[QUOTE]So wouldn't you find it comforting to think that there's a big force somewhere looking after us?[/QUOTE]
I did. The example that the bible gives is more of a big force somewhere opressing us.

[QUOTE]Whether or not he was personally a great guy is beside the point, but that in the bible he gave his life that we could all live. If that is true or not, as far as the story goes, his sacrifice disregards any of his human faults.[/QUOTE]
You have a point, wether I agree with it or not. Don't get me wrong, Jesus' ideals as far as loving your neighbor and forgivness and such are great. But the way he portrayed it and the fact that there are several verses that imply he didn't even follow his own philosophy are what bothers me.
Aside from the topic name, the bible's depiction of God is the depiscable one.

[QUOTE=siva_chair]:lol: at this silly thread.[/QUOTE]
:lol:

[QUOTE=James Van Halen]I don't question genetics. Such as if you have a child with a chinese person, your child will look partly chinese. My question is if we all started from one race, then how did it evolve into others? That explanation doesn't make any sense for that sort of thing. Were they all here to begin with? How can irish parents make a chinese child? It just doesn't make sense to me...i'll take evolution any day.[/QUOTE]

Let's look at another species first. Lets say you have a bunch of rabbits that live in the arctic. Those rabbits that are easier to see will be eaten. Accordingly, the lighter colored rabbits will survive longer and interbreed. Eventually, you'll have a more-or-less white colored population of rabbits.

Let's look at humans now. We'll assume that mankind did, in fact, start in Africa. What is the climate like in Africa? It's hot. Really hot. Something tall and lean dissapates heat more effeciently than something short and squat. Africans, thus, tend to be tall and lean. Say some of those Africans move up to Siberia. Now it’s cold. Really cold. As time goes on, they’ll start getting shorter and squater (I think I made that word up) so that they’ll be able to better accept their environment. Also, the sun will reflect off the snow, so the shape of their eye openings will gradually change.

I don’t know any theories about the mechanism by which evolution takes place. I don’t know if it can be explained at the micro level… ie [i]how[/i] some deep sea fish gets a shiny light on its head. But I’m not a biologist, so I could be mistaken.

All I can offer are ideas as to [i]why[/i]… what [i]prompts[/i] it to happen. Most often, I’d guess that people evolve to fit their environment. There may be other things as well, like opposable thumbs for grasping, etc..


No, Irish parents won’t have a Chinese child. Changes that drastic don’t happen from one generation to the next. It's an [i]extremely[/i] gradual process.

You have a weak thesis, you stray from the topic in the first section, and, by the time you actually start talking about what the thread title says, you provide weak evidence and misinterpret biblical passages

[QUOTE]I did not make this as an example of good writing.[/QUOTE]

You also did not make this as an example of a good argument



Can we please stop with the Christian bashing? There are plenty of other religions that make just as little sense, but for some reason, attacking them the way people attack Christianity is considered ignorant and racist

Jesus was awesome. :thumb:

[QUOTE=RockAndRoll]:lol: that's a real strong case against christianity you've got there.[/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=siva_chair]He seems to be full of those.[/QUOTE]
circle jerks...meh...

Christianity makes its own case against itself in many a way. I was just adding another idea to the mix of jesus being a prick. Or really...just another highly evolved human...just not evolved enough to know what fermented beverages or alcohol does to the body. so.. :lol: and :lol:

To threadstarter: It not was, its is. And yes he is.

[QUOTE=Punkdrummer...]To threadstarter: It not was, its is. And yes he is.[/QUOTE]

:thumb:

[QUOTE=Punkdrummer...]To threadstarter: It not was, its is. And yes he is.[/QUOTE]
Come on now....when correcting someone's grammar you really gotta make sure you get yours correct. It not?

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]Come on now....when correcting someone's grammar you really gotta make sure you get your's correct. It not?[/QUOTE]

He wasn't correcting grammar; he was correcting [I][B]tense[/B][/I].

[QUOTE]He wasn't correcting grammar; he was correcting tense.[/QUOTE]

It's not grammar or tense. It's based on belief. If you belief Jesus is the son of God, and therefore, immortal, then He is. If you believe he was simply a philosopher who preached loving both your friends and your enemies, then he was

[QUOTE=zer0gauge]Full disclosure: I'm athiest.
That said, it is my opinion that, in terms of philosophy and how one should try to live, Jesus was a pretty nifty guy. He had an excellent liberal humanist philosophy (and a political dissident to boot - my kind of guy) and walked the walk. Love thy neighbor, turn the other cheek, Sermon on the Mount, etc. It's a shame that many "christians" completely fail to be that which they claim to be. I think the problem came about when someone got the bright idea to create dogma and religion around what was a perfectly good philosophy on in its own right. Once something changes from an idea to a belief is where things go askew (if I may borrow from Kevin Smith).
"Christians", for the most part - and I realize I'm generalizing a bit, don't follow Jesus teachings much at all. They pick and choose the parts of the old and new testament that fit their position at the time, and ignore the rest that may be contradictory. I've met more wiccans/athiests/and other assorted heretics who live their lives much more in tune with Christ's philosophies than I have "christians". While I find that odd, I don't find it suprising.
IHMO - the world would be a much better place if people practiced what they preached, instead of living as rank hypocrits.[/QUOTE]
You've seen Dogma :thumb: more than once I'm guessing... I love that movie :)

[QUOTE=Simon__Thats_All]You've seen Dogma :thumb: more than once I'm guessing... I love that movie :)[/QUOTE]
Multiple times :thumb:

Guys, c'mon. I beleive in Jesus and beleive he was a great guy. Just please stop bashing the religion just because you don't agree with it.

[img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/Aerichk/lastsupper.jpg[/img]

Christ was a weak diety if there ever was one.

[QUOTE=Erotic City]
Can we please stop with the Christian bashing? There are plenty of other religions that make just as little sense, but for some reason, attacking them the way people attack Christianity is considered ignorant and racist[/QUOTE]

Excellent point. It's like people feel pleasure out of disproving a faith.
Every other religion has views and aspects of their teachings that are just as flawed, and able to be looked at from a different perspective.

Just believe what you want to, and let other people do what they want.
If some guy posts random bible quotes on an internet forum, it's not going to make me change my own religion. :rolleyes:

[QUOTE=what again][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/Aerichk/lastsupper.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]
:lol: That's awesome.

Jesus did exist, and yes He was "such a great guy" There is proof that He lived and died for us. Do you know anybody that would die for somebody they havent even met before? Since Jesus dies for a bunch of sinners He didnt know, yes-He is "such a great guy."

[QUOTE=Merkaba-1]circle jerks...meh...
[/QUOTE]
I don't remember praising or "jerking" anyone.

[QUOTE=what again][img]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v499/Aerichk/lastsupper.jpg[/img][/QUOTE]

That was really uncalled for and served no purpose in this discussion.

[QUOTE=viva_la_vito]Jesus did exist, and yes He was "such a great guy" There is proof that He lived and died for us. Do you know anybody that would die for somebody they havent even met before? Since Jesus dies for a bunch of sinners He didnt know, yes-He is "such a great guy."[/QUOTE]
Actually, there is no proof that he ever existed.

Yes, there is, whether you accept or not is a different matter. To deny any shred of evidence of the existence of jesus is pure lunacy. If you're going to take up the subject deny it's credibility, not it's existence.

[QUOTE=RockAndRoll]Yes, there is, whether you accept or not is a different matter. To deny any shred of evidence of the existence of jesus is pure lunacy. If you're going to take up the subject deny it's credibility, not it's existence.[/QUOTE]
Well then, show me the proof that he exsisted.

[QUOTE=.:~ Route 1 ~:.]Well then, show me the proof that he exsisted.[/QUOTE]
Well if you mean "show me something that undeniably proves the existance of jesus" I can't. But then again I can't undeniably prove the existence of myself. If you mean "show me some evidence that suggests he existed" then the bible itself would be one.

[QUOTE=RockAndRoll]Yes, there is, whether you accept or not is a different matter. To deny any shred of evidence of the existence of jesus is pure lunacy. If you're going to take up the subject deny it's credibility, not it's existence.[/QUOTE]

There is no evidence. You just got to have faith.

[QUOTE=RockAndRoll]Well if you mean "show me something that undeniably proves the existance of jesus" I can't. But then again I can't undeniably prove the existence of myself. If you mean "show me some evidence that suggests he existed" then the bible itself would be one.[/QUOTE]
Well, isn't it possible for somebody to make a character up and have people believe him to be real?

[QUOTE=.:~ Route 1 ~:.]Well, isn't it possible for somebody to make a character up and have people believe him to be real?[/QUOTE]

Isn't it possible that consciousness is really a dream, and the population of humans on planet Earth is really a colony of aardvarks?
Yes.
Likely? No.

[QUOTE=RockAndRoll]Well if you mean "show me something that undeniably proves the existance of jesus" I can't. But then again I can't undeniably prove the existence of myself. If you mean "show me some evidence that suggests he existed" then the bible itself would be one.[/QUOTE]

The Bible is terrible evidence.

Do I believe Jesus existed? Yes. But I have nothing to back it up, so I am not going to make some claim that my belief is fact. I beileve that jesus was just a human who must have been some sort of famous preacher at the time that people documented. I believe that he was human, and had sex, but that part was never put in the bible. Many people wrote about Jesus, but only a select few of them had their passages put into the bible. The ones that did were the ones who portrayed jesus as non-human, because that is what the Christians wanted.

That is all my belief. Is it fact? Probably not. I went to a catholic school for 8 years so I know something about the bible, but does that make my opinion better than someone elses? Not really.

So in conclusion... don't take bible literally. The end.

[QUOTE=.:~ Route 1 ~:.]Well, isn't it possible for somebody to make a character up and have people believe him to be real?[/QUOTE]
Yes. It is. The bible is far from being ultimate, undeniable, rock-solid proof that jesus existed. It is however evidence of his existence, it points us in that direction. That's why I said attack it's credibility (if you must attack anything) prove that the bible made jesus up. But the proof (for lack of a better word) is still there. Anyways I suppose this is mostly just a semantics debate now so...