Yeah, I know. It came up in a conversation I was having with a mate and, after reading this thread, I thought it might be interesting to some of you.

Don't get me wrong. It was definitely a good read, though I almost closed the link when I started getting hit with all of the formulas.

same here

I have no problem with religion, its just the people taht act like there religion is the one and only one etc....

Potato chip. I could build a whole religion around such a thing and make it impossible to disprove by being vague and non-committal.

This potato chip has limitless power; if you obey the commands I tell you that it makes and pray to it, it will grant your request. When it doesn't, then it was all part of it's divine plan which we can not hope to comprehend and must continue to blindly trust in it's power and wisdom. If you eat the holy potato chip, it will doesn't die, it's essense is simply passed on into another form which can fertilize the soil and bring forth new life!
And i think that little piece says alot

And smokey lots of people die over lots of things but religion has started more wars and killed more people than music etc...

I could really go for one of these holy potato chips...

I have to say that if the world had ended and I was the only one who could recreate it in whatever manner I would want...I would just let it go. We had our time and that time is gone, and I would totally be okay with it. "Pass," I would say.

Religion has done no such thing. Corrupt individuals seize onto anything that will make their delusions the least bit justifiable. Religion is simply one of those things.

And honestly, if you're looking for the biggest scapegoat, look to the ideal of ethnic purity/superiority before you start taking a gander at religion.

Smokey, I have a question that's been bothering me for a long time.

...What friggin' religion are you, or what are your beliefs? You seemed kinda agnostic when I first started posting regularly, but your posts in here all seem like you have at least some religious views.

And while I'm asking questions, Blokey, you ever figure out what you believe in?

I fall under 'Christian'. However, I don't limit myself to a denomination. Denominations are unnecessary, divisive, and harmful to what should be simply the Church. My views are fairly eccentric from what is now a traditional Christian perspective*. For instance, not only am I respectful and tolerant of others' religious beliefs, I believe that they may be perfectly valid. Jesus may be the only path into Heaven (capitalized simply for the sake of clarity), but who is to say that Heaven is the only paradise in the afterlife? After all, Hell is simply described as "separation from God"; it may very well be that one man's hell is another man's paradise.

Hell, there may actually be a Flying Spaghetti Monster, although I don't like the idea of being anointed by his noodly appendage. >_<


*The *current* traditional Christian perspective takes the whole Bible and treats it as non-debatable doctrine. I call bullshit. The only words of the Bible that we are actually bound by are the words of Christ himself. Even the words of Peter and Paul are simply good advice, at best. The Old Testament is outright obsolete (for Christianity, not Judaism, of course), and should only be viewed as history, poetry, and prophecies (the fulfillment of same being dependent on your own religious beliefs).

But people will still fight for it and die for it

Look if your promised an afterlife where you have eternal life and everything you want, why not get there quicker and take out some worshippers of false gods while your at it

e.g. Twin towers

And if you apply that logic to all other things you stated.... figure it out >.>

2Ti 3:16 "All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work."


All scripture was written through the Holy Spirit. They are not the words of man, but the words of Jesus himself. If you neglect the rest of the Bible, but only take to heart the words that Jesus spoke while he had taken up bodily flesh...well I worry for you when you call yourself a Christian. You can argue all you want with me on this topic, but just understand that no matter how much you disagree, this is the Bible you're disagreeing with, and yet you're still calling yourself a Christian. For that sole reason I refuse to call myself a Christian, because so many people both tarnish and despise that word in our society.

I am Roman Cathlothic and I am apparently the spawn of hell according to my mom.

Agreed, an eternal afterlife of paradise makes things more attractive, but you're still not getting it. There's nothing wrong with religion. It's simply a tool. Would you condemn an ax if some homicidal maniac used it to hack apart a dozen innocent people?



First, that verse you quoted says nothing about being all scripture being absolute doctrine. Rather, it more reinforces my own point. Additionally, how are we to know what scripture Paul was talking about? The Bible as we know it was composed nearly three hundred years after Paul wrote that letter to Timothy.

Secondly, the general consensus is that scripture is divinely inspired; 'inspired' is not 'written'. The authors were still human, and the divine messages were left to human interpretation. We all know that old adage, "to err is human".

Finally, Christian literally means 'little Christ'. I am expected to be like Christ and follow his teachings, not the teachings of anyone else, even if those people were on a first-name basis with Christ. And the day that I stop calling myself a Christian because of the opinions of the average idiot is the day that I lose all respect for myself.