Why Are We Here?

[jambutty]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

I don't like the Catholic teaching that unbaptised children spend eternity in limbo. Surely a loving God wouldn't do that.

That is pre-supposing that there is a ‘loving God’. If this God was so loving and caring why does he or she allow the untold misery that afflicts millions of people and in particular innocent children?

The God cheerleaders will no doubt point out that we were given free will and it is our doing that these miseries occur and when the times comes we will be punished.

I too used to believe that Lemmings committed suicide SPUGGIE J. So you were not alone.

It was only when many years ago a programme on telly shattered that myth that I learned otherwise.

I have never heard anything about octopuses giving up their life for the sake of the little ones though. So maybe they do but I’m not interested enough to try and find out.

[jambutty]

Much obliged for the gift of 20 Karma points from anon.

I think I know who it was.

[garinda]

Originally Posted by karalou

Jesus Christ as their personal saviour. He died on the cross so that their sins could be forgiven and allow them to enter the gates of heaven. None of this is provable, it's based purely on blind faith.



Now that is where I disagree. Christianity is the only faith that IS provable in that Jesus is the only "leader" who did everything he said he was going to do. Yes he did die, but He rose from the dead which he said he was going to do. And it is proved in all kinds of historical references - not just the bible that only quacks read.

I seemed to have missed any scientific fact that proves Jesus did everything as quoted in the Bible.

Could you please point me in the right direction, so I can be illuminated with the facts?

[Th3daddy]

Just today i have been out on a job... i specifically sad i would do this job because the weather forecaster said it would cloudy today and sunny tomorrow .. on no report did it mention rain!!! i have now returned home wet through......!!!!

i sat in the rain thinking if all the scientists in the world can't even predict the weather which happens everyday 365 days a year how could they possible know what happened 4.5 billion years or so ago when the big bang happened.. as far as i am concerned all scientists are guessing and not very intelligently at that..!!!

as far as adam and eve go this is my take.... Adam was sat in the garden of Eden and turned to Eve and said " we live in paradise, every wish is instantly granted, everything around us is pure and of good heart" and Eve turned to Adam reaching up to the apple tree and said " Yep! it's just not enough"

[jambutty]

That’s another myth Th3daddy. Nowhere is an APPLE TREE mentioned. It is referred to as the FORBIDDEN FRUIT from the tree of knowledge. So if such a simple point has been misquoted what price other points from the Old Testament have also been changed?

http://www.liverpoolreaders.org/showcase/showcase1.htm

If we are to believe the Adam and Eve story that they begat Cain and Able plus a few other sons and daughters and Cain and Able got married. To whom?

When challenged with this question a Jehovah Witness who had had the misfortune to knock on my front door replied, “Brothers married sisters and begat their own children.”

Science tells us that if a child is born to blood relatives like brother and sister the off spring will most likely be imbecilic or at least have some major genetic defects. This does not mean that if a child is born with major genetic defects, its parents were blood relatives though.

So I guess that we are all imbeciles.

[garinda]

If you believe in Creation or Evoltion, we must all originally have been descended from the same life force.

I once read that everyone in the world is genetically descended from an African female skeleton they found and named Elizabeth.

Perhaps those Renaissance artists picturing Eve as white got it wrong. She should have been black, and it should have been Adam and Liz.

[WillowTheWhisp]

It's only since deterioration that inbreeding has caused problems. Adam and Eve and their children hadn't degenerated as much as we have.

Anybody know anything about Lilith?

[HopeRules]

Wow, so many questions and thoughts. I used to have the same and then some. Hard to address each one but would love to give it a go. For anyone doubting the story about Christ's death and resurrection please get yourself a copy of "The Case For Easter" by Lee Strobel. I questioned everything that this wonderful little book covers. It is amazing how he lays out, with facts, yes facts, the proof of what Jesus did.

Lancyorkyankee asked me about my transformation from an atheist. A while back, I was down at Speaker's Corner Hyde Park. There were the usual variety of blokes ranting on about islam, I'm okay your okay, reality is only reality if you find the right dimension, etc., then off to the side was a bloke who I immediately identified as one of those bornagainer bible-thumpers.

I gave a listen and instead of hitting him with all my knowledge of God's non-existence and the 1000's of discrepancies in his bible, I just listened. He wasn't carrying on about hell and damnation. He wasn't casting an accusational rhetoric my way. He was just laying out a simple message that Jesus (a name that would make my skin crawl) loved me, lived for me, and willingly died for me.

Instaed of attacking his theories I waited till he was done and the crowd left to ask him my many, many, knowledgable questions to dispute all he believed. He had so many decent responses but what I liked the best was that he didn't have all the answers regarding dinasors, the flood, death disease hatred, God's pre-existence, but he knew this:

Jesus Christ died on the cross for his sins and he was now a new creature in Jesus Christ. He now was assured that he would spend eternity in Heaven.

I left him with my dignity as an atheist intake but did take from him a little book. My thought was i'd chuck off the book at the first garbage bin.
Instead I held on to it. The rest of the day into the evening I had this terrible nagging sensation in my gut. I read through the little booklet but with a more open eye than I ever thought I would toward this Christianity stuff.

To sum up, I said my first "prayer" in a very long while and asked "God, if you are there, help me to believe!" A peace that I had never, ever felt before came over me. I then started reading through the bible searching for answers and discovered the Truth. As others have said, it's all about Faith.

Hope Rules!

Peter

[garinda]

I'm not mocking your faith, infact it obviously gives you a great deal of happiness, but I've just read as much as I can about Lee Stobel and still can't see any factual data to substantiate his claims that Jesus did everything as reported in the Bible.

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/166/story_16690_1.html

[SPUGGIE J]

There was a series on TV a few weeks back about Jesus and his life based on evidence found. Did anyone watch it?

[WillowTheWhisp]

I would have liked to have seen that. Unfortunately I was in a field.

[LancYorkYankee]

Originally Posted by garinda

http://www.beliefnet.com/story/166/story_16690_1.html

Garinda, I appreciate your inclusion of this website. It seems to have alot of good information on this very topic as well as on other faiths.

I too respect others views. I try to learn about the various religions from their own publications as well as from the followers of those religions. I ask questions and show them both love and respect.

My "religion" is quite simple and doesn't need all the bells and whistles, pomp and circumstance, traditions, that, as I believe was stated previously, men have made up over the ages to control both individuals and great nations. Much for profit, power, or men's egos.

I accept my faith in Jesus Christ as a free gift that cannot be earned through any kind of good works. I believe in a Heaven and I believe in a hell. Neither do I have close to all the answers but I hope to continue to seek them out.

Thanks for listening!

Brian

[JohnW]

Originally Posted by jambutty

The Catholic Church tells us that if a person dies in mortal sin they WILL NOT GO TO HEAVEN JohnW but go straight to Hell for all eternity. If a person dies with some sin tainting their soul they will spend time in Purgatory whilst their sins are expunged and then pass on to heaven. Only a person without sin or children before they are confirmed go straight to Heaven.

Pure Bunkum! Such tales are designed to try and keep people obeying the religion’s rules.

There you go. Even the factions within, supposedly, the same faith, can't agree about how to get to heaven. Bunkum is right!

[JohnW]

Originally Posted by WillowTheWhisp

It's only since deterioration that inbreeding has caused problems. Adam and Eve and their children hadn't degenerated as much as we have.

Anybody know anything about Lilith?

Lilith married Frasier Crane. They have a son whose name I cannot recall. They are now divorced and Lilith still lives in Boston with their son. I am unaware if she still goes in the "Cheers" bar. Frasier went to live in Seattle and has a radio programme featuring "on the air" psychiatry. His brother, Niles, married a Manchester girl called Daphne.................................

[JohnW]

What kind of loving father sentences his child to ETERNITY in hell for disobedience? I know that children have to be disiplined, but, ETERNITY...!! What happened to 'turn the other cheek'? Does that apply only to the children and not to the father? Is it a case of "Do as I say, not as I do"?