Religion

[Nyoko]

Personally, I don't really agree with religion. I think it moulds a lot of people, and often cuts off their personal development as a person, because they're given a set of rules to follow from a very young age....

But I don't have a prob with people believing in god/gods....

*nods* yes... much truth...

[monkey]

ok, i found some questions, if anyone feels upto answering these pretty hard questions, go ahead. you can find the questions here
keep in mind, these are not my questions and i don't have the same views as this person who created the questions.

[Cardcaptor Takato]

Personally, I don't really agree with religion. I think it moulds a lot of people, and often cuts off their personal development as a person, because they're given a set of rules to follow from a very young age....

But I don't have a prob with people believing in god/gods....

Um, regardless of whether a child has a religion or not, aren't most kids given a set of rules to follow at a very young age by their parents, anyway?

[Li_shaoran]

1a. What religion/denomination are you?
Christain

1b. What makes your denomination the "right" one, as compared to all other religions and denominations? Please list at least five valid reasons for your religion being the superior religion to the thousands of other religions on this Earth. (Yes, there are indeed thousands.) Provide specific instances (Yes, they can be Bible verses if you insist) showcasing the authenticity of your religion.

-First off I dont think that any religon has it completely right because we are only human and we make mistakes but I believe Christianity to be the closest because we follow straight out of the bible...or what we believe to be the inherient word of God. The bible doesnt say anything about multiple Gods or anything along those lines. Now your saying well what if I dont believe in the bible. Well let me raise another point.

Who was the first president of the United states
                            -Geoge washington right? Well how do you know? Easy...you read it out of a text book, someone recorded the events of history to be in that book just like the bible was recorded.

this question is really draining my post space so if you really wanna talk more msg me on aim

2a. If you accept the creation theory, choose one of the categories below. Please remember to identify which you chose in the text box after all of the choices:

i. If you believe that God created the Earth and the heaven exactly as the account of Genesis says, how do you explain the overwhelming scientific evidence (Earth age of 4.5 billion years (marginal error 1%); fossils found in annual layers instead of one big mush; fossil records which show the evolution of an animal; lack of water to flood entire earth; etc.) against the Genesis creation account?

*sigh* another long question....well as far as fossils go there have been many scientists that disagree with the theory of evolution for the simple reason that if we did indeed evolve from monkeys then where is the so called "missing link?" Way back when people even tried faking the discovery of the missing link but they were all exposed as false. One more point on evolution. If you can believe that the human body in all of its complexity was able to evolve from some kind of pond scum how hard is it to believe that there is a God? -point made - as far as layers of rocks and things like that go it has been proven it can take as small amount of time as 20 years of water erosion to create a rock with layers as deep as the grand canyon - also evidence that the "flood" may have caused some of these many layers in the earth that I can see from reading ahead in the questions i will be talking about later. As far as lack of water to cover the entire earth goes you have to realize that if you are going to believe in God there is a little bit of faith thats going to have to go along with that that God is all powerful and can do the "impossible." although according to the bible
                   "With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible." Matthew 19:26.

ii. If you believe that God created Earth and everything else arose in succession, then how do you justify the six day creation account of Genesis?
what do you mean how do i justify it? Hes God...he can make it in whatever amount of time he wants cant he?

well im outta "characters...ill be making another post right after this one

[Li_shaoran]

ii. If you believe that God did indeed create heaven and Earth, but not in the literal, biblical, six day scenario, then how do you justify the story of Genesis? Do you think it's just a fable of sorts? -i believe in the six day creation

2b. If you are a religious evolutionist, choose one of the categories below. Please remember to identify which you chose in the text box after all of the choices: my opinion evolution is bull

i. How does believing evolution play into the way you view the bible? If you don't believe the account of Genesis, how does that affect your belief of other stories in the Bible? Is everything BUT Genesis true? Are some books of the Bible true and others false? If this is the case, how would one decide which are true and which are myths? *see above*

ii. If you believe the story of Genesis but conclude that after the six days, evolution has been the reason for the continuation of life, please include a verse from within Genesis alluding to this belief. Something along the lines of "And then the LORD said; Let there be evolution because I don't want to waste my time creating animals and plants for the rest of eternity" would be especially helpful. *see above

Religious Holes:
3a. Genesis tells us that on the first day, God said "Let there be light" but it isn't until the fourth day that he creates the sun that produces the light.

Well first off thats the problem with people now a days. They are willing to put there faith in people with "evidence" which is most definatly inconclusive and not put their faith in the said to be "word of God"

How do you justify this?
Well unfortunatly the bible does not give us all the answers it only tells us what we need to know. How do you justity pond scum becoming human by just sitting there? explain that an  ill be impressed

3b. How does it make you feel to know that the authors of the Bible are unknown? The U.S. Constitution, like the Bible, deals with moral rights. However, we know that the Constitution was also signed by representatives of their states, and we have thorough documented history on all of them. Knowing nothing about the authors of the Bible, how does this affect how you view the trustworthyness of the Bible? Ummmm the authors of the bible are not unknown....for the most part http://www.blueletterbible.org/faq/authors.html go there for more on that

3c. Explain why the men and women in the Bible lived such long lives --upwards of five hundred years -- while men and women today live much "shorter" lives. If you believe in creationism, you'll have to explain this without admitting to evolution.

Because they needed to? even if evolution was true the so called "monkey" ansestors would have had to live for a longgggggg time to be able to create enough population to sustain the earth. Its the same deal with people.

Bible Atrocities:
4a. Genesis 3:16 - "Unto the woman he said, I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy conception; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children; and thy desire shall be to thy husband, and he shall rule over thee." So because the Bible says so, women are supposed to be submissive and subservient to men. Please state your opinions on this verse and reasons why it does or doesn't pertain to today. If it doesn't pertain to today, please state who has the authority to decide matters such as these. *well for this question im outta space and will answer it in next post*

[Li_shaoran]

*question from previous post*

OK Well....lemme use scripture to interpret scripture

"21Submit to one another out of reverence for Christ.

22Wives, submit to your husbands as to the Lord. 23For the husband is the head of the wife as Christ is the head of the church, his body, of which he is the Savior. 24Now as the church submits to Christ, so also wives should submit to their husbands in everything.

25Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her 26to make her holy, cleansing her by the washing with water through the word, 27and to present her to himself as a radiant church, without stain or wrinkle or any other blemish, but holy and blameless. 28In this same way, husbands ought to love their wives as their own bodies. He who loves his wife loves himself. 29After all, no one ever hated his own body, but he feeds and cares for it, just as Christ does the church-- 30for we are members of his body. 31"For this reason a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and the two will become one flesh." 32This is a profound mystery--but I am talking about Christ and the church. 33However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband." (5:21-33) Ephesians

You cant just look at one verse in the bible and say Well Well....look at this!!!  you have to read it as a whole to get it. If you treated your wife as you treated your own body would you do anything to hurt or disrespect her? *unless you are mentally ill* So the bible says Wives submit to your husbands but husbands respect your wives, problem solved.

4b. Genesis 19:8 - "Behold now, I have two daughters which have not known man; let me, I pray you, bring them out unto you, and do ye to them as is good in your eyes: only unto these men do nothing; for therefore came they under the shadow of my roof." So Lot wants to give away his two virgin daughters to a bunch of rapists so that the guys abstain from homosexual pleasures. Where is the honor and piety in that? Please show me... I fail to see it.

again with the twisting the words of the bible....*sigh* it makes me sad. First off if you know who lot was he wasnt the cleanist person in the world. He was a pretty sinful person. Look at where he lived, he lived in a city with prostitutes and homosexuals.although he did believe in God he didnt always make the best choices. The Bible is just telling the story of Lot at that point. If you were to hear the story of the raping of a young girl would you take that to mean that its ok to go out and rape people......i didnt think so.Once again you have to read the hole story of Lot to understand.

4c. Leviticus 19:20 - "And whosoever lieth carnally with a woman, that is a bondmaid, betrothed to an husband, and not at all redeemed, nor freedom given her; she shall be scourged; they shall not be put to death, because she was not free." So if a man rapes/has sex with a slave woman, he will be forgiven because after all... she's JUST a slave. But if he rapes/has sex with his daughter-in-law, they both will be killed. Please list what you see wrong in this passage, if anything.
The verse doesnt say she was raped, it says nothing about the man forceing the woman, the word "with" implies it was mutual. Also if you read on it goes on to say that the man is just not forgiven but he has to make a sacrifice to antone

[Li_shaoran]

4d. Also in Leviticus, menstrating women are said to be "unclean" and then goes on to explain the punishments if a man should have sex with her. Men shouldn't even look at women when they're menstrating. (See 15:19-30) If you are female, how does this make you feel? If you are male, how does this make you feel? If you're gay, I'd ask how this makes you feel but according to the Bible homosexuality is wrong so your opinion really must not count. So sad. Im a guy first off- second off to answer this question youll have to at least asume the bible is true for a  moment. all of these things came about after the first sin. Second off its really starting to piss me off that they are twisting the words of the bible. They are giving guys a bad wrap. the same deal applies with guys except its with any kind of bodily discharge. Avoiding people sexually when these things are happening is a good idea because if you dont it can spread sickness like STDs.

4e. The Bible condemns homosexuality outright (unless, of course, you want to take a couple of virgin girls instead...). Do you agree with the Bible? If so, explain why and please include any relevant verses that might help you in your decision.  homosexuality is wrong. im gonna put this as simply as i can. can two guys or two girls make a baby? no....why?....thats not how it was meant to be. God made Adam and Eve not Adam and steve

4f. God requires burnt offerings continuously throughout the Bible. If God is perfect and sinless in all aspects, don't you think he's a little above asking for scorched goats, men, etc? (Abraham was going to kill his son because God told him to, for example... last time I checked, killing was a sin.) Please identify the reasons that God might be requiring these burnt offerings of man and if you think that because God commands it, that it's okay to do. -God had no intention of Abraham killing his son...if you recall he stopped him, this was only to test abrahams faith.

4g. Is killing okay if God commands it? If killing is not okay in any circumstance, please justify accounts in the Bible such as Sodom and Gomorrah. God killed an entire city. Is this moral?

is killing wrong in general and if not when is it ok? well God says in the bible that he gives the Government premission to fight just wars so thats ok. Sodom and Gomorrah? in my opinion that was God fighting a just war.

Lets Assume God does Exist:
5. If God is omnipresent and omnipotent, that means he exists in the entire universe simultaneously. If God created Earth at a specific point in time, do you think there's a possibility he's fumbled around with hundreds of planets just like ours and created different versions of life throughout eternity and the Universe? God can have hobbies, right? Maybe this explains the reason for the wars, poverty, and starvation on Earth -- we must be his neglected child. There must be another solar system out there with another planet with perfect beings on it, right? Yeah that's it... we must be the forgotten child; left out on the back porch in the rain.

Thats unfair.....its saying that God is a mean kid with a magnifying glass. If your assuming God does exsist then u have to believe the world was made perfect and sin ruined it for us. the person who wrote this is beginning to get on my nerves.

Next post

[Li_shaoran]

6. Creationists criticize the Big Bang theory, saying that it's impossible for an entire Universe to appear from nothing. Let's apply this same logic to God. How is it that this white, human-in-form, male appeared from nothing? By logic, everything has a cause. God was caused by something, so what was it?

God was always exsistant....So imma slam this question right back in your face....these so called "2 particles" that collided in the big bang theory mustve been caused by something right...so tell me what was that?? id really like to know. There is a such thing as a disorgainization theory with states that if something is left alone it will not get neater but messier. So leaveing the two particles alone and just saying that they created everything is scientists disproveing themselves...ironic isnt it

7. If you are a race other than Caucasian, how does it make you feel to see God portrayed as white/olive-skinned? If you are female, how does it make you feel to see God portrayed as a male? Since God is everything perfect and sinless, does it make you feel like males are superior to females?

 If you believe in God it means you believe in the bible which means you believe God is a male because thats what he said he is. So if you believe all of this the question is stupid and pointless. I will also be the first to admit that God "Jesus" my not have been caucasian but as long as you believe that he is the same person does it really matter what people think he looks like? no one knows for sure.

8. If God is omnipresent, then he is everywhere at once, knowing all thoughts of everyone. If this is the case, then why is it necessary to walk down the block to a building with some stained glass windows and some crosses in order to know God?

Out of respect? Showing God that you care? To hear people very studied in the word help you become closer in your walk with God? pick one

next post because the next question is rather large and i need the space

[Li_shaoran]

IN YOUR OPINION who would be admitted into heaven first:

-- A 47-year old gay atheist who died of AIDS. He had been to church as a young boy because his mother wanted him to go, but at the age of fifteen, he decided that he didn't believe what was said at church. When he went to college, he tutored high school students in math and reading. Later in life, he attended the school district meetings every month, and founded a homeless shelter. The last four years of his life, he committed himself to educating people about having safe *** so that they wouldn't have to go through what he went through with a sexually transmitted disease. He died not believing in God and was convinced that there was no heaven or hell.

-- A man who called himself a Christian but led a life full of drugs, prostitutes, and one night stands. This man went to church as a child but when he went away to college, he got hung up in the wrong crowd and started doing lines of coke. He didn't always have a steady job, but the times when he was jobless, he sold drugs to pay his rent. Later in his life, he murdered a man and was sent to death row. On the night before his execution, a priest was called into his cell. The man was genuinely sorry for everything wrong he had done in his life and wanted to repent for his sins. He did and died peacefully knowing God was with him.

Religious followers usually avoid answering questions such as this because they say that it depends on the individual. Here's two individuals with history attached. Who would make it into heaven and why? With either man, please provide passages from the Bible stating why they would or wouldn't be destined for heaven.

first one goes to hell second one goes to heaven....harsh? not really. According to the Bible there is only one unforgivable sin. Not having faith that God sent his one and only son to live, die, and forgive us all of our sins. No matter what you have done in your life As long as you are genualy sorry and repent and ask God for forgiveness he will give it to you. This doesnt mean you can go out and use this to do whatever you feel like because if you are accually a Christain then you have a desire to be like God and you will try to do the right thing.

10. Different religions believe in different versions of hell, and some of them don't believe in hell at all. The Christian hell is the most widely referred to hell. If Buddhists don't believe in the Christian hell, then what do you suppose happens to them when they die? Are they still destined for the Christian hell because they are Buddhist and don't believe in the Christian God? Are they automatically exempt from the Christian hell because they at least believe in some divine force?

  -The bible states that you need faith that the one true God sent his son to live and die for us. you cant just believe in anything. Do i believe you have to be a christain to go to heaven....no. there are plenty of other denominations that belive Jesus saved them from there sins. However there is only one hell and the bible says that if you dont believe thats where your goin. I hope I have not offended anyone with my answers. I would like to conclude wih this. Lets assume this guy was right, I die and thats the end, there is no heaven, no hell. Even so what have I lost. nothing. But if I am right and there is a God  what has he lost? eternaty in heaven, think about that.

I hope someone reads all this and comments

[lika-chi]

whoo li_shaoran.. you must be really free right now to post so many posts right now..

hmm religion.. haha i'm not really sure of what this topic is asking or wanting me to talk about.. but i guess it's about which religion right??

well i'm partly christian.. went to church for about 2 years with my friend.. and i'm budisium.. haha i spelt it wrong.. i know..

[monkey]

all i gotta say is that i'm impressed ^^ good answers *nods
when i tried to anwer them i just gave up ^^;;

[Li_shaoran]

thx...im surprised someone took the time to read them all ^ ^

[Tune]

that was looong...took me a full 10 min but strikes logic here and there, only, i'm very logic-bias so i dont really believe in god...as my mom said, believing is to create confidence and such...*its too tough!! i dont understand!! FAINTS~~* i think i'll stick to my simplicity....i'm too much a simpleton

[monkey]

ehe, well if i want to know answeres and / or it interests me, i'm gonna read ^^

[scarecrow_wingz]

like person up there said... Catholicism is a denomination of christianity, as are baptists, anglicans, uniting chuch, evangelicals etc. they are under the umbrella of christianity because essentially they believe in the same God [so do jews and muslims but let's not go there] but they differ in the interpretation and practise of the teachings in the Bible.

i spend 2 yrs studying religion so...

i dont'r eally follow a religion. but i think the 4 noble truths and the 8fold path (from buddhism) are great teachings

[Cherry tiger]

Religion is a sensitive topic for me... I'm actually a very strong Catholic, but I don't want to go around proclaiming that 'this road that I have chosen is the road to salvation'. Because of where I live... I accept all religions and I believe God made them to create diversity and enable us to accept the differences in every human.

I have personally felt God, so I believe I'm on the right path. I'm sure if we all search for Him... no matter what/who/why/where/when/how... you will find Him. If you have faith. 

God bless!

[monkey]

i dont'r eally follow a religion. but i think the 4 noble truths and the 8fold path (from buddhism) are great teachings

could you please, tell me what these 4 noble truths, and 8fold path is or are ? they sound interesting.

Religion is a sensitive topic for me... I'm actually a very strong Catholic, but I don't want to go around proclaiming that 'this road that I have chosen is the road to salvation'. Because of where I live... I accept all religions and I believe God made them to create diversity and enable us to accept the differences in every human.

I have personally felt God, so I believe I'm on the right path. I'm sure if we all search for Him... no matter what/who/why/where/when/how... you will find Him. If you have faith.

God bless!

thats such a nice thing to say ^^ couldn't see a better way of putting it in words than that

[Takeru]

I'm a Catholic. Firm believer of God, and I can't express my beliefs any better than Cherry tiger.

I know I'm not a moderator, but if I catch ANY of you dissing another person's religion, I swear that I'll make sure Wolf hears about it. (Very anti-predjudiced). Religion is a very sensitive topic in a forum.

O_o Does Sakura believe in God too? I saw her doing the Father, Son, Holy Spirit thing when Eriol asked Naoko to tell them a scary story.

[Ruby Chan]

VexNet, this link explains about the four noble truths...

www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm

And this one describes the eightfold path...

www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html

I'm not that good at explaining things, so I found these links for you

[monkey]

VexNet, this link explains about the four noble truths...

www.buddhanet.net/4noble.htm

And this one describes the eightfold path...

www.thebigview.com/buddhism/eightfoldpath.html

I'm not that good at explaining things, so I found these links for you

thank you ^_^ i'll check these out now.

I know I'm not a moderator, but if I catch ANY of you dissing another person's religion, I swear that I'll make sure Wolf hears about it. (Very anti-predjudiced). Religion is a very sensitive topic in a forum.

i know what you mean, i try as hard as i can to try not to offend people, but i must admit now, that i do love comdey about Religion, as long as you remmember to Not Take it Seriously !! good example is comedian George Carlin and his comedy sketch Case Against God, its truly hilarious.