Is there a God?

[Extra Stout]

I for one think she's a bit of a crackpot. Most of her work is opinion at best.

Lets not act as if she's the only one with these views.

Since you reference a large portion of this info as fabrication would you care to offer some supporting information to back up your statements?

Find actual do ents about the deities in question, rather than cut-and-paste from Christ-mythers.

A true "parallel" needs to be present in a source do ent that predates extant New Testament manuscripts. You can't for example, find a 5th-century fresco of some cult doing something that looks vaguely like a Eucharist and say, "Aha! Christianity copied this!"

The Book of the Dead details the Horus account.
The Avesta is the holy book of the Zoroastrians.
There are no source do ents for Roman Mithraism. The best you will find is "Mysteries of Mithra" by Franz ont.
This is not a source do ent but gives a lot of good information about Dionysus. Information about the other various Greek gods is plentiful.
You can learn about Krishna in the Bhagvad Gita.
The Tripitaka summarizes some key Buddhist beliefs.

If you actually engage in "freethinking" rather than anti-religious regurgitation, you will find similarities in general themes among major religions. Zoroastrianism and Hinduism, for example, don't have a trinity, but they do have triads. There are various characters called "saviors" from various things like starvation or invading armies or what have you. There are miraculous births, though not necessarily of a virgin per se. Major characters perform miracles, teach, have followers, etc. There is judgment for doing wrong, and there is an end time when the deity ends the present order and makes things anew.

You will not find much in the way of exact detailed parallels between events in the gospel accounts and other ancient texts. Obviously there are people like MiamiHeat who really want them to be there, but they aren't.

[The Power Hour.]

Do you hear that sound? The sound of B2B and MiamiHeat slowly leaving the topic due to lack of evidence.

[LARRY MERCHANT]

That right hook from mouse was more than B2B could take.

[BULLSHIT]

MimamiHeat you want to trade screen names with me?

[Re-Animator]

B2B must be Goggling his ass off for a come back!

[SpursReportSucks]

This is why SR will always suck!!

[2centsworth]

OK. What do you want me to say? I never claimed to know everything if thats what your getting at.

none of us do and none of us ever will. That's where faith comes into play.

I kind of read that wrong to begin with I guess. I thought it was saying that in order to have limited knowledge you must have faith in something.

I'll go with the belief that you intended it to mean in order to gain more knowledge one must have faith.

no, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying we will never ever know everything, so faith whether it's athiestic or theistic is necessary.

Faith in oneself is still faith. For example, I have faith that if I dont know something, I can look it up. I dont have to have God to help me google it.

you don't have the time for complete knowledge. None of us do.

I dont understand.... All I said was, for the most part, people know Santa doesnt exist.

kind of silly comparing santa to a potential creator/ higher power.

Thats the only fact I brought up. Its a man who flies a red sleigh pulled by magical reindeer, one of which has a glowing nose. sounds preposterous! But when it gets to Jesus or God, a man who walks on water and turns it into wine who comes back from the dead 3 days after being buried.... The tune changes.

the thread le was belief in God.

I would say thousands of years worth of wars is a pretty good indicator they are not doing something right for a supposed peaceful belief system .

simplistic and probably uninformed. the peaceful belief system is extremely instrumental in pacifing mans violent tendencies. I would argue that belief system is responsible for just about all of the positive changes in this world. It's taken a long time to pacify man, and we're still not there, but Christianity has done a marvelous job in getting to where we are today. See the Germanic Barbarians..

Thats exactly what I was getting at. All Im saying is no amount of posturing and praying to going to make those go away, if there is a devine being who is "all-knowing" than he should know how I feel about those mistakes without me having to tell him.

it's not about feeling, it's about paying the price for sins. For instance, if you break the Law do you think a judge is not going to punish you? You're saying if you feel bad then the judge will let you off the hook. Now that requires more faith than I've got.

Exactly the opposite. Of course I have. See my previous response.

that's the point, we all deserve punishment.

Thats what alot of the "bad, evil atheist" here are really trying to get at. Religion is a means of control through fear. To take a line from Joe Chalupa nothing is going to change my belief in that.

no they are not. nevertheless, tell me how ancient humans used worshipping gods as a means of control. It seems to me they were just praying for food.

thank you but I have to admit some of it sounded a bit condescending. I suppose its to be expected when going against the grain though.

challenging, but not condescending

[Phenomanul]

These threads are repe ive and tedious. I am bored with them, but when this nonsense about "Jesus is the sun god" gets recycled, I will set the record straight.

Atheism is put out there as the "rationalist" belief of "independent thinkers," but then invariably some doofus brings up this fic ious list of alleged parallels between Jesus and various other "gods," and scores an own goal while thinking he's just the suparsmartsest. The vast majority of the "parallels" are fabricated. They do not exist in the source do ents. The author made them up.

Perhaps Achayra S was not a crackpot, but rather a savvy Christian apologist who set this landmine out there for the unsuspecting self-styled atheist "freethinker" to embarass himself.

You beat me to it... kudos.

I was actually working on a response to MH's original list but my session timed-out and I lost it when I clicked "Submit Reply". I was too occupied to rewrite the response... Good thing you did.

So even though MH's irrefutable PROOF was based on inaccurate, purposely misleading data, his logic was still rather weak. The fact that he claimed to have argued away the historicity of Jesus's claims, when no one else in history has been able to do so was surprising. He who 'exalts' himself will be humbled (I know... I've tasted this bitter cup before, through my own search for the 'Truth').

Besides, if he was intellectually honest with himself as he claims to be, then he would have eventually discovered that more than half of his list was a complete fabrication. But like you said, it serves to embarrass the staunchness of his claims. His lazy ultimatum backfired.

BTW Baseline Bum, whether or not Genesis is interpretted literally there are several historical statements found in Genesis. Geneaologies for example can only be interpretted as 'historical fact' as they would make zero sense if interpretted otherwise (poetic, allegorical, symbolic, etc...). Other profetic statements in the 'Old Testament' are completely irrelevant unless they are seen in the context of Jesus's life. Which is why Judaism's rejection of Jesus as their Messiah is perplexing (but that's for another discussion).

To the OP; Yes, I believe GOD exists. I also believe we are all presented with the opportunity to believe in His existence and in His offer of grace and forgiveness. The free will He bestowed on humanity however, will ultimately determine the setting of our eternal destiny; in one we will rejoice in His presence and in the other we will be separated from Him. This is a personal choice.

[Alex Jones]

This topic has more conspiracy theories than 9/11 and area 51 combined!

[wrench]

Since we have such great minds of B2B and his lapdog MaimiHeat I have a question or two.....If the earth is at least a million years old why is the oldest tree on earth only 20 thousand years old? Also if the Mississippi river moves 400-million cubic yards of mud, sand and gravel each year then why isn't it the size of the united states by now since the earth is millions of years old?

You ed up some egos!

[smeagol]

i can prove where your beliefs and celebrations come from. i can also explain the real meanings behind your bible. that should be enough to prove that you are believing a lie

No you can't . . . and you haven't.

Try again, please.

[smeagol]

The funny thing is that mouse is an agnostic himself . . .

[I am Tom]

The funny thing is that mouse is an agnostic himself . . .

Can you prove that?

[smeagol]

There is no God. There is the idea and concept of God which keeps believers in line, but there is definately no all-powerful devine being watching over us and creating "miracles".

And you can prove this how? By stating how many "Jesuses" there were before Christ? MH and B2B have tried that one . . . and failed.

Any fresh ideas?

The thing I find the most funny is God in sports. When someone wins they thank God. Well.... what about the other person/people that lost?

And you have disproven God's existance with this analogy, how?

Have you ever won a compe ion and you went ahead and thanked your coach? What happens if you lose that same compe ion? You will probably skip the coach thanking ceremony, wouldn't you?

Similar story with God.

Did God forsake them or just favor you more?

Only in your twisted analogy.

I thought God loved us all equally?

Actually, he does.

Could it possibly be that through your own strength and talent that you won the day on your own? Is it really that hard to believe that?

Bring your A game on the next analogy. This one sucked donkey's balls.

[smeagol]

Can you prove that?

As much as B2B and MH can prove that God does not exist

[smeagol]

Lets make things clear. Jesus was obviously real and Im fine with that. The story of him being the son of an invisible all powerful being is not.

You sound as convinced about this story not being true as Christians are about it being true.

I wonder how can this matter be resolved? Mmmmm . . . it can't. It is been going on for 2,000 years.

There's that pesky thing called faith. Some people have it, some don't.

Mary just got knocked up through infidelity or her and her husband where lying through their teeth out of the desperation of being poor and pregnant.

I'm sure you have numerous sources to back this story up. If you can, link some from the second or third Century.

Thanks in advance.

[JIM LAMPLEY]

That right hook from mouse was more than B2B could take.

I couldn't agree more. That has him back peddling faster than he can come up with a credit score. That's going to leave a mark.

[jack sommerset]

But I sincerely believe that someday you will kneel before almighty God and you will have to answer for why you didn't believe - but then it will be too late to change your mind.

Sincerely statements like that make me sick to my stomach. FEAR! Honestly go yourself. I mean that. No internet bull . If there is a God and the people don't believe because there is no proof or they worshiped the wrong one it will be to late, meaning "Son u is going to !" How ing stupid you are.

I love the s that say if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you are going to !. A baby could be raised in the ing jungle by apes,never see another person until the day they die and guess what, that same apeman is going to .

Burning in fire for eternity! Holy ing . That is so sick. And for some bag to actually say that makes them CRAZY!

[Satan]

Sincerely statements like that make me sick to my stomach. FEAR! Honestly go yourself. I mean that. No internet bull . If there is a God and the people don't believe because there is no proof or they worshiped the wrong one it will be to late, meaning "Son u is going to !" How ing stupid you are.

I love the s that say if you don't believe in Jesus Christ you are going to !. A baby could be raised in the ing jungle by apes,never see another person until the day they die and guess what, that same apeman is going to .

Burning in fire for eternity! Holy ing . That is so sick. And for some bag to actually say that makes them CRAZY!

We'll talk later and believe me it will be a very ,very heated discussion.

[smeagol]

Possibly. Even the existence of Jesus is in serious doubt. There is very little if any legitimate historical record of him. In a time where historical record keeping was normal practice. The man is simply not recognized.

The information we have about Jesus comes mainly from Christian writings, which were written as early as 30 years after his death (the Gospels). We have copies of those writings which were done less than a Century after that the originals were written. You have no such thing for any other historical figure you can think of (Aristotle, Homer, Ceaser, etc).

What it is true is that you have very few writings about Jesus outside Christianity, but there are a couple. Do the research.

[ALVAREZ6]

do people truly believe jesus magically appeared somewhere rather than born naturally?

[Crookshanks]

Jack Sommerset - your post was so incredibly vile - I'm not going to quote it. However, what you said is so filled with anger and animosity towards God and christians. I really resent the names you called me and the things you said.

It is your perogative to not believe in God or eternal salvation/damnation; but you don't need to be so hateful towards those who do. And WE didn't make those judgments or say what one must do to be saved. Those beliefs come from the bible and our faith in the bible and God.

It is HIM you have to answer to - so please refrain from making such vile statements to people you don't even know!

[JoeChalupa]

do people truly believe jesus magically appeared somewhere rather than born naturally?

He was born naturally from the womb of Mary. Did you hear he was delivered by a stork?

[Summers]

Since we have such great minds of B2B and his lapdog MaimiHeat I have a question or two.....If the earth is at least a million years old why is the oldest tree on earth only 20 thousand years old? Also if the Mississippi river moves 400-million cubic yards of mud, sand and gravel each year then why isn't it the size of the united states by now since the earth is millions of years old?

I haven't read this thread since, like, page 3 and I'm sure I'll regret adding my two cents, but why doesn't it make sense that the Earth is so much older than any of its living creatures? The Earth formed about 4 billion years ago. Life first appeared about a billion years later. The first vascular plants (including trees) appeared about 400 million years ago. In the mean time the earth's geography has changed dramatically and animals and plants have been wiped out by ice ages, earth quakes, meteors, etc.

Also, Kent Hovind (in the video you linked) is a bit of a crackpot.

[smeagol]

The pagan calendar is based on astrological bodies that were personified as being human like. Its roots are mathmatical and originated with time and its cycles. Its all about relation. The faith part is a by-product of a tool used to track the stars. The very tool that was used to create and control religion into the ages including today. The very basis was found in actual truth not questionable faith. The pagan calendar doesn't depict gods as in magical and possibly non-existent mythical creatures the calendar depicts a precise mathmatical calculation of astrology that is undeniable. Those undeniable times and dates are the basis of every significant date in Jesus's life. Its not opinion if its provable fact.

So Chrstianity is a bout dates and calendars?

Great job! You have disproven Christianity . . .