Was Australopithecus a theory?

Maybe Abra, but at least we don't invent dieties and claim them to be real because they suit our purpose.

Jesus Christ says "I am the way, the truth, and the life, no one comes to the Father but through me."

Does that mean he is the God?

Manami;

In order to adequately respond to your question, I have to ask if you understand the concept of the Trinity?

Yes, so God and Jesus is the same?

Why did Jesus was crucified if he was omniscient?

Eljay wrote:
"Maybe Abra, but at least we don't invent dieties and claim them to be real because they suit our purpose."

There is no deity in my faith. No need to invent anything.

You just misunderstand it because you can only think in terms of an invented 'godhead'.

My god is the universe. What's to invent?

This is why many people who believe like I do actually refuse to use the very word 'god'. They prefer to use terms like 'spirituality' because the word ‘god’ causes other people to immediately invent an idea of a godhead-like deity.

If you believe in ancient folklore all you are really doing is believing in a god that was invented by ancient men. Just because you didn’t make up the original stories doesn’t mean that they weren’t invented. Mankind has historically invented many differnet pictures of God. Why should you choose one invention over any other invention?

Oh,... and their stories were written to suit their purposes!

Very much so!

surprisingly that ancient folklore has lasted millenia.
wondering how come that much insane and crazy people have lived to keep this folklore alive.

Miguel wrote:
“surprisingly that ancient folklore has lasted millennia”

Why should that be surprising? Look at how it was perpetuated! Via oppression, censorship, and the thread of being accused of Blasphemy and the possibility of either being shunned by the community, or worse yet burned at the stake!

You talk like as if the world has always been a free society like life in the good ol’USA where we are so used to having free speech and separation of church and state.

But things weren’t always like this. It used to be that the church WAS the state! And if you spoke out against the church you would suffer terrible consequences or even death or dismemberment!

I’m surprised that intellectual man and science was able to survive in the face of such religious oppression.

And your surprised that it has lasted millennia?

Just go back and LOOK at the history of that millennia and you shouldn’t be the least bit surprised. Those were times when even things like printed words were not available. The printing press itself wasn’t even invented until about 600 years ago, and even at that time it was very crude and we didn’t see mass production of documents until much later.

So no Miguel, I’m not the least bit surprised that the folklore has lasted for millennia. Moreover, it hasn’t actually ‘lasted’ all that time. I was actually in a process of being ‘put together’ OVER that time period.

Plus there are many differnet versions of the original stories. So it’s not really true that they ‘lasted’. They were indeed constantly being reinterpreted and even misinterpreted.

It’s not as cut-and-dried as you make it sound.

it's true my friend that barbaric and wild methods were used ny the Church to enforce christianity across the known world. It's true that when the spaniards came to America by force they imposed the religion in the new world.
I absolutely acknowledge that, I shake ur hands in agreement.
However, what it's in your mind is just that you my dear friend deny the work of the others, the silent heroes.
Small priests and nuns that throught centuries work for the poorest people in society, that is what i see.
The Church has already asked for forgiveness. John Paul II, a holy man, openly and publicly accepted the CHurch guilt. I accept it, and I say shame on us Catholics for that.
But then again my friend you have in your mind just the most visible. I see the invisible, which is the hard work of those unknown heroes. That is the real reason why the Church has been kept alive for millenia.

I have not really sat down with myself concerning the people I have admired through out my life.

There are two that quickly come to mind.

One, Walter Payton the greatest running back to play the game, but also one of the kindest, christians I have the pleasure to know from afar.

Second, Mother Teresa. I bought a documentary movie about her life and how she of herself to poor and the discarded of our humankind. Saint Teresa has exemplified what Jesus', and other altruistic prophets, way of living and treating others, so we could also be closer to what we seek in our lives.

Vyger

Miguel wrote:
“Small priests and nuns that through centuries work for the poorest people in society, that is what i see”

I recognize the good work of good people. Obviously everyone who professes to be a Christian is not a bad person. I never meant to imply that.

I would also like to point out that there are a lot of non-Christians who do good things and contribute to humanitarian efforts. All non-Christians are not bad people either. On the contrary most of the nicest people I know are not Christians.

So to me, that isn’t even a religious issue.

It wasn’t my intent in my previous post to suggest that Christians are bad people. I was merely responding to the reason why the folklore was perpetuated. Nothing more, nothing less.

Point well taken.

James:
I respect every single human being christian or not christian who extend a hand for the person in need. I believe that such a person has a place in heaven regardless of anything.

here's a tidbit. The Bible has a statement , very obscurely wrapped in a different context(nevertheless), about religion by definition. " Religion, is to visit the widow and the fatherless and not indulge in the flesh"... I'm paraphrasing a bit. The old english uses 'spotted by the flesh' I don't see any references to institutions. The church was defined as like-minded people at the outset. Not an institutioal idol. Am I in trouble now?

I'm not sure I can write this :(

Miguel wrote:
“I respect every single human being christian or not christian who extend a hand for the person in need. I believe that such a person has a place in heaven regardless of anything.”

I know you do Miguel, and if all Christians were like you I wouldn’t have a problem with the religion at all.

My commentaries are often aimed at the fanatics. The people who are constantly pointing fingers shouting “Sinners! Sinners!”

And those who are on a mission to convert the world to Christianity. Whether they realize it or not they are actually insulting everyone else when they are suggesting that they need to be ‘saved’.

I don’t like the attitude that Christians are somehow are higher moral ground and everyone who isn’t a Christian has necessarily fallen into temptation and sin.

I don’t like the attitude that mankind is inherently sinful and all men are considered to be sinners in the eyes of God. And that no man is worthy of God and that we should grovel before God and thank God for having mercy on our pathetically undeserving existence.

To me these are just extremely negative and judgmental views that I feel the world would be better without.

I know that you do not advocate these sentiments, and I highly respect you for that Miguel.

I’m sincerely sorry that you get caught in the crossfire. I’m not sure how to keep that from happening.

I actually worked in the field of engineering “smart bombs” at one time for the purpose of reducing civilian casualties during wars.

Now if I can only figure out how to create a similar type of thing for protecting innocent Christians whilst I denounce the Bible that would be great.

I just haven’t quite figured out how to do that yet.

Manami wrote:
“I'm not sure I can write this”

Why don’t you just write the truth. That religion and the concept of God is a very complex topic, and there seems to be so many different views that it’s unclear what a person should believe.

Just start your paper off with that point as your first paragraph-sentence,….

Then write a paper on how you would LIKE god to be!

Or not be, if you actually prefer the atheistic view.

Just BE YOURSELF Manami. That’s ultimately the MOST important thing you can do.

Write what YOU FEEL. Not what you anticipate that others might want to hear.

It's YOUR paper Manami.

If it's all too confusing, then write about that.

Manami,

Keep in mind that you don’t need to take a stance for any given position in your paper. All they expect you to do is write on the topic. They aren’t expecting you to make a conviction to any one way of thinking.

You don’t need to draw ‘conclusions’. Just write about the various views and don’t offer any conclusions. If you feel a need to say anything at all about your own views, just say that you’re still pondering the issues.

MamaMi,

Use the Force, it is strong in you.

Anarchy