h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

To be almost serious:
Do you have to belive in the bible to be a christian??

I do/am

Imean
I DON'T /am

I believe in, do you mean believe it is inerrant? Or believe it has some relevance to truth, whatsoever?

I'd say "no", and "no, but it would be odd", myself...

Standard reply coming up:

"God is dead" - Nietzsche
"Nietzsche is dead" - God

Ho ho ho

Sorry

I'm not a Christian, but I do find some limited amount of usefulness in the Bible. Some of which I live by:

Proverbs 14:15 "The simpleton believes everything, but the shrewd man measures his steps."

Ecc 2:13-14 "And I saw that wisdom has the advantage over folly as much as light has the advantage over darkness... Yet I knew that one lot befalls them both."

Ecc 9:5 "For the living know that they are to die, but the dead no longer know anything. There is no further recompense for them..."

And of course there are the amusing bits... like when the omniscient god thinks insects have 4 legs (Lev 11:21,23), rabbits chew the cud (Lev 11:6), and Pi=3 (2Chr 4:2). And let's not forget the funniest of all... when Jacob produces striped goats by mating them while staring at... are you ready for this... striped rods!! (Gen.30:37-39)

Apart from that, there's the time God talks out of his ass (Num 22:28-30), the time he inflicts the Philistines with hemorrhoids, until they appease him by making the Five Golden Hemorrhoids (but for some reason, you never hear of a great archaeological quest for them ) (1Sam 5:6, 6:4), the time God threatens to moon Moses. (Ex 33:23), or the three times the Amalekites are killed to extinction in 1 Samuel, or the time when Joshua circumcises "again the children of Israel the second time." (Jos 5:2-3) ... oh, you just can't beat it. For gratuitous sex and senseless violence, it's hard to find to find a better work than the Bible, but I think most people miss out on all the slapstick humor, which is a shame.

Goes back to my first question - is there nothing that you just 'know'?

Knowledge is a cumulative collection of memory but as the human brain is not a perfect machine (well, mine's not anyway!) there are many memories that I have forgotten but which preceded others I still have.

I know many things but can't remember the process by which I obtained the knowledge.

All the waters and rivers of different lands and climes have their ultimate meeting point in the ocean. So, too, the differing viewpoints on society, the variety of economic theories, and the means to their attainment benefit mankind itself.

There is no point in indulging in dissension-creating discussions on differing ideologies. No positive result has accrued from attempting to convert all men of different temperaments and likings into one common ideology and mode of behavior.

No one can prove or disprove GOD's exsistence.

Actually religion once served a very important role.
Back in the early days people were ignorant and ignorance causes fear.
So we have alot of ignorant scared people.

Then a man comes and tells them that everything is the way it is, because a god created it, and the gods also watch over you and protects you.
The people are happy, they're no longer ignorant, they now that there's a lake there because god WANTED there to be one. And that powerfull man protects them through that man who tells them all the things they want to hear.
So they plegde loyalty to that man, and he get some land, they build him a house, they fed him, they protect him, they give him money and women. He is living large.

At that time religion was a good thing. It gave people hope, and let them live better lives. Ofcause, the man took advantage of them, but he gave something in return.

Then suddently, they meet other people. And they to have a man who tells them of a different god. These men are endangering each other, so they call their people together and says: 'If you die for God, you will live forever in heaven. These people are telling lies, these lies upset God, so you must convince them that our god is stronger'.

Today we have science. Science is quite like religion, only where religion says: 'It IS that way, 'cause God says it is. And if you say differently, you will die!' Science says: 'Look, it is so and so, and I can prove it so and so. And if you think me wrong, prove it'.

So, today religion is obsolete, and exists only so that a few people can taste a little of the power the early religious men had.

LewiDK - Ateist

I don't suppose I could claim that discussion breeds understanding and understanding brings tolerance, MH?

Ricky - surely if you'd found a way through which you could know that God exists, you'd remember it? The search for such a method has been a driving force for millions of people - caused rises and falls of empires, martyrs, religious wars, and big houses with a point on them.

Did it not cross your mind that it might be worth telling other people about this?

Lucinda,

Discussion yes, but dissension-creating discussions no. Discussion to understand is a noble quest. But how many times in this thread has the discussion turned hostile, not tolerant, and has even ridiculed someone's belief. This is not the way to understanding and tolerence.

Do you think we can all turn to the noble quest of understanding and tolerence?

Mostly

Not tolerating people is how wars started...do none of you remember how WW2 came about?
I saw it happen and it wasn't a pretty sight.
But no one can actully expect the human race to do such a thing as it is physically impossible.
But as long as the individuals try their hardest we can be assured that WW3 won't start soon...but it might and then where would we all be...?
I wonder...
Be happy!

... perhaps caused by too much thinking about it! And I don't pretend to be a prophet

Actually, I would have thought the rises/falls and so on were more likely caused by humanity's desire to categorise and more importantly to distance ourselves from (or kill!) those who are not alike (or in some way 'inferior') rather than the desire to prove/disprove per se?

Ridicule is an important part of understanding - it helps people to understand that their beliefs are ridiculous...

I would say that it is the way - it just takes a while sometimes. But then I'm an incurable optimist... or not.

only ridiculous in the opinion of those that disagree with them.

To an extent, but at least one *partially* objective distinction can be made between belief systems which are internally consistent, and those which are not. It is actually possible for beliefs to fail to agree with themselves.

Blimey O'Reilly!
Ever considered that they do it because it gives them some sort of hope and enjoyment through their boring, mundane lives?
A bit like people on the internet really, only they tend to sing more

Hey, do you really want an answer to your question? I can give you one from the Christian perspective, if you'd like . . .

Hey Lewi!

A fellow dane, and apparently a quite cool guy if I might add. Read your bio Anyways, why do you think ppl lived in fear when they didn´t know why a lake was there? I think just knowing the lake was there was pretty much all they cared about. Religion came because some ppl was too weak to face reality. Instead of facing death, you invent some idea that you will live forever. And it´s this fear that causes ppl to be in the chains of religion.

BTW, change what you write about evolution going for the better. That will just further ppl´s wrong view of Nature.