do you remember the old jeff bridges film ''the last starman''?.
basic theme was an extra terestrial energy life transmogrified into a human and impregnated a woman with a seed that would become the savior of humanity.. hollywood is an old hand at using good v evil sort of messages that have ideoligical ties to the bible and the 'need' for mankind to be saved from themselves.. what gets me about this particular film is that the savior to come was there for all humanity.
no conditions were placed on how many from what nations could benefit, nor was salvation only for those who 'believed' or were smart enough to read visions or hidden messages etc.
@ Tec "God did not kill his Son. People killed His Son. God sent his Son for us, to show us the way to Life. He knew what would happen to Christ, "
If I send my kid (fictional) into heavy vehicular traffic knowing that there is a high probability that she/he will get killed as a result of getting hit by a car and actually does get hit and dies, am I able to say that I did not kill my kid but the cars did?
americans drink beer as a recreational activity, which is no different than abusing prescription drugs.
the people who laugh and scoff at preaching against beer have never stood over the graves of a mother and child killed by a drunk driver.
i'll never forget that little casket being lowered alongside the mother's casket, because some drunk driver killed them.
A 15-year-old who died Saturday after a tragic early morning car crash involving three other teens on a northern B.C. highway has been identified by police.......
........The driver and passenger, both 17-year-old boys, were wearing seatbelts.
........Const. Laura Lechky said police believe the driver fell asleep at the wheel, but alcohol was not involved.
I guess we should ban sleeping too. Or maybe just recognize the behaviours that result in tragic outcomes.
just curious to know the steps that brought you to become an atheist.
just wanted to shared mine in a nutshell:.
1. learned that evolution had credibility.
I have as much disdain for God as I have for Thor or Siva the Destroyer or tiny little fairies.
The disdain is reserved for those individuals who used the God concept to the detriment of their fellow humans.
prayer topics seem to be the bandwagon of the moment so i'm jumping on!
seriously, has anyone here asked for something specific in prayer and actually gotten what they asked for?
what convinces you that you wouldn't have got it in any case?
Nope. Never. However, now that I meditate and practice yoga, I do get answers. Go figure.
i think my mains reasons would be i don't believe they have "truth".
and i refuse to allow them control over me..
Why? Cuz I'm busy.
i'll start off.. i don't believe anything is divine about bible writings.
i believe there may be some marginal history although not much.
i think alot of folk tales and regional myths are contained in the old testament.
I believe what is written in the Bible as much as is written in A Clockwork Orange. Violence, gore, lust etc. Just stories. Not inspired in the supernatural sense. Inspired by the imagination of the writers involved including those other interesting pieces that were somehow excluded from the 'Holy' book.
To many inconsistencies and lack of agreement between scholars makes me extremely skeptical about claims of it's divine nature - written or otherwise.
Good book to fall asleep to though.
i was talking several days ago with a believer who was telling me what an atheist is.
i personally do not have any gods, therefore i consider myself an atheist.
however this person was telling me that an atheist says there is no god.
p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
A NEW LIGHT:
(ALN): A good first step is to ask the Source for help in overcoming some weakness that you know you cannot fully control on your own.
If you can't control it fully on your own, why are you asking yourself to overcome that weakness that you can't fully control?
(ALN): Don't worry about religion or dogma or feeling foolish. Just humbly ask and see what happens.
Ask who? The Source? Yourself? What is the Source?
(ALN): Your response to a quote of mine implies that I referred to a supernatural being. This is incorrect. For all I know, we are praying to ourselves.
So you are stating that when humbly asking a Source, that is not an entity but yourself? Your statements above say to ask the "Source" to overcome weaknesses. I'm sure that a person who has some weakness they wish to overcome has already tried themselves to overcome it. If to ask a Source (which according to you is yourself), isn't that like banging your head against a wall?
i was talking several days ago with a believer who was telling me what an atheist is.
i personally do not have any gods, therefore i consider myself an atheist.
however this person was telling me that an atheist says there is no god.
A journey of 1000 miles begins with one step, as we all know. A good first step is to ask the Source for help in overcoming some weakness that you know you cannot fully control on your own. Don't worry about religion or dogma or feeling foolish. Just humbly ask and see what happens.
Can get the same results from yoga. So no supernatural being necessary. In fact, one might get confused that a supernatural being has somehow manifested itself, but it's just brain activity.
i was talking several days ago with a believer who was telling me what an atheist is.
i personally do not have any gods, therefore i consider myself an atheist.
however this person was telling me that an atheist says there is no god.
Atheists do not deny a supernatural deity nor do they choose to ignore the supposed manifestations of this alleged being around them. It's about the available evidence or insufficient evidence.
in my town we did.
each congregation had its own "pick up" team.
we would get together and play on a chosen sunday after the meetings.
We played football, soccer, and baseball games every weekend. Football was played about 90% of the time. In the summer time we usually played flag or touch football, but in the winter time when there was about 1 - 2 feet of snow on the field, we would play tackle. Reasoning was you would run slower and your hit wouldn't be as hard. We never got hassled for any of these things from the local elders or at an assembly level. Hockey however, was a totally different matter. We would play at least twice a week and even sometimes a short summer season - playing golf in the afternoon and then a hockey game later in the evening was the best! I lost track how many times the topic of organized hockey games came up at meetings, circuit and district assemblies. We never stopped organizing them anyways. I mean, how do you get a group of people together to share in a common interest? You need organization right? Society taught us well how to do that ;) Of course a lot of fights broke out and we played full contact and lots of injuries. I currently play in a league and I can tell you, I feel safer playing hockey now compared to back then! Maybe it had something to do with being repressed and letting it all out at the game, eh?
