If you can't handle big boy discussions, maybe you should go back to your posting in BBV4L.

i love it when he does that.... he takes a very straight forward question that has clear intent, and he changes the context to make the question seem obscure and meaningless. why ? who knows? some might interpret this as having a sociopathic personality. or he could be just effing with you.

but the question is very clear withing the context of the thread, "with respect to the tradtional religions of the world, do you adhere to any of thier beliefs? why or why not?"

he is quite the charmer though. hardly ever passing up an opportunity pose questions or comments that subtly imply condescension or rudeness to those he perceives as his opponent.

oh, the sweet sorrow. think of all the pleasure he is deprived of every day if he was only in some position of unchallenged authority. like a sherriff in rural arkansas. or a slumlord in flint michigan. or a professor of remedial mathematics at florida state. think of the uninhibited opportunities he would have to pester and berate those underneath him! but sadly he is relegated to attempting harrassment just with the realms of the cold exchanges of the internet. life is so cruel. we feel your pain dragonystic. should we pray for you? shhhhh. dont answer. fate has already been been unkind enough.

touche yoss... your explicit counterpoint to my statement is manifique!!

huzzah! i am sure that twain would weep with envy if he was to ever fall upon the eloquence of your thoughts. BRAVO!!!

I pointed out that the commandments existed earlier in other cultures, that similar commandments arose independently in a large number of other cultures, and that our current standards of justice were derived from the Roman model and not from the Hebrew model.

That's plenty of validation.

I'm sure Twain had as little patience with those who post substanceless rants such as yours I quoted.

This has been discussed many times on this forum, but the above statement implies that humans cannot be held in check in an atheist society. People do not need the Bible's laws to be moral.

Such a good question, and pardon me if I missed it because I stopped reading once the thread became one guy doing some mild preaching, and other people discussing who can and cannot call themself a Christian, but it doesn't look like anyone is stepping up to answer it!

So back to the original question...

Do you think it makes sense? Or do you "feel it in your heart" or something like that? For any answers that involve faith, why put all your faith in that particular book or church? Why not any other religion? Or any other book?

As a kid I used to write on a napkin, "the bible is make-believe, yours truly, God" and ask the other kids if they would believe that napkin. And why, or why not? And in what ways is it different than the bible? (At that age, the answer usually boiled down to "millions of Christians can't be wrong" -- to which I would ask, If you were born in India, do you recon you'd believe just as strongly right now in Hinduism?) Maybe these are unfair questions, but they were born of genuine curiosity.

That above statement implies in no way what you claim it does.

that equals...

all i asked was what he meant. if thats what he meant...i dont adhere to any of them.

how dare i ask a clarifying question on a forum!

Newton was a very intelligent Christian. I think there are some things people just don't allow themselves to question.

edit: either that or geniuses just tend to have a few screws loose. Bobby Fischer's a good example of that (tho' not sure if he associated with a religion).

I am a Christian. I became a Christian when I was a young child because my parents imparted the Christian beliefs to me. Would I have been less receptive to these beliefs if I were at a less impressionable age? Probably, but that's beside the point. The real point is, once I hold a belief, I will continue holding that belief until the belief is shown to be false. In other words, once I hold a belief, the burden of proof lies on the belief's detractors. Since the Christian beliefs are, by their nature, impossible to disprove, I will continue believing them.

they may be impossible to disprove but they make no sense and are full of contradictions. thats what this whole post is about. religious people will question everything accept there own faith. so if i turn this around and say the big ban theory is correct unless you can prove it wrong. will this make you lose your faith.

They make no sense to you, they might make sense to him. Convincing something makes no sense to a person who values the sense in that something is very very hard.

On contradictions: They are probably glaring logical contradictions to you, but probably tests of faith for him. A Christian of the figurative school can rather easily unwrap any contradiction in the bible by holding the following assumption: God is infallible, the writers of the bible were devinely inspired, but are fallible. That way any contradiction comes from human error, and God remains spotless on his throne. For a more literal Christians using contradictions very soon becomes a game of: "This is soothing baby blue" vs. "that is merely reflecting 777uM of light particles".

I think its kinda impudent to try to make someones lose faith, using violent histories, what makes sense to you, and logical contradictions. Especially when in the end it is impossible to prove/disprove the existance of the God that person has faith in.

probably not make lose faith, just as saying faith in God has helped him more in life than hurt him, will not make you distance yourself from proper science or atheism.

You in your little corner and he in his. It's usefull to remember not every tool from your corner works the same in his. And don't turn around and shout at the wall.

what the hell did you think he meant?

did you think that he meant "out of curiosity, what you believe the best recipe for pie crust is"?

did you think that he was referring to if you believe in aliens?

do you think that he was asking if you believe that new york is the best city in the world?

i mean really, wtf? the poster politely explained his religious belief system in the thread and then he asked you, "what do you believe"?

could it have been any more clear that he was asking you to share you beliefs about religion?