Teddy777

god definitely exists but his nature is something i'm very unsure of. Is there a truly correct morality, is there a heaven or hell or some kind of purgatory or are we reincarnated? I don't know, and that's always been very unsettling to me.

Zhanteimi

God's nature cannot ever be fully known by human beings, but we can know enough to interact with Him on His terms.

Horror

Science is just so much more fun and un-bias.

Zhanteimi

I love what scientific observation can show us! The Wonders of the Solar System and The Wonders of the Universe are two excellent examples, in my opinion.

Hip-Hop Homework

I've bitten my tongue on some of the other threads but it's time go ahead and rock the boat...

By the strict definition of religion--atheism is a religion. So maybe the original question should be rephrased to more accurately inquire what it is that we would like to determine by this survey.

Also, some have self identified as both atheistic and agnostic...which is non-sequitur. You cannot be both. One is a firm renunciation of theism, taking a position of certainty in this claim. And the other maintains a position that it's unknowable...in other words, they're reserving judgement until evidence can be produced to sway their beliefs convincingly.

People really need to educate themselves before they take cues from others who "seem to have it all figured out." The longer I've lived the more I've realized how many people are faking the funk. I challenge everything...it's the only way to maintain credibility and be educated about even my own beliefs.

Also, Michio Kaku (since Atheism uses science as a chief resource for their claims--it should be germane to the topic) has admittedly arrived to the conclusion that there is a GOD although he uses different terms to describe it. It's a youtube vid flying under that banner...likely to generate interest. I don't know why he felt the need to distinguish his description when it was clear he was insinuating that through his observations in quantum physics research that there is mounting evidence to suggest intelligent design. Really more of what he was saying is that he believes in a creator but didn't actually identify this creator with any god but the implication is definitely wearing the uniform of a monotheistic entity.

Biblical archaeology is really fascinating and lends credence to the Christian bible. FYI, it's an area I find interest in researching...

Fundamentally all Christian denominations should be the same...just like Communism should have worked out. But ethically the interpretation of the same word has resulted in divisions and separate congregations...ergo the denominations. The most significant divisions in Christianity are mainly two-fold...The Catholic > Anglican (eventually Protestant) split. All Christian denominations are derived from this Anglican denomination (sans Catholics). Catholics are the only denomination of Christianity that submit to a papal authority in addition to GOD and Christ. The other big split happened within the protestant camp. The Anglican church (like episcopalians) they still observe many Catholic rites and traditions but don't recognize the pope in the "chain of command." So the significance was removing the Pope from the equation. But essentially, the hearsay is, everything else remained the same. The priest, bishop hierarchy but with the king of England now heading the church. Back to the protestant division...this is where you get into the pure protestants and true differences from the Catholic church. The puritans and pilgrims of the Mayflower fame wanted a departure from Catholic tradition and wanted more reform so to get to a place where they'd be free to do that after heavy persecution by the church of England--cue America. We start getting into the other branches here, lutherans, 7-day adventists, , methodists, baptists...the majority of these are basically the same but with many nuances, mostly in ethics, but there are some noticeable differences which can be succinctly outlined by a quick google search in Arminianism vs. Calvinism. The cliff's notes are that Calvin argues GOD's sovereignty is chief and nothing we can do will ever change preordained plans from GOD. Arminias argues that by grace through faith...we are responsible for believing (having faith) and we do have leverage in terms of influencing our salvation through choices in free will (which can submit or resist GOD's will). So basically one guy says we're either saved or we're not 'cause GOD preordained it all and the other says we have a choice in the matter.

So that's a cliff's notes version of the many uniforms of Christianity. There are varying practices amongst those, i.e. 7-day adventists who observe their sabbath on saturday instead of sunday. Then you have the latter day saints--mormons who claim to be followers of Christ but produced another source to inform their beliefs...this is contrary to Christian canon as the bible strictly instructs not to remove or add anything to what was dictated to GOD's prophets. The New Testament mostly includes treatises on Christian behavior produced by The Apostles and some New Testament prophets (revelations, etc.). All Christian denominations use one translation of the Holy Bible. Some more prone to error in terms of interpretation due to linguistic differences but at the core remaining the same. There are exhaustive bodies of work that give literal (sometimes seemingly-nonsenical) translations word-for-word from the Greek/Hebrew texts and Jerome's vulgate (first translation from the originals into latin for the Catholic church) in interest of preserving the original meaning but this is subject to much debate as a simple example of the word "know" in the times of writing the bible also carried the additional meaning of having intimate, sexual relations with a person.

So the next time somebody says the bible has been rewritten, it's only true in the sense of translating to new languages or projects to restore a questionable translation (even the King James, arguably the most predominant English translation has come under fire for its semantic inaccuracy and not being wholly-faithful to the original hebrew/greek texts). And this is trackable thanks to historic prints and comparing original documents. The bible hasn't really been changed as alleged by detractors.

I neither subscribe to the school of thought that Science negates Christianity nor that scientific discoveries cannot coexist when compared against the contents of the bible. I tend to think it's a matter of perspective and many, many of the greatest thinkers in history, in the fields of mathematics and logic have arrived to the conclusion of a monotheistic entity. I think coincidence is a matter of perspective...Michio Kaku tho. There is nary a larger scientific authority than him...

I also work with a lotta science and I have never experienced anything to convince me GOD does not exist. We all believe in things we can't see...an entire branch of science is devoted to that--it's called Quantum Physics. So when people mock the invisible man in the sky...what about the invisible forces that govern our universe which science, the very name upon which many detractors found their counter claims, acknowledges unseen forces.

I am a Christian and I'm not here to condemn anybody. That's not what legit Christians are called to do. In fact we're supposed to go and show compassion to lost souls. So I'm not here to be a fear monger and spread a message of hell, brimstone, and fire.

HOpefully everybody plays nice tho so that never happens. I hope to have a pleasant community experience with everybody and just have some fun while choppin' it up about music.

Take what you hear, see, read with a grain of salt. There's always another perspective...

Hip-Hop Homework was here...P3@cE!

Zhanteimi

"By the strict definition of religion--atheism is a religion."

Atheists hate when people say this.

The Batlord

And for it to be true you would have to stretch the definition of religion until it no longer usefully described actual religion.

__________________

Hip-Hop Homework

I don't have to stretch anything...we could debate semantics of what makes a tree a tree all day. But at the end of the day, we could walk away with me calling it a tree and you calling it a plant...it has no bearing over the truth what we choose to believe, right? That's subjective interpretation and itself is at risk for rational fallacy.

Far be it from me to tell people what to do...but if you took 10 seconds to look it up. You'd be eating crow. CROW--IT'S WHAT'S FOR DINNER!

I think what you're saying is true to the detriment of your own point tho. If you wanna stretch the definition of religion to a point where the collective atheist community no longer fits the description...THEN you would be right on both points, atheism not being a religion and having stretched the definition to where it's no longer true.

But when it comes to debates, that's why it behooves any parties involved to arrive to a consensus of strict definitions of what's subject to debate...it's waaaay too easy to let the process of rational logic break down because of variations in interpretive semantics.

I promise you it's not my intention to provoke people...but I do wanna keep it hunnid.

And to deny that atheism is a religion itself undermines any credibility for being open to accepting the truth at the risk of having to redefine what--your identity, your belief/value system, the definition of the idea itself??? this should be nothing new to the human experience...error and having to make subtle or sometimes quantum adjustments to what we thought we knew to be true is almost an everyday part of living.

I'm just sayin'. If the shoe fits...

Chula Vista

Yes and no. If you think yes then being vegan is also a religion. As is deciding to live your life sans footwear. This train of thought can be taken to ridiculous lengths.

__________________

“The fact that we live at the bottom of a deep gravity well,
on the surface of a gas covered planet going around a nuclear fireball 90 million miles away
and think this to be normal is obviously some indication of how skewed our perspective tends to be.”

Janszoon

So what is the strict definition of religion?

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A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

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