and this is why Christians have such a bad name...

[highland145]

Religion is a personal matter. Deal with your own shit and leave other people alone. Bragging about how right you are is just arrogant and stupid.

But, but, but if they dealt with their own crap, they wouldn't have time to look down on others.

 

[lxskllr]

Are you sure you made the correct determination?

I suppose it could have been a guy with amazing tits, and an unusually feminine voice :^D

 

[Zen0]

I suppose it could have been a guy with amazing tits, and an unusually feminine voice :^D

Yes, have to go down south to make final confirmation.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Some whack job was giving my wife a hard time once because she was working on a Sunday. Hey bitch, you go live your life how you want and stop lecturing the rest of us on how we should live ours mkay?

 

[Paladin3]

A true Christian is one who worships Jesus Christ, ancient Jewish man rumored to have been murdered during his time, as a god. I don't think that's necessarily a high watermark of human accomplishment, so I don't understand your disappointment.

I'll agree that there is some very WTF stuff in the Old Testament, but from what I've read of the teachings of Jesus Christ I can find no fault. Christ taught people to love one another and forgive.

If everyone followed those teachings, weather because they believe he is the son of God or just because it's a good story, that would be an extremely high human accomplishment and the world would be an infinitely better place.

 

[DCal430]

OP, you do realize the Radio is there for entertainment purposes?

Once your hatred of Christians subsides you will realize all of radio is staged in some ways. You have to go through the producers etc where they cherry pick the calls and have a pre-interview before it goes on the air. Wouldn't suprise me of this Christian was fake just to get a rise out of people like you.

My local radio does things on the spot with no preinterview or even notice to the people who will be on. They just distort their voice, so people cannot tell who it is. They do this with their "War of Roses" segment. There is no doubt a preinterview for the person who believes they are being cheated on, but no preinterview is done for the person who is suspected of cheating.

 

[Farmer]

I'll agree that there is some very WFT stuff in the Old Testament, but from what I've read of the teachings of Jesus Christ I can find no fault. Christ taught people to love one another and forgive.

If everyone followed those teachings, weather because they believe he was the son of God or just because it's a good story, that would be an extremely high human accomplishment and the world would be an infinitely better place.

I don't want to get into a big debate on religion.

I don't have anything against the "teachings of Jesus Christ" as they are. I.e., be nice to other people and be a morally sound individual. There is nothing wrong with that.

It's the basis of adherence which I have an issue with. IMO, things should not be done because Jesus told you to or because that's what it says in the Bible. They should be done because you have consciously recognized that they are good things to do and that you have concluded you would derive benefit from behaving in that fashion.

To treat the Bible as a philosophical work or a literary work is fine, as much as you would read any other treatise or novel. But to treat it as some book of law worthy of worship, well, that seems archaic.

Or, to simply put, that seems religious.

 

[DCal430]

I'll agree that there is some very WFT stuff in the Old Testament, but from what I've read of the teachings of Jesus Christ I can find no fault. Christ taught people to love one another and forgive.

If everyone followed those teachings, weather because they believe he was the son of God or just because it's a good story, that would be an extremely high human accomplishment and the world would be an infinitely better place.

Are you a Christian?

Also I suggest you look into these two sites for the evils in the New Testament.

http://www.evilbible.com/
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

 

[SamQuint]

I was listening to the radio this morning and it was one of those talk radio deals where people call in. This lady had called in because she was mad that her coworker got Good Friday off and she didn't.

QUOTE]

Don't get it? If they let the one person off because it was Good Friday and she was a Christian why did the other one not get the day off as well? They both work for the same company right? Seems to me that the one that took the day off must have requested it off. Maybe she took the day off on her own and was not given a paid holiday.

None of our workers are given religious holidays off. If they refuse to work on a religious holiday they can use one of their days off. Or they can choose to take a day off without pay, simple as that. However they need to request it in advance.

 

[smartpatrol]

I'll agree that there is some very WFT stuff in the Old Testament, but from what I've read of the teachings of Jesus Christ I can find no fault. Christ taught people to love one another and forgive.

I guess you missed the part where he said you're condemned to Hell if you don't believe in him.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Golden_Rule

I don't get why people act like Jesus' teachings were so amazingly profound. He wasn't the first person ever to suggest that you should treat others the way you want to be treated.

You don't have to give your phony, patronizing lip service to Christianity in order to believe in the golden rule.

 

[AstroManLuca]

I don't get why people act like Jesus' teachings were so amazingly profound. He wasn't the first person ever to suggest that you should treat others the way you want to be treated.

You don't have to give your phony, patronizing lip service to Christianity in order to believe in the golden rule.

This is basically my position. I don't have a problem with people believing in Jesus, but I don't think religion is necessary to live a moral life. Just use some common sense and don't be a complete jerk. I didn't need religion to tell me that.

However, it is important to recognize that Christianity is at least partially responsible for things like the Golden Rule being common sense today. No, Christianity is not the sole defender of good morals, but our modern society's ideas of right and wrong were at least partly inspired by Christianity. So I'll give them that.

 

[American Gunner]

Not all Christians are wack jobs. Just the crazy ones give us a bad name.

 

[AstroManLuca]

Some whack job was giving my wife a hard time once because she was working on a Sunday. Hey bitch, you go live your life how you want and stop lecturing the rest of us on how we should live ours mkay?

Wow, what a nutjob. You know, an orthodox Jew could just as easily chastise her for "working" on the sabbath day by doing things like turning on the lights or driving a car. Not that avoiding those things is such a virtuous thing, it's just a set of completely arbitrary rules that make no sense and are only followed for tradition's sake. But I hate it when religious people try to one-up each other in terms of how pious they are. Why not become a nun if you're so concerned about sinning? Yeesh.

 

[rudeguy]

OP, you do realize the Radio is there for entertainment purposes?

Once your hatred of Christians subsides you will realize all of radio is staged in some ways. You have to go through the producers etc where they cherry pick the calls and have a pre-interview before it goes on the air. Wouldn't suprise me of this Christian was fake just to get a rise out of people like you.

Your ignorance is astounding.

 

[Paladin3]

I don't want to get into a big debate on religion.

I don't have anything against the "teachings of Jesus Christ" as they are. I.e., be nice to other people and be a morally sound individual. There is nothing wrong with that.

It's the basis of adherence which I have an issue with. IMO, things should not be done because Jesus told you to or because that's what it says in the Bible. They should be done because you have consciously recognized that they are good things to do and that you have concluded you would derive benefit from behaving in that fashion.

To treat the Bible as a philosophical work or a literary work is fine, as much as you would read any other treatise or novel. But to treat it as some book of law worthy of worship, well, that seems archaic.

Or, to simply put, that seems religious.

When you said worshiping Jesus Christ as the son of God was not much of a human achievement, I think you let your bias against religion show. If more people would follow what Jesus taught then the world would be a better place.

Even atheists and agnostics should be able to agree with the love teaching of Christ. If you can't see the practical value of mankind following them, for whatever reason, then you obviously either haven't read them or simply oppose all religion regardless of the message.

 

[AstroManLuca]

When you said worshiping Jesus Christ as the son of God was not much of a human achievement, I think you let your bias against religion show. If more people would follow what Jesus taught then the world would be a better place.

Even atheists and agnostics should be able to agree with the love teaching of Christ. If you can't see the practical value of mankind following them, for whatever reason, then you obviously either haven't read them or simply oppose all religion regardless of the message.

The point is that Jesus's teachings, while they may have been revolutionary during his time, are pretty much accepted as what makes someone a good person today. So while it makes sense to do many of the things Jesus said to do, it doesn't make sense to worship him or to follow every word for the sole reason that he said it.

In other words, be nice because you want to be a nice person and because doing so makes the world a better place, not because Jesus said to.

 

[Farmer]

When you said worshiping Jesus Christ as the son of God was not much of a human achievement, I think you let your bias against religion show. If more people would follow what Jesus taught then the world would be a better place.

Even atheists and agnostics should be able to agree with the love teaching of Christ. If you can't see the practical value of mankind following them, for whatever reason, then you obviously either haven't read them or simply oppose all religion regardless of the message.

It's not much of a human achievement. Suppose I choose to worship a shift manager who works at my local McDonalds. From now on I will refer to him as Joe, with a capital J, and maybe I will write a book about him and devote some of my time convincing other people why I am correct in worshipping Joe. Is that a huge accomplishment? I spent all of 1 minute achieving it.

The creation of a moral system is a significant achievement, but you seem to believe that that is entirely because of the Christian religion, which means you probably misinterpreted my entire post.

You don't have to be Christian or even know of Christianity or the Bible or "Jesus' teachings" to behave in morally good manner. Stop giving Jesus Christ so much credit.

 

[rudeguy]

The point is that Jesus's teachings, while they may have been revolutionary during his time, are pretty much accepted as what makes someone a good person today. So while it makes sense to do many of the things Jesus said to do, it doesn't make sense to worship him or to follow every word for the sole reason that he said it.

In other words, be nice because you want to be a nice person and because doing so makes the world a better place, not because Jesus said to.

So because people follow his teachings 2000 years later, we should overlook his existence?

That doesn't make much sense.

 

[smartpatrol]

Even atheists and agnostics should be able to agree with the love teaching of Christ. If you can't see the practical value of mankind following them, for whatever reason, then you obviously either haven't read them or simply oppose all religion regardless of the message.

What about the part that says you are condemned to hell for not believing in Christ? What about the part that says we are to make disciples of all nations and baptize them as Christians? No, I don't see ANY value in following those teachings.

Isn't it funny that Christian apologists choose to emphasize the Golden Rule (which wasn't even an original idea at the time), and conveniently ignore all the other batshit crazy things Christ said?

 

[Farmer]

So because people follow his teachings 2000 years later, we should overlook his existence?

That doesn't make much sense.

There is a difference from recognizing someone's existence and worshipping that individual as a god.

You are also mistaken if you believe the Bible is the only document or first document to have ever proposed ideas as to what it means to be a "good person."

 

[AstroManLuca]

So because people follow his teachings 2000 years later, we should overlook his existence?

That doesn't make much sense.

I don't mean that we SHOULD overlook his existence, just that it's not necessary to worship him and hang on every word of the bible. Like I mentioned in an earlier post, we probably have Christianity to thank for modern-day morality, at least in part, and I recognize that.

In the end it is just a personal decision as to whether you want to be a Christian or not. If so, go ahead, go to church, or just believe in God, Jesus, etc. If not, fine, just try to be a good person. A lot of what Jesus said was good but not all of it. If I don't set a day aside every week to pray, it doesn't make me a bad person. If I don't believe in a deity, that doesn't make me a bad person. If I don't obey the golden rule, that DOES make me a bad person.

 

[foghorn67]

It's not much of a human achievement. Suppose I choose to worship a shift manager who works at my local McDonalds. From now on I will refer to him as Joe, with a capital J, and maybe I will write a book about him and devote some of my time convincing other people why I am correct in worshiping Joe. Is that a huge accomplishment? I spent all of 1 minute achieving it.

The creation of a moral system is a significant achievement, but you seem to believe that that is entirely because of the Christian religion, which means you probably misinterpreted my entire post.

You don't have to be Christian or even know of Christianity or the Bible or "Jesus' teachings" to behave in morally good manner. Stop giving Jesus Christ so much credit.

Do you think you eclipsed this so called disappointing human achievement for not doing the same? Oh wow, you're not religious. Doesn't make you anymore advanced than someone that is religious.
You sound just as bad as any evangelical Christian using the same arrogant methods.

 

[Paladin3]

Are you a Christian?

Also I suggest you look into these two sites for the evils in the New Testament.

http://www.evilbible.com/
http://skepticsannotatedbible.com/

My religion should not matter since you will only use it to prejudge my comments based on your biases, but for the record I am agnostic. I wish Jesus existed as The Bible represents him, but I find it hard to logically believe.

I do enjoy reading and thinking about the lessons Jesus taught, such as loving one another, which is exactly what I said in my post. I didn't once try to defend everything in the New Testament or any other part of the Bible beyond Jesus' love teachings.

I've seen plenty of evil in the world and have spent much time wondering how a loving God as taught in the Bible could let this shit happen. I've come to the conclusion in my own heart that God as portrayed in the Bible probably does not exist, but I'm not 100% certain at this point. I'm comfortable saying I don't understand the entire workings of the universe or my purpose, if any, in it, which is why I identify as agnostic.

All I have to say about Christianity is that it wouldn't hurt the world if a few more people believed in the basic concepts of Jesus' love teachings and the idea of some kind of higher moral value that we should aspire to.

I guess I advocate using religion to control people for good, lol! Or for people using religion, if nothing else works for them, to remind themselves to be kind to one another, judge not and all that other good stuff.

Edit: I also think it could be extremely possible that if Jesus did exist and came back to Earth he just might point out that we got a lot of shit wrong when we wrote the Bible. At least that is how I would like to think it would go down, since so many parts of the book don't make any damn sense to be coming out of the mouth of a loving god.

 

[rudeguy]

There is a difference from recognizing someone's existence and worshipping that individual as a god.

You are also mistaken if you believe the Bible is the only document or first document to have ever proposed ideas as to what it means to be a "good person."

I never said it was. However I would be interested in hearing some references that do.

 

[Farmer]

Do you think you eclipsed this so called disappointing human achievement for not doing the same? Oh wow, you're not religious. Doesn't make you anymore advanced than someone that is religious.
You sound just as bad as any evangelical Christian using the same arrogant methods.

When the hell did I ever say "disappointing human achievement"? I said its not much of an achievement. Your personal choice of religion is not an achievement.

Man, read my posts before jumping to argue against me. I already said I don't want to argue about religion.