A good argument

Without reading the rest of this thread....Or being a Christian, 'cos I haven't got time: (For either)

Because Christianity promotes an order that sets a blueprint for making this world a better place!?!? (Ignroing all the small hyprocices):

Though Shalt not kill (always a good one to follow)

Though shalt not steal (I hate scumbag theiving .....)

Though shalt not commit adultery (Depends on the situation I guess)

I can't be bothered with any more however I firmly believe that the decline of religion over the past no. of years has been the result of the increase in crimes / misguided children / adults.

A lack of discipline brought about be a lack of religion.

Whether God exists or not is irrelavent - The character that has been created (exists) is a role-model & the guidelines that we have followed for hundereds (thousands) of years have developed a tolerant / mature society (well.....so I thought). Now it seems to be going backwards.

I guess we all need something to believe in......

Mike

I agree with that to a certain extent, but the rise in crime (at least here in the UK) is mostly attributed to the abolition of the death penalty, and the fact that life sentences never seem to get fulfilled.

More people commit acts of crime in our country becuase they know they can get away with it with barely a slap on the wrists. They can kill, and get less than 10 years in jail. That sucks.

They should bring back the death penalty, like the USA still have, and be less leniant when convicting.

Thats why Hell is such a good deterent. If u r brought up scared up misdemeaning, u r unlikely to do it in later life. Call it brainwashing if u will, I call it creating a better life for all concerned. I think ppl need to take the good out of religion instead of dismissing it, because they r so clever & can understand the 'Big Bang' theory.

Death penalty = lots of problems. But yeah - lack of deterrent is a cause.

Anyone see the 'Second Coming' tonite & last night??? It was a 2-part drama on ITV, concerned with this mancunian who became the son of God!?!?

Some very interesting points raised - I enjoyed it.

Mike

Fact- the bible was put together not by christians but by jews. In fact it was the Protestant church who adopted the bible first in christianity, Catholics only had their own version 30 years
Fact- Mary was made pregnant by Joseph through normal sexual activity-they were married at the time.
You write and rewrite passages of a book like a proofreader for over 2000 years, of course the story changes. All the events in the bible such as parables and miracles are good storytelling.
Fact Jesus was married at the time before he died.
Scholars accept this-like Mike says, the bible was the first set of lawbooks.
Fact-the bible is a good read but not to be taken literally.
Adam and Eve is a metaphor for human evolution.
It would not have been the same, describing dinosaurs as being part of the chain of evolution, in fact dinsoaur remains discovered over 5000 years ago led to the stories of dragons.
Buddhism is not a religion, it is a mantra, useful for meditation purposes.
Buddha is not a deity, people use his statues to focus and say mantras, a bit like doing yoga.

.................................................. ............but...........theres.........something ..................out...............there......... ...........

Fact - you have no proof of any of this.

Fact - the bible is so old that over the years... people just started believing it. Was it a joke gone bad that people started to REALLY believe it? Or just because they needed a sense of security..?

I know I'm late for the conversation, I wasn't following it. But Jesus isn't God in the Christian religion. Jesus was a human being, the son of God if you will. Jesus isn't God, God reveals himself through the trinity. Father (= the God himself), Son (=Jesus) and the holy ghost. I know there are different sorts of Christianity (I'm Lutheran myself by default), but the basic idea of Christianity is One God.

Besides, what I find funny is that Christians base their whole belief on a Jew. That is very often forgotten, Jesus wasn't the first Christian. He was a Jew. Christianity was only born some 300 years later (correct me if I remember the year wrong).

My mistake about the Hebrew/Arabic, I should've known that. Just a slip of mind.

As for the evolution and the Creation, I don't think the two are in any way contradictory. Creation is just an extended metaphor for evolution, in all cultures this same story is present in different forms. I don't think it's contradictory at all. It's just a matter of viewpoint. In the Finnish mythology, for example, the world was created from an egg of a pochard. In the Bible it's God who created the earth. Darwin says it's the big bang. Basically the same thing, imo.

Ok, that's what you believe. I believe Jesus is God. So you can't say that the basic idea of christianity is one God, cause it's just different for a lot of people. I am not saying, that there aren't any christians who believe in one God, but just that you can never say what the basic idea of christianity is. Cause there's so much diversity.

I do believe in one God by the way. And still I believe that Jesus is God. can't explain that, it's just believing on that part. But if Jesus wasn't God, then he would mean nothing to me. Then he was just another Jew. Now, it's because of Him, and Him being God, that I'll go to heaven if I die. I couldn't take care for that by myself, I need Jesus for that.

Christianity is very old, but I guess that just depends on how you take the bible. The New Testament is written when Jesus lived, till 400 years after that. It describes the very first churches (not as in buildings, but as in community) And since God created the earth christianity excisted. At least, when you are a christian, that thinks the bible is real history.

Btw, don't see this as an attack from my side. This is just what I believe, clearly, we don't believe the same thing.

I Think God is a creation of men to explain things for what they (men) can´t find an explanation.
So, not being God a Human, an object or somehing like that, we can prove that He exists or not.

sense of security...the very sentiment I have been trying to express. Without religon people would be scared and go crazy trying to think up reasons for existence. It is easier now, with the scientific hard facts, but many years ago, they had no idea where we came from.

Did anyone ever see the comedy TV show Dinosaurs?
In one episode one of the kids asked "where did we come from", and they asked the "tribal elders", who also didn't know. Everyone got really panicked, and they actually had a sort of competition. People came in in front of the elders, submitting different explanations for creation.
One said that the earth was created by a giant flying potato, and they used his idea. They brainwashed the world of dinosaurs into believeing this, which made everyone calm again. Anyone who doubted it was killed.

This sounds a lot like religion. Used to restore calm to the public, and until recently, anyone who doubted religion was thought to be evil or crazy.