you mean by 'believing' in Jesus. I don't have any great objection to the idea that there is a real person at the core of his mythos, with or without the supernatural parts. Deepak Chopra has supernatural elements attributed to him and he is a real person. But I still don't believe he has any magical abilities, or that his methods utlilize supernatural elements.
Yea, I think the world makes sense. What doesn't make sense to you?
As an atheist I don't fear death either. As a theist though, I was terrified. Asking me why might be taxing my abilities of introspection, and you might not believe I was being honest anyway. Having said that, I think I was so afraid because even though I believed I didn't *believe*, if that makes sense? At no point did I think I was lying to myself, or anything like that, but if I had truly believed my theism I should not have had any fear of death. But I was scared of hell and I was scared of nonexistence even more.
As to your last point, I apologize, but I don't know what you mean. Could you rephrase your comment/question? I get the last few words but I am having trouble with the rest of your final paragraph.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
There is no purpose in believing, Rob. You don't decide what to believe in order to achieve some purpose. If I believed that there was a supernatural guy in the sky with a ticket to heaven for me, believing wouldn't make it true and if I didn't believe it I doubt that I could fake it in order to get the ticket. Your suggesting there is some purpose in my belief is some what insulting in that it suggests that I am self deluded.
The purpose of the Bible is to tell humanity about the vindication of Jehovah God's name through the ransom sacrifice of Christ Jesus. The salvation of a small portion of mankind as a result of that is only a small part of it. You misunderstand the Bible because you see this "purpose" which is really ignorance of Christian bliss but in the atheistic criticism that ignorance is only reflected backwards.
Well . . . when I'm reading your words in this thread it is like you are creating an argument in your head against me and then projecting it. You say something like as a theist "I was scared of hell and I was scared of nonexistence even more." But earlier you said that the atheist idea of being simply dead, of non-existance, wasn't fear inspiring. You said that as an athiest the world makes sense, you don't need Christian morality but earlier you pointed out that Christian and secular morality are the same. To me, if I had to guess, I would say that your position is simply that you don't believe in God or the Bible. There is nothing wrong with that. You don't need to give an explanation, you don't need to have a reason, it isn't even a question of whether or not you actually believe in God and the Bible. A person can believe in those things and yet reject them. Most people will.
I'm still confused, but I'll take a stab anyway.
1: Are we having a debate? I know I was making some statements, but I didn't know I was trying to convince you of anything with those posts.
2. I was a theist before I was an atheist. When I was a theist I never really confronted death because I had faith as a shield against the unknown. As an atheist I was forced to confront it, and now have the opinion I do.
3. I think Christian morality is more heavily influenced by culture than by the church, but most Christians do not believe that. Just because *I* think morality is secular in modern societies doesn't mean Christians would agree. Most do not. I simply think I have evidence to back my claim and they do not. I don't know what that has to do with the world making sense to me. I think all morality is secular, and taking the supernatural out of it makes it more understandable. Maybe I should be saying, "Supernatural morality" instead of Christian morality?
4. Again, I understand what you write in the last sentence, but I don't see why it is applicable. Can someone translate? I'm being dense this week.
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
That makes more sense to me. I think the clarification you gave clears it up for me. It just seemed to me like you were contradicting yourself, but now I see what you were saying.
I think that the "secular / Christian" morality we disagree slightly on. I see morality as being prescribed by whatever culture you happen to be in. Christian or secular. They can be similar, in fact share some aspects with each other in some areas and in others be in disagreement.
Ok, I don't see any large disagreements.
It is Friday and my brain is cooked.
Kuuuummmbaaayyaaaaaaaa
Everything makes more sense now that I've stopped believing.
So, you are saying, that the bible was written with the scholar in mind? A scholar is required, to interpret the bible for the non educated public?
I completely understand christian bliss by the way. When you feel like there is a god, then you feel more justified, and have a singular purpose on this temporary stop that is earth. I have been there. I was not there long though, I got older and started looking around and uh, yea there is no god so my "false christian bliss" ended.
I read the bible 2x before I finished junior high, I went to a religious school for 3 years, I went to church on sundays and stayed for sunday school. Pretend an atheist can't understand the "christian bliss" all you want. It is literally when you can say "god did it" because in that frame of mind, he DID do it. It bothered me for a long time when I began to question things, I was afraid at first to even do so!
And by the way, I think people who believe in a "god" are deluded. So yes, if you feel insulted by that I apologize, it's not personal.
Faith is the word but next to that snugged up closely "lie's" the want.
"By simple common sense I don't believe in god, in none."-Charlie Chaplin