@thenorfolkmafia
active 6 years, 10 months agoForum Replies Created
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Well, mister alfie, some people don’t just see life in terms of material wealth. Getting a better life means more than increasing the larder and putting more cash into the moneypot even to many atheists. I remember some black guy I worked with in a pub in hackney saying, that there’s got to be more than this. I would say that once you’ve got the basics established – warmth, healthy food, a circle of friends (if you’re lucky in these times) – then you improve the quality of your life by rading literature whihc is better than the normal run of potboilers and romances; watching films and television (and plays if you can, which I can’t) which are more demanding (and more rewarding) than Game of Thrones or East Enders; and listening to music which requires more than having a weep or banging your head against an imaginary wall. Nothing wrong with the programmes and music etc; just that there is more than these. For people who are not atheists, worship can actually be a rich addition to their lives, a strong contrast to the spiritually impoverished lives whihc they would lead without it. It’s a better quality to life. This must be incomprehensible to people who can’t see beyond grabbing what they can from the shelves. And while some grab the super goodies, many can’t get the basics – that’s the nature of capitalism. We would all live a qualitatively better life when that is seen to.
Worshipping a book of mythology whilst potentially improving your state of mind is still time wasting delusion no matter how you dress it up. That said you could argue in a finite existence with no discernible purpose, everything is a waste of time so if kidding yourself reading fairy tales helps to get through the day – why not.
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. Does anyone actually really believe in God or are people just scared of getting ‘into trouble’ when they die for not believing if he does exist after all?
It’s no coincidence most church goers are elderly people, they know the end is coming and want to be greeted at the golden gates with a little pat on the back at what a loyal follower they are.
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if god doesnt exist when i die i’ve lost nothing by believing as i’m dead and theirs no after life however if i don’t believe and god does exist thats not a conversation i’d like to have with a deity of why i thought i was so important god owed me a sign he existed
You’ve lost energy wasting it on fruitless delusion unless that’s mitigated by it being an emotional crutch to cope with life. What sort of “God” would be so vain he would condemn anyone in this mythical afterlife for not believing in him yet embrace those who worshipped him in a megalomaniac powertrip ? Sounds more like Satan than any God.
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Linda, that’s right, but they considered themselves Christians in saying this. Many Christians were white supremacists and in the 18th and 19th centuries looked to the Bible to justify slavery.
The 18 th century is what it is , the 18th century… lets see some examples in the modern world of the 21st century comparing the two religions instead of going back to times where people were riding to work on horse back and burning people for being witches.
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I actually agree with what you say on Christianity Sceptical, it has contributed to the murder of countless people but my stance is you have to compare both religions at equal stages of their evolution.. comparing 21st century Islam to 12th century Christianity crusades is like comparing apples and oranges. One has moved with the times to an extent, one hasn’t. It’d be like comparing medical fields in the Uk to the states saying the US is far superior because in the UK we put leeches on people circa 1850. I’m not particularly angry, just call a spade a spade and as you mentioned lifes finite so am fairly blunt to the point with things- no intention of appearing thuggish. I read what you write, along with others and quote passages I disagree with, no personal issue with you on here. Bar any Islamic extremism ( or Christian extremism) I will be back next week. I try to ignore Q, he appears on countless threads giggling like a school girl with either lame jokes or phrases he’s found on social media which apparently give us all a purpose to life.
Actually, I don’t think Christianity ever killed anyone, with the exception of its founder. I think the Klan has killed people, and the Klan genuinely believe themselves to be Christian. I think the Christian churches have sanctioned a lot of killing, and have cause a phenomenal amount of pain and suffering, but that’s because of the way they understood Christianity at the time. The same goes for Islam. Not all Muslims interpret islam in the way that ISIS and the radical jihadis who are going to be coming after your head once they read your posts. In fact, it’s Muslims who have been largely killed by the radicals, just as the Christians killed other Christians (black Americans lynched and m7utilated by the Klan were probably Christian too).
You keep mentioning the klan as evidence of the barbarity of Christianity , but there are no references in any religious scripture of burning black people with white pointy hats as I’ve sad. If I go out and slaughter numerous people with an AK47 clutching a figure of Jesus saying I was “commanded to do it ” it wouldn’t equate to my actions being representative of anything to do with Christianity.
I’ve already pointed out the many views the followers of this Islamic cult incorporate which you seem to ignore going back to the default setting of the ku klux klan again. The difference between Christianity and Islam is so great any tenuous link between the two has to be found by your examples going back decades/centuries – drawing parallels between the branches of mythology are disingenuous when in the modern day there are next to no followers of Christianity that would advocate removing someones head for not following their doctrine of nonsense contrary to Islam. People state Isis is a “perversion of Islam ” yet it only follows the Quran literally so in effect is more muslim than a so called moderate muslim not following its holy book at all
Even if I accept your argument of both the bible and the Quran containing hateful passages in equal measures which can be interpreted in a way conducive to terrorist activities etc , why are there next to no instances of anyone quoting the bible slaughtering people in cold blood contrary to the Quran in the modern world? Why do we have one cult in Islam which has over half its followers believing homosexuals should be thrown in Jail yet one much more open to same sex relationships?
It’s all very well going back to the ku klux klan dangling Mr black man from the tree, but the huge chasm between the two cults of Christianity/Islam is so great you couldn’t see either side with a telescope. Mankind has continually attempted to explain away death using “religion” pinning something to an anthropomorphic manifestation/creation of Allah/Jesus/Satan with all religions imbibing a large array of poisonous values leading to war/destruction of fellow man, but as stated many times.. Christianity has evolved to be compatible with a relatively civilised existence- Islam hasn’t and never will. If the two religions were similar, Christians would be attacking same sex relationships for eg in the same way as Islam due to both religions condemning it in their scriptures. Yet as we see only Islam creates the hatred , fear and hostility towards anyone not conforming in a cult which is centuries behind Christianity and any comparisons between the two are ridiculous … so ridiculous you have to go back hundreds of years to find Christianity behaving in a similar fashion to it’s dark age namesake in “religion”
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I’m in the same boat as sceptical was last week with flu so shall read this thread from where I last saw it to respond later….I suspect there will be plenty to “question”
I actually agree with what you say on Christianity Sceptical, it has contributed to the murder of countless people but my stance is you have to compare both religions at equal stages of their evolution.. comparing 21st century Islam to 12th century Christianity crusades is like comparing apples and oranges. One has moved with the times to an extent, one hasn’t. It’d be like comparing medical fields in the Uk to the states saying the US is far superior because in the UK we put leeches on people circa 1850.
I’m not particularly angry, just call a spade a spade and as you mentioned lifes finite so am fairly blunt to the point with things- no intention of appearing thuggish. I read what you write, along with others and quote passages I disagree with, no personal issue with you on here.
Bar any Islamic extremism ( or Christian extremism) I will be back next week. I try to ignore Q, he appears on countless threads giggling like a school girl with either lame jokes or phrases he’s found on social media which apparently give us all a purpose to life.
I’m go to Barcelona tomorrow, hopefully when I return Sceptical has recovered from the flu to continue on the discussion along with others
It’s an interesting area, there can’t be anything more important than a possible purpose to our finite existence or an extension beyond that but as you say, most “experiences” are attributable to medical reasons rather than proof of any spiritual meaning.
Just as a baby in the womb has no sense of what existence is like after birth, we have no sense of what happens after death. . I believe death isn’t the end.
These two things are self contradictory.. how can we have no sense after death, but it not being the end. If we have no conscious state after death, it’s the end in every way imaginable unless you regard becoming worm food a state constituting life.
