Originally posted by ThinkOfOneOf course it isnt going anywhere. Why do I want to investigate the morality and ethics from a person and book which is complete and utter crap. It is lies and therefore not a part of my life. I can live my own life without resorting to crap.
This doesn't seem to be going anywhere. Anyway, if you ever develop an interest in morality or ethics you might want to investigate the teachings of Jesus. An easy place to start is with the Jefferson Bible which pulls the teachings of Jesus that Thomas Jefferson saw as relevant. Perhaps that'll be more to your liking.
Look at the "Teachings and Parables":
http://www.angelfire.com/co/JeffersonBible/
Originally posted by WWindmillI'm thinking that you're being contrary just to be contrary.
Of course it isnt going anywhere. Why do I want to investigate the morality and ethics from a person and book which is complete and utter crap. It is lies and therefore not a part of my life. I can live my own life without resorting to crap.
Here's an excerpt of Jefferson's thoughts:
"They are the result of a life of inquiry and reflection, and very different from that anti-Christian system imputed to me by those who know nothing of my opinions. To the corruptions of Christianity I am indeed opposed, but not to the genuine precepts of Jesus himself. I am a Christian, in the only sense in which he wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to his doctrines in preference to all others, ascribing to himself every human excellence, and believing he never claimed any other.
You think GOD sent a world-wide flood to kill all but his specially chosen few? Where did the water go? All known water would only cover a flat earth to a depth of 20something meters. Now that leaves a lot of unaccounted water to reach the highest mountains. AGAIN.. LIES. Just like Jesus teachings that he would get killed and rise from the grave to save mankind. Again... LIIIEESSS!!! How does someone getting themself killed save everybody else. It doesnt but is LIIIEEESSSS!!!
Originally posted by WWindmillGood one. You and Knightmeister are two sides of the same coin.
You think GOD sent a world-wide flood to kill all but his specially chosen few? Where did the water go? All known water would only cover a flat earth to a depth of 20something meters. Now that leaves a lot of unaccounted water to reach the highest mountains. AGAIN.. LIES. Just like Jesus teachings that he would get killed and rise from the grave to save ma ...[text shortened]... !! How does someone getting themself killed save everybody else. It doesnt but is LIIIEEESSSS!!!
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Originally posted by WWindmillBack about 20 years ago I was hung up on this exact story, the story of Noah and the flood. After all, taken literally it can't be true. He couldn't possibly fit all those animals on the ark. The entire earth could not have flooded and receeded so soon. And rainbows existed before the flood, and they existed after. And all of that is quite true.
You think GOD sent a world-wide flood to kill all but his specially chosen few? Where did the water go? All known water would only cover a flat earth to a depth of 20something meters. Now that leaves a lot of unaccounted water to reach the highest mountains. AGAIN.. LIES. Just like Jesus teachings that he would get killed and rise from the grave to save ma ...[text shortened]... !! How does someone getting themself killed save everybody else. It doesnt but is LIIIEEESSSS!!!
So I got to thinking "Where does that leave me?" It leaves me with nothing. My existence and what I am and do is the same, if the story is literally true or not. I don't get anything out of it if I look at it from the perspective of a 21st century North American.
So what do I do, suspend belief and pretend it happened? Ummm...no.
Instead of looking at bare facts, I started looking at the story differently. What's it trying to say? Is it trying to give a history of a flood and say that rainbows existed because some guy built a boat and saved some animals? No, that's not what the myth is saying at all.
It's giving a spirtual story. "Fact" as we think of them today are not as important in the Noah story, because the Noah story is trying to explain a spiritual truth in where the God of the OT places importance. God, in the story, is going to wipe out people, but if he does that then all the animals die, too. Noah alone is willing to take the steps that God instructs and save the animals. Noah doesn't build a boat for himself. God doesn't tell him to build a boat with Noah's survival alone in mind, it's for animals. Noah in essence becomes the first environmentalist!
The spiritual truth of the Noah story is that before we can be masters of animals, we have to save them or we are masters of nothing. It also underlines the interdependedness of people with animals, with the environment. That is what the story is trying to say. We need animals and they need us. The earth needs all living creatures and those creatures rely on each other or they perish forever.
Can I take the story on that level and use it to make my world better? Hell yes!!
Originally posted by BadwaterCan you raise a person from the dead? What is the difference when the very foundation of the Bible(Jesus life) is just unbelievable and crap. It is a nonsence book.
Back about 20 years ago I was hung up on this exact story, the story of Noah and the flood. After all, taken literally it can't be true. He couldn't possibly fit all those animals on the ark. The entire earth could not have flooded and receeded so soon. And rainbows existed before the flood, and they existed after. And all of that is quite true.
So I got ...[text shortened]...
Can I take the story on that level and use it to make my world better? Hell yes!!
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Originally posted by WWindmillUmm - why do I need to raise someone from the dead? Why did I need to believe that some guy named Jesus of Nazareth (if he existed) resurrected?
Can you raise a person from the dead? What is the difference when the very foundation of the Bible(Jesus life) is just unbelievable and crap. It is a nonsence book.
Your position is borne of gross ignorance. As you don't know, the Gnostics didn't believe so much in the literal resurrection of Jesus, they saw it more as a metaphor. They were early Christians, too.
Because you seem to not be able to widen your myopic view of Bible myths, and probably most spirituality, it is only you that does not gain. The spirituality of Christianity, Judaism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Native America, Wicca - all of it will be beyond you.
To understand something is not the same as agreeing with it. I understand what Anton LaVey wrote, and he wrote quite persuasively. He was also correct in many, many ways. I would rather read him than the drivel of any number of religious fundamentalists, of any religion. But - I don't necessarily agree with his premise. By understanding, however, I gain.