Does Anyone Else Believe In Jesus Christ ?

[Unluckyduck]

Heh, religious nuts.

[pedrog]

I'm skeptical about all that.  Evidence exists that atheists are not so terribly rational.  In the US, about 80% are Democrat and go along with those progressive agendas.  They replace - to what extent may be debatable, yes - believe in an all powerful god with a belief in an all powerful government.  I think this happens at a subconscious level, after a vacuum exists from taking away the god-stuff - someone like Obama comes in and fills in the gap.

I don't care about democrats or republicans, like I said Buddhism is technically an atheistic religion and they have all sorts of magical thinking, I was making the point for the specific branch of skepticism, atheism.

We've all seen that happen.   I'm sketching out the details here, and not trying to impute the negativity to this phenomena that it might seem.  Rather I see it as more like a human 'need for myth/mysticism/spiritual' which will get filled one way or another.

Obviously, a 'need for myth' is opposed to rationality.

Yes, our brain evolved to believe, to obey authority, it is an evolutionary advantage and now we can understand that, no need for god of the thunders and gods of love and all that crap, are you familiar with this? I can elaborate a little more...

[interlagos]

Maybe these short videos will help shed some light on the matter:

"Did Jesus Christ Actually Exist?" (3:00)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fwbUL6XsUQI

"Judas's Betrayal of Jesus" (1:17)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KuXgg1pFp3g

PS: the total length is in (min:sec)

[Spendulus]

....
Yes, our brain evolved to believe, to obey authority, it is an evolutionary advantage and now we can understand that, no need for god of the thunders and gods of love and all that crap, are you familiar with this? I can elaborate a little more...

What???

No god of thunder?

No gods of love?

By Odin I strike you down, blasphemer now blind to the visions of Venus and Aphrodite.

[dank]

I'm skeptical about all that.  Evidence exists that atheists are not so terribly rational.  In the US, about 80% are Democrat and go along with those progressive agendas.  They replace - to what extent may be debatable, yes - believe in an all powerful god with a belief in an all powerful government.  I think this happens at a subconscious level, after a vacuum exists from taking away the god-stuff - someone like Obama comes in and fills in the gap.

I don't care about democrats or republicans, like I said Buddhism is technically an atheistic religion and they have all sorts of magical thinking, I was making the point for the specific branch of skepticism, atheism.

This is news to me, I was not under that impression.  What's the deal with Shiva, lord of consciousness.  Sounds like god to me.

Nevermind, that's hinduism.  But Buddhists do believe in devas, higher dimensional creatures, and some believe in eternal Buddha which sounds like eternal consciousness to me.  It all seems way to spiritual to reject the existence of a supreme consciousness.  They believe in nirvana too, that's what I experienced when I ascended to the 10th dimension.  Seems rather odd a Buddhist wouldn't believe in god.

[pedrog]

....
Yes, our brain evolved to believe, to obey authority, it is an evolutionary advantage and now we can understand that, no need for god of the thunders and gods of love and all that crap, are you familiar with this? I can elaborate a little more...

What???

No god of thunder?

No gods of love?

By Odin I strike you down, blasphemer now blind to the visions of Venus and Aphrodite.

Haha, very funny.

But it's really an amazing thing how we are wired to believe.

[Spendulus]

....
Yes, our brain evolved to believe, to obey authority, it is an evolutionary advantage and now we can understand that, no need for god of the thunders and gods of love and all that crap, are you familiar with this? I can elaborate a little more...

What???

No god of thunder?

No gods of love?

By Odin I strike you down, blasphemer now blind to the visions of Venus and Aphrodite.

Haha, very funny.

But it's really an amazing thing how we are wired to believe.

Look, a 'need for myth' must be stronger than a need for rationality, or perhaps both coexist in any individual human at differing or the same times, or perhaps the exist to differing degrees in different humans.  

I guess what I was saying is that the assertion that 'we don't need myth' may actually be false, then the person who is inclined to need it finds it nonetheless when he or she rejects religion.  They find it in government, or in science, or who knows where.  They become radical ecology freaks worried about the End of Gaia as we Know it, the Apocalpse of Doom, the hurricanes, the 20 foot high wall of water that is coming for us.

Some of them, you know they'd be less annoying if they'd just stuck with religion instead of 'progressing'....

Humans are of byzantine complexity, and can be one thing at one moment and seem to be something completely different the next.  The religion of Atheism nonwithstanding...I suggest then that you can only be truly free if you reject, along with the traditional religions, the religion of Atheism and other modern progressive delusions.

[pedrog]

Look, a 'need for myth' must be stronger than a need for rationality, or perhaps both coexist in any individual human at differing or the same times, or perhaps the exist to differing degrees in different humans.  

I guess what I was saying is that the assertion that 'we don't need myth' may actually be false, then the person who is inclined to need it finds it nonetheless when he or she rejects religion.  They find it in government, or in science, or who knows where.  They become radical ecology freaks worried about the End of Gaia as we Know it, the Apocalpse of Doom, the hurricanes, the 20 foot high wall of water that is coming for us.

Some of them, you know they'd be less annoying if they'd just stuck with religion instead of 'progressing'....

Humans are of byzantine complexity, and can be one thing at one moment and seem to be something completely different the next.  The religion of Atheism nonwithstanding...I suggest then that you can only be truly free if you reject, along with the traditional religions, the religion of Atheism and other modern progressive delusions.

You seem to be confused about atheism. Atheism is not a religion in the same way not believing in unicorns is not a religion or not collecting stamps is not a hobby, there are atheistic religions like Buddhism, but atheism in itself is not a religion.

Yes, people believe in all kind of strange stuff, that's a consequence of our evolution because only the paranoids survive, for millions of years our species evolved somewhere in Africa, it was a hostile environment and the individuals who were not "paranoid" got out of the pool gene.

Here's a classic example, two individuals, 100000 years ago, there's a noise in the grass, it can be a lion, it can be the wind, the paranoid individual runs for a tree, the relaxed one stays, if it's the wind the two survived, the one who run lost a few calories, not a big cost, but if it is a lion the one who stays got eaten and his genes got out of the pool gene.

The cost for a false negative is far greater than the cost for a false positive, and the individuals who tend to believe in the occult agent pass their genes.

The same way with obeying authority, specially parents, if a parent says to a child don't pick that snake or don't eat those berries the individuals who obey tend to live longer and pass their genes.

If we had evolved in an environment without big predators, like the Galapagos where animals don't run from you because there are no big predators and no need for being paranoid, we probably would not have this characteristic.

[Spendulus]

Look, a 'need for myth' must be stronger than a need for rationality, or perhaps both coexist in any individual human at differing or the same times, or perhaps the exist to differing degrees in different humans.  

I guess what I was saying is that the assertion that 'we don't need myth' may actually be false, then the person who is inclined to need it finds it nonetheless when he or she rejects religion.  They find it in government, or in science, or who knows where.  They become radical ecology freaks worried about the End of Gaia as we Know it, the Apocalpse of Doom, the hurricanes, the 20 foot high wall of water that is coming for us.

Some of them, you know they'd be less annoying if they'd just stuck with religion instead of 'progressing'....

Humans are of byzantine complexity, and can be one thing at one moment and seem to be something completely different the next.  The religion of Atheism nonwithstanding...I suggest then that you can only be truly free if you reject, along with the traditional religions, the religion of Atheism and other modern progressive delusions.

You seem to be confused about atheism. Atheism is not a religion in the same way not believing in unicorns is not a religion or not collecting stamps is not a hobby, there are atheistic religions like Buddhism, but atheism in itself is not a religion....

It certainly can be a religion, believed in with faith that it is true, by devout and pius true believers. 

In fact, it necessarily has it's origins in systems of belief.  Leaving aside that you could have no atheism without religion, atheism in the days before microscopes could only exist on faith.

"I can't prove it but I just KNOW there is no spontaneous creation!!!  It can't be that spirits go into matter and make it come alive!"

That's faith and belief if it ever was.

[kentrolla]

I was agonist all my life until I had a psychological breakdown and I experienced Jesus. It was fascinating.  It could have been all in my head, but either way, he exists in my head and others too.

[kentrolla]

I'm skeptical about all that.  Evidence exists that atheists are not so terribly rational.  In the US, about 80% are Democrat and go along with those progressive agendas.  They replace - to what extent may be debatable, yes - believe in an all powerful god with a belief in an all powerful government.  I think this happens at a subconscious level, after a vacuum exists from taking away the god-stuff - someone like Obama comes in and fills in the gap.

I don't care about democrats or republicans, like I said Buddhism is technically an atheistic religion and they have all sorts of magical thinking, I was making the point for the specific branch of skepticism, atheism.

This is news to me, I was not under that impression.  What's the deal with Shiva, lord of consciousness.  Sounds like god to me.

Nevermind, that's hinduism.  But Buddhists do believe in devas, higher dimensional creatures, and some believe in eternal Buddha which sounds like eternal consciousness to me.  It all seems way to spiritual to reject the existence of a supreme consciousness.  They believe in nirvana too, that's what I experienced when I ascended to the 10th dimension.  Seems rather odd a Buddhist wouldn't believe in god.

DMT will make LSD seem like just a drug.

[pedrog]

Look, a 'need for myth' must be stronger than a need for rationality, or perhaps both coexist in any individual human at differing or the same times, or perhaps the exist to differing degrees in different humans.  

I guess what I was saying is that the assertion that 'we don't need myth' may actually be false, then the person who is inclined to need it finds it nonetheless when he or she rejects religion.  They find it in government, or in science, or who knows where.  They become radical ecology freaks worried about the End of Gaia as we Know it, the Apocalpse of Doom, the hurricanes, the 20 foot high wall of water that is coming for us.

Some of them, you know they'd be less annoying if they'd just stuck with religion instead of 'progressing'....

Humans are of byzantine complexity, and can be one thing at one moment and seem to be something completely different the next.  The religion of Atheism nonwithstanding...I suggest then that you can only be truly free if you reject, along with the traditional religions, the religion of Atheism and other modern progressive delusions.

You seem to be confused about atheism. Atheism is not a religion in the same way not believing in unicorns is not a religion or not collecting stamps is not a hobby, there are atheistic religions like Buddhism, but atheism in itself is not a religion....

It certainly can be a religion, believed in with faith that it is true, by devout and pius true believers. 

In fact, it necessarily has it's origins in systems of belief.  Leaving aside that you could have no atheism without religion, atheism in the days before microscopes could only exist on faith.

"I can't prove it but I just KNOW there is no spontaneous creation!!!  It can't be that spirits go into matter and make it come alive!"

That's faith and belief if it ever was.

And you're also confused about how the burden of proof works...

Here you go: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scientific_burden_of_evidence

[dank]

I'm skeptical about all that.  Evidence exists that atheists are not so terribly rational.  In the US, about 80% are Democrat and go along with those progressive agendas.  They replace - to what extent may be debatable, yes - believe in an all powerful god with a belief in an all powerful government.  I think this happens at a subconscious level, after a vacuum exists from taking away the god-stuff - someone like Obama comes in and fills in the gap.

I don't care about democrats or republicans, like I said Buddhism is technically an atheistic religion and they have all sorts of magical thinking, I was making the point for the specific branch of skepticism, atheism.

This is news to me, I was not under that impression.  What's the deal with Shiva, lord of consciousness.  Sounds like god to me.

Nevermind, that's hinduism.  But Buddhists do believe in devas, higher dimensional creatures, and some believe in eternal Buddha which sounds like eternal consciousness to me.  It all seems way to spiritual to reject the existence of a supreme consciousness.  They believe in nirvana too, that's what I experienced when I ascended to the 10th dimension.  Seems rather odd a Buddhist wouldn't believe in god.

DMT will make LSD seem like just a drug.

DMT is whole nother dimension of it's own.  Both connect you to god.

If anyone doesn't believe but wants to, psychedelics will show you the way.  I never believed in god until I used them, because I didn't understand it.  Seeing is believing.

[dank]

Look, a 'need for myth' must be stronger than a need for rationality, or perhaps both coexist in any individual human at differing or the same times, or perhaps the exist to differing degrees in different humans.  

I guess what I was saying is that the assertion that 'we don't need myth' may actually be false, then the person who is inclined to need it finds it nonetheless when he or she rejects religion.  They find it in government, or in science, or who knows where.  They become radical ecology freaks worried about the End of Gaia as we Know it, the Apocalpse of Doom, the hurricanes, the 20 foot high wall of water that is coming for us.

Some of them, you know they'd be less annoying if they'd just stuck with religion instead of 'progressing'....

Humans are of byzantine complexity, and can be one thing at one moment and seem to be something completely different the next.  The religion of Atheism nonwithstanding...I suggest then that you can only be truly free if you reject, along with the traditional religions, the religion of Atheism and other modern progressive delusions.

You seem to be confused about atheism. Atheism is not a religion in the same way not believing in unicorns is not a religion or not collecting stamps is not a hobby, there are atheistic religions like Buddhism, but atheism in itself is not a religion.

Yes, people believe in all kind of strange stuff, that's a consequence of our evolution because only the paranoids survive, for millions of years our species evolved somewhere in Africa, it was a hostile environment and the individuals who were not "paranoid" got out of the pool gene.

Here's a classic example, two individuals, 100000 years ago, there's a noise in the grass, it can be a lion, it can be the wind, the paranoid individual runs for a tree, the relaxed one stays, if it's the wind the two survived, the one who run lost a few calories, not a big cost, but if it is a lion the one who stays got eaten and his genes got out of the pool gene.

The cost for a false negative is far greater than the cost for a false positive, and the individuals who tend to believe in the occult agent pass their genes.

The same way with obeying authority, specially parents, if a parent says to a child don't pick that snake or don't eat those berries the individuals who obey tend to live longer and pass their genes.

If we had evolved in an environment without big predators, like the Galapagos where animals don't run from you because there are no big predators and no need for being paranoid, we probably would not have this characteristic.

I'd say the one who is paranoid or fears the lion is the one who be killed by it, not the one who's calm and collective.  Have you not seen that video of the South African (I believe) young girl who can peacefully interact with lions?

I beg to differ that atheism isn't a religion.  Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe according to the internet.

Atheism asserts a firm belief in the absence of a god.  Agnosticism would be less of a religion.

[Et Filii]

In my life I have watched many a men and women take their last breath. I have witnessed many strange occurances surrounding death but at the same time I have watched many just exhale and die...no get wonder there. Time and time again I find it amazing how many people turn to Christ in their darkest hour yet refused to pay even a glance during their prime. Many times when science has failed you, say for example by failing to stop the cancer eating up your body and you have no other options...you turn to faith. Luckily it is never too late until the moment of death.

My advice is seek out the answer for yourself as too many people have good intentions but lack the gift.

Perhaps start with a teaching we can all take a lesson from? Taken from the book of Matthew.

Judging Others

1“Do not judge, or you too will be judged.2For in the same way you judge others, you will be judged, and with the measure you use, it will be measured to you.
 
3“Why do you look at the speck of sawdust in your brother’s eye and pay no attention to the plank in your own eye?4How can you say to your brother, ‘Let me take the speck out of your eye,’ when all the time there is a plank in your own eye?5You hypocrite, first take the plank out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly to remove the speck from your brother’s eye.
 
6“Do not give dogs what is sacred; do not throw your pearls to pigs. If you do, they may trample them under their feet, and turn and tear you to pieces.
 
Ask, Seek, Knock

7“Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.8For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.
 
9“Which of you, if your son asks for bread, will give him a stone? 10 Or if he asks for a fish, will give him a snake?11If you, then, though you are evil, know how to give good gifts to your children, how much more will your Father in heaven give good gifts to those who ask him! 12 So in everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.
 
The Narrow and Wide Gates

13“Enter through the narrow gate. For wide is the gate and broad is the road that leads to destruction, and many enter through it.14But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
 
True and False Prophets

15“Watch out for false prophets. They come to you in sheep’s clothing, but inwardly they are ferocious wolves.16By their fruit you will recognize them. Do people pick grapes from thornbushes, or figs from thistles?17Likewise, every good tree bears good fruit, but a bad tree bears bad fruit.18A good tree cannot bear bad fruit, and a bad tree cannot bear good fruit.19Every tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.20Thus, by their fruit you will recognize them.
 
True and False Disciples (Take this to heart)

21“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven.22Many will say to me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform many miracles?’23Then I will tell them plainly, ‘I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!’
 
The Wise and Foolish Builders

24“Therefore everyone who hears these words of mine and puts them into practice is like a wise man who built his house on the rock.25The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house; yet it did not fall, because it had its foundation on the rock.26But everyone who hears these words of mine and does not put them into practice is like a foolish man who built his house on sand.27The rain came down, the streams rose, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell with a great crash.”

The term Christian is often never even close to a true description of the person portraying it. Christian is to be Christ-like. Love your neighbor as yourself and quit playing games.

I find myself discovering more each day and invite you to do the same. Do you have to to be anyone special? Nope. I would find a bible the next time your in the store and search for the words in RED. Actually sit and mellow on them. I hope you all a good day of mining and happy trading for the rest.

[Spendulus]

.....
I'd say the one who is paranoid or fears the lion is the one who be killed by it, not the one who's calm and collective.  Have you not seen that video of the South African (I believe) young girl who can peacefully interact with lions?

Don't believe that type of stuff.  One day the lion gets irritated, or has a sudden impulse for a tasty young girl, and it's all over.

.....
...I beg to differ that atheism isn't a religion.  Religion is a set of beliefs concerning the cause, nature, and purpose of the universe according to the internet.

Atheism asserts a firm belief in the absence of a god.  Agnosticism would be less of a religion.

That's what I was trying to point out.  Not that we could use dialect and logic to discuss the issue, but rather that many so called 'atheists' show all the marks of fervent believers.

[Spendulus]

..........search for the words in RED.....

Hi, sock puppet.

[Et Filii]

Right...

That would make everything so easy for me...but unfortunately that is not how it is. I certainly hope you took something more from what I took the time to provide for you to chastise. No matter though friend we all come into this world through birth and leave with death. See you on the other side.

[Spendulus]

Right...

That would make everything so easy for me...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLAr-WlxMZY

[Et Filii]

*Tear* Real talk.

Music IS my special friend. Ironically I account for about 1k of those 2.3 million views.

Post some Maynard next time if you respond tonight. I can get you started.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k2A8H0EZFig