Quote Originally Posted by PRO DOM View Post
You know, I just thought of a way to put it. Let's say that 29 people take a test but only two pass. Just like 29 people boarded a train that crashes and only two survive. Why only two? The other people prayed the other people studied. My answer is that only the two people who understood the rule survived or passed the test. If you don't understand that 2 + 2 =4 you won't ever pass but the rule was always true and always there. If you don't understand that God governs every moment and that you are spiritual and not material then you will have to learn that lesson another way. Jesus prooved that there is no death and so the 26 who passed on did just that; they didn't die just passed on. They awoke to realize that death never touched them, that they did not get off at a station called death. Did God love them any less? No. Does your math teacher love you any less? No.
Okay, I'm going to jump in with both feet here, and the hell with the consequences.
Is it possible that only two people passed the test because the teacher (God) grades on the curve? Chances are my math teacher doesn't love me, or care how I do, as long as his statistics show he's doing a good job. (And by the way, I know my math: two survivors plus 26 who passed on makes only 28 people! WHERE'S THAT LAST ONE HIDING???)

Do you honestly believe that a God who would destroy peoples lives, or allow peoples lives to be destroyed, is worthy of any kind of adoration? A God who inflicts vile diseases upon innocent children? A God who seems to have absolutely no pity for some people who try their damndest to please him? Is it possible that you can truly believe that those people who don't do or act precisely the way YOU think they should act can not be saved?

No, a loving and merciful God, which all those preachers claim he is, wouldn't give a rip HOW we worship, or even IF we worship. He would only be concerned with how we LIVE! How we use the life he gave us. Using your math analogy, when the teacher gives you a complex problem, the good teachers don't really care HOW you get to the solution, so long as you get there. The bad teachers require you to get there in only one way, and if you don't, you fail, regardless of whether or not you got the right answer!

And as for Jesus rising from the dead, I challenge you, or anyone else for that matter, to show me positive evidence, which doesn't ultimately arise from the Bible or the teachings of his disciples, that Jesus even existed, much less rose from the dead. It's my understanding that it can't be done: there is no evidence anywhere, except in the Bible, that the Jesus portrayed in the Bible actually existed. Hell, even the Bible contradicts itself about far too many important portions of his supposed life. There is ample independent evidence that Pilate existed, and Herod, and even Caiphus, the high priest. But there is nothing independent to prove that Jesus of Nazareth was ever tried, convicted or crucified.

I would guess this is going to piss off a lot of people, but I don't care anymore. This "holier-than-thou" attitude really drives me up the wall. And it's not just Christians. There are very few, if any, religions which accept the idea that other religions can be just as right as their own. And they are all based on suppositions, stories, fables and outright lies. The world would be a whole lot better place without all those religions fighting one another.

I've got it! Let's send all the priests/ministers/rabbis/mullahs out to battle one another. And may none of them come back alive.