Only when we are closely exposed to death do we suddenly clean to life, and this world spews death left and right to all those whom will suck of its sinful directions.
For God wrote that Christ is the way... and the world disputes it!
...So it is for you to decide! ...you wanna walk up on the mountain, or down in the ditch... You are all grown up now, so it is totally your choice! -->You decide what's best for you and your own well-being!
No one else!, but you...right?!...
"...that's sounding a lil tough..." - Well, So What! ... It is your decision and it's your path... It's up to you and God (Your Father) gave you this ability to Choose!
Because He wants absolute loyalty into the eternity Amen.
For it is written that within the twinkling of an eye we will ALL be changed into the spirit! And we ALL will be "stuck" spiritually right where we're at within our tru selves at that very moment... Then we will move on from there... Read the SCRIPTURES and pray to be absorbed in the Gospels! I pray for His Almighty Grace come grab us all up that read this and convert to be filled with the holy spirit of truth and total salvation praise GOD amen.
Subscription Note:
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
Longwinded77, I wrote this post just for you: http://www.atheistrepublic.com/forums/debate-room/people-who-post-verses...
And btw, the answer to your question... Death... then what? You die, your body decomposes, and you'll live forever in the hearts of those who love you, until they also die.
It's just wishful thinking (and completely arrogant) to believe that you'll live for eternity.
"Until you return to the ground, since from it you were taken; for dust you are and to dust you will return" -Genesis 3:19.
I like posting verses too from time to time lol.
As I said in the post linked above, I think it's okey, as long as it's short and pertinent to the debate, so here's mine: "A man's ethical behavior should be based effectually on sympathy, education, and social ties and needs; no religious basis is necessary. Man would indeed be in a poor way if he had to be restrained by fear of punishment and hope of reward after death." Albert Einstein.
P.S. Personally, I prefer quotes by real geniuses, rather than those from "magical" books.
Are we having a quote war? lol
"Love to God is the very foundation of religion. To engage in His service merely from the hope of reward or the fear of punishment would avail nothing." -E.G. White.
I'm pretty sure my quote predates yours. Not that it matters. Words ought to stand by their own merit, not by the merit of who said them.
I won't post another quote, because the comings and goings could last to the eternity, I mean til we die :P
The problem is that many of you engage "in his service" (what an awful expression, by the way!) for that reason, and that reason only.
I live my life guided by the principles of empathy, sympathy, honesty, love and respect for other beings (including human beings)... And I don't need an owner or a spy on me for that.
That's an interesting thought. In Christianity, being guided by the principles of empathy, sympathy, honesty, love and respect for other beings, is the equivalent of engaging in His service. Insomuch as we have not fed the hungry, clothed the naked, and so fourth, we have not served God.
Yes, in that sense, I'm more "christian" than most of the "christians" I've ever met... Actually, the more wicked and unmoved people I've met are very devout to your god. But then they go to confession or pray and... et voilá! Magically, evil actions are forgiven. No regrets!
I've chosen those values because I want to. As I've said, I don't need no lord and master, no sauron's eye, no magical thinking and no expected reward in life or afterlife to do so. I just treat others the way I wanted to be treated; no more, no less.
Don't be suprised, John, moral behaviour doesn't come from a religion, it's something we grasp (or condemn) from our families, friends, society... And as we grow up, each one of us chooses our own values.
But who cares if I'm a good person? According to your fellows, I'll burn in hell anyway. xD
An even more interesting thought. For not only is it written of believers, "The name of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you" (Rom 2:24). Meaning it is the actions of believers that drive others away, who preach one thing but do another: "You who say that one must not commit adultery, do you commit adultery? You who abhor idols, do you rob temples?" (Rom 2:22).
But also, it is often those who do not serve God, which unknowingly do His service: "‘Lord, when did we see You hungry and feed You, or thirsty and give You something to drink?.... Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers of Mine, you did for Me" (Matthew 25:37, 40).
I couldn't find the quote, but I think that it was Mykcob4 (when he wasn't on war against Harry Truman xD) the one who explained us that Islamists have a rule by which if you knock on their door because you're hungry, they have to let you in, feed you and protect you even with their life... I had a Hindu friend whose morals to certain issues -to my standard- were very mistaken. So as you can see, morality has nothing to do with Christianity or any other religion; regardless of your beliefs or the lack of them, to your own standard of morality (which is sth relative, and changeable over the years in the same society, and even in the same individual), some people will be good and some won't.
I never claimed morality has anything to do with Christianity. If it did then morality couldn't have existed prior to 2,000 years ago, and since the majority of the Bible was written prior to 2,000 years ago, that wouldn't make much sense now would it?
Neither would morality be correlated with the Jews or even the Ten Commandments, since Scripture claims Creation preceded them both by over 2,000 years again.
According to my religion, we were created moral beings. And though fallen and imperfect, we are born with morality written in our hearts. As such I expect to see remnants of it in every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, regardless of their religion.
I'm really glad that you think that way, but you're an exception to the rule... For instance, a few days ago, I was searching for a link to support a claim, and I fell into a forum, in which christian people from my country where discussing about morality, and the general opinion was that we are depraved and immoral people, thiefs, rapists, murderers..., and some of them compared us with Stalin & Co.... And unfortunately, I'm used to listening to that.
Well, prison statistics suggest we're the more pacific people, but who cares? Who remembers that Stalin, Mao and Kim-Jon saga, created a "political" religion, in which they were gods with magical powers, not true atheists?
Sadly, its been that way since the days of Jesus:
"But woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! For you shut the kingdom of heaven in people's faces. For you neither enter yourselves nor allow those who would enter to go in." -Matthew 23:13
You've got it right.
"So you must be careful to do everything they tell you. But do not do what they do, for they do not practice what they preach." - Matt 23:3
John 6IX Breezy,
So you believe in the golem myth. That's a long way from reality.
Formed from dust of the ground doesn't sound too far from reality to me:
"The atoms of our bodies are traceable to stars that manufactured them in their cores and exploded these enriched ingredients across our galaxy, billions of years ago. For this reason, we are biologically connected to every other living thing in the world. We are chemically connected to all molecules on Earth. And we are atomically connected to all atoms in the universe. We are not figuratively, but literally stardust." -Neil deGrasse Tyson
This does not suggest God is responsible, if you are going to throw religion versus science....
then nothing!
Personally I hope to give a little back when I die, rather than be burnt, buried, mummified or shot of into space. I just want to be fed to natures scavengers. Preferably an endangered species as I figure we owe them. Wolves would be my first choice, but really any carnivorous beasts that like their meat a little gamy will do. Maggots, bugs & worms are welcome to their share of the putrid remains as well.
As for my 'self', well that's it, no more anything. Every thing comes to an end.
Wizlon,
If that's what you want then you should make preparations to send your corpse to one of the body farms.
Then what? It's over. My journey is over. I will have had my time to make a difference in a few peoples lives, the opportunity to be responsible and accountable for what I did and said, and to spread the truth that this life is all we have ... make it count every single day!
This has been the most liberating and enlightening truth I've learned and accepted. Free, free at last from the superstitions and oppression. Wow!
A native chief captured by the Spanish conquistador Diego Velasquez in Cuba asked "Are there people like you in heaven?" When Velasquez said yes, the Cuban chief replied, "Then I don't want to go there."
When I look at Catholic priests, Televangelists, the Westboro Baptist Church, Islamic State, Hinduism, and all the other assorted religious lunacies, I understand exactly how he felt. There are so many wildly different descriptions of heaven, and all of them are too weird and improbable to believe.
"And when I die and when I'm gone,
There'll be one child born
In this world to carry on, to carry on."
-Blood, Sweat and Tears: And When I Die (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8gxwutvlTw8)
Nice song! Thanks for sharing, Algebe.
When you die that's the end of your life. I want to be cremated.
troll alert
Death... Then what?...
Nothing.
In my line of work I have witnessed many people die. More than most human beings unless they are soldiers, cops, or famine survivors. I am not afraid of being dead but dying frightens me. When I am dead it will be the same as before I was born. When I am dying I hope I have access to the mercies of morphine and benzodiazapines. If I undergo a deathbed conversion attributate that to delirium , please!
@chimp,
What line of work do you do? The penial gland offers us peace in the dying process. Take a look at this : https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&...
Death, then what? All sorts of shit, 'cept I won't be around for it.
I don't quite understand biblical quoting. What's the point on an atheist forum? I do understand the intent but I don't understand the effort. None of that work can be validated in the context of reality, the theist understands that the atheist cannot accept it as real, and yet he brings it and represents it as such.
In juxtaposition we have the historical record of man into antiquity that eschews the biblical claims without so much as an emotional pause. These records were written outside the context of biblical currency because, quite accurately, the bible was not in existence at the time. Nor were it's biblical theme and cast of characters. These aspects of the bible followed the periods they were claimed to have occurred/lived by some few hundred years. Therefore, journalists and scribes of that timeline could not record and qualify biblical claims that simply did not happen. They were non extant.
With current theologian and secular scholars capable of reading the ancient scripts with the easiness of the daily news in their own tongues, we have no challenges to the written records of courts and their proceedings across the centuries standing in deference to the biblical claims, though we do see them searching with hope for finding some token evidence bringing it the respite of truth to be hawked and exaggerated beyond the scope of the evidence itself.
Now, of course, blind faith in the bible will net blind faith adherence and defense of it outside the premise of intellectual discussion. This is the transparency of the nature of ardent theists who cannot accept the bible as myth. Conversely, the theist can reciprocate and question how the atheist can prove the myth. He doesn't have to. The evidence is plain to read and publicly filed. But, that's the push the theist stands firmly on and from where he derives his strength. It's also where the divergence itself remains unmoved in both camps.
The "because god said so and I believe it to be the truth" narrative is all theists have. That is neither a defense nor a posture a free thinker would adopt.
Pages