Hey it was your choice of words in your accusation that I wanted to just eliminate christianity. I was just clarifying that if I had my way all the religions would be eliminated. That you are incapable of recognizing that, shows just how indoctrinated you are. Also, define insightful, because the definition I'm picking up from you is nodding my head up and down in agreement with every single republican talking point, while simultaniously writing obama and islam off as the devil, spouting unending devotion to christianity and praising the Tea party as the savior of the country.

By help I mean contribute to the advancement of humanity.

You are completely wrong.  I worship nothing.  There is nothing on this earth that I believe in despite there being no independent evidence.  There are millions of stories of people going cold turkey about smoking that did not use god to help them stopping.

I do not think there is a god in the same way, and to the same extent, that I think there are no invisible pink elephants, or large ethereal violent murderous pussycats.  There is no evidence to support their being and no reason to suppose they exist  

Reading the future is no different in religious circles than any other circle … it is impossible. When you predict the ‘end’ of the world, you are only stating the obvious outcome based on nature and the laws of physics. Now you may if you want to somehow make this into a profound religious prediction, be my guess but it changes nothing. Even a rock (albeit a large one called Earth) has a finite existence and will be reclaimed by the cosmos for a redistribution of the wealth that WAS earth. Because of this, the only debate can be about ‘when’ and it is my contention that reading tea leaves or tarot cards is just as accurate as biblical references to the end of the Earth. Hawking is an avowed atheist and has merely stating the obvious concerning the longevity of our solar system. One man does NOT make a consensus unless you are a Democrat, just ask Igor.  

Personally, I do not have any use for organized religion of any kind. History has shown us (regardless of the fact that we no longer appreciate that history), more murder and mayhem has taken place in the name of ‘GOD’ than all other reasons combined. The debauchery we as a people practice all over the world today must dwarf events of biblical times if for no other reason than there are billions of more outwardly decadent assholes today. Just look at practice of infanticide in this the best of the best of nations.

I do not need some pedophile in black robes or some animal in a cave espousing hate to guide my way through life. The honest pursuit of life need be guided only by the laws of nature which in simplistic jargon relates to ‘Do unto others as you would have others do unto you'. The problem here is that one needs to be sane else it all falls apart … as it has.

As for the exploration and colonization of the stars is concerned I would ask that you consider the following. Unless you have a hidey-hole someplace where you can dig up hundreds of thousands of people who are divorced from all corrupt politics (and PC garbage) and are righteous to a fault, you are doomed before you start. If there were actually some ‘saints’ available, maybe, but we will be sending HUMAN BEINGS out there and haven’t we already demonstrated the capricious nature humanity.

As a friend once told me, “We cannot learn how to live inside the box so how in the hell are we going to live and survive outside of it?” I believe it is up to us to effect what changes we can and let the gods tend to themselves.

then I have to ask..have you read any biblical references regarding the endtimes?  Have you read any references that have been prophesied and come to pass already?  Do you know there has to be 100% accuracy regarding biblical prophecy?  Nothing less is acceptable and makes sense if it really is from God.  But tea leaves?  How accurate are those? 

There is evidence but you choose not to believe it.  Your belief system will not allow you to go in this direction.  It's like showing you a watch and you refusing to believe that someone made that watch.  You can see the evidence you just won't believe there was a designer behind it.  Same with creation.  The evidence is all around you.  You just refuse, due to your belief system, to believe in the designer behind it. 

and this type of comment is exactly what I was talking about in my last posting.  You have replaced the creator God with yourself. 

Doombringer:  who are you addressing in your last posting? 

Nitro for the bulk of it and PP for the last bit

Yes, and that statement in itself probably aggravates them to no end! 

Which can be said of Atheists as well. One tries to prove the impossible (actually, they do not, and that is why it is called faith, and not fact), and the other tries to disprove the impossible.  Both being impossible. 

For those who are COMFORTABLE in their faith - and that can be Atheists as well as religious - there is no problem.  The problem arises when one side tries to stamp out the other.  IN the past that may have been the religious, and in some parts of the world it still is.  However in present day western society, it is the atheist doing the attempting.  They should learn from the mistakes of the religious both past and present.

Here we disagree Boobztwo.  No, religion has been supplanted by another ism (although some call it a religion), and that is Communism.  If you check your tote board, you will find that more have been killed in the name of communism than all religious wars combined.  Mostly because there are more people around today than there was during the past.

Which is why I am am not an atheist.  I freely admit that it is possible that there is a being who had the power to remove all evidence that they ever existed.  I am an agnositic - it is impossible to prove one way or another that there is/was a supernatural being however there is no indipendant evidence that there is/was one.  So I am as agnostic about the christian god as I am about Thor - there is equal evidence for both.

All evidence that you have shown on these boards applies to each and every diety - eg the norse had a designer, as did the greeks.  I am as agnostic about them as I am about your 'god'.  Same proof applies to all.

I'm glad you said "religious" and not "Christian" because the two are NOT necessarily the same. 

Christ was apolitical and never ever engaged in or supported anything in that realm.  More than once they wanted to make him a King but he refused by slipping away knowing their intentions.  Too many in the past (and still today) use religious activity to further their agendas which usually involved much corruption and greed.  This has nothing to do with the cause of Christ and his teachings.  The evidences point to the contrary. 

I'm studying for my lesson tomorrow on John 8.  In that section the religious Jews were claiming to be followers of Abraham using their heritage as leverage. They were religious, to their fingertips.    When Christ challenged them by  asking them questions and pointing out the contrary evidences to what they were saying,  they got irate.  In other words, their sayings did not match their actions and deep down they knew it.  You can't say you follow Christ (or in this case Abraham)  and then go on a killing spree to make others believe the way you do.  Makes no sense.  

Ten times between Verses 12-59 the religious Jews (his enemies) interrupted, contradicted or reviled Him.  They never answered one question posed to them.  Instead they twisted his words.   Jesus' dignity and perfect meekness under the contradiction of sinners ought to be the example to all his disciples who follow him.  I've met Christians like this and they have my utmost respect and admiration.  They are the true examples of what we are supposed to be like.   I'm working on this and hope one day to have that same discipline. 

Like I said the evidence is there.  It's just a matter of who you wish to attribute it to. 

You reminded me of an old Jewish legend.  Perhaps Leauki knows it. 

Abram's (Abraham) Father Terah was an idol worshipper living in the land of Ur of the Chaldees.  The legend goes that he owned an idol shop where he sold all sorts of little gods to suit everyone.  One day he told Abram, his son, to watch the shop.  Abram broke every single idol in the shop but one.  When his father came back, he was horrified to see all the broken idols.  He questioned his son.  "What happened?"

Abram pointed to the one lone idol still standing with a little sword in his hand.  He explained to his father that the lone idol did all the damage.  His father looked at his son in astonishment but said  something to the effect, "how can that be?  It's just a wooden idol that cannot hear or see."  

Exactly. 

???????

KFC posts:

You write: "there's coming a day when we will go from one age to another or we will face extinction on this earth"? Please explain what this means in this context as you have written?

There is nothing in Scripture that speaks of facing extinction. As a matter of fact Scripture records Christ's promise that He will be with us until the consummation of the world.  

Biblically, ever since the beginning of time, history has been split into 3 "ages". The period of the first age was that of Adam, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and Joseph. The second age was the time of the Old Law...from Moses until Christ. The last age began with Christ and will go until the consummation (end) of the world when time and human history will end. 

(Now, the only time (age) that we would/could be able to explore space for alternative habitation as Hawkings suggests is during this last age.)

When this last age comes to an end, it's the end of the world, the end of all life, (including If there are any, all those in outer space). The four last things are Death, Judgment, Heaven or Hell.

Yes, and this "new heaven and new earth" is in eternity. At this point we are at the end of time and eternity has begun..eternal heaven for some and eternal Hell for others.

KFC posts #8

Are there black holes? Have any been detected? Don't think so.

The "black hole" is an extreme theory for which there is no substantial evidence.

Not on your life. I leave creation to the blathering fools want to babble about it. But as to your reference, I can live with if it makes you happy ... that is what we are talking about here. But the mere mention of GOD(S) ruffles your panties no end, hehe. 

Couldn't have said it any better, kudos to you Basmas .

If you want to play semantics, I suppose you could be right but it’s all in how you read the cards. I view communism AS a religion or as an antipathies to hold down the bottom of the scale. The scale doesn’t just STOP when some point of no return position is reached, the scale goes down and down until you get to the bottom. That entire aside, consider modern-day communism only came into existence in the 20th century. Even though responsible for the largest killing sprees recorded, I find it difficult to believe that fewer people had lived prior to the 20th century than there were after the 19th century. I am not going to look it up, just seems wrong.