Religion: Real or Fake

[Kidlicious]

I do believe in free will and I do things to help alleviate some of the suffering. I just don't have the resources to stop all the suffering. If everyone tried, maybe we could.

Oh what faith you have rah. Faith in yourself that is. What loftiness.

[Imran Siddiqui]

I've never heard of such reasoning. 'Making the Bible into an idol' indeed, I would be worshiping and idol if I did anything else. He is the Word.

You may need to become better read, brother. This is not something revolutionary.

God's Living Word includes not only the Bible, but also his Holy Spirit guiding us. To dismiss the Holy Spirit so easily is to deny the Living Word.

[rah]

Imran, those are the Christians that I respect. I really don't care about the motivation, it's the act that get's my respect. Each individual is different. The same goes for non-believers. Some are do gooders and some are not.

[Ming]

Obviously Christian charities or people who give their lives in the service of God to help others (Mother Teresa being the most obvious recent example) don't exist. Oh, but right, they are just people acting on their own conscience, not acting according to the calling God has for them .

Yep... they are JUST PEOPLE! People who are doing the right thing. If they need the crutch of religion to do the right thing, fine by me.
At least they are doing something... all power to them, and they I can respect. On the other hand... Christian priests rape children... but that's probably OK to you, because it's just God's Plan...

[rah]

Oh what faith you have rah. Faith in yourself that is. What loftiness.

What the **** does that mean?

[Imran Siddiqui]

Yep... they are JUST PEOPLE! People who are doing the right thing. If they need the crutch of religion to do the right thing, fine by me.

Predictable answer. They do far more than you, which I believe was your prideful point in response to Kid and they do it because God has called them to do so.

[Ming]

What the **** does that mean?

It means he has no real response to your post... so he resorts to childish insults and smoke screens... showing the true colors of his Christian spirit

[Kidlicious]

I KNOW I've done things to help those that are suffering.

Indeed, do you think there is a man who ever lived who has not done the same? My point is that you can't stop the suffering. Only God can do that.

While your all loving God let's them suffer.

Are you a father Ming? Do you discipline your children or do you just try to reason with them?

And since you "believe" that there is a purpose for suffering, I hope you don't whine or pray to god when you are the one actually doing the suffering... since it must be Gods will.

I rejoice in my discipline because I can share in my Lords suffering and he is making me in His image.

And no, I'm not a communist or something... and I'm also not some brain washed religious freak either. I don't need a God to tell me I should help the poor or those that are suffering.

So you don't think any ideology has any effect on you?

You paint a really nasty picture of your all loving God... SUFFER, it's part of my plan for you... and if you don't bow to me and accept me as the devine authority, you will rot and burn forever... Nice God you have there.

Indeed, you are making my argument out to your liking.

The good news is, there are tons of different religions that believe in many different gods... so even if there is one, the odds are, you believe in the wrong one

Never tell me the odds. They mean nothing to me.

[Kidlicious]

What the **** does that mean?

It's very simple. You have faith in yourself, in humanity, that without God you can all stop the suffering.

[rah]

I don't think anyone is all knowing enough to judge who is doing more than who. I'm just happy that people are doing it. It's not like God is looking for the credit. Again I don't care about the motivation, just that it gets done.

[Kidlicious]

You may need to become better read, brother. This is not something revolutionary.

God's Living Word includes not only the Bible, but also his Holy Spirit guiding us. To dismiss the Holy Spirit so easily is to deny the Living Word.

I don't dismiss the Spirit. But you have to check what you think the Spirit is communicating to you with the Word. Man is not able to make up his own mind about these things, because of his nature.

[rah]

It's very simple. You have faith in yourself, in humanity, that without God you can all stop the suffering.

Actually I said that if everyone tried it might be possible, not that I thought everyone would try. Please read more carefully.

[Ming]

Predictable answer. They do far more than you, which I believe was your prideful point in response to Kid and they do it because God has called them to do so.

WTF... Yeah, some people do more than I, and many do less. It's not a matter of pride, it's a matter of DOING SOMETHING.
Again... they are simply people doing what they feel is right. If they think it's GOD telling them that... fine. It doesn't change the fact that they are doing something... just like many people who do things without the fantasy of thinking that God is telling them to do it.

And if you want to go down that path... If GOD did a better job, he wouldn't need to tell people to clean up after him. Because frankly, thousands of "Mother Teresas" couldn't even begin to make a dent in stopping the suffering caused by "God's Plan".

You can't have it both ways... either God is telling Mother Teresa to be good and also telling Priests to rape children, or the simple fact is, some people are good, and some are bad. People's motivations are their own. They can base them on God if they wish, but they don't have to. It's possible to do the right thing without believing that GOD made you do it... or to do the wrong thing and not believe the Devil made you do it.

[Kidlicious]

I don't think anyone is all knowing enough to judge who is doing more than who. I'm just happy that people are doing it. It's not like God is looking for the credit. Again I don't care about the motivation, just that it gets done.

On the contrary rah, God want's all the credit. He wan't man to know that he can't do anything without Him.

[Kidlicious]

Actually I said that if everyone tried it might be possible, not that I thought everyone would try. Please read more carefully.

So now people don't try?