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Brit milah

Wed, 22 May 2013 02:47:40 +0000

If someone could refresh me to why there where no Brit Milah's performed in the wilderness for 40years?

Society

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:15:31 +0000

Aside from being an awesome Pennywise song, this is something that I have been pondering recently as it is something that is connected with my current studies.

I have been thinking about society in terms of the functionalist paradigm vs the interpretivist paradigm.

According to the functionalist paradigm, reality (and by extension society) exists as a concrete entity that can be observed and the true nature of reality explicated based on those observations.

From an interpretivist perspective, reality is constructed by each individual. Descartes put it as Cogito, ergo sum. But Deutscher adapts this from a phenomenological perspective to become Cogitamus, ergo est. - we think, therefore it is. Thomas Greenfield wrote "We live in separate realities. But we live together."

The point of discussion in this thread is whether society is a superstructure in which people exist and is perpetuated by its artefacts or does society only exist within the individuals?

If society is a superstructure, from whence did it originate? I suspect a number of religious individuals may consider society to be a construct of a god or gods that is perpetuated by adherence to god/s' laws as detailed in some type of text.

Pray for ...

Wed, 22 May 2013 01:02:16 +0000

When a natural disaster strikes, the religious always call for people to pray for the victims, the recent tragedy in Oklahoma being what brings this to mind. There are a few things that pop into my head when people pray in these events:

1) Prayer is useless; send money, supplies, give blood, volunteer, or basically do anything tangible if you want to help (to their credit, many religious people do this in addition to prayer).

2) What good is prayer if God is the source of natural disaster, or at least had the power to stop it yet allowed it?

3) What exactly do you pray for? I assume it's not for the dead to stop being dead, for the disaster to be undone. So what exactly is God being petitioned to do in these prayers?

Point #1 is just my $0.02, and Point #2 could probably start a lively argument. But it's Point #3 that I'm most curious about. When you pray after a tragedy, what are you asking for?

ALL HAIL the "CRAZY" watering can!

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:49:37 +0000

I think this pretty much sums it up!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ykBWDL2muFo

Serpentine

Tue, 21 May 2013 15:19:03 +0000

Think of the starry sky. You see all of the little stars shining up there. What about those stars? They are so tiny, just little dots. What do they mean to me? Of course we know that those little "dots" are vastly superior in size to our own planet, Earth. Those stars are huge. If we could stand upon them we wouldn't be able to see our planet, like we see them from it. Like a grain of sand in a beach, you could toss it away and the beach would be virtually unchanged. And these are just the stars that we can see. There's really more to it. Some say that there is a very lot more to it! In fact, some people think that the universe might be infinite. How could that be, expanding outward on all sides forever? Maybe it is infinite, at that. Perhaps all we need to know about it is that which is enough to give us a degree of certainty that it is ever-expansive. Whatever you believe, the universe is pretty damn big. The possibilities are, or appear to be, endless. I've said before that in an infinite body, any point which declares centricity is at once and simultaneously the center of that body. There are multiple centers within an infinite body. How does a point proclaim its centricity? The requisite for such a declaration would have to be consciousness. Every single point of consciousness is the center of its own perceptual universe. That seems fair, I think. That gives ample room for every form of belief system that there is, including the meta ones. You can have Jesus or Mohammed or Buddha or the Garden of Eden or Krishna within the window of an infinite, perceptual universe. Us atheists are just having a ball looking at the stars from where we're at. Regardless of religion or belief, I think that there is one god that is often overlooked, and that god is the Ego. We are subject to its every whim. I am not so naive to think that we can do without this particular deity. It is a necessary component for perception. Try a little experiment. Turn your head one inch to the left (to the right if you're Glenn Beck) and reread this sentence. The sentence stayed the same, it was the perspective which changed. Well, I guess that's all the time we have for today. I'm not saying anything special. I'm not jamming it down anyone's throats. I'm not telling everyone that I know their mind better than they do themselves. Hell, I don't even expect most to even be reading this sentence I'm typing right now at this exact moment. I'm just thinking that, as an atheist, I was born into a religious family. I was raised to believe a certain religious doctrine. As I got older I began to question and eventually refuse that doctrine. Before I did that though, my religion was very, VERY important to me, until I found out that there were more angles than the one I was brought up from. Taking this anecdote one step further, I was born into a mind which created an Ego which thought it was all there was. Kabbalah est AUM.

Historical Speculations

Tue, 21 May 2013 07:07:42 +0000

Post Deleted

I'm most Ignoant!

Tue, 21 May 2013 05:24:32 +0000

One of the prominent guys here in the Forum said that what I’m saying is -“Most Ignorant”. I’m guessing that he knows that words mean things, and if I’m that Ignorant, then that means that I have Really Ignored a bunch of stuff that he knows to be True. - If I have ignored all that stuff, and he knows that; then he can show in the Word of God, to his dear friends, just what those things are that I have ignored!
Now lets see just how ( Ignorant I am ), and that he can show all you how smart he is, by showing me up. -- OH, this is going to be real -“Embarrassing” for me!!.

First, I believe Jesus was an “Albino”, and so was Moses.
Next, I believe that before the world was; the Father Baptized His Son, and then the Son Baptized the Father.
Next, I believe Jesus chewed His tongue out, while on the Cross.
Next, I believe Paul was infirmed by being very crippled and twisted in both legs. A very retched looking Little man.
Next, I believe that in the beginning, the earth wasn’t “really formed”, and did not really exist, except in God’s mind, in His dream, while At Rest, “before” He Was Quickened.

Well, that’s enough for him to prove that I - really Ignore many things that he knows he can show you all how foolish I am. Surely he can use the Scriptures to show you, - ( If I’m THIS Wrong and Ignorant )!!!

Paul – 052113

Are Morals from God?

Tue, 21 May 2013 01:33:26 +0000

Where do morals come from? I think we all agree, no matter what our belief is, that murdering someone is not moral. Yet, why is that. Is murder bad, because God saw murder happenening, and deemed it bad, or was it bad, simply because God says so? What do you think?

Am I allowed to read the Bible

Mon, 20 May 2013 04:23:45 +0000

Big debate has been going on with this and I will do my best to explain. In 1996 I was baptized and saved in church. Yet, I always didn't go to church as I never fully felt comfy in church plus I never understood what the minister was saying. I was baptized not because I was ready as I wasn't but my youth minister suggest that I get baptized because it was what my mother had wanted so, naturally I did. Right now my husband and I are currently separated. He use to look at porn and was on dating sites and I got tired of it so I left. Now because I have met another person my husband as been trying to do this religious stuff saying he has been saved and judging me because I am not with me. What is now confusing me is that he is now telling me that why am I reading the Bible when I am not saved. I told him that I am allowed to read the Bible and not be saved as I am trying to find that feeling for the Lord in my heart again. Don't get me wrong as I talk with God a lot, I pray, I ask for forgivness all the time and what not. But, I am being told that I am playing God and the Church's because I am not saved and yet I read the Bible. Reason why I don't go to church is because I don't feel that good vibe in Church when the Spirit is there. (if you know what I mean).

Can somebody help me with this. Am I wrong for reading the Bible and yet not saved so as my husband put it? Like I said I was saved in 96 but perhapd I did it for all the wrong reason and now my husband is judging me when I know it states in the Bible that one should not judge the other. Oh and he told me too that if I do move back in that I am pretty much stuck with the KJV of the Bible as all the other Bibles versions are wrong.

Shed light on this if possible please. Thanks for the help in advance.

Mahdi vs Messiah/Christ

Mon, 20 May 2013 01:44:58 +0000

So I have reciently read about both the Mahdi and the messiah/Christ and some things raised questions for me. Both have an opposite oppressor in the Mahdi's case it's the Dajjal and in Christ's the anichrist. It's seems the Dajjal and Christ are very similar and the Mahdi and Antichrist are as well, when reading the NT and quran. I believe in neither but hypothetically if Christ really came it would seem that all the Muslims would see him as the Dajjal and ban against him which matchs the prophesy in revelation. Vise versa if the Mahdi really came all the Christians will believe he is the Antichrist and ban against him which matchs the prophesies in the Quran.

Does this seem ironic?

I think I'm a Christian

Sun, 19 May 2013 18:13:57 +0000

I'm 17 years old. I have considered myself nonreligious since about 7th grade when my family stopped going to church. Anyway recently I have looked at my life again. I don't feel clean. I feel ungrounded and aloof, arrogant and overly competitive.

I don't enjoy the way I've lived my life. I swear constantly, watch pornography, and I'm a bit of a braggart. I wish to change this. I've seen the way that Christians live, and I extol this. They have this unique ability for hope.

How can I be changed? What are the different denominations like?

Why So Necessary?

Sun, 19 May 2013 02:36:56 +0000

It was said recently that if a religious text (the three Abrahamic ones were named, so we'll just stick to those,) was completely destroyed and erased from the world, within mere moments a new one would simply sprout up from the ashes, because every believer knows it by heart and it would simply be rewritten.

Now, suspending the obvious, if such a claim were true then why are such religious texts held to such a high standard? Given that every believer has it "written" on their hearts, such texts would be obsolete and unnecessary.

Now, this is not an attack. It is a genuine query. What's the necessity of the various religious texts? What would even be the point of rewriting said texts?

To add to this thesis, would it not be better if all religious text were not necessary? To allow religions the freedom to actively display their beliefs and ways, rather than point to the past?

New!

Sun, 19 May 2013 00:29:34 +0000

I don't really have to much to say. I'm an atheist and do not follow any religion. I'm joining because I find religion to be a very interesting subject and it would be fun to have a place to talk about it

Something i want to ask

Sat, 18 May 2013 13:18:58 +0000

If god told you he needed you to not exist for a second to see if you are loyal what would you say and do?

Top eight incarnations of Lord Ganesha

Sat, 18 May 2013 06:17:01 +0000

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Weakening gods by abandoning prayer?

Sat, 18 May 2013 05:51:10 +0000

In fiction I have heard of the suggestion that old gods (i.e. Greek deities) would loose power and authority and be weakened if they were refused worship and prayer and so forth.

I have a vague recollection that this may have a basis in fact. But maybe I'm having false memories.

Is this concept historically a true concept of humankind? Is it endorsed today by anyone at all as a valid theory?

Calvinist Nuns?

Sat, 18 May 2013 03:03:56 +0000

Hello all,

Can anyone tell me if women who are members of the Dutch Reformed Church (which I believe is Calvinist) can become nuns? If a women decided she wanted to dedicate herself to God, what would she do if her religion didn't have nuns? If the Dutch Reformed Church does not have nuns, what is the reasoning behind this?

Thanks for any help!

First off...

Sat, 18 May 2013 02:33:44 +0000

Hello Religion Forums,
I joined looking to get in contact with people who don't share my point of view. I have grown up atheist and have never been tempted from that position. I have never really had anyone challenge my stance, though, so I am afraid of potentially falling victim to the confirmation bias. So, I'm looking to wander into the opposing camp and make a few friends.

No, I don't expect to be converted, and no, I don't expect to convert anyone. I do believe in more and less sophisticated atheism and theism, though, and I expect that the more interaction with the opposite side you get, the more sophisticated your views become. I like to think I am open to accepting that certain arguments are bad arguments, and even ultimately open to the idea that atheism is untenable.

I am interested in atheist communities and organizations, but that's not what drew me here and most of the conversation I join will probably be about theism, not atheism.

I believe rituals are probably beneficial, and I believe people are sincere when they talk about profound personal experiences. I am interested in Buddhism as a primitive but relatively sophisticated technology of mind, though I have no loyalty to any of its doctrines and certainly not to any school or sutra. I've read enough to consider myself a very crude and amateur hobbyist, but nothing close to a serious student.

I guess that's enough by ways of introduction... hope to see you in conversation!

One God?

Fri, 17 May 2013 20:15:48 +0000

The belief in one, single, god of the entire universe is nearly universal yet I often read of Christians referring to the "Christian God". Perhaps they do not realize the confusion this habit causes non-Christians. I am a non-Christian who is confused by this. How, please, can Christians claim that there is a single God and seem to assign that God to their religion alone by saying "Christian God"? Wouldn't it be better to simply say "God" rather than "Christian God"? Wouldn't this be more in line with a requirement that all religions respect each other? We are, after all, all children of the only God in existence. Is this not true?

Will some Christian brothers and sisters respond?

Judaism and Marijuana?

Fri, 17 May 2013 03:17:57 +0000

In the US it is now legal in Washington and Colorado to use marijuana recreationally. I've heard of some sects or communities that don't oppose using it. Is there anything about this in the Tulmud or Rabbinic writings?