flamingemt2011 Posted October 21, 2011 Author Posted October 21, 2011 I mean god assassinated his son after all for the same reasons...so the precedent has been set, no? Cant argue with that one lol.
Richard B the EMT Posted October 21, 2011 Posted October 21, 2011 All religions (except Mormons, Scientologists, and Amish) have a fringe element that hijack their religion. The Amish have just as many sects with different practices and beliefs... Wish I had a source to quote, but I read, within this month, of a home invasion in one of the Amish areas, where members of one sect attacked another, cutting off the men's beards. The men of the attacked sect, if I understand correctly, once married, don't cut their beards, while other sects allow it to be trimmed, at least to shape. I speak from what I think I understood from the article. Of the religion itself, I admit my own ignorance.
flamingemt2011 Posted October 22, 2011 Author Posted October 22, 2011 I heard about that on the radio, but cutting beards does not equal murder
RaceMedic Posted October 22, 2011 Posted October 22, 2011 I mean god assassinated his son after all for the same reasons...so the precedent has been set, no? Cant argue with that one lol. Well now that depends on the belief you follow. If your following the catholic faith and believe in the trinity ( father son and holy ghost being one in the same being) technically God sacrificed himself, there by committing ritualistic suicide. Yet Suicide is a mortal sin that can not be forgiven. This is a scenario i posed to my pastor during my confirmation interview. He had no response for me on this nor a couple other questions i had ... I didn't get confirmed... 1
chbare Posted October 22, 2011 Posted October 22, 2011 Humans often look to justify their actions. Some use a divine mechanism; however, there have been atheist societies that have also created a significant amount of human pain and suffering. This is nothing new and has been described in striking detail by the scholars of ancient civilisations. For example, we know Socrates, through his pupil Plato, had some interesting ways of looking at "evil." To distill it down a bit, he thought people were not inherently evil because they thought their actions were good or created "good" results. A bit more complicated than that, but this type of behaviour has clearly been with humanity for a while when we consider that Socrates, Plato and others made these observations/interpretations about 400 years before Christ even existed. 1
ERDoc Posted October 23, 2011 Posted October 23, 2011 I don't think you can say there has ever been an atheist society. There may have been atheists in every society but all societies have had some religious figure(s) that they worshiped. The Greeks and Romans had their gods. We call it mythology, but how is it any more or less real than Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, etc? Since we are talking about Christ being sacrificed for our sins, why did it have to happen? If God is the one that decides what is sin and sets the rules, shouldn't he be able to say, "I absolve all of your sins, no need to send someone to die for them. I'm God and I can do that."
chbare Posted October 23, 2011 Posted October 23, 2011 Allow me to clarify: Societies based on grossly atheistic principles. Stalin's actions for example.
RaceMedic Posted October 23, 2011 Posted October 23, 2011 (edited) I don't think you can say there has ever been an atheist society. There may have been atheists in every society but all societies have had some religious figure(s) that they worshiped. The Greeks and Romans had their gods. We call it mythology, but how is it any more or less real than Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Paganism, etc? Since we are talking about Christ being sacrificed for our sins, why did it have to happen? If God is the one that decides what is sin and sets the rules, shouldn't he be able to say, "I absolve all of your sins, no need to send someone to die for them. I'm God and I can do that." It was as a show of faith, a demonstration from a previously vengeful God that had transitioned to a kind loving God after having leveled Sodom and Gomorrah, turning Lotts wife to a pillar of salt, destroying the earth in a flood... ect. The "Prophets" needed to sell a new revised edition of there God to please the masses. Hence the need for an always has been edited bible, and a new and old testament. Race Edited October 23, 2011 by RaceMedic
ERDoc Posted October 23, 2011 Posted October 23, 2011 I don't think I would classify Stalin as a true atheist. He eliminated the church because he wanted to be the only idol. He got rid of it because it was his competition not because he didn't believe in a god. He believed he was god and created a cult of personality around himself creating monuments and cites in his honor. He was a narcissist who was eliminating the competition, he was not a true atheist. In the end he reinstated the Russian Orthodox Church.
chbare Posted October 23, 2011 Posted October 23, 2011 Regardless, atheistic doctrine was used as justification for some pretty bad stuff. True atheist or not, atheistic principles were the justification for certain actions that occurred within the Soviet Union. The same argument could also apply to the concept of a "true Christian." How does one define a true Christian and does it really matter in the context of my argument? I say not because regardless of the flavour of a specific religion, people are very good at cherry picking things to support their beliefs and actions. That is the basis of my entire thesis on this thread. People are just as good at using religious and non-religious justification for their actions.
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