Major World Religions

That is the ironic thing about us. Sometimes it appears we know the Bible better than those who believe in it.

I think you all are missing the joke and getting way too serious. He just said I'm an atheist---THANK GOD!!!!

The best jokes usually contain some partially hidden, uncomfortable truth.

slug, so, you believe that if you come into contact with a menstruating woman that both you and the woman should be exiled; that homosexuals, those who eat lobster, those who wear polyester, and those who collect sticks on a Saturday should all be put to death; that slavery is basically a-okay and it's permissible to beat your slave practically to death so long as he doesn't die within three days of the beating; that a man lived inside of a fish for weeks; that all humans on Earth, in spite of mountains of evidence proving this is false, descended from a single male/female pair c. 6000 years ago... and so on? Just clarifying.

Also it's quite easy to write prophecies with 250% accuracy if the part of the story where those prophecies come true is written after the part of the story where the prophecies are made.

Kal - I actually, in all true honesty, didn't get what in the world you meant by the first 3/4 of you comment. It's probably something really simple, and I just totally missed the point (I'm really good at that), but I just didnt get what you were saying. I would legit love for you to explain it to me, thanks! Also, I guess I didn't really explain the prophecy thing good enough the first time, sorry. Basically, we had written copies of the Bible in the 1400s, and the Dead Sea Scrolls prove that it was written even long before that, and nothing major has changed since then, other than the language, of course. In other words, what it predicted to happen in 1798, was written long before the 1400s. But that's aside from the point, I am seriously interested in what you meant by your comment. I'm not trying to create a giant internet brawl between keyboard warriors, btw. I just genuinely am curious as to what you meant with your reply to me. Thanks!

Oh, and, to avoid confusion, I should probably note that I am 'slugcharger'. I'm just using another account because of a glitch with my 'slugcharger' account.

Mr. Slug, I read these words you wrote: "If it doesn't agree with the Bible, I don't agree with it, basically. Now, the Bible, I don't simply believe in it because there are parts I like, but first of all" ... and I interpreted this to mean that you believe that every part of the Bible is true, that you don't just pick and choose parts of it to believe in, you think all of it is accurate. Correct me if my assumption was incorrect.

The first 3/4 of my above comment lists things that are contained in the Bible that most Christians don't believe. But they are there in black and white.

Mr. Kal - I think I understand what you are saying now. I get it, but I think that you are misunderstanding me just a bit. I do believe the whole Bible is accurate, but that doesn't mean I follow everything that is 'said' in it. I follow what it 'teaches'. Yes, there are crazy, stupid, insane sounding laws in Exodus-Deuteronomy and such. And then there are the 10 Commandments, ones that make sense. Lots of people like to point out that Christians only pick the parts they like, because they follow the 10 Commandments, but not all the other laws. Here's the thing though that so many people make a mistake of when reading the Bible. They only do just that. They only read it. They don't study it, they don't look at the ancient meanings of the texts, and they forget that a lot of the times, verses halfway on the other end of the Bible give more insight to those other verses. They take one verse, and one verse only, and assume it means exactly what is being said without looking at any context

I believe that the laws in Exodus-Deut besides the "10" were once supposed to be followed, but not anymore, not because I don't want to follow those, but because I believe it is what is taught. Those laws were for the children of Israel only at the time. In that time period, they had many different types of laws: civil laws, ceremonial, health, and the 10. All those crazy laws are the ceremonial laws and such, not the 10. When Jesus died on the cross, all of those laws were abolished. They were only a shadow of the things to come, and were nailed to the cross with Christ. Colossians 2:14 "Blotting out the handwriting of ordinances that was "against us" (the ceremonial laws, not the 10, were against us as stated in Deutereonomy 31:26), which was contrary to us, and took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross". It helps to read verses 15-17 too, but you can do that on your own. When Jesus died, all those crazy ceremonial laws died with him, but why weren't the 10 commandments?

The 10 commandments are still in action today, because they were different laws, and they weren't just for the Jews either. Those laws were in effect since the beginning of time, before the children of Israel were a thing. The Sabbath, for instance, was created on the 7th day of creation, when God rested from his work, and it wasn't wrong to kill just because the children of Israel existed. It had been and always will be wrong to kill, atleast in my eyes. But the crazy laws about picking up sticks on the Sabbath, slavery, and all that, those were nailed to the cross with Christ, as stated in Colossians 2:14. The 10 commandments were not. Therefore, yes, I believe those laws were once a thing, but I don't believe they should be followed today. I believe in what is "taught" in the Bible, not what is just said. Sorry for the lengthy response. I guess you did say to correct you if your assumption was wrong, so thats just what I was trying to do: clarify myself. Hope I was clear. Good day!

The 10 Commandments don't really help your case, and what you said about them isn't all true. I'm not in the mood to type out why. I encourage you to look up some atheist perspectives on the subject on YouTube or elsewhere if you're curious.

Oh, I wasn't trying to use the 10 Commandments to prove anything, or "help my case", but rather to merely explain something. All I was trying to do was clarify my original point: That I believe in what the Bible teaches, not what it appears to say. That's all. Also, I couldn't find any decent Atheist perspectives on this stuff, but if you were to give me some sources I'd be more than happy to look at them. Have a great day!

Not really scholarly, but just feeling playful today so here's a bit of fun from YouTuber nonstampcollector:

The 10 Commandments, basis for Western morality

Bible Quiz Show

context

Thanks!

No idea what we're missing out on? My mind is reeling. You know that a lot of atheists are former believers, right? They know exactly what they're "missing out" on, and what they have gained, and have good reason to be thankful.

As to life being inexplicable... no... actually... life is quite explicable if you believe in reality. Everything makes sense when you accept the truth. If you believe in a lie that renders life inexplicable, THEN you need to insert miracles and mystery into your understanding in order to make sense of things. I've been on both sides of this.

I've been the guy desperately trying to figure out why bad things happen to good people, why the supposedly divinely inspired book I'm supposed to believe in is so rife with contradictions and barbarity, why prayers go unanswered, why evil exists, etc etc, finding some small solace in flimsy old memes like "god has a plan" and "his ways are higher than ours" but still never feeling quite satisfied.

Because I was honest and perceptive enough to know that these explanations and others like them were hollow.

I've also been the guy who, after decades of believing something sincerely and passionately, was able to examine his own beliefs, consider the criticism of others, weigh all the evidence and admit that he was wrong. The guy who was able to take a step back, look at the things he believed before, consider an alternate explanation, and, even though it was painful, admit that the alternative made much much more sense. And, after doing all this, the guy who is able to say with authority that the world is *much* more explicable now than it was before, everything makes sense, because I'm not trying to make up excuses to account for my belief in nonsense.

Have you been that guy? Or are you the guy who has believed the same thing his whole life and then condescends to others about belief and what they're missing out on?

Yes, not believing in miracles definitely does not make life inexplicable. "It's a miracle" is not an explanation at all. It is a way of seeming to explain something without actually knowing why it happened. Things don't just happen for no reason or because God decided to make them happen, which is what miracles are usually defined to be. They always have an explanation, even if you don't know what it is.

I didn't say all atheists know about religion. I thought that it was clear I meant on average. Numerous polls bear this out: atheists do tend to know more about religion than theists.

I also didn't mean that the *only* reason people are atheists is because they know a lot about religion. But... unless they were raised somewhere where they were not exposed to religion and are simply ignorant about it (like China, maybe), or unless they are the kind of person who has just never given it much thought (and there are millions of people like that, sure, and probably more in Europe where gandalf is from than in most places), I'd wager that most atheists at least know *something* about religion... even if that something is something as simple as "there's no good evidence that a god exists," or "my religious family members come across as kind of ignorant jerks and they seem to use their faith to justify this," or even just "church is boring"... and that this contributes to their belief

The correct spelling of shi'a, shi'ah, shiia etc is الشيعة. But there are plenty of common ways to spell it with the Roman alphabet.

"Big boat"? Not "big wheel" and "small wheel"?

Also, "Shintoism (etc.)"? Etc?

Every subsequent time taking this quiz I've always remembered "big boat" but still have a hard time remembering the other one. That's the only one I missed on this go 'round.

The Hindu braches are easy to get if you remember you can also type in the paramount gods of each.

they are not