217 replies to this topic

[LongLiveYorke]

And if so, which religion is right? Discuss. Show your work and use examples.

If this has been discussed before, feel free to lock it up.

[SlapStick]

He's atheist and going through a pretty rough time at the moment

[Sal Paradise]

And if so, which religion is right? Discuss. Show your work and use examples.

If this has been discussed before, feel free to lock it up.

oh man I HATE when they say that.

[HollywoodAFD]

There has to be... how else could the Wings win the Cup?

[Don Giovanni]

do christians think that Buddhists are all going to hell for not believing?

[HollywoodAFD]

do christians think that Buddhists are all going to hell for not believing?

I think you guys think Christians give more thought to others than we really do.
Granted... some sects actually do spend a lot of time on this but not all Christians.

In a nut shell... the only way to heaven is by accepting Jesus Christ as your savior. Those who do not... will not get to heaven.

At the church I go to ... we rarely if ever even speak of Hell or try to decide who may go there. We accept that we are all sinners and use the scriptures to remind us of how we should conduct ourselves.

Perhaps Buddhist get to go to a different heaven. I don't know. They at least appear to be at peace within themselves and with others. I like that. (I actually only know 3 buddhist so my pool of knowledge is shallow)
Not trying to get under Crow's craw here... but I seriously think non-believers think we think about them more than we do.

Now... Southern Baptist absolutely do. That's pretty much all they do... they feel the charge to convert the world and witness to everyone.

But it wouldn't be fair to assume that although a Baptist is a Christian...not all Christians are Baptists and think about this often.


Did I effectively avoid answering the question? lol

[crowTrobot]

He's atheist and going through a pretty rough time at the moment

somehow i think there's a big invisible SW up there somewhere

[El Guapo]

OK, another question for the Christians of the world.


What happened to the Mayans, Native Americans, Indians, Tibetan, etc. over the past 2000 years when they died if they had never even heard of Jesus because of being secluded from information, did not have written language, etc.


This is a serious question.

My belief or lack there of I guess, is that if there is a God and a Heaven if your merits of how you spent your life will outweigh your sins then you will get to that special place. Now I know this does not say this anywhere, but I cannot believe that if I live my life to its fullest, honestly, helping others, being the best Husband and Father I can, that if I do not go through a ritualistic ceremony that I would be excluded from Heaven.

For the most part I live my life as clean and honest or more so than most God fearing, go to Church every Sunday, people. I cannot grasp that they can do all these terrible things (adultry, cheating, swindling, :insert dishonest item:) but go to Church and it is forgiven and they will get to Heaven, but I, who have done those things, will not.

This is actually a huge issue for my mother in law, who is very religious, even though she loves me and knows how good of a parent and father I am, thinks I will not go to Heaven.

[Sal Paradise]

OK, another question for the Christians of the world.
What happened to the Mayans, Native Americans, Indians, Tibetan, etc. over the past 2000 years when they died if they had never even heard of Jesus because of being secluded from information, did not have written language, etc.
This is a serious question.

I believe I've seen lois explain this before, and I'm paraphrasing here from what I remember, so I could be wrong, but I think he had said that the rule is that if you really have faith and want to believe in the proper god, then jesus, or god (I can't remember which one) will come to you and you will see the grace of god or what not. now to me, this is the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard (and I don't know of a single recorded instance of somebody spontaneously generating jesus without outside influence), but I believe that is the going explanation. please correct me if I'm wrong though.

[Randy Reed]

There is no evidence of a God or Ultimate Creator. The most common argument is that since the earth is complex, there must be one. It is a huge fallacy since God would ultimately have to be very complex raising the question, "Who created God then?"

Natural Selection explains everything perfectly.

Use your own moral compass to guide your life.

[El Guapo]

I believe I've seen lois explain this before, and I'm paraphrasing here from what I remember, so I could be wrong, but I think he had said that the rule is that if you really have faith and want to believe in the proper god, then jesus, or god (I can't remember which one) will come to you and you will see the grace of god or what not. now to me, this is the most unbelievable thing I've ever heard (and I don't know of a single recorded instance of somebody spontaneously generating jesus without outside influence), but I believe that is the going explanation. please correct me if I'm wrong though.

Yeah I have heard this too. But I am completely discounting it, because there is no recorded proof that I know of that any of these civilizations having experienced this.

Then if he came to them on their death bed, wouldn't that be the same for everyone then?

[Balloon guy]

OK, another question for the Christians of the world.
What happened to the Mayans, Native Americans, Indians, Tibetan, etc. over the past 2000 years when they died if they had never even heard of Jesus because of being secluded from information, did not have written language, etc.
This is a serious question.

My belief or lack there of I guess, is that if there is a God and a Heaven if your merits of how you spent your life will outweigh your sins then you will get to that special place. Now I know this does not say this anywhere, but I cannot believe that if I live my life to its fullest, honestly, helping others, being the best Husband and Father I can, that if I do not go through a ritualistic ceremony that I would be excluded from Heaven.

For the most part I live my life as clean and honest or more so than most God fearing, go to Church every Sunday, people. I cannot grasp that they can do all these terrible things (adultry, cheating, swindling, :insert dishonest item:) but go to Church and it is forgiven and they will get to Heaven, but I, who have done those things, will not.

This is actually a huge issue for my mother in law, who is very religious, even though she loves me and knows how good of a parent and father I am, thinks I will not go to Heaven.

Contemporary Chrisitan belief is that the people who died without the opportunity to accept Christ are still lost. This explains why we were given the commandment to preach to all the world the gospel.

Some believe that God will judge people based on how they would have responded to the calling. Being God He would know, so His judgement would be right every single time. I tend to lean this way because that's the kind of God we serve. It fits better into His Character that He would look for reasons to forgive, over reasons to damn.

It is interesting to note that in the 1800's the world's population was less than 1 billion, and now it's over 6 billion. So most people that have ever existed have been alive in the last 200 years.
Unless you believe that hogwash that people have been around for 50,000 years.

[Balloon guy]

And if so, which religion is right? Discuss. Show your work and use examples.

If this has been discussed before, feel free to lock it up.

Is there a God: Yes

Which religion is right: Christianity

Discuss: It's pretty cool, God forgiving you and stuff

Show your work and use examples: I was lost, and now I'm found. I was blind but now I see.

Discussed before: Maybe, search function is your friend.



Good luck uncovering the secrets of unifying theory, while trying not to destroy the earth.

[Don Giovanni]

Unless you believe that hogwash that people have been around for 50,000 years.

if by hogwash you mean fossil records then the number is more like over 100,000 years ago.

[Sal Paradise]

Contemporary Chrisitan belief is that the people who died without the opportunity to accept Christ are still lost. This explains why we were given the commandment to preach to all the world the gospel.

Some believe that God will judge people based on how they would have responded to the calling. Being God He would know, so His judgement would be right every single time. I tend to lean this way because that's the kind of God we serve. It fits better into His Character that He would look for reasons to forgive, over reasons to damn.

It is interesting to note that in the 1800's the world's population was less than 1 billion, and now it's over 6 billion. So most people that have ever existed have been alive in the last 200 years.
Unless you believe that hogwash that people have been around for 50,000 years.

is there anything biblical to back up the first part (or any other theories as to what happens for that matter)? I remember lois talking about what I said above, but I don't remember if it was biblical or just his belief, but I'm inclined to believe it was biblical given how literal he tends to be with it.

[Don Giovanni]

Some believe that God will judge people based on how they would have responded to the calling. Being God He would know, so His judgement would be right every single time. I tend to lean this way because that's the kind of God we serve. It fits better into His Character that He would look for reasons to forgive, over reasons to damn.

interesting, i didnt know you could just bend ideas about how god operates to better fit your beliefs.

[Balloon guy]

interesting, i didnt know you could just bend ideas about how god operates to better fit your beliefs.

Why? You bend logic to fit yours.

[Balloon guy]

is there anything biblical to back up the first part (or any other theories as to what happens for that matter)? I remember lois talking about what I said above, but I don't remember if it was biblical or just his belief, but I'm inclined to believe it was biblical given how literal he tends to be with it.

Some of the areas that are silent in the Bible are often attempted to be answered with similar problems and how they were dealt with.

It is largely held that the 3 days Christ was in the tomb were spent in the place between heaven and hell where the Jewish faithful were waiting for their Messiah. This would have only applied to the Jews who held to the faith. This comes from parables Christ spoke about and other references. I believe this to be true.

Catholics got purgatory from this. Something not supported because the Bible says :"Man is allotted once to die, then judgement" But it's not hard to see how they made the connection. It is pretty much discredited in the protestant camps because the whole point of Christ's blood was to cover your sins, not cover 'some' of your sins and you need to be punished for other ones.

I have heard Lois' explanation before, and like I said I don't see where it is outside of Biblical possiblities, in other words it doesn't contridict what the Bible says, but it would be extra-Biblical in that the Bible is silent on the subject. Given that I wouldn't bet the farm, but if it turns out to be true,it won't change my faith either way. Kind of like UFOs.

[Balloon guy]

if by hogwash you mean fossil records then the number is more like over 100,000 years ago.

300,000 if you believe Richard Leakey's son.

[Balloon guy]

There is no evidence of a God or Ultimate Creator. The most common argument is that since the earth is complex, there must be one. It is a huge fallacy since God would ultimately have to be very complex raising the question, "Who created God then?"

I don't see how you can say that the watchmaker theory is invalid because of the Who made God question. Couldn't God have been made by something else, and we would still be subject to God as our creator?

Natural Selection explains everything perfectly.

Use your own moral compass to guide your life.

I think perfectly would be a stretch since you need a beginning and you don't have one. Nor do you have any reason to obey part two of your statement.