There's the historical Jesus who is pretty famous. That's one reason.
I know that Jesus was a person. As a historian I cannot deny that. But I don't have to believe the rest of made up garbage in most religions
Are You Sinning Enough?
- Thread starter What Would Jesus Do?
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I know that Jesus was a person. As a historian I cannot deny that. But I don't have to believe the rest of made up garbage in most religions
You might be right but for me it also provides a pretty good framework for living your life in the here an now. If you abide by the teachings of Jesus you’ll probably do alright 😁
The core of most religions is the Golden Rule. It seems pretty interesting that all the main religions teach that.
If there's life after death seems to be a huge factor to the human condition considering we're not going to live past 120.
If there's no life after death then life is futile. Many philosophers believed this like Albert Camus and Arthur Schopenhauer.
If there's a bad life after death, that's even worse. If there's a good life after death, that changes the calculation.
Actually no
Those who died before Christ initiated the "new covenant" would have the prospect of a resurrection on Earth.
This includes all the prophets before Christ. Noah, Moses, King David, Samuel, Isaiah, jeremiah, just to name a few.
None of these prophets will be with Christ in heaven.
The bible makes it clear there is two groups of people. Those who will rule with Christ in the heavenly part of God's Kingdom and other faithful humans will have the prospect of living in paradise on earth under that kingdom rule.
Revelation 5:9,10
Revelation 7:4
Revelation 7:9,10;13-17
Jesus himself made light of this at Luke 12:32 where he described that heavenly group as a little flock. He also described another group who he referred to as "other sheep" at John 10:16.
That little flock will be the ones who rule with Christ in heaven over the " other sheep"
The little flock has a definite number of 144,000 described at Revelation 7:4 and Revelation 14:1
The other group is a "great crowd" or unknown number of other faithful humans who will have the prospect of living forever on a paradise earth.
See, you are gambling. I'd rather not play that game. When you die, you are dead. Nothing. A grave at best.
Live your life. You only have one.
You’re not very good with logic or critical thinking. Nor reading comprehension.
So what?
Jesus teaches me to love thy neighbor.
Seek and yee shall find, or don’t.
That up to you, you’ve got free will
Take organized religion out of the discussion for a moment. I love Plato’s Theory of Forms and the Cave. As a young man, my own agnosticism drove me nuts because I knew there was an answer and I had to shit or get off the pot. I felt there was more than just this mortal life. Plato described the same concept with the shadows. The Matrix explained it with the blue pill/red pill concept. We all joke today about “simulations” and other dimensions.
What if that is true? You’re living in a world that is broken and not what the real world was meant to be?
I like CS Lewis’s quote, “If I find in myself desires which nothing in this world can satisfy, the only logical explanation is that I was made for another world.”
When was the last time you were totally and 100% satisfied and never longed for more Jimmy?
My bad dawg. Didn’t take the time to go through whole thread as I was late to the party.You Pepsi’d me in a thread?
Agree! To think that a baby is born in sin and would not return to heaven because it wasn’t baptized is ludicrous. That is a false interpretation of the Bible. Being baptized means you enter into a covenant and babies can’t enter into a convent, hence a false doctrine. Lastly, that was never taught, it’s man’s interpretation.
Those who believe there is no afterlife will not be alive to know they were right. Those who believe there is an afterlife will not be alive to know if they were right. Unless ... there is an afterlife. If there is a heaven and hell, then only after death will that be realized. I can see how those with "faith" would want to hedge their bets. If they are wrong, they will never know it. If they are right, they go to heaven. Those who don't believe will lose if they are wrong and go to hell.
Personally I don't believe and I prefer to live my life the way that I want. If I didn't, not living how I believe would be my downside. If I'm wrong, going to hell will be my downside. I'm ok with that bet.
Have you heard of Blaise Pascal and Pascal's Wager?
You just described it.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) | Issue 125 | Philosophy Now
Martin Jenkins looks at the life of a mathematician-philosopher apologist.
philosophynow.org
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I'm not saying I'm right and believers are wrong. I just don't want to be one that walks through the motions of being "something" that I don't believe in. To me, faking it is worse than not believing
I’ll let it slide. Just keep on sinning brother, we wouldn’t want to let JC down.
I know.
I hope you find what you’re looking for. I know you’re looking.
For myself, I found the answer in Jesus Christ. And it was not a “I think” or a “I’m pretty sure.” It was a “it’s been right in front of me my whole life” thing and changed everything!
It's a pretty interesting thought experiment.
Both Mother Teresa and Christopher Hitchens are dead.
If Hitch was right, he and Mother Teresa don't even know it.
If Mother Teresa was right, she's in bliss and he's in torment, probably.
Have you heard of Blaise Pascal and Pascal's Wager?
You just described it.
Blaise Pascal (1623-1662) | Issue 125 | Philosophy Now
Martin Jenkins looks at the life of a mathematician-philosopher apologist.
I did not know of Pascal. Those were my thoughts on my own. From skimming the article, he seems like a logical guy that I would agree with on a lot of things. Thanks for introducing that.
Blaise Pascal was the man...maybe the smartest human in history.
He was a child prodigy who invented the syringe, probability theory and a bunch of math stuff before dying aged 39.
thanks friend. I tend to over analyze things. I imagine I'd be more happy if I had a faith. But for me at this juncture in life, I don't see it. Too much evidence to the contrary.
Then why wait?
Is there something wrong with eternal paradise that we should know about?
Try the agnostic prayer a few times a day for the next few months and see how it goes:
"God if you're real, I have to know."
Well . . . they try to teach it.
Maybe the best religion is the one that succeeds most in teaching it.
Probably Buddhism.
You can believe in (or hope for) the possibility of an afterlife without being religious.
1. God is real.
2. Believing in God has value.
3. God is benevolent.
4. Therefore, God wants us to believe in him.
5. God is omniscient.
6. Therefore God knows what it would take for each of us to believe in him.
7. God is omnipotent.
8. Therefore God can easily do whatever it takes to convince each person to believe in him.
9. Not everyone believes in God.
10. Therefore . . . ?
Sure, we can all hope for something. Doesn't guarantee shit.
Is that what you did? Follow up question, did his/her voice sound different than the other voices in your head?
to me this is a really weak cop out argument just meant to get the weak willed to bend the knee. anyone who actually buys this argument to become a believer by definition cannot be a true believer. it’s just a facade to trick oneself into saying words to the effect of believing. so they would be condemned the same as nonbelievers.
imo a lot of believers just say they are — they actually have doubts and fears. the ones who truly believe ie “know” are bound to be miniscule in number and atleast some of them could be very scary people irl. finally if just words to the effect of being a believer are all that it takes, it just shows the whole thing is merely a powerplay.
i do think there’s room for personal religion and it can be good but the instant external coercion of any sort is introduced the good is lost.
I think it's an interesting way to get the truth. An atheist will likely never know the truth...they'll just be gone for eternity.
It's normal to have doubts. Heck, I have doubts that FSU will win 6 games next season.
Most people hear voices to some degree. How would you know if one (or more) of them is God (or a god)?
Great book on the voices part:
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