Is Religion an All-or-Nothing Proposition?

Discussion in 'Religion' started by Bowser, Jul 3, 2016.

  1. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Would you not say out moral guidance are based on the bible or new testament ?
     
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  3. rpenner Fully Wired Valued Senior Member

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    • Because if you want to read a book, you start at the beginning and Genesis, chapters 1 & 2 are at the beginning.
    • Because the principle Bible-thumpers getting addressed in this forum are those that advocate teaching of creationism as fact.

    Not possible unless the Bible is in harmony with itself.
    The pieces of the 10 commandments (which 10 commands? Those of Mt. Sinai or Mt. Horeb? Exodus 20:1–17? Exodus 34:10-34:28 ? Deuteronomy 5:4–21? Is the number 10 or 19?) which concern actions towards society at large are ubiquitous. Those that concern thoughts and actions towards God seem arbitrary. The commandment to honor one's parents seems designed to perpetrate traditions without question.
    Mathew 5:18-19 say the person that breaks the least bit of the various commandments in the Old Testament will be the "least in the kingdom of heaven." So by adopting Matthew 5 & 6, haven't you adopted ALL the Old Testament commandments as well?
    Evolution does not teach that birds or flowering plants came before land animals. Evolution certainly doesn't teach that plants or Earth came before the Sun. That's no parallel with evolution. Nowhere is common ancestry shown.
    The issue isn't that Genesis 1 contradicts science, but that Genesis 2 which is part of moral instruction according to you contradicts Genesis 1, eroding any authority of both.
     
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  5. cluelusshusbund + Public Dilemma + Valued Senior Member

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    I dont know... i dont know much about the Bible.!!!
    What does the Bible guide you to do.???
     
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  7. billvon Valued Senior Member

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    Thank God for that. We have enough religious extremists in the world. So I say hooray for the "pretenders"; they make the world a much better place.
     
  8. Seattle Valued Senior Member

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    The purpose of the Bible is to praise God isn't it?
     
  9. Jan Ardena OM!!! Valued Senior Member

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    The ''cherry picking'' and ''discarding'' is also ones religion, as it is the result of where you are at.
    Being a Christian, or Muslim, is not the religion itself. One may adhere strictly to some doctrinal principles, which seems like religious actions from the onlooker, but not be as sincere as the act would suggest.
    Religion is primarily about the person, not the culture, or institute, so being committed to ones religion is ultimately inescapable, as it amounts to an individuals way of life.

    And you didn't even get hammered for stating that. Impressive.

    How do you know? Because they religiously pray 5 times a day? Or some other outward expression of Islamic doctrine?
    How is that any different than an outward committed expression of a football supporter, who goes through expected rituasl as regular as clockwork.
    What matters is the individuals actual religion, the one that he/she can never escape from, anymore than one can escape from ones shadow.
    The religion one lives there complete life by.

    jan.
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2016
  10. Beer w/Straw Transcendental Ignorance! Valued Senior Member

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    Let me stop you right there. So I may quote Professor X.

     
  11. PhysBang Valued Senior Member

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    Given the OP, I would guess he considers the "love thy neighbor" stuff to be the ugly parts.
     
  12. exchemist Valued Senior Member

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    Hoho. Well, he hasn't responded to any of my posts, so I'm none the wiser so far.
     
  13. Yazata Valued Senior Member

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    Of Christianity, perhaps. Buddhism, not so much.

    Are you implying that commitment is a good, in and of itself? Or should the nature of what one is committed to enter into consideration?
     
    Last edited: Jul 4, 2016
  14. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    You completely miss the point.

    Let me try again.

    If one believed God existed, and believed Jesus was his ... er ... field agent, is one not free to believe that the walls of Jericho did not fall when the Israelites blew their trumpets?

    I think the 'all-or-nothing' conjecture is false.
     
  15. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Look I don't care is the walls fell or not . My point How to create life. I believe in evolution I could care less the deduction of Repner, he is a closed minded . He wants that things would be explained in 20 century mentality details , which is a ridicules "want " I have to be carefull with you guy because if you don't like what I say you will label it as preaching .
     
  16. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Ah. your comment makes sense now.

    Yes. Rather than engaging in the discussion at-hand, you've read a couple of my words, not caring caring what my point is ("Look I don't care is the walls fell or not .") and used it as an opportunity to go off on a tangent about your beliefs ("My point is How to...") . That's an agenda.

    That's not how discussion are conducted, and yes, it is bad form.
     
  17. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    Sorry
    Again sorry by putting bot of you in the same package .

    The fact is that the Israeli conquered Jerico . An other thing there is the incident of Gideon conquered a larger attacker with a smaller defence group and that was by surprising them at night from the hill with a large noise ( conquering Jericho with with large amount of noise ).
    I think it is necessary to take into account , that Israel was going to establish it self . and they needed to show for posterity heroic acts .
    Let me put this way Greeks and Roman had they religion and gods , they imposed their god upon Israel and they were not successful. Here comes the son of God without sword but preaching to act good . He conquered Romans , Greeks Celts Slaves . In 300 years Europe was conquered by Jesus the Christ, that is a fact . Our western world morals are guided , with the 10 commandments from Exodus 20.
    An other interesting fact Thank God he give us a commandment to observe , six days you work the seventh day you rest .
     
  18. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    While I accept that your apology seems sincere, you're still still pushing your agenda!

    The point I made was not about Jericho or about Noah, it is what about whether choosing not to believe any given story makes one a pretender. The idea is absurd.
     
  19. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Very well said.

    What bowser purports is religious extemism: adehering to the letter - every letter - of the law. This is what gets innocent people stoned to death for having the gall to [insert human trait here, eg. be female, want an education, eat seafood, be gay, etc. ]
     
  20. timojin Valued Senior Member

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    About the word agenda , that really annoys me .
    I say what I feel what I understand and I answer to my ability , If some one does not tell what he or she want, I can not guess, I have enough guessing my wife.
    A bible is a book composed of several books and you have the addition of the new testament. The bible before it was put under the same cover , there was the Torah , the Prophets and Writing. So you can find Hebrew literature, Prophets guiding the Israelite and History . History of Israelites ,history usually written by the winner . Si you make your choice to believe or not. Do I believe Roosevelt know day before Japanese were going to attack Hawai ? It is up to me . Do I believe the ship Lusitania was a sacrificial boat to enter WW11 again is up to me .
    Don't give me again the crap agenda .
     
  21. DaveC426913 Valued Senior Member

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    Right, but you responded to my post.

    My post was about being able to choose what to believe in. The examples I chose were merely off-the-cuff examples - I could have chosen one of a thousand other examples of events that might or might not be believed by someone. But you took the examples as the core of my argument, and went off on a tangent, having nothing to do with my point. You took the opportunity to put forth a claim about the veracity of a particular example I gave. You essentially were not listening to me, even though you responded to me.

    It's not a big deal, I'm not accusing you of a "big A" agenda; I was just irritated that you missed my point and took it as an opportunity to expound upon something unrelated.
     
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  22. mtf Banned Banned

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    352
    Why?
    Why should people need to actually live their faith, not just announce it in empty words?

    Because you want to live in a world that is justly, honestly, rationally, and goodly organized, by your own standards? Candide?


    That depends at least on the particular religious proposition that you intend to internalize.
    If you are to believe, for example, that the religious scripture is a revelation from God, then you have to kick your brain to the curb.
     
  23. mtf Banned Banned

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    352
    You seem to be thinking that that which you call the "Bible" exists somehow on its own, and that one can read it and know it all on one's own, regardless of the various religious and secular traditions that exist in relation to the Bible.

    Were it not for your knowledge of those traditions and your (even if partial or implicit) adherence to those traditions, the Bible would be illegible to you, it would not be able to function as a foundation of your religiosity.

    If you were to go to a library or bookstore and get a book you know nothing about and the language of which you do not understand -- what use would that book be to you? None. You'd experience the Bible in the same way, if you were not at least implicitly accultured into Christianity. It's because of your acculturation into Christianity (however vague it may be) that you (and numerous others) now can use the Bible as a foundation of your religiosity.
     

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