Maybe. I started questioning god around the time of my confirmation (raised Catholic) and more or less threw the entire idea of god (as described by man so far) out the window completely my first time through college... I was a psychology major/theology minor. After two semesters of that, the truth of the stories being told started seeming pretty ridiculous to me in terms of their factual veracity (which is different than saying that I saw no value in the stories). A career in science has amplified the sense of wonder I feel at the universe, but it hasn't helped with the whole god thing, no. Sure, okay. I'm using it in the classical sense. Something that is attributed to a force beyond understanding of natural laws. Meh. That's still not supernatural to me. I don't think you're giving ancient civilizations enough credit in terms of the things they knew/didn't know. Somewhere around Albuquerque.
You can choose to believe anything you want to you have free will and reason, have at it. I know plenty of people who don't believe in their religious text word for word but still enjoy the ritual and tie to family and history and the general comfort they get from their personal religious experience. Brainwashed? Hardly. I'm guessing most people have a good reason to attend church, associate with a religion or otherwise believe or not as they choose. There’s comfort in family continuity all by itself. I've met Catholic priests whose belief in god was at best sketchy, so what, comfort and contemplation, get it where you can all good stuff. Personally I’m a none believer it used to freak me out when people I know would say I'm praying for you. Now I take it as an act of kindness or friendship. If they believe it helps why shouldn't I accept their good will even if I don't believe? The force of nature is all around us we are a very small part of that here for a fraction of a second. Contemplation and belief if it brings you to a better place have at it. Proof is for suckers, do something that has personal meaning and reflect on your better self. It’s not science.
God is one of man's greatest inventions. It gives people hope. If someone wants to believe fine, but I do not.
I don't think that I addressed this response well enough. I wasn't even remotely talking about physical appearance. god isn't 5'11" with dark brown hair and brown eyes. When I say his "image", I am talking about behavior. Why is it that god's behavior most closely resembles the methodology if a scientist, when his doctrine directly contradicts his behavior? Why is it that god's most fervent supporters demonize people that use his methodology to do their work in the field of science when it is plainly understandable in the bible how man came to be in his present state? Is it because those that kept providing future translations made god's behavior more obscure over time while highlighting the doctrine? What else is missing from this book?
There are certainly many untruths that have been exposed by our current understanding of science... ... yet we have a long way to go before our understanding of science is complete, if it ever will be. Up until twenty years ago, the idea that god created Eve from Adam's rib was just magic. Now we can clone a species from living tissue today. How long will it be before we prove that resurrection and talking animals are possible? We already speak with chimps through sign language.
The problem is that most of the bible was completely fabricated to enlist the millions of directionless europeans after the fall of the Roman empire. It was written to get people to join. You can't take it even close to face value, even if the bible's gist of what Jesus stood for is probably legitimate.
Do you have something to back up your claim that most of it was fabricated during that time period you mention? So far, I have only seen proof that material was excluded to more easily control populations. Interpretations and flawed translations do not equal fabrication.
PBS had a pretty objective series on the whole history of Christianity: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/shows/religion/ The key chapter there is "The Story of the Storytellers"
Even the most fervent scientist have stopped accusing the bible from being inaccurate, archeologist have unearthed many sites which were only mentioned in the bible, these supposedly contradictions were used to discredit the bible. However what you don't see is these same scientist recant their accusations and give credit to the bible for being right. Gordon, the oldest book on this planet predates the Roman empire, it goes back to the days of the first world empire Egypt. However I do agree with you that the book was used to manipulate people.
It's real, I have no doubt. Think about this, let’s play a game of telephone for a few hundred years, then lets write down all the stories. My take... people made up things for the stuff they could not explain .. i.e. all first born children die (this was all explained). The people who could read and write wrote it, it was translated.. take your pick of reason why it’s not 100% true. If it can make you a better person, then it works.
1) your right talking snakes don't exist, Revelation 12:7-12 shows the Angel called Satan as the original Snake or Serpent. He used the snake like a ventriloquist would use a dummy. 2) the difference in species comes from the mating practices among the same species, 50 pairs of birds can provide thousands of species over a period of 3000 years. 3) The resurrection of Lazarus, The widows son, Jairus's daughter, and Jesus himself was a precedent for mankind, this was done by god to let us know what he is going to do in the near future. God purposed for Adams offspring to live in peaceful condition on earth and he is going to resurrect billions of people and give them a chance to be part of that purpose. 4) The six days in the bible are not 24 hr periods, 2nd Peter chapter 3, Verse 9 highlights that, 1,000 years is like a day to god, so the 6 days mentioned in Genesis refer to a span of time. The 24 hr cycle was created for the seasons on earth and humans schedule to work and rest. 5) we will have to agree to disagree on the genome mapping because from what I understand our DNA and our Chromosome set up is the same, allowing men and women of different races to marry and create human life, it did not matter if there were two people or a million.
Would a boring God put a clitoris on a human female? That's a fun and an intelligent design if you ask me!
anyone ever catch "religulous". it's Bill Maher, and i found it funny, and alot of food for thought. check it out if you haven't. only an hour and twenty minutes. if you can't laugh during it, you may be wound a bit too tight. may be wound too tight, i repeat, not etching the statement in stone.
Saying that religion is inspiring and comforting is completely different than saying it is real. I don't tell myself that I have supermodel looks, even though it might feel good to think that. I don't try to convince myself that I'm a millionaire, even though it might ease all of my financial concerns if that were true. I have no problem with people doing whatever they want to make themselves feel better, but personally I have no problem finding meaning and beauty in the world without god, and I would rather base my beliefs on facts and what seems logical, reasonable, and believable.
I've seen it. It's funny, but I find Bill Maher funny. Just doesn't offer much more than that if you really give a shit about finding answers.
Does it discuss anything that happened in the Old Testament? Because the New Testament is for hippies.
