In real life lately, I have had a lot of good questions from non-Christians (Muslim, Jew, Hindu, etc) about being Christian and our beliefs. If anyone has questions, feel free to ask them here. I am open to respectful discussions on this matter here or in PM. I am a Christian, but I have soul searched on this topic a lot over the years..
The religious discourage rational, critical thought. They treat other groups like second class citizens because their religion instructs it. They cause children to grow up in fear of eternal damnation. They discourage seeking help for mental health problems due to ignorance. They teach abstinence-only sexual education. They censor speech, art, books, music, films, poetry, songs, and sometimes thought that they disagree with. They often demonize other religions, because they often think they were created by demons. They ignore long-term environmental issues because of ideas like their gods ending the world or protecting the world. They vote for leaders not because they are qualified or capable, but because they share their imaginary friend. Religion causes people to accept visual or auditory hallucinations as divine. Human medical achievements, such as surgery, chemo, and pharmaceuticals are attributed to divine intervention instead of man's knowledge. Natural disasters and tragedies are not merely natural events, but often the just and deserving wrath of a vengeful god reigning down his punishment or perhaps just the consequence of a man eating an apple.
Religion teaches children to accept mythology as truth before their brain has even developed. Winged horses, fire-breathing seven headed dragons, magic flying chariots, talking donkeys, a talking snake, the earth stopping its rotation in the sky, conception without sexual intercourse, water magically turning into blood, water covering the entire earth for a year before draining through a hole in the ocean, an angel coming to kill all the first-born children that lived in Egypt, seas splitting in two so people can walk through them, people coming back to life after they're dead. This is why atheists care about what people believe. Because you indoctrinate your children to believe that these fairytales are reality because they're too young and stupid to know better.
Adolf Hitler didn't need religion to convince people neither did Mao. If you've ever watched the Stanford prison experiment you'll see a group of young men who succumb to abusing the inmates, for no reason at all other then they were given power without restrictions.
Religion isn't necessary to convince people. Good and bad is subjective, a good man one day can be roped into doing something evil and he's not even aware.
You're absolutely free to feel warm and cuddly at night if you don't affect me with your religion. That means you don't vote to restrict my right to marry whoever I choose. You don't get to have companies that teach your religion with my taxes. You don't get to be exempt from taxes because you teach a religion. You don't get to restrict my right to choose an abortion.
Further, I don't care if you like the concept of nihilism just like I don't care if you like that 2 + 2 = 4. The truth doesn't care how you feel about it. We live in a world together, where your beliefs affect me. If you think vaccines cause autism, my child has a greater risk of dying from measles. If you think gays shouldn't marry, you cause my sister social difficulties. If you think stem cell research is bad because T-cells are harvested from the umbilical cords of aborted fetuses, you delay cures for cancer. If you think you can get better by thinking positive thoughts or praying instead of going to a doctor, you harm everyone else. If your beliefs could exist in a vacuum that never touches me, I wouldn't give two sh!ts. But they don't. When people believe something that is not true, it has direct consequences on everyone else in the reality that we share. This is why atheists care about what people believe.
Yeah, maybe it is a bad argument, but without religion you'll have good people doing good things and bad people doing bad things. Do you know what is necessary to make good people do bad things? Convince them that their religion commands it. Then they will mutilate all of the genitalia, murder all those who disagree with them, and commit other moral atrocities in the name of their gods. All religion is false. All of it.
Since faith is not a reliable way to come to know what is true, this is a good argument. Their excuse is what is dumb.
Of course she knows this. The point is that it depends on which culture you are from and which point in time, then a different thing is "the correct religion". That's literally the point. For gods that claim to be unbound by time, they seem to have a lot in common with the nomadic sheep herders who wrote about them than that of a master designer who can see thousands of years at a time.
I'm not making any claim about the Big Bang theory, and neither did she. A claim has been made that an invisible anthropomorphic being exists and we're asking where your evidence is. It's no different than me telling you that I believe in fairies. Where's the evidence?
Ah no, I don't think you got the point I was trying to make, I probably didn't word it right. If everyone has an equal shot at finding the Christian God, doesn't the fact that people who are born into Christian families have a WAY higher chance of being Christian prove that idea wrong? It would mean that religion is determined by where you grow up, which means that God can't possibly give a fair shot to people. If you're unlucky enough to be born in Saudi Arabia, your chances of automatically going to Hell are incredibly, incredibly high. That's the problem.
God waiting to reveal his true character doesn't explain why he specifically commanded genocides that targeted infants, and specifically said that the women they capture were theirs to ra*pe.
even if i 20 thousand its nothing compared to how many chinese there r
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this is why we were told to go spread the word to the whole world, and people did this a lot. There are a decent number of Chinese christians for example. I go to an international church in germany. We have like 30-50members representing the whole world. The chinese church here has like 150+ on the other hand!!!!
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Jews had to have animal sacrifices to forgive their sins and be near God, but this is a temporary fix and it does not allow us to grow close to God because of our sins. Prophets foretold that the Messiah (Jesus) would come and save Israel. Jesus filled these prophesies and he because the sacrifice for our sins so we could be near God. If you do not have the sacrifice to pay for your sins, you cant go near God. Its tough love from God, but all you have to do is accept this..
some of the "rules" and crap are dumb in it's own right, (you poured water on clay oh no how dare you, and don't even think about chewing food at the wrong time) but i like the ideas and i believe every religion has its flaws and not everything is "absolutely true nothing bad here"
more of a way of living- karma pizza rules all
but what do i know :P
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figuring out what you believe/support. Like you have to soul search before big decisions like who you marry and what religion you follow
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Mt, I admire your faith.
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Christianity started in the middle east and spread all over. Your religion growing up tends to be where you stay though I agree. God makes ways for people to find him in spite of geographical limitations. I assume that you are just more bothered by the fact that it might be more of a societal organization used to control people?
God in the old testiment was at times loving and other times not very nice. This is expected after he deals with us. His real character became evident when he died on a cross to save us from our sins though. I do think that there are misunderstandings in the bible at times. Like the years in the old testiment can't be literal.
but what about china or india a looooooooooot of ppl live there and until recently if u consider the history of christianity they had no idea about jesus
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Christianity is across the whole globe. There are less in places like the middle east but christianity technically like started in the middle east...
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You can't prove anything scientifically. There are only correlations... I am a scientist too
I don't get the reasoning of atheist wanting everyone to be atheist. Just let people feel warm and cuddly at night. Not everyone likes the concept of nihilism.
Christian cults aren't adhering to scripture, there's nothing there telling them to do that. Christianity wasn't even written to be a theocracy, Jesus even said render unto Caesar/ your government.
You brought up what happened to the religions prior to Christianity specifically Judaism, I answered that. Yes according to Christianity other non believers go to hell. In Judaism though they have a different concept of hell and I wouldn't know what that is. Something about the devil more of being a foil to God.
I never argued the point about other religions saying the other goes to hell, that's a legit critism you can have.
