YART: I want to believe the bible but.....

[mattlear]

Wow, some interesting ideas are abound in this thread.

I was brought up roman catholic, but when I hit my teenage years, I really started to question things.

You have to remember that the Bible has been translated and most certainly modified numerous times since it's inception.

I mean, look at King James... the fact that we have a King James version is pretty funny, as this was a small but powerful group's influence towards a doctrine of how one should live.

The bible really is full of hypocrisy... In the old testament, you have what I like to call the "mean vengeful jewish god", and then in the new testament, this supposedly loving deity who wants people to be redeemed instead of being drowned. Seems too different to be the same deity.

Also, some of the stories are borrowed from other religions, such as Noah / Epic of Gilgamesh (as others mentioned before).

I'm really not trying to incite a flame war here, as I'm sure there are deeply religous people who read this forum. It's just that there are alot of atrocities that are carried out "in the name of God", and each group believes they are correct (the Crusades anyone?)

As far as free will, I have a HUGE issue with that. I was taught (correctly or incorrectly) that God was omnipotent and omniscient, and that he created each and every one of us. Well, with God being omniscient, doesn't He know the future? And if He knows the future, and He creates you, how can He give you free will? He knows that when you come to a fork in the road which path you are going to take. Since He created you, didn't He create you to choose that path? How can one choose an outcome that God didn't forsee? I guess my argument is that if you believe He created you, how can you choose a path other than the one God knew you would choose. Sounds like predestination (Puritanism?) to me. We're all just computer programs... hello Matrix!

Someone once said "Religion was invented to keep the poor from murdering the rich". Sometimes I wonder about that...

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: mattlear
Wow, some interesting ideas are abound in this thread.

Someone once said "Religion was invented to keep the poor from murdering the rich". Sometimes I wonder about that...

Or was it something like

"Religion is the opium of the people.' - Marx

In relation to how wealthiar people use to use it as a way to control slaves, etc.

 

[joohang]

Originally posted by: nativesunshine
.....but it says that animals don't have souls...


and i believe that animals have souls...

Then probably Jainism might appeal to you.

 

[JustAnAverageGuy]

Originally posted by: nativesunshine
.....but it says that animals don't have souls...


and i believe that animals have souls...

I wonder what an honest preacher would say to a little kid that just had his dog run over by a car.

"Is rover going to heaven father?"

Be nice and say yes

Be honest and say no?

 

[przero]

1. The Ram caught in the thicket typified Christ. Abraham trusted God to supply the sacrificial Lamb. Then, at that time Abraham saw Christ.
2. The giants were not the sons of angels and women. The entire world was wicked and violent! He gave them 120 years to repent, then He purified the Earth.
3. Everything was restored to Job. We see things in a temporal mode. God sees the end from the beginning. He knew Satan would lose. It was not a wager, just a lesson to Satan. God tests our Faith, because He is ALWAYS faithful.
4. You can choose not to believe in God. If you do not believe, then it is not a life or death choice. Life is simply "one and done". I fell the choice is not about Life eternal, but about KNOWING there's more to life and finding a Living God that provides it.

 

[Capone]

Originally posted by: Brutuskend
On a somewhat related note, did anyone happen to see the show on the history channel last night about ''The Bible Codes"?

I don't know if I believe in it, bit it WAS interesting.

Link

My sister watched that. She's convinced the world is going to end in 2012 now.

 

[Capone]

I took a philosophy class and it really opens your eyes to other religions. If you get a chance definately take one.

 

[alkemyst]

Originally posted by: JustAnAverageGuy

Originally posted by: nativesunshine
.....but it says that animals don't have souls...


and i believe that animals have souls...

I wonder what an honest preacher would say to a little kid that just had his dog run over by a car.

"Is rover going to heaven father?"

Be nice and say yes

Be honest and say no?

I believe there is no passage in the bible that directly states animals do not have souls.

A lot of this seems from the fact that in early times:
1) people believed only man used tools (false)
2) people believed animals are automata, they only follow instinct and reactions, they do not think (wrong, some animals play, some protect sick members and much more as one with a lot of Zoology I was surprised how human animals could be esp in problem solving that had no correlation to instinctual patterns.)

it goes on and on....

In a public audience on January 19th 1990 Pope John Paul 11 said "also the animals possess a soul and men must love and feel solidarity with smaller brethren" He pointed out that in Genesis "the way in which man was created suggests a relationship with the spirit or the breath of God. And one reads that after having created man from the dust of the earth, the Lord God 'breathed life into his nostrils and man became a living soul.'" He went on to say that animals have the breath of life and were given it by God. So, in this respect, man, created by the hand of God, is identical with all other living creatures. Although the pope's statement was reported in the Italian press it was not reported in the UK and was ignored by British Catholic publications.

Now perhaps this is not true...I somehow think it was.

again it goes on and on....I believe in the Buddist faith animals have afterlife.

there are a lot of statistics that try to discredit, but really have no bearing...one of the more popular ones is that only 1 in 5 veterarians believe animals have a soul and of those less think heaven is open to animals....now I have no idea what the groups are in these 'surveys', however they all seem to have a decidingly Christian slant. It may be that if the veterarian was not christian, then his animals are not christian, and therefore by automatic default excluded from both a soul and heaven according to the mindset that occurs.

Å

 

[Kadarin]

Originally posted by: nativesunshine
.....but it says that animals don't have souls...


and i believe that animals have souls...

If there is such a thing as a soul, my dog definitely has one.