"Religion is the **** of the masses"--Karl Marx. My unfortunate Sociology professor mentioned it in a discussion during class. It got pretty heated. But after all the hubbub died down, it got me to thinking: does religion make us who we are, or is it the other way around? What do you think?
(Even though I'm a Socialist and people say that's a step towards Communism, I still think Marx was just an emo before his time. This little adage further proves my point.:splat
give me a shred of evidence that supports the existence of Hell and Heaven..... otherwise... why talk about it?
PRAISE THE LORD!!!
The bible should be enough evidence for you, but obviously it's not. I just hope that you don't be one of the ones that don't believe that there is a Hell until you end up in there. Earth is not Hell. I believe in Heaven and I live my life as if I know I'm going, so when it's all said and done that's where I'll be. But of course, if you don't believe in God or Jesus, then you can't believe in Heaven or Hell!!!
PRAISE THE LORD!!!
The bible should be enough evidence for you, but obviously it's not. I just hope that you don't be one of the ones that don't believe that there is a Hell until you end up in there. Earth is not Hell. I believe in Heaven and I live my life as if I know I'm going, so when it's all said and done that's where I'll be. But of course, if you don't believe in God or Jesus, then you can't believe in Heaven or Hell!!!
How is the bible enough evidence? How do we know that the bible is right about heaven and hell? Sure, the bible asserts that these places exist, but how do we know the bible is right about it?
I'm not frothing at the mouth. Just slightly offended. I can be that, right?
No, dammit. You can't. That's not what the Bible teaches *cackles*
Sister Tamara wrote:
PRAISE THE LORD!!!
THANKS FOR THE BACK-UP SUPERFLY!!!
I see I came back just in time!!!
Don't you realize that Jesus is my favorite subject and anything that has to do with him I will comment on. I will not bite my tongue or take back anything that I say...I will throw it out there and you can either catch it or step to the side!!!
I'm not knocking anybody and what they might think or believe. I just know what my bible tells me!!!
And the Bible knocks other religions. Come on now. Lets be honest. You can't tell me that when you and your church start to having "high church" y'all don't have a tendancy to start ripping on other religions and even other churches that you don't feel live up to the standards of what your church interprets to be the Word of God.
Sister Tamara wrote:
The bible should be enough evidence for you, but obviously it's not. I just hope that you don't be one of the ones that don't believe that there is a Hell until you end up in there. Earth is not Hell. I believe in Heaven and I live my life as if I know I'm going, so when it's all said and done that's where I'll be. But of course, if you don't believe in God or Jesus, then you can't believe in Heaven or Hell!!!
The Bible is not enough evidence for people to believe that Christ came and died for our sins. That is okay. There is nothing wrong with that. Even God Himself is okay with that. He wants you to question your beliefs in order to make your faith stronger. You can't give me a reason why there should be sufficient proof in a document that man transcribed as God's word when Christian after Christan lead lives and do other things that make people want to turn away from the church. In this case, I'm referring to the ones that shove the Christian institution in the faces of others and expect them to repent/convert/whatever.
Do you mean to tell me that when you were in school and taking calculus (or any other higher level math), you understood and believed everything in that calculus book just because it was in that book? You know you had to have a teacher show it to you in class. Even though it was right there in front of you in plain English, you still needed a good example. When that example still didn't help you understand, you were still confused - you might have been even more confused - and the teacher looked at you like "How can you not understand?" Even after explaining the the practical example in the book, you still didn't get it in some cases. So what did the teacher do? They gave you more homework. Well hell, that didn't help any. Not only did you not understand, but now you had all this extra crap shoved onto your already heavy workload.
The same thing goes for Christianity and showing people the way to Christ. How can you expect people to believe and subsequently believe that they should repent, get saved, come back to Christ, etc. when all you do is shove religious theory down their throat? You tell them that their wrong, they're going to hell, they're not living a good, life. You throw out stories and scriptures from the Bible. Then you tack on to the end of that that you of all people live a good life, a live conducive to passing on to another world where you will live with God Himself. Well hell... they can't believe you. All they ever see you doing is telling other people that they're going to hell. Yet, you're supposed to be the welcoming mat into this institution. You're supposed to be the one that encourages them and nurtures them, but instead they get rhetoric.
And the Bible is supposed to be sufficient proof? Come on now... That is an unreal expectation. I'm willing to gamble that you don't even have a complete understanding of the Bible. Anyone that believes they do is not being realistic with themselves.
Wait a minute, I'm not allowed to be offended because of the Bible?! *breaks out in laughter* Do I even SOUND like someone who refers to the Bible for moral guidance, SuperFly? And when did God stop allowing people free-will? I SO did not get the memo, man...
I did. Right before I posted this. I saw somethin' about leading an ungodly life and a one-way ticket to Hell, but nothing about lack of free will...maybe He didn't bother to send me one...*sniffle* I always be gettin' left outta stuff, man...
*creeping in the post* HEY SISTER TAMARA its about time you resurfaced on the forums!Interesting conversation going on here but I have a quick question ....why is Christianity the only religion being "discussed"... so far
Anywho I actually went on a "field trip" with my hummanities class today to a Buddhist temple and it was very enlightening in the light that although there are a vast amount of religions there are many similarities between them. A significant point that the Buddhist monk pointed out was that the Buddhist religion is more of a democratic religion in contrast to Christianity because buddah basically says TRY not to ****, steel, lie, covet, live a pure life with pure thoughts and things along that line while God says thou shall not which is in a forcing demeanor. Of course I thought different but it was still interesting.Now in regards to the quote by Karl Marx "religion is the **** of the masses" I have to say I agree with it while qualifying it. I agree with it in regard to the many people who sacrifice themselves (in my opinion unneccesarily) in the name of their religion like the many people who blew themselves up in the middle east, the 9/11 attackers, the kamikazes in the Pear Harbor attack, and many others. Now sacrificing your life because you refuse to abandon youre religous beliefs is a different story . At the same time it is not true for everybody else. Yes a lot of people use it as a crutch....but y not thats the foundation of their beliefs/morals so I dont see the big problem there. So in his quote I believe it is limiting because if you want to get technical ANYTHING can act as an "****" in peoples lifes including ****, money, love, off spring, material things, ANYTHING.....
*creeping in the post* HEY SISTER TAMARA its about time you resurfaced on the forums!Interesting conversation going on here but I have a quick question ....why is Christianity the only religion being "discussed"... so farAnywho I actually went on a "field trip" with my hummanities class today to a Buddhist temple and it was very enlightening in the light that although there are a vast amount of religions there are many similarities between them. A significant point that the Buddhist monk pointed out was that the Buddhist religion is more of a democratic religion in contrast to Christianity because buddah basically says TRY not to ****, steel, lie, covet, live a pure life with pure thoughts and things along that line while God says thou shall not which is in a forcing demeanor. Of course I thought different but it was still interesting.Now in regards to the quote by Karl Marx "religion is the **** of the masses" I have to say I agree with it while qualifying it. I agree with it in regard to the many people who sacrifice themselves (in my opinion unneccesarily) in the name of their religion like the many people who blew themselves up in the middle east, the 9/11 attackers, the kamikazes in the Pear Harbor attack, and many others. Now sacrificing your life because you refuse to abandon youre religous beliefs is a different story . At the same time it is not true for everybody else. Yes a lot of people use it as a crutch....but y not thats the foundation of their beliefs/morals so I dont see the big problem there. So in his quote I believe it is limiting because if you want to get technical ANYTHING can act as an "****" in peoples lifes including ****, money, love, off spring, material things, ANYTHING.....
It is way ironic that I come back from Sociology class and find all of this. Way ironic. Or maybe just a cawinky-dink. Anyhoo, to address the question you asked, I am by no means targeting or just discussing Christianity. If you have noticed, I have gotten primarily Christian responses and all I was doing was responding to them. Heck, it would be real nice to see a couple of other religions' responses, but only Christianity responds...I don't think most Christians like it when others question their faith and belief systems. Honestly, in fact, as SuperFly stated before, questioning it might only strengthen it even more, but hey that's your perogative.SuperFly, did you just quote yourself?
Yahshua loves you pi .
and when and if he reveals himself to you that is the day that you will believe. for man cant prove to another man that Heaven and Hell are real. But i can tell someone who is not a follower that i was in a sort of hell on earth and 6 years i ago i entered into the Kingdom of heaven. when i was changed by the power that raised Yahshua's body from the ****. I pray that he will manifest himself to you but one way or the other every knee shall bow and tongue confess that Yahshua is Lord.
I always be gettin' left outta stuff, man...
