Topic: Why do you believe God exists? - page 6. (Read 7902 times)

Yes, most christians are sensible people but they have to ignore big chunks of story in the bible. The bible talks about slavery and rape, even allows it, the bible even allows murder. They have to come up with excuses because they know the bible is wrong so they say things like: ''Oh but that's the old testament'' ''it doesn't count''

I am sure the majority of Christians and people from several religious doctrines are against slavery and rape.

True, but sometimes you need to ban ideologies (communism, socialism, Nazism, fascism, religion) that cause multi-generational societal harm.

Slavery is a bad idea.  So is the Bible.

It does not matter how many times you raped, if you only raped once, you are a rapist.

Because it was totally necessary to waste thousands of years just to eventually allow people to invent the printing press. Your logic is horrible bro. Was there really no better way for god to spread some proof of his existence? Wasting thousands of years was the best he could do? Pathetic.

^^^ The interesting thing about this is, the only reason why religious and science knowledge is as widespread as it is, is from the printing press. If we never had the printing press, the Bible would still be the great book of authority. It simply wouldn't have spread as far as it has by now. Remember, we have found 25,000 ancient copies or parts of copies of the handwritten New Testament from the early A.D. times. No other book is even close. Is it Aristotle writings that are around 900? Plato only has 4 or 5 early copies.

Here is an interesting thought. Why would God allow the printing press to come into existence to spread the Bible around the world? After all, the Bible is by far the most spread-around-the-world book even today. Here might be the reason, Matthew 24:22:
In other words, God let the printing press come into being so that the Bible would be spread faster. This is bringing the Bible to every corner of the world. We are nearing the completion of one of the last signs that shows that the end is near, that Jesus will return. Matthew 24:14:
If we had no printing press, it would have taken so long for the Bible to be spread around the world, that people would finally fail in faith altogether. God shortened the time by letting the printing press be developed. Soon the whole world will have had the opportunity to find faith in God through the Bible. Then the end will come, Jesus will return. Could be any day, now. But will probably be withing the next 150 years for sure.

To burn all the scriptures would be to limit our freedom to believe whatever we want and read whatever we want though. It would bring us back to the dark age when all the books that were incompatible with the popular paradigm were burnt.

The concept of religion and spirituality is not a single unit.
Atheists are not people who don't believe in the supernatural, but they don't believe in YOUR idea of spirituality. Can them pagans, infidels, or what name other religions have for them.

In the 21st century, we should not be using 6th century CE or 6th century BCE scriptures to justify our morality.  Our morality should come from the humanity that is within us.  We should burn ALL scriptures and move on as critical thinking human beings.

Religion is evil at its core.  A con business that was set up to exploit the gullible.  It does not matter which one, they are all the same.

We don't live in the Bronze Age or in the 6th century. The year is 2018.  Earth is not flat, it is billions of years old, nobody created the universe or life on Earth that we know of, life evolved and continues to evolve.  Anyone who denies these facts is delusional or simply ignorant.

In my humble opinion af_newbie, I think that our belief in God is not as important as our morality.
An atheist who acts under the moral principles of the Golden Rule ie. following the guidance of love, compassion, etc. creates a better world than a God-believer who kills others and acts cruelly.

Why are to misdirecting the conversation?  Who said anything about materialism?  I said objective facts.  It is not my problem that our reality is material.

The issue was religion and its interference with the progressive thought, its coercive powers etc.

Under the religious rule, we would not be able to have this conversation as I (and you depending on which religious rule we are talking about) would be hanged in the city square.

Be careful what you wish for.  Get off your Judeo-Christian horse.  It is no different than a Muslim buraq.

Very true.

Artificial intelligence is different than a virtual world on your computer. A character in a videogame will never become aware of anything, ever.

Enter: Artificial Intelligence

Something without consciousness cannot become aware of us.

So God exists.

Seeing how easy it has been for us to create virtual worlds, give the characters in these worlds jobs and tasks... what happens when those characters become aware of us, without the need for us to program it in there? We're creating more and more virtual simulations for entertainment and work, while physical things become more electronic based. All of our entertainment has been made to not be able to held in our hands. My music used to be tapes, then CD's, now I just own the device that plays the virtual music i buy online. Comic books have become full length movies and making 1 billion dollars each time a new one comes out. Panini is making virtual football cards that are selling for ridiculous amounts online. Reminds me of a mix between Inception and Truman Show. Different levels of simulations created by the one before it.

Philosophy can be great but far from a good ''science'' to find the ''truth''. That's your problem, you base most of your beliefs on philosophical arguments.

Actually the only truth you know is materialism. The objective facts are in dispute.

Materialists such as yourself are often herded into a form of rationalized self-annihilation that is deeply deeply tied to the corruption of modernity BADecker highlighted in his most recent post.

Here is an article that discusses this downward spiral. The portion on willful self-annihilation is particularly relevant.

Old Left-New Left... Modernity-Postmodernity - surface changes masking a constant deep motivation against God
http://charltonteaching.blogspot.com/2018/12/old-left-new-left-modernity.html?m=1

What is the 'truth' I am talking about?

For the purposes of this immediate and specific conversation it is the following.

Materialism is false.

You talk so silly. When were the actual starts to the written Bible made? About 3,500 years ago.

When did people first appear on the earth? The Bible says less than 7,000 years ago, and standard evolution says long before that, though evolutionists aren't sure when.

The Bible fits people better than any book today. Why? Because it was written in times before people corrupted themselves as badly as they have today. So, it hasn't been corrupted as much as modern books. I mean, all you need to do is look at what the United States is doing to Yemen, and what the tribes in Africa are doing to each other. Modern doesn't make anything more pure.

Why should anyone care what the Bible says?  You do know that there are other more relevant books on morality, don't you?

BTW, what 'truth' are you talking about?  The only truth I know is based on objective facts.

Bible is an example of Bronze Age literary work.  Why should I even open this book?  It is filled with vile, immoral passages that anyone with an ounce of moral integrity should burn it at once.

This book is irrelevant in the 21st century.  If you are a history buff you can intellectually masturbate to it, but it is not my cup of tea.

PS. Just imagine what would happen to the Muslims or gays if hardcore evangelists, or the Westboro Baptist types would run the country.  Human rights would go out of the window in the name of Jesus, LOL.