Atheism

The three big problems which most people have with religion are, in something like this order:

1. The problem of evil.
2. The theory of evolution.
3. The book of Joshua (and/or other Bible sections showing Jahveh behaving in a manner at odds with modern notions of ethics.

You seem to be hung up on item 3. Understanding what goes into those parts of the Bible is a long story and involves the nature of ancient religions, which were substantially different from modern religion as well as from the religion of the later parts of the Old Testament.

All ancient religions were astral in nature, i.e. they worshiped things which they observed in the sky, particularly the two dwarf stars, Jupiter and Saturn. Jahveh is the same basic word as 'Jove', another name for Jupiter; you can convince yourself that 'El' meant Saturn by doing Google searches on 'El Saturn Babylon' and you have to include the term 'Babylon' to weed out the hits on the GM Saturn car dealerships.

Israelites were the first group of people to figure out that they should no longer be worshiping dwarf stars, i.e. that was the best case; worst case was Lithuanians who were still worshiping Odin (Saturn) at the time of the crusades.

Plato's dialogs indicate that he understood the difference between God (the author of our living world) and the dwarf star/polytheistic deities but, when you read some of the worst stuff in the Bible, there is a question in places as to who is speaking. I use the term 'Book of Joshua' as a metaphor for that stuff because the tale of the destruction of the city of Ai is virtually indistinguishable from the tale of the destruction of Lioyang by the Mongols under Jebe.

By the time you get to Jesus of course, all of that stuff is gone. The God who Jesus worships does not engage in any indefensible behavior, nor does Jesus.

Frank Apisa said:...you guys are stuck with that monster from the Old Testament

Quote:

Frank Apisa said:...you guys are stuck with that monster from the Old Testament

Monster? if God was a monster he wouldn't have sent Jesus to warn us about hell, he'd have just let us blunder into it!

Romeo said:Jesus came to trash ONLY the harshness of the OT, he had no beef with the rest of it.
Calamity said: so your jesus thought your god was harsh?

Quote:

Romeo said:Jesus came to trash ONLY the harshness of the OT, he had no beef with the rest of it.
Calamity said: so your jesus thought your god was harsh?

ATTAGIRL, keep swinging at old Romeo with your handbag..
Now sit at your desk in my sunday school class, get out your exercise book and write this down-
Jesus said - "For I have not spoken on my own authority; but the Father who sent me gave me a command, what I should say and what I should speak" (John 12:49)
Gettit? It means that when Jesus trashed the harshness of the OT, it was really God himself who was trashing it through Jesus's mouth..

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Romeo Fabulini: they can't take him in debates, never could, never will!

Setanta said (with Frank Apisa's agreement) : Jesus said- "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 18.)
..the text of scripture shows that your boy Jesus was not out to "trash" any part of his native religion.

Quote:

Setanta said: Jesus said- "For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled" (Matthew Chapter 5, Verse 18.)
..the text of scripture shows that your boy Jesus was not out to "trash" any part of his native religion.

YES! Keep it up mate and you'll make Pope in no time..
Jesus never bothered to go through the OT page by page scrapping this bit or that bit, he simply slapped God's blanket command "Love one another" over the whole caboodle!

So although nasty stuff like "kill witches and adulteresses" is still in the OT, I don't think God and Jesus would be too pleased if you went out and did that..

Frank Apisa said:@Romeo- You make Christianity look like a pile of manure

Frank Apisa said: If he were a monster...he would act like the god described in the Old Testament. In fact...that is exactly how the god acts...and therefore my characterization of him as a monster is spot on

Quote:

Frank Apisa said:@Romeo- You make Christianity look like a pile of manure

Not sure i follow mate, I've posted the following quote many times, so tell us which bit of it you think is "manure"?..
"Love one another, feed the hungry, house the homeless, clothe the destitute, tend the sick, visit the prisoners, look after the poor"- Jesus of Nazareth (Mark 12:30, John 13:34, Matt 25: 37-40)

Be careful, the naughty step....
Jesus said "Whoever's ashamed of me and my words, I'll be ashamed of him" (Mark 8:38 )

Frank Apisa said @Romeo: You do not embody the attributes that Jesus preached

Frank Apisa said: The "command" Jesus thought was so important was not to love one another

Panzade said: I'm trying to ignore Mussolini and all I see is page after page of his swill

Santa said: Actually, the topic of this thread is the experience of being an atheist