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Continuing my insultedness. If you understand all of the Bible, then you can say that it contradicts itself(that, by the way, is impossible because you cannot fully comprehend the Bible)

One more thing.

I do completely believe in Einstein's theory and God. Seeking to fully understand something is arrogance. In my heart I know what I believe. You sound like you have a problem with trust. You'll never love if you're to busy worrying about how to know if someone else loves you. Trust what is set before you and learn to understand only what you can. More will be revealed in time.

Being unfeeling is logical? You do have a problem with trust, cp. I didn't think you were purposely insulting me, but you were annoying me.

When the Bible says not to judge and then says 'judge not, lest ye be judged' it should say to you, it is possible for me to judge and others to judges me. The Bible says it is wrong. People are more likely to judge you if you judge them first. So that would be a misinterpretation. You would be less likely to misinterpret the Bible if you were a Christian and therefore filled with the Holy Spirit, which reveals truth and how to properly interpret the Bible.
Just as a guess, is it not perfectly possible that locusts had 4 legs? Or that a now extinct species did? Just a thought.
By the way, 100 x 3.14 is 314. Ever heard of rounding? People who didn't have calculators probably rounded alot.
The fact that you have a problem with trust is probably why you can't believe something unless you understand it fully. Believe in humans? I hope to shout, but you can never fully now an specific human. But they are obviously real.

More than likely.

Yes, I acknowledge the fact that I have a problem with trust. I make no attempts to hide that.

As to me annoying you, I am sorry that my beliefs annoy you, but there is really nothing I can do about that.

I am not arguing this point, I am arguing the verse that says "Judge not lest ye be judged yourself" vs the verse that says "Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."

My likelihood of misinterpreting the bible has absolutely nothing to do with how Christian I am.

Locusts with 4 legs is possible, only if you believe in evolution.


14 cubits is a hell of a lot to not account for.

My problem with trust plays no bearing on how well I must understand something to believe it, that comes from simple and pure logic.

As to people exist, allow me to tell you I am a Cartesian Skeptic. Meaning my "trust problem" runs pretty goddamn deep. I do not trust reality at all.

NOt necessarily. With evolution, there are random mutations, these random mutations are just that, random. If they are better for the species, then when the species reproduces, there is a better chance it's offspring will have this mutation. This will keep happening, once the mutation has reached a majority of the species, it is said to have evolved.


What is annoying about how I counter?


"Judge not lest ye be judged."
From this verse, it is infered that it is ok if I judge, as long as I remember I am to be judged.
Furthermore, we can use logic to say that if I do not judge, then I will not be judged. If that is the case, what will happen at the gates of heaven?

"Let he who is without sin cast the first stone."
From this verse, it is infered that it is not ok if I judge because I am not without sin.

By the simple rules of English, the two verses are contradictory.


No, how I apply the bible to my life has everything to do with how Christian I am. Since the bible is written in a language, furthermore, it is in a language I understand, I can make inferences, see logical impliances, and come to logical conclusions that a bible scholar could make, without being christian.

Furthermore, my objective standpoint on the bible would probably be even better as it is of no matter to me how the bible is taken. I will gain no power either way.


The same could be said for even the most devout believers, and it probably applies even more to them.


Adaptation is microevolution.


No it's not a big number, but 14 cubits is more than simply 14.


I know because it will be absolutely certain.

If you want to know more about Cartesian Skepticism, check out the thread I made entitled Cartesian Skepticism.


I think you most appropriately meant try a little faith. I surely believe in my skepticism. Furthermore, belief and faith are not necessarily the same.
Faith is a belief, but a belief is not always faith.
Take simple Geometry, a square is a rectangle, but a rectangle is not necessarily a square.


I would rather trust what is absolutely certain. Feelings are fleeting, and often cause irrationality and illogicality. Thus they do not warrant my full trust as they are not absolutely certain.

In case you couldn't tell, I'm a philosophy major.

And besides, It is not your descision who goes to hell or not...etc.

I'm not Christian for the same reason that I'm not any other religion: Religion is relevant only to the person following it. With that said, no religion can be wrong. Let me explain...

(heh...this is going to be a long post. Go grab some ice cream before reading this...or just skim through..either way.)

The begining: With plants as the main sorce of food, the idea of the Goddess emerged. The Goddess was identified with the earth because the earth "gave birth" to all forms of life. Likewise, the sky, as the opposite of earth, came to represent the God. The brightest thing in the sky was the sun, so it represented God. Oppositely, the moon represented the Goddess. The idea of reincarnation came about because the sun and moon seemed to "die" and be reborn every year.

9000 - 141 BCE Assyria-Babylonia: Mankind first began to settle in Mesopotamia, the land that is now the Middle East. The Sumerians were the first to settle in the area, then were replaced by the Assyrians and Babylonians. Each city in the area had a major god and a pantheon of lesser gods. The main god was Ea. Ea was replaced by Marduk, the god of the City Babylon, when Babylon became capitol of the area. The idea of magic originated in Babylon. The priests were powerful sorcers and magicians. They conducted regular sacrifices to ensure the well-being of their cities. The Babylonians also created the zodiac, and came up with the idea of astrology by watching how the stars, in relation to the zodiac, affected life.

3500 BCE Judaism: The Judaians were a nomadic tribe in Mesopotamia at the time of Babylonia. They acknowledged the gods of other tribes and cities, but only worshipped their particular god. They practiced sacrifice just like most other religions. The Judaians also developed the idea of the Kabbala, and created hierarchies of angels and demons in later teachings.

3100 - 1000 BCE Egyptian Religion: Ancient Egyptians refined and developed the idea of non-physical bodies. According to the Egyptians, humans have seven seperate bodies: Physical body, astral body, soul, spirit, life force, shadow and name. The main god of Egypt was Osiris. He was the god of the people and was killed out of jealousy by other gods. He was resurrected by Isis and had a son (Horus) who would be a savior to his people. Horus told them how to get into the land of the dead. These instructions were written down in the Book of the Dead, which was a guidebook on how to preserve and prepare a body for the journey after death. The Egyptians believed that the weight of a soul was what decided whether a person could pass through the gates to the afterlife or not. (Sound familiar?)

1500 BCE Zoroastrianism: Zoroastrianism emerged in Persian (modernly Iran) from the teachings of the prophet Zarathushtra. Zoroastrianism is the first religion to teach monotheism. It also developed the idea of good and evil (and ruling powers for each), and of heaven and hell. Zoroastrianism also held a prophecy of a savior who would be killed by his own people, be resurrected and save his people by doing so. They also taught of a final judgement during which all evil would be wiped out.

1000 BCE - 500 CE Hellenism (Classical Greek Paganism): The Hellene religion originated in Greece and quickly spread to Rome. Due to Roman conquest, the religion spread to nearly all parts of the known Western world. Numerology began in ancient Rome and was taught by the mathemetician Pythagoras. The idea of the four elements, earth, air, fire, and water, also came from Hellenism. Hellenes also practised a personal form of magic. Each town, neighborhood and household had its own spirit which was appeased with small sacrifices for good luck.

200 BCE - 100 CE Greek Mystery Cults: After Hellenism became state sanctioned, some groups of people wanted to worship on their own. They formed secret cults and worshipped gods from local religions or more ancient Greek gods. Since the knowledge they learned was gained through secret meetings, it was called "Gnosis". Quite often, this secret knowledge involved how to get to heaven.

0 CE Gnosticism: Gnosticism combined Christianity and Greek Mystery Cults. Their basic beliefs were that the creation of the world was a mistake, everyone holds within them a divine spark, and the Goddess Sophia will grant us knowledge (Gnosis) to return to divinity. Gnostics also believed that Jesus was sent from the gods to give secret teachings of Gnosis, which were written down and hidden by his apostles and taught only to secret groups.

Christianity: Along the way, Judiasm decided that only one god existed. Other gods were not acknowledged as other gods or even as existant. Thus, the people worshiping them were really worshipping nothing at all. They borrowed the idea of a coming savior that would come to liberate them. Christianity evolved very closely from Judiasm. Thus Christianity was born 32 years after a savior to mankind was born.

With all that said...

Since religions are ever evolving off old ideas and adding a few little tweaks of their own, no religion is correct. A religion can be correct for a certain person, but there is no overall right religion, because they have all gradually evolved over time to fit the circumstances and ideals of a civilization (ie: no premarital sex). For that reason, I don't see a need to have a religion at all, since it is all relative to the person following it. I just have a god/goddess who I pray to when I want something and a guardian angel that looks after me when I'm in danger.

It saves me the trouble of having to fit within a certain margin of behavior, I'll behave the way I wish and choose, what I do will have consequences good or bad, I don't need a god to tell me that stealing will land me in some trouble or that stabbing a friend in the back is wrong. A conscience will work just fine for that sort of thing.

hehe, maybe you should look into the Ancient Eygptian religion. i hear they worshiped cats. if anyone can tell me for sure that that's right, i'd be happy to know.