Christians on arbtalk?

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Does that make you an animist rather than an atheist?

 

always had trouble defining the fine lines between animism, paganism etc

 

all I know is that MY religion is MY own, its unique to me and I worship nature and "commune with it"

 

I get the same spiritual connection and reward as any devout religous believer does.

 

I dont need answers because there are no questions for me to ask, life is simply beautiful and I am grateful for the time I have to bear witness to this fact

[skyhuck]

How many religious people truly believe????

 

Why do we never see people celebrating the death of a loved one?? if heaven is so great why so sad???, whats the old saying "every one wants to go to heaven but no body wants to die":sneaky2:

 

Some one mentioned nuns earlier, they and monks are the only true Christians, Jesus told his disciples to be "no part of this world".

 

I see so many christians living very full lives now, but having read the entire bible several times (well I listened to it on audio tape) I know that jesus taught that his followers should have only the very bare necessities of life and spend the majority of their time and effort preaching the the good news of his kingdom, this is very rare among most Christian groups.

 

I honestly think that religion is a crutch or sort of insurance policy, people do what they think is enough and this gives them peace of mind and means they don't need to worry about death (which some people really struggle to come to terms with) Some people do have a "God shaped hole" in there lives and a religion helps them cope, but a great many people do not. I don't, I remember nothing from before my birth so I'm sure thats the same state to which I will return, so why worry. As has already been mentioned my immortality is in my children, their future is far more important to me than mine.

 

When I was a JW there were many benefits, I had a huge family of "brothers and sisters" who would help me when ever asked. I could travel to any part of the world walk into a Kingdom hall and be treated like family. If I wanted help with DIY of car repairs, they were there and most of them were very nice people, I miss them greatly. BUT its simply not true and once I realised this I could not live a lie and more importantly I could not teach my children a lie.

 

We had 200 people at our wedding, a huge number of those people would now cross the road if they saw me coming. My wife and I have had to leave virtually everyone we knew behind when we left (as did her parent), but we knew by leave our children would not be within this cult and the friends they made would be unconditional and hopefully last a life time.

 

I thing that gets me most about many religious people is the hypocrisy, as the bible puts it "they have a form of godly devotion but prove false to its power"

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

How many religious people truly believe????

 

Why do we never see people celebrating the death of a loved one?? if heaven is so great why so sad???, whats the old saying "every one wants to go to heaven but no body wants to die":sneaky2:

 

Some one mentioned nuns earlier, they and monks are the only true Christians, Jesus told his disciples to be "no part of this world".

 

I see so many christians living very full lives now, but having read the entire bible several times (well I listened to it on audio tape) I know that jesus taught that his followers should have only the very bare necessities of life and spend the majority of their time and effort preaching the the good news of his kingdom, this is very rare among most Christian groups.

 

I honestly think that religion is a crutch or sort of insurance policy, people do what they think is enough and this gives them peace of mind and means they don't need to worry about death (which some people really struggle to come to terms with) Some people do have a "God shaped hole" in there lives and a religion helps them cope, but a great many people do not. I don't, I remember nothing from before my birth so I'm sure thats the same state to which I will return, so why worry. As has already been mentioned my immortality is in my children, their future is far more important to me than mine.

 

When I was a JW there were many benefits, I had a huge family of "brothers and sisters" who would help me when ever asked. I could travel to any part of the world walk into a Kingdom hall and be treated like family. If I wanted help with DIY of car repairs, they were there and most of them were very nice people, I miss them greatly. BUT its simply not true and once I realised this I could not live a lie and more importantly I could not teach my children a lie.

 

We had 200 people at our wedding, a huge number of those people would now cross the road if they saw me coming. My wife and I have had to leave virtually everyone we knew behind when we left (as did her parent), but we knew by leave our children would not be within this cult and the friends they made would be unconditional and hopefully last a life time.

 

I thing that gets me most about many religious people is the hypocrisy, as the bible puts it "they have a form of godly devotion but prove false to its power"

 

I had no Idea you was ever a JW!

 

The mourning or opposite celebration of life/death is different in other cultures.

 

I think the thing about religion is its like a phone contract, theres lots to choose from, one isnt right for everyone, some are heavy callers others will only pick up the phone when they need something.

 

Its not wrong to have faith, its only wrong to believe YOUR faith is the only faith and expect everyone else to burn in the fires of divine retribution!

 

Burning in the fires of retribution would imply that punishment being delivered by a rite orrible.... and that doesnt sound like an overly empathic and all forgiving god like entity to me!

[skyhuck]

and that doesnt sound like an overly empathic and all forgiving god like entity to me!

 

He ain't!!!

 

Read your bible mate, god is cruel and blood thirsty.

 

After the flood, after god had destroyed every living thing on the planet, saving only those in the box, what was the first thing he asked Noah to do after finding land???? Kill and burn some of the animals from the Ark, and it says as the smoke went up to heaven "god smelt a restful odor"

 

God is made in the image of man, a tool to control the weak.

[butler]

Week argument shout louder.........an empty vessel makes most noise

[skyhuck]

Week argument shout louder.........an empty vessel makes most noise

 

:lol:

[Pete Mctree]

The power that the imaginary friend/god has over believers is frightening.

It is a crutch for the weak & justification to war, control& manipulate for the powerfully. Often enables the denigration of women. An author ; R A Wilson noted that "when dogma enters the brain, all intellectual activity ceases" true words in most cases.

I despise the religion not the follower as some of them are the best of us.

[Tony Croft aka hamadryad]

Week argument shout louder.........an empty vessel makes most noise

 

:lol:

 

"and the blind shall follow the blind" into the darkness that is this whole discussion!

 

We are all being a bit unfair, because all these responses only serve to put off others who might engage with the original posters request.

 

There are many followers of the christian faith here, but they are probably (due to past experience) afraid to (or rather better than the rest of us to engage!)

 

I have NO DOUBT their are many phobes and anti this or that amoung us regarding many aspects of life choices, human nature is a funny old game.

 

I mean If i was to come out and say by the way I am Gay, I can promise you it would not be just the religous that gave me hell!

[skyhuck]

.

 

I mean If i was to come out and say by the way I am Gay,:

 

:001_rolleyes:Come on Tony do your really think we had not worked that one out

[butler]

"and the blind shall follow the blind" into the darkness that is this whole discussion!

 

We are all being a bit unfair, because all these responses only serve to put off others who might engage with the original posters request.

 

There are many followers of the christian faith here, but they are probably (due to past experience) afraid to (or rather better than the rest of us to engage!)

 

I have NO DOUBT their are many phobes and anti this or that amoung us regarding many aspects of life choices, human nature is a funny old game.

 

I mean If i was to come out and say by the way I am Gay, I can promise you it would not be just the religous that gave me hell!

 

spot on