Quoted for braverySteakHeart said:Although I won't deny the existence of multiple gods (Hey, now, the first Commandment is only talking about WORSHIPPING other Gods!) I prefer the one I grew up with: The caring, compassionate New Testament God. Sure, I think God could easily have done the things mentioned in the Old Testament, but I look at it from a combination of the "God works through people" belief and how the Bible is meant to be religious truth, rather than a literal interpretation of what happened.
Plus, Christian metal is awesome.
lol i forgot about him, hey that reminds me, I need to catch up on some OOTS.Mordekaien said:WHY, Banjo, The Clown God!
I was thinking of Oh, Sleeper and Red. Never heard of White Cross.Nathan Dewar said:Quoted for braverySteakHeart said:Although I won't deny the existence of multiple gods (Hey, now, the first Commandment is only talking about WORSHIPPING other Gods!) I prefer the one I grew up with: The caring, compassionate New Testament God. Sure, I think God could easily have done the things mentioned in the Old Testament, but I look at it from a combination of the "God works through people" belief and how the Bible is meant to be religious truth, rather than a literal interpretation of what happened.
Plus, Christian metal is awesome.
Christian Metal? I think I went to White Cross concert once and lost my ability to hear for a couple of days but that was a long time ago. Not really sure what's happening on the Christian metal scene these days but id be interested to find out.
Ok I'm going to stop you right there, bravo for bravery, but there's little point defending God because we will never understand the motivations for his actions or lack there of as far we perceive. Why? Because the nature of God is inconceiveable to the natural mind. Also don't you think God is big enough to defend himself? Your going to wear yourself out trying to do that. And even if you manage to prove your point which I'm in no doubt your capable of doing. People will just resent you more because presenting the facts to people with preformed opinions about God will just upset people. Just following and believing is enough, you know the truth be content with that and pray that your example will help others to find him.Lear said:Egypt: God was slow to anger. He started small and moved up to worse and worse to free the Israelites from a very harsh and oppressive slavery; Moses himself killed a slavedriver when he was prince, having watched the slavedriver brutally beat a slave.The-Epicly-Named-Man said:What about the flooding of the world, destroying almost every living being on the planet? What about the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, children and all? What about the disasters inflicted on the Pharaoh of Egypt because, after being lied to by Abram, took Sarai as a wife believing she was merely Abram's sister? There may be occasional lapses where the vengeance he inflicts upon his followers could be interpreted as love driven, but it's undeniable there is quite a lot of injustice there.Lear said:Almost all of the punishments He melted out were really just that, punishments for sin (When the Israelites did not listen to Him after they left Egypt, He made them wander in the desert for forty years. When the northern kingdom became too greedy and was ruled by a plutonomy, He opened the door for the Assyrians to take over as part of their conquests. When the southern kingdom started worshipping idols, He opened the door for the Babylonians to take over).The-Epicly-Named-Man said:I'd hardly call the God of the Old Testament just or fair, half of what he does is pretty despicable.
He also did do good (giving Abraham a child, saving Joseph, getting the Israelites out of Egypt, eventually allowing them to enter the land of milk and honey, saving them from Haman, and returning them to the land of milk and honey).
The only time he melted out punishment to an innocent was when he ruined Job, but that was just to win a bar bet against Satan, and Job got all his stuff back at the end.
Then eventually he went from using tough love to love, and thus begins the New Testament.
Sodom and Gommorrah: Two wicked cities wiped off the face of the Earth here. There's no detail given, but considering the worship of Baal in the area, child sacrifice was probably commited by the residents, and really there would have to be A LOT of wickness there to be wiped off the face of the Earth; Ninevah was given a second chance by God through Jonah. And there is actually explicit reference to children dying in the Egypt scenario, and most there were likely teenagers. Nothing about children in Sodom or Gommorah.
The Great Flood: Please consult the tales of the Hindu goddess Shiva, and the mythology of Sekhemet, then get back to me. God isn't the only one atributed to a great catastrophe.
Abram/Sarai: Wording wasn't clear. But God had NOTHING to do with the events around them. Abram took Hagar as a concubine to have a son, Ishmael, but then God gave Sarai a son with Abram, Isaac, so Abram threw Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert without provocation or any demands from God. No reason to bring that up.
Oh snap, I was gonna say the same. A guy who can stare at a wall for nine years, leaving a hole and a chest with 2 books inside he wrote, one that describes how to kill people and one that describes how to heal them... Sounds like a god to me.Swyftstar said:The Laughing Buddha. I like my Gods happy and kind.
A Jackal's head? No. A Crocodile's head? YesGentleman_Reptile said:Has a Jackals head?
Egypt: I referred to Genesis 12:10- 12:20, not the story of Moses. Reread my post.Lear said:Egypt: God was slow to anger. He started small and moved up to worse and worse to free the Israelites from a very harsh and oppressive slavery; Moses himself killed a slavedriver when he was prince, having watched the slavedriver brutally beat a slave.The-Epicly-Named-Man said:What about the flooding of the world, destroying almost every living being on the planet? What about the complete destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah, children and all? What about the disasters inflicted on the Pharaoh of Egypt because, after being lied to by Abram, took Sarai as a wife believing she was merely Abram's sister? There may be occasional lapses where the vengeance he inflicts upon his followers could be interpreted as love driven, but it's undeniable there is quite a lot of injustice there.
Sodom and Gommorrah: Two wicked cities wiped off the face of the Earth here. There's no detail given, but considering the worship of Baal in the area, child sacrifice was probably commited by the residents, and really there would have to be A LOT of wickness there to be wiped off the face of the Earth; Ninevah was given a second chance by God through Jonah. And there is actually explicit reference to children dying in the Egypt scenario, and most there were likely teenagers. Nothing about children in Sodom or Gommorah.
The Great Flood: Please consult the tales of the Hindu goddess Shiva, and the mythology of Sekhemet, then get back to me. God isn't the only one atributed to a great catastrophe.
Abram/Sarai: Wording wasn't clear. But God had NOTHING to do with the events around them. Abram took Hagar as a concubine to have a son, Ishmael, but then God gave Sarai a son with Abram, Isaac, so Abram threw Hagar and Ishmael out into the desert without provocation or any demands from God. No reason to bring that up.
He may as well be a deity.red the fister said:the Buddha is more of an ideal than a deity.
*puts on nit picking hat*
How does one "Beng an athist"?
i'll let the other typos slide, because i'm cool like that. but seriously, if you're going to tout science and rationalism, use the damn spell-checker! or risk coming off as a git.
and your Atheism does not make moot other peoples faith. saying that it does makes you come of as pompous, maybe even intolerant.
are you a pompous, intolerant git? i know i'm a jack-ass and several other, less kind adjectives but i hide it well ;-)