At its core, Christianity is a religion of love. I find that you can 'cut to the chase' and just do that - love. Treat others with kindness. Be good to yourself and those around you. Be grateful. Be generous. Do not hurt others. Say 'thank you' a lot. Love the world but do not be attached to it because it is fleeting and ephemeral.
I'll happily agree that you don't need Christianity (or any religion) to love.
I do not agree that "At its core, Christianity is a religion of love." The Bible is like a choose-your-own-adventure book, parts of it form a genocide manual, and it has been used to justify a number of atrocities throughout history.
Yeah, there's some good stuff in the Bible as well, but I don't see how you can arrive at "love" being the core message of the religion without some serious cherry-picking.
I disagree, but not that the Christianity of the Bible is not about love, but that modern day Christianity is not the same thing as the Christianity of the Bible. Christianity has changed much over time and is quite different to different people in different places even today. Which is to say that modern day Christianity is, for many people, about love, though not all.
I disagree, but not that the Christianity of the Bible is not about love, but that modern day Christianity is not the same thing as the Christianity of the Bible. Christianity has changed much over time and is quite different to different people in different places even today. Which is to say that modern day Christianity is, for many people, about love, though not all.
There are certainly Christians who behave that way (I've even heard professed Christians claim that god is exactly equal to love, nothing more, nothing less), and I much prefer them over, say, Mr. Phelps. I just don't think you can get that as a core message of the religion from their holy book.
I disagree, but not that the Christianity of the Bible is not about love, but that modern day Christianity is not the same thing as the Christianity of the Bible. Christianity has changed much over time and is quite different to different people in different places even today. Which is to say that modern day Christianity is, for many people, about love, though not all.
There are certainly Christians who behave that way (I've even heard professed Christians claim that god is exactly equal to love, nothing more, nothing less), and I much prefer them over, say, Mr. Phelps. I just don't think you can get that as a core message of the religion from their holy book.
Yes, well that's rather my point. The bible is no longer the core of Christianity, it is now an icon more than anything. People's beliefs are less specific now, and less important. Though they will deny it, it's the result of Christianity's decline, in favor of secular ideas. Religion is losing its power over people's intellectual ideas and becoming more cultural and less ideological.
For me personally, I'm just too scientifically minded... I don't have the capacity for 'blind faith'.
I believe in facts, proof, and even 'plausible believability' (which I find the idea of a god not very plausible at all), and have actually been called a 'narrow-minded moron' by religeous believers for saying this very thing.
Strikes me as very hypocritical.
Also, I simply don't agree with the mindset of 'if you're not one of us, you're wrong...' of course, that mindset doesn't sum up all believers, more so extremists and fanatics that bash non-believers like myself.
I also don't agree with religious families forcing it on their children, as young kids don't have the capacity or the option of saying "no, I don't think that's right" because they've been told that religion is the only way of life.
For me science should be something that should not be overlooked and thought as a belief but thought as actually the truth, or as close to the truth we have. I like knowing that the thing I know that happens can still be wrong but I like knowing that I can figure out if I am wrong. If there is a god, We dont know in till we die, if there is an afterlife. But we know that when the temperature of water reaches 32*F or 0*C then the water re-arranges its molecules and condenses forming ice.
I am trying to get better at making decks. I have had trouble creating more competitive decks as I only really build with the cards I have. I dont have that many value cards, in function or expense. I (almost) never play at FNM type events so its not like im playing against $2k decks. If I do usally play at one, Its a draft or limited game. Any advice on building decks is greatly supported! DMs are appreciated.
Thank you!
To put it more simply, it's like saying, "I can prove Jesus is real and loves you. See? Here's my Hispanic friend Jesus. He's had a crush on you for a long time. Tell em' Jesus."
Here's a joke! Whats the internal temperature of a Taun-Taun?
That's defining god into existence. The argument boils down to "god is quantum physics", not a position most theists are willing to take, since they believe in things like omnibenevolence or the power of intercessory prayer, none of which fits with physical laws.
To put it more simply, it's like saying, "I can prove Jesus is real and loves you. See? Here's my Hispanic friend Jesus. He's had a crush on you for a long time. Tell em' Jesus."
That's what the "let's call quantum physics god" argument is doing. And it's just as meaningless.
To put it more simply, it's like saying, "I can prove Jesus is real and loves you. See? Here's my Hispanic friend Jesus. He's had a crush on you for a long time. Tell em' Jesus."
Put that in my signature.
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#TeamChimneyImpForMythic
I am trying to get better at making decks. I have had trouble creating more competitive decks as I only really build with the cards I have. I dont have that many value cards, in function or expense. I (almost) never play at FNM type events so its not like im playing against $2k decks. If I do usally play at one, Its a draft or limited game. Any advice on building decks is greatly supported! DMs are appreciated.
Thank you!
To put it more simply, it's like saying, "I can prove Jesus is real and loves you. See? Here's my Hispanic friend Jesus. He's had a crush on you for a long time. Tell em' Jesus."
Here's a joke! Whats the internal temperature of a Taun-Taun?
So what he's saying is that unicorns exist, so long as we pretend our shoes are unicorns, and since our shoes clearly exist, so do unicorns. Take that atheists!
I feel sorry for anyone whose belief system is so clearly false that they require non-arguments like that to support it. That kind of 'reasoning' doesn't support your case, it hurts it. I'm reminded of a quote:
Friedrich Nietzsche — 'The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.'
P.S. Can atheists stop being put with the agnostics? I find it offensive!! (as an atheist to be put with someone that doesn't know lol)
You can be both atheist and agnostic. One addresses what you believe, and the other addresses what you know or claim to know.
Of course, there are people who use the agnostic label as some kind of mythical "in-between" atheism and theism, generally because either they don't understand what the terms mean, or they don't want to identify as atheist for some reason. Maybe they don't want to be targeted by an anti-atheistisc atmosphere in their area, maybe they're theists having a crisis of faith, whatever.
The majority of people who self-identify as "agnostic" are what I would call atheist, so I don't really have a problem grouping them together. I acknowledge that there are agnostic theists, but it's pretty rare for one to identify as agnostic, even if they'll agree that it's an accurate description of them.
Religion brings a lot of happiness to people who are in otherwise very bad circumstances. Do I think it's literally plausible that some Palestinian guy two thousand years ago was the literal son of God and saved all of us by getting nailed to a piece of wood? Of course not. Does the notion of this guy bring comfort to someone facing severe medical problems that we have no chance of curing before the end of their life? Every day. Would I pray with them to make them feel better? Sure, why not. If Jim has ALS and believes this to be the case, I don't really want to dissuade him of any notion that provides them with relief and a positive outlook.
To answer the OP's question, it's neither unappealing or unacceptable- it just strikes me as unlikely to be true.
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These days, some wizards are finding they have a little too much deck left at the end of their $$$.
MTG finance guy- follow me on Twitter@RichArschmann or RichardArschmann on Reddit
If Jim has ALS and believes this to be the case, I don't really want to dissuade him of any notion that provides them with relief and a positive outlook.
To answer the OP's question, it's neither unappealing or unacceptable- it just strikes me as unlikely to be true.
There are plenty of things in the Christian doctrine that are unappealing to me, but that's an entirely separate issue from respecting (or playing along with) someone else's beliefs.
I mean, the whole point of Jesus in Christian theology is human sacrifice (which I find abhorrent) as substitutionary atonement (which I do not accept) for original sin (which is unappealing). Not to mention the whole Jesus sacrifice thing is, in most* variants of Christianity, a blood sacrifice of god, to god, as a loophole god made to his own rules. Then there's the claim that Jesus died for our sins, but that's not really true to the story. He was tortured** on a cross, sure, but he came back a few days later and then got to go to heaven forever and/or be the all-mighty creator of the universe. That's not ultimate sacrifice, that's a *****ty weekend. I would let some Italians torture and kill me for a freakin' Klondike Bar if I knew I got to be god for the rest of eternity a few days later.
And that's just the story of Jesus.
* I understand and acknowledge that some variants of Christianity do not view Jesus as being the same entity as god, so it would not be sacrificing himself to himself. It's still blood sacrifice as a loophole to his own rules, which is rather silly for a supposedly omnipotent being. Why not just change the rules?
** Although in some variants of Christianity, he wasn't even tortured and killed. As an answer to the question of whether Jesus was mortal or divine, some variants have god essentially possessing the meatbag that Mary popped out from birth on for the next thirty-odd years, and dropping that possession right when the crucifying bit starts, since obviously god is perfect and cant be tortured in any meaningful way. Which is actually worse, tbh, because then you've got both this deity wearing a baby as a Halloween costume, and a man whose first and only memories of being in control of his own body are of being tortured and killed.
If Jim has ALS and believes this to be the case, I don't really want to dissuade him of any notion that provides them with relief and a positive outlook.
To answer the OP's question, it's neither unappealing or unacceptable- it just strikes me as unlikely to be true.
There are plenty of things in the Christian doctrine that are unappealing to me, but that's an entirely separate issue from respecting (or playing along with) someone else's beliefs.
I mean, the whole point of Jesus in Christian theology is human sacrifice (which I find abhorrent) as substitutionary atonement (which I do not accept) for original sin (which is unappealing). Not to mention the whole Jesus sacrifice thing is, in most* variants of Christianity, a blood sacrifice of god, to god, as a loophole god made to his own rules. Then there's the claim that Jesus died for our sins, but that's not really true to the story. He was tortured** on a cross, sure, but he came back a few days later and then got to go to heaven forever and/or be the all-mighty creator of the universe. That's not ultimate sacrifice, that's a *****ty weekend. I would let some Italians torture and kill me for a freakin' Klondike Bar if I knew I got to be god for the rest of eternity a few days later.
And that's just the story of Jesus.
* I understand and acknowledge that some variants of Christianity do not view Jesus as being the same entity as god, so it would not be sacrificing himself to himself. It's still blood sacrifice as a loophole to his own rules, which is rather silly for a supposedly omnipotent being. Why not just change the rules?
** Although in some variants of Christianity, he wasn't even tortured and killed. As an answer to the question of whether Jesus was mortal or divine, some variants have god essentially possessing the meatbag that Mary popped out from birth on for the next thirty-odd years, and dropping that possession right when the crucifying bit starts, since obviously god is perfect and cant be tortured in any meaningful way. Which is actually worse, tbh, because then you've got both this deity wearing a baby as a Halloween costume, and a man whose first and only memories of being in control of his own body are of being tortured and killed.
Actually, that would make the parts where Jesus asking God why he has forsaken him make a lot of sense. Well, that and crucifixion being a particularly horrible form of execution/torture that would elicit that response from anyone.
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The Meaning of Life: "M-hmm. Well, it's nothing very special. Uh, try and be nice to people, avoid eating fat, read a good book every now and then, get some walking in, and try and live together in peace and harmony with people of all creeds and nations"
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Whether its blue players countering your spells, red players burning you out, or combo, if you have a problem with an aspect of Magic's gameplay, you can fix it!
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
If Jim has ALS and believes this to be the case, I don't really want to dissuade him of any notion that provides them with relief and a positive outlook.
To answer the OP's question, it's neither unappealing or unacceptable- it just strikes me as unlikely to be true.
There are plenty of things in the Christian doctrine that are unappealing to me, but that's an entirely separate issue from respecting (or playing along with) someone else's beliefs.
I mean, the whole point of Jesus in Christian theology is human sacrifice (which I find abhorrent) as substitutionary atonement (which I do not accept) for original sin (which is unappealing). Not to mention the whole Jesus sacrifice thing is, in most* variants of Christianity, a blood sacrifice of god, to god, as a loophole god made to his own rules. Then there's the claim that Jesus died for our sins, but that's not really true to the story. He was tortured** on a cross, sure, but he came back a few days later and then got to go to heaven forever and/or be the all-mighty creator of the universe. That's not ultimate sacrifice, that's a *****ty weekend. I would let some Italians torture and kill me for a freakin' Klondike Bar if I knew I got to be god for the rest of eternity a few days later.
And that's just the story of Jesus.
* I understand and acknowledge that some variants of Christianity do not view Jesus as being the same entity as god, so it would not be sacrificing himself to himself. It's still blood sacrifice as a loophole to his own rules, which is rather silly for a supposedly omnipotent being. Why not just change the rules?
** Although in some variants of Christianity, he wasn't even tortured and killed. As an answer to the question of whether Jesus was mortal or divine, some variants have god essentially possessing the meatbag that Mary popped out from birth on for the next thirty-odd years, and dropping that possession right when the crucifying bit starts, since obviously god is perfect and cant be tortured in any meaningful way. Which is actually worse, tbh, because then you've got both this deity wearing a baby as a Halloween costume, and a man whose first and only memories of being in control of his own body are of being tortured and killed.
Actually, that would make the parts where Jesus asking God why he has forsaken him make a lot of sense.
One of the problems with Christianity in practice is that pretty much any position you want to hold could be supported by the Bible. Anti-gay? Leviticus 18:22. Pro-gay? Mark 12:31.
Religion brings a lot of happiness to people who are in otherwise very bad circumstances. Do I think it's literally plausible that some Palestinian guy two thousand years ago was the literal son of God and saved all of us by getting nailed to a piece of wood? Of course not. Does the notion of this guy bring comfort to someone facing severe medical problems that we have no chance of curing before the end of their life? Every day. Would I pray with them to make them feel better? Sure, why not. If Jim has ALS and believes this to be the case, I don't really want to dissuade him of any notion that provides them with relief and a positive outlook.
To answer the OP's question, it's neither unappealing or unacceptable- it just strikes me as unlikely to be true.
Have you ever read Lee Strobel's the Case For Christ? It is a really good book that explores the likelihood of Jesus story being true. It was written by an atheist/agnostic who thought that it all had to be a fairy tale, and in the end Lee Strobel became a Christian because he thought the evidence to be overwhelmingly in favor of the Biblical account of Jesus' life. If you've never read it before I highly recommend it.
It was once mindblowing to me that people fall for this story, but that was before I understood people. We're selfish. We want to keep on living after we die. And if putting money in the collection plate and uttering nonsense with religious fervor is what we're told to do to achieve that, then that's what we do.
On the other hand, an infinite afterlife makes this life completely worthless. It doesn't matter how long you live or what you do in this life, if you get to live forever after you die, it meant nothing. The most logical thing for anyone who believes in an eternal afterlife is suicide, which is why so many religions have a prohibition against it.
For those that don't believe in an eternal afterlife, this life is infinitely more valuable in comparison, because you only get one shot at getting it right.
As a Christian I wholeheartedly disagree with you here. Eternity magnifies the importance of this life, and it makes this life far more important than you could ever imagine. That all hinges on the fact that what we do here will affect eternity, and I wholeheartedly believe that how we live now will affect eternity either for the worst or for the best.
One of the things Jesus said is "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
The person who can destroy both our bodies and souls in hell is God. That is divine justice. What we do now in this life...we will be judged for. We will stand before Jesus Christ and give an account for every single thought, every single word, and every single action. And we will be judged on the basis of how we lived every single moment in this life.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
Have you ever read Lee Strobel's the Case For Christ? It is a really good book that explores the likelihood of Jesus story being true. It was written by an atheist/agnostic who thought that it all had to be a fairy tale, and in the end Lee Strobel became a Christian because he thought the evidence to be overwhelmingly in favor of the Biblical account of Jesus' life. If you've never read it before I highly recommend it.
Oh, please. Stobel bills himself as the skeptic journalist that asks the tough questions, but he never does and he never seems to be skeptical of anything.
For example: In The Case for Christ, Strobel brings up a "finding" by archaeologist Jerry Vardaman to defend the inconsistencies between Luke 2:1-2 and Matthew 2:1-3 about dating Jesus' birth. Vardaman's finding would suggest that there are two Quiriniuses if it's true. Except his proof is coins from Ancient Rome with micrographic lettering (invisible to the naked eye). Vardaman never produces the coins, or even enlarged photos of the micrographs, only hand drawings of what the text looks like. And that text includes the letter J, which did not exist at the time the supposed coins are allegedly from! That's on top of the absurdity of an ancient coin holding legible micrographic lettering for this long in the first place.
Strobel's response to Vardaman's claims is to accept them at face value, instead of asking "the blunt, tough questions you would want to ask" (quote on Strobel from the jacket of his own book). Questions like "Can I see your magic coin with the invisible letters?"
In The Case for a Creator, Strobel fails to be skeptical of just about anything from start to finish. He repeats the (false) claim that modern biology textbooks teach that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny (the false idea that developing organisms express all of the intermediate forms of their ancestors). He asks zero critical questions of Behe (despite Behe getting completely shredded in the Dover trial). One of Strobels questions to Jonathan Wells is nearly a word-for-word parroting of a Discovery Institute press release.
In Strobel's world, the witnesses to the resurrection had no reason to lie, and that is proof that it's true. Those are not the thoughts of the skeptic he claims to be. And while it may be true that he was an atheist and became a believer, I feel comfortable saying that his atheism had nothing to do with critical examination of evidence.
At least C.S. Lewis didn't bill himself as a skeptic. And Saul/Paul, if he existed and his Damascus road experience did occur, would have been justified in turning to Christianity by personal revelation. Strobel, on the other hand, is a hack and a liar.
At its core, Christianity is a religion of love. I find that you can 'cut to the chase' and just do that - love. Treat others with kindness. Be good to yourself and those around you. Be grateful. Be generous. Do not hurt others. Say 'thank you' a lot. Love the world but do not be attached to it because it is fleeting and ephemeral.
I'll happily agree that you don't need Christianity (or any religion) to love.
I do not agree that "At its core, Christianity is a religion of love." The Bible is like a choose-your-own-adventure book, parts of it form a genocide manual, and it has been used to justify a number of atrocities throughout history.
Yeah, there's some good stuff in the Bible as well, but I don't see how you can arrive at "love" being the core message of the religion without some serious cherry-picking.
I don't think you are right. Christianity is about a lot of things...holiness, justice, wrath, love, compassion. The central event in all the Bible is the cross. In the cross we see God's love, God's wrath, God's justice, God's compassion. The non-believer often pits these against one another, but at the cross we see them all come together in perfect unity. Sin separates man from God, so Jesus went to the cross to take sin out of the way so that he could marry his bride, the church, which he cleanses with his own blood. Jesus going to the cross to die for his bride...if you cannot see that is about love, then you do not understand what love is.
As a Christian I wholeheartedly disagree with you here. Eternity magnifies the importance of this life, and it makes this life far more important than you could ever imagine. That all hinges on the fact that what we do here will affect eternity, and I wholeheartedly believe that how we live now will affect eternity either for the worst or for the best.
What's your position on the final resting place of people who die before reaching the age of reason?
The non-believer often pits these against one another, but at the cross we see them all come together in perfect unity.
How does the cross bring any of those qualities together? The cross is simply a few pieces of wood and some nails utilized as a shame, torture, and execution device for thousands of criminals in the ancient world. The depiction of Jesus' crucifixion isn't even as bad as it was for some victims. For example, many people crucified had their legs broken with an iron club.
What's your position on the final resting place of people who die before reaching the age of reason?
How does the cross bring any of those qualities together? The cross is simply a few pieces of wood and some nails utilized as a shame, torture, and execution device for thousands of criminals in the ancient world. The depiction of Jesus' crucifixion isn't even as bad as it was for some victims. For example, many people crucified had their legs broken with an iron club.
I'd much rather someone (anyone) demonstrate love by living, not by being used for human blood sacrifice.
1) Just a few months ago I held my nephew in my own arms. He almost lived 2 days. My sister, who is also a Christian, heard that her son would not be compatible with life outside of the womb, and the doctors asked her if she'd like to have an abortion. She said "heck no!" because the way we live affects eternity. What a tragedy it would be for a parent to kill a child in the womb, and for the child to be eternally separated from the parent because the parent went to hell. What a sobering day the day of judgement will be!
My sister believes that her son Arthur is in heaven. I do too. I believe Arthur is in heaven, and I cannot wait to see him again! I believe that all murdered babies are in heaven.
2) The cross brings those qualities together because all of those qualities reflect who God is, and the cross is the event where God is most revealed in the Bible.
I want you to think about the worst thing you ever experienced. Was it physical in nature or was it emotional or spiritual? I'd be willing to bet it was the latter. Jesus was sweating blood before anyone ever laid a hand on him. While Jesus suffered great physical pain I'd be willing to bet that the worst pain he suffered was spiritual and relational. I think the greatest moment of Jesus' pain was seen when he cried out "Why have you forsaken me?" Jesus had an eternal love for the Father that is far greater than the love of even a husband or a wife. To be willingly forsaken by the Father was a greater pain than anything you or I or anyone else in the history of mankind even know of, but Jesus walked to the cross willingly because it was His Father's will.
3) Jesus did love while living. His entire life that he lived without sinning is credited to those who trust in him for their salvation. We see Jesus' love in his life and in his death. As for the fact that you would like Jesus to love you differently, I'm sure most kids wish their parents loved them differently and gave them whatever they wanted. At the end of the day...you have a sin debt. You may not like it, and you might refuse to believe it, but you do. And that is why Jesus made a date with the cross. Our sin debt had to be taken away. Just like a good parent, Jesus loves us based on what we need not what we want. You desperately need to trust in Christ so that you don't die with your sin debt upon you! Because you won't be able to pay it!
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
This place is fabulously euphoric, but I wouldn't have expected anything less.
Christianity isn't unappealing, I'm a regular missionary, the only real 'problem' is that it isn't true. It has nothing to do with me being especially 'smart' or 'scientifically-minded' or any other pretentious crap people say to fuel their ego. It's just a belief system that I don't follow, there's no deeper level to it. Really, the atheist internet has always had this problem of elitism, and it's really annoying. And beyond that, the persecution complex, and just lack of respect from the atheist end is utterly disgusting.
STATISTICS.
All of these "Let's eliminate bad cards" crusades are simply ignorant. And when they start to devolve into "WotC is conspiring to give us crappy cards," they just become embarrassing. MATH is conspiring to give you crappy cards.
No kidding. So many contradictions in the thing it's crazy.
"Thou shalt not kill" Exodus 20:13 basically at the beginning of the whole thing. One of 10 concrete rules for life literally carved in stone. Do not kill anyone, period. Unless (as we find out late) they:
Are gay (Leviticus 20:13 (funny coincidence))
Are Nonbelievers or Prophets of other religions (Deuteronomy 13:5)
Are people who don't listen to priests (Deuteronomy 17:12)
Are "witches" (Exodus 22:17)
Hit their dad (Exodus 21:15)
Follow another religion (Exodus 22:19)
And on and on and on.
Now, I'm not saying the whole Bible is complete trash. There are some good life lessons in there. But as a "historical story" and the concept of god? I just don't buy it.
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Actually "kill" is a bad translation. "Murder" is a much better translation.
The lesson from the Old Testament is that "the wages of sin is death." Israel was a theocracy, and so they had certain laws governing them as a theocracy. Many of those laws show us how holy God is, and how a holy God does not tolerate sin. If you sin, then you've earned the penalty of death. That is why all people die because all people are sinners. And when you die, afterwards you will go stand before the God of the Old Testsment who does not tolerate sin. He'll give you what you've earned because of your sin...that is unless if you've trusted upon Christ as your sin bearer, and repented of your sins.
What makes Christianity unacceptable to me? Nothing, I simply don't believe it. Kinda like how I don't believe in Santa Clause, The Easter Bunny, Dragons, Unicorns or Harry Potter. It's simply man made fiction.
I have no problem with people practising ANY religion, even the church of Harry Potter (if there is such a thing). Just as long as they dont persecute or discriminate against other people based on the teachings of said scripture. I hate when (some) Christions tell the LGBT community (or whatever the correct PC term is these days) they are wrong for loving someone they disapprove of or when (some) Christians tell people of another religion they are wrong. However as long as Christions don't push their religion on other people, practise their faith where/when it's appropriate and perform community outreach then I'm happy for them. It's nice they believe in something that fills them with happiness whether it truly exists or not.
Edit: Oh, and also as long as you don't use scripture to impede scientific growth
I disagree, but not that the Christianity of the Bible is not about love, but that modern day Christianity is not the same thing as the Christianity of the Bible. Christianity has changed much over time and is quite different to different people in different places even today. Which is to say that modern day Christianity is, for many people, about love, though not all.
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I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
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Yes, well that's rather my point. The bible is no longer the core of Christianity, it is now an icon more than anything. People's beliefs are less specific now, and less important. Though they will deny it, it's the result of Christianity's decline, in favor of secular ideas. Religion is losing its power over people's intellectual ideas and becoming more cultural and less ideological.
RUNIN: Norse mythology set (awaiting further playtesting)
FATE of ALARA: Multicolour factions (currently on hiatus)
Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
Point
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDVe4-XXFYY
Counterpoint.
Your move
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Contibutor to the Pyrulea community set
I'm here to tell you that all your set mechanics are bad
#Defundthepolice
For me science should be something that should not be overlooked and thought as a belief but thought as actually the truth, or as close to the truth we have. I like knowing that the thing I know that happens can still be wrong but I like knowing that I can figure out if I am wrong. If there is a god, We dont know in till we die, if there is an afterlife. But we know that when the temperature of water reaches 32*F or 0*C then the water re-arranges its molecules and condenses forming ice.
Thank you!
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That's what the "let's call quantum physics god" argument is doing. And it's just as meaningless.
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Put that in my signature.
Thank you!
I feel sorry for anyone whose belief system is so clearly false that they require non-arguments like that to support it. That kind of 'reasoning' doesn't support your case, it hurts it. I'm reminded of a quote:
Friedrich Nietzsche — 'The most perfidious way of harming a cause consists of defending it deliberately with faulty arguments.'
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My BUGWR Hermit druid BUGWR deck.
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Of course, there are people who use the agnostic label as some kind of mythical "in-between" atheism and theism, generally because either they don't understand what the terms mean, or they don't want to identify as atheist for some reason. Maybe they don't want to be targeted by an anti-atheistisc atmosphere in their area, maybe they're theists having a crisis of faith, whatever.
The majority of people who self-identify as "agnostic" are what I would call atheist, so I don't really have a problem grouping them together. I acknowledge that there are agnostic theists, but it's pretty rare for one to identify as agnostic, even if they'll agree that it's an accurate description of them.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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To answer the OP's question, it's neither unappealing or unacceptable- it just strikes me as unlikely to be true.
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I mean, the whole point of Jesus in Christian theology is human sacrifice (which I find abhorrent) as substitutionary atonement (which I do not accept) for original sin (which is unappealing). Not to mention the whole Jesus sacrifice thing is, in most* variants of Christianity, a blood sacrifice of god, to god, as a loophole god made to his own rules. Then there's the claim that Jesus died for our sins, but that's not really true to the story. He was tortured** on a cross, sure, but he came back a few days later and then got to go to heaven forever and/or be the all-mighty creator of the universe. That's not ultimate sacrifice, that's a *****ty weekend. I would let some Italians torture and kill me for a freakin' Klondike Bar if I knew I got to be god for the rest of eternity a few days later.
And that's just the story of Jesus.
* I understand and acknowledge that some variants of Christianity do not view Jesus as being the same entity as god, so it would not be sacrificing himself to himself. It's still blood sacrifice as a loophole to his own rules, which is rather silly for a supposedly omnipotent being. Why not just change the rules?
** Although in some variants of Christianity, he wasn't even tortured and killed. As an answer to the question of whether Jesus was mortal or divine, some variants have god essentially possessing the meatbag that Mary popped out from birth on for the next thirty-odd years, and dropping that possession right when the crucifying bit starts, since obviously god is perfect and cant be tortured in any meaningful way. Which is actually worse, tbh, because then you've got both this deity wearing a baby as a Halloween costume, and a man whose first and only memories of being in control of his own body are of being tortured and killed.
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Actually, that would make the parts where Jesus asking God why he has forsaken him make a lot of sense. Well, that and crucifixion being a particularly horrible form of execution/torture that would elicit that response from anyone.
Onering's 4 simple steps that let you solve any problem with Magic's gameplay
Step 1: Identify the problem. What aspect of Magic don't you like? Step 2: Find out how others deal with the problem. How do players deal with this aspect of the game when they run into it? Step 3: Do what those players do. Step 4: No more problem. Bonus: You are now better at Magic. Enjoy those extra wins!
It's the Big Book of Multiple Choice.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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Have you ever read Lee Strobel's the Case For Christ? It is a really good book that explores the likelihood of Jesus story being true. It was written by an atheist/agnostic who thought that it all had to be a fairy tale, and in the end Lee Strobel became a Christian because he thought the evidence to be overwhelmingly in favor of the Biblical account of Jesus' life. If you've never read it before I highly recommend it.
As a Christian I wholeheartedly disagree with you here. Eternity magnifies the importance of this life, and it makes this life far more important than you could ever imagine. That all hinges on the fact that what we do here will affect eternity, and I wholeheartedly believe that how we live now will affect eternity either for the worst or for the best.
One of the things Jesus said is "Fear not them which kill the body, but are not able to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and body in hell" (Matthew 10:28).
The person who can destroy both our bodies and souls in hell is God. That is divine justice. What we do now in this life...we will be judged for. We will stand before Jesus Christ and give an account for every single thought, every single word, and every single action. And we will be judged on the basis of how we lived every single moment in this life.
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
For example: In The Case for Christ, Strobel brings up a "finding" by archaeologist Jerry Vardaman to defend the inconsistencies between Luke 2:1-2 and Matthew 2:1-3 about dating Jesus' birth. Vardaman's finding would suggest that there are two Quiriniuses if it's true. Except his proof is coins from Ancient Rome with micrographic lettering (invisible to the naked eye). Vardaman never produces the coins, or even enlarged photos of the micrographs, only hand drawings of what the text looks like. And that text includes the letter J, which did not exist at the time the supposed coins are allegedly from! That's on top of the absurdity of an ancient coin holding legible micrographic lettering for this long in the first place.
Strobel's response to Vardaman's claims is to accept them at face value, instead of asking "the blunt, tough questions you would want to ask" (quote on Strobel from the jacket of his own book). Questions like "Can I see your magic coin with the invisible letters?"
In The Case for a Creator, Strobel fails to be skeptical of just about anything from start to finish. He repeats the (false) claim that modern biology textbooks teach that ontogeny recapitulates phylogeny (the false idea that developing organisms express all of the intermediate forms of their ancestors). He asks zero critical questions of Behe (despite Behe getting completely shredded in the Dover trial). One of Strobels questions to Jonathan Wells is nearly a word-for-word parroting of a Discovery Institute press release.
In Strobel's world, the witnesses to the resurrection had no reason to lie, and that is proof that it's true. Those are not the thoughts of the skeptic he claims to be. And while it may be true that he was an atheist and became a believer, I feel comfortable saying that his atheism had nothing to do with critical examination of evidence.
At least C.S. Lewis didn't bill himself as a skeptic. And Saul/Paul, if he existed and his Damascus road experience did occur, would have been justified in turning to Christianity by personal revelation. Strobel, on the other hand, is a hack and a liar.
Two Score, Minus Two or: A Stargate Tail
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I don't think you are right. Christianity is about a lot of things...holiness, justice, wrath, love, compassion. The central event in all the Bible is the cross. In the cross we see God's love, God's wrath, God's justice, God's compassion. The non-believer often pits these against one another, but at the cross we see them all come together in perfect unity. Sin separates man from God, so Jesus went to the cross to take sin out of the way so that he could marry his bride, the church, which he cleanses with his own blood. Jesus going to the cross to die for his bride...if you cannot see that is about love, then you do not understand what love is.
How does the cross bring any of those qualities together? The cross is simply a few pieces of wood and some nails utilized as a shame, torture, and execution device for thousands of criminals in the ancient world. The depiction of Jesus' crucifixion isn't even as bad as it was for some victims. For example, many people crucified had their legs broken with an iron club.
I'd much rather someone (anyone) demonstrate love by living, not by being used for human blood sacrifice.
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1) Just a few months ago I held my nephew in my own arms. He almost lived 2 days. My sister, who is also a Christian, heard that her son would not be compatible with life outside of the womb, and the doctors asked her if she'd like to have an abortion. She said "heck no!" because the way we live affects eternity. What a tragedy it would be for a parent to kill a child in the womb, and for the child to be eternally separated from the parent because the parent went to hell. What a sobering day the day of judgement will be!
My sister believes that her son Arthur is in heaven. I do too. I believe Arthur is in heaven, and I cannot wait to see him again! I believe that all murdered babies are in heaven.
2) The cross brings those qualities together because all of those qualities reflect who God is, and the cross is the event where God is most revealed in the Bible.
I want you to think about the worst thing you ever experienced. Was it physical in nature or was it emotional or spiritual? I'd be willing to bet it was the latter. Jesus was sweating blood before anyone ever laid a hand on him. While Jesus suffered great physical pain I'd be willing to bet that the worst pain he suffered was spiritual and relational. I think the greatest moment of Jesus' pain was seen when he cried out "Why have you forsaken me?" Jesus had an eternal love for the Father that is far greater than the love of even a husband or a wife. To be willingly forsaken by the Father was a greater pain than anything you or I or anyone else in the history of mankind even know of, but Jesus walked to the cross willingly because it was His Father's will.
3) Jesus did love while living. His entire life that he lived without sinning is credited to those who trust in him for their salvation. We see Jesus' love in his life and in his death. As for the fact that you would like Jesus to love you differently, I'm sure most kids wish their parents loved them differently and gave them whatever they wanted. At the end of the day...you have a sin debt. You may not like it, and you might refuse to believe it, but you do. And that is why Jesus made a date with the cross. Our sin debt had to be taken away. Just like a good parent, Jesus loves us based on what we need not what we want. You desperately need to trust in Christ so that you don't die with your sin debt upon you! Because you won't be able to pay it!
"For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:23).
Christianity isn't unappealing, I'm a regular missionary, the only real 'problem' is that it isn't true. It has nothing to do with me being especially 'smart' or 'scientifically-minded' or any other pretentious crap people say to fuel their ego. It's just a belief system that I don't follow, there's no deeper level to it. Really, the atheist internet has always had this problem of elitism, and it's really annoying. And beyond that, the persecution complex, and just lack of respect from the atheist end is utterly disgusting.
No kidding. So many contradictions in the thing it's crazy.
"Thou shalt not kill" Exodus 20:13 basically at the beginning of the whole thing. One of 10 concrete rules for life literally carved in stone. Do not kill anyone, period. Unless (as we find out late) they:
And on and on and on.
Now, I'm not saying the whole Bible is complete trash. There are some good life lessons in there. But as a "historical story" and the concept of god? I just don't buy it.
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The lesson from the Old Testament is that "the wages of sin is death." Israel was a theocracy, and so they had certain laws governing them as a theocracy. Many of those laws show us how holy God is, and how a holy God does not tolerate sin. If you sin, then you've earned the penalty of death. That is why all people die because all people are sinners. And when you die, afterwards you will go stand before the God of the Old Testsment who does not tolerate sin. He'll give you what you've earned because of your sin...that is unless if you've trusted upon Christ as your sin bearer, and repented of your sins.
I have no problem with people practising ANY religion, even the church of Harry Potter (if there is such a thing). Just as long as they dont persecute or discriminate against other people based on the teachings of said scripture. I hate when (some) Christions tell the LGBT community (or whatever the correct PC term is these days) they are wrong for loving someone they disapprove of or when (some) Christians tell people of another religion they are wrong. However as long as Christions don't push their religion on other people, practise their faith where/when it's appropriate and perform community outreach then I'm happy for them. It's nice they believe in something that fills them with happiness whether it truly exists or not.
Edit: Oh, and also as long as you don't use scripture to impede scientific growth
BChainer, Dementia Master(Big Mana/Reanimator)
BRRakdos, The Showstopper (Mass Life Loss/Ramp)
BUThe Scarab God (Zombie Tribal/Control)
BWKarlov of the Ghost Council (Life Gain)
BGJarad, Golgari Lich Lord (Stompy/Dredge)
BRGProssh, Skyraider of Kher (Tokens/Non-infinite Combo)