Give up, dumbass...

(mod - standard monster post of incoherent crap removed)

I'm not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this, but I didn't see one that seemed more likely.  Here goes.

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins presented data from one or more studies on the correlation between religious belief and various societal health indicators (such as violence, teenage pregnancy, etc.)  I'm having trouble locating my copy of the book to find out more about this study/these studies, and Google is just turning up sales figures when I search for data from the book.  Does anyone know what study or studies were being referenced, or where I might be able to find out?

I don't intend for this topic to be debate or divisive at all.  I've got a serious question about modern Christian theology, and I'd like to hear some personal perspectives.  Mods, please do move this if it belongs elsewhere.

I'm an agnostic-turned-athiest, and my spouse is a Christian theist (we've been separated for three years).  Her theological position is a common mainstream one, I think - she believes that only the new testament applies, and that the old testament laws do not have to be followed by Christians any longer.   I think that this position is supported by the gospel of Paul, but is contradicted elsewhere.  She's not able to provide a scriptural defense for her position, it's what she was taught, that's her story, and she's sticking to it.  I've found this position to be interesting and it's one that I have not really been able to grasp.

I'd like to gain a better understanding of the scriptural support regarding conformance (or non-conformance) to the OT laws.   So I guess what I'm looking for is scriptural references in the NT regarding the new covenant vs. the old.

Here's what I find irrational.

I deny the existence of the "holy spirit".  According to the Bible, this means that I'm eternally damned to hell.

God is supposed to be omnibenevolent.  Why would a being of unlimited and infinite goodness condemn me to eternal suffering for the simple act of disbelieving he exists?  Is that not inconsistent with omnibenevolence?

Furthermore, apparently I'm eternally damned for not believing in the god(s) of the Hebrew or Islamic faiths (yeah, I realize, same God, different scriptures), or any of the various monotheistic or polytheistic religions who have a concept of hell.

If I follow one faith, apparently, I'm screwed by the others.  I find this to be wholly irrational and unreasonable.

I realize that the theists are going to respond saying that their faith is the one true way, and that all of the other guys are damned, too.  I find that irrational as well.

I suppose the point is moot anyway, since by my own admission, I'm going to hell.  Apparently.  Or maybe not, as I believe that the rational position is that it's all a bunch of hokum to begin with.

get the fuck over it stop pretend he does

i use god as teddy bear but npw i know i dont need god to have good i used love jesus and god and shit but then i just realize i loved nothing yeah fucking nothing talking to myself for long so that was stupid

when i believe i was afraid god but now i not because god not fucking exist

fucking waste

now i use science and science blow you fucking mind real quantum shit holy fuck

http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=28394

The problem with Islam "1.0" is that it is every bit a totalitarian political/social movement as much as it is a 'religion'. The fact it was started by a militant mercenary warrior certainly doesn't help.

Take a look at that list (go to the page for rest of grisly list)....human power kills....totalitarian governments kill.

"Just who has imposed on the suffering human race poison gas, barbed wire, high explosives, experiments in eugenics, the formula for Zyklon B, heavy artillery, pseudo-scientific justifications for mass murder, cluster bombs, attack submarines, napalm, intercontinental ballistic missles, military space platforms, and nuclear weapons?

If memory serves, it was not the Vatican."

David Berlinski-the Devil's Delusion page 21

As common with totalitarian movements they kill their own...it's the POWER side that's dangerous...not the religious side.

"This grisly inventory finds the total number of deaths in conflicts since 1950 numbering about 85,000,000. Of that sum, the deaths in the Arab-Israeli conflict since 1950 include 32,000 deaths due to Arab state attacks and 19,000 due to Palestinian attacks, or 51,000 in all. Arabs make up roughly 35,000 of these dead and Jewish Israelis make up 16,000.

If god is omniscient there is no free will. God sees the entire contents of the world's unfolding events from beginning to completion prior to his creating or actualizing of it. If he creates the world as he sees it prior to its existence his act is the first cause of all constituents of that world. Those events will occur necessarily if god acts. The only resolution to this dilemma is, if there is a god he must sacrifice omniscience in the act of creation in order for there to be freewill. In other words he must make a boulder too big for himself to lift.

For two years I worshipped with and studied the Baha'is. They are a group who believe that they originated from direct revelation by god. However their guardian, Shogghi Effendi, acknowledges, "A handful of students, belonging to the Shaykhi school, sprung from the Ithna-'Ashariyyih sect of Shi`ah Islam."

In my relationship with the Baha'i Faith I observed many factors that were enlightening and seemed an explanation of how an early leader like Jesus could be elevated to the position of God. Like Christianity which derived from Judaism, Baha'i faith derives from Islam. As Jesus was a teacher who taught how to pray to god so the Baha'i teacher, Baha'u'llah, taught how to pray to god.

Baha'u'llah is originally seen as the mirror of God who, through his teachings, manifested and revealed perfectly His Word and Will. In a short period of a hundred years the teacher of prayer has become the one to whom the Baha'i prays. It seems that as with Jesus a vessel that delivers the will, image and Word of God in a representative form soon is viewed literally as that God manifest.

As an atheist I often quote from the Jehovah's Witness New Testament. Why? Because their translators are not effected by certain doctrines like Trinity. They rely on the most likely version of the Greek text under consideration. Most believers look at John 1:1-4 to argue for Jesus as God.

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was toward God, and the Word was God. 2 He was with God in the beginning. 3 Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. 4 In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

But the much neglected verses of John 1:17-18 not only clarifiy these verses but point to how Jesus as a human teacher became a messiah and then became a god.