Should Religion Be Updated? debate modern religion today (poll)

[Joshua 0]

religion can suck an egg its all myth and stories no hard evidence that these people exsisted so when im dead i will become one with the dirt

154502[/snapback]

Might as well say that about history in general as well, how do you know George Washington or William Shakespeare ever existed? Scientific observation doesn't do particularly well for historically related stuff. What do you use to prove historical information accurate?

[gunbound 0]

Two questions for you:

 

A )  What is the purpose to your life?

 

B )  If God asks you in the final day why He should let you into His Heaven, what will you say?

154418[/snapback]

Before answering your questions, let me point out that you cannot generalize "the Greeks" and rightly state that they were a certain way. There was diversity in the Greeks, them having various attitudes towards the philosophies that developed in their time. What I was speaking of is Socrates & Plato's philosophies. Obviously, since they (the Greeks) decided to sentence Socrates to death, we can tell that "the Greeks" isn't a single train of thought. Socrates lost his life because he was able to raise the same point that I'm trying to state - that we can't take things (religion, in this case) as truth only because someone says certain things about the reality of things or because we think we know the reality of things. Also, the Greeks included a lot of different peoples. I think that you have the Spartans in mind when you quote them. In fact, the Greeks in Athens were very pious people - or so they thought.

 

A ) What is the purpose of my life?

- - Survival and reproduction. Too simple? Sorry, but that's what all living things are built to do - and that's all we do, essentially. Why live? Because my nature drives me to. What are my objectives? Naturally, what I need to continue surviving and pass on my genes to another generation, as all of my ancestors had to do to make it able to me to live, is to adapt to my environment and be happy. If I'm not able to be happy, I won't be successful and I won't pass those genes on to another generation. I think that's a good paragraph to explain why I (and us all) live).

 

B ) What will I say to God when I see him in Heaven?

- - I'll say, "So, where the heck have you been?" Kidding. But I would have to say something along those lines. But if I do end up in Heaven, I guess that would mean that I was right all along - if God is so good, why should he condemn me for the nature that He built into me - the nature to question? I wouldn't need to explain to him for why I should be let into heaven. He's supposed to be all-knowing, no? But to answer your question, I would tell him that because I know the Form of the Good - Justice.

[serverph 0]

Might as well say that about history in general as well, how do you know George Washington or William Shakespeare ever existed?  Scientific observation doesn't do particularly well for historically related stuff.  What do you use to prove historical information accurate?

154978[/snapback]

and if i may dare ask, what do you use to prove biblical information accurate?

[Milovoriel 0]

I agree with you that religion is outdated, but I dont think it needs to be updated. I am now living in an Asian city where over 90% of the population has no religion. People here live a fruitful and meaningful life without the burden of religion. People are really much more open minded without religion. I think it is sad that some people simply cannot live without other people telling them what to do with their lives. One of the commonest misunderstandings is that the ancient people had wisdom. But I think the only place you can find wisdom is in science, the only field where knowledge can accumulate to become wisdom.

 

Modern people (probably except the Americans) have much boarder exposure in a globalized world and I dont think those crappy ancient texts can ever tell us anything about how to deal with modern lives. My comment is: Dont bother with updating religion. Scrap it.

 

one word .... Hurrah!

 

and if i may dare ask, what do you use to prove biblical information accurate?

two words ..... Good Question!

 

you don't need religious dogma to set the moral template of your life .... morality is instinctive .... try thinking for yourself .... it's quite liberating .... XX

[Joshua 0]

Before answering your questions, let me point out that you cannot generalize "the Greeks" and rightly state that they were a certain way. There was diversity in the Greeks, them having various attitudes towards the philosophies that developed in their time. What I was speaking of is Socrates & Plato's philosophies. Obviously, since they (the Greeks) decided to sentence Socrates to death, we can tell that "the Greeks" isn't a single train of thought. Socrates lost his life because he was able to raise the same point that I'm trying to state - that we can't take things (religion, in this case) as truth only because someone says certain things about the reality of things or because we think we know the reality of things. Also, the Greeks included a lot of different peoples. I think that you have the Spartans in mind when you quote them. In fact, the Greeks in Athens were very pious people - or so they thought.

 

A ) What is the purpose of my life?

- - Survival and reproduction. Too simple? Sorry, but that's what all living things are built to do - and that's all we do, essentially. Why live? Because my nature drives me to. What are my objectives? Naturally, what I need to continue surviving and pass on my genes to another generation, as all of my ancestors had to do to make it able to me to live, is to adapt to my environment and be happy. If I'm not able to be happy, I won't be successful and I won't pass those genes on to another generation. I think that's a good paragraph to explain why I (and us all) live).

 

B ) What will I say to God when I see him in Heaven?

- - I'll say, "So, where the heck have you been?" Kidding. But I would have to say something along those lines. But if I do end up in Heaven, I guess that would mean that I was right all along - if God is so good, why should he condemn me for the nature that He built into me - the nature to question? I wouldn't need to explain to him for why I should be let into heaven. He's supposed to be all-knowing, no? But to answer your question, I would tell him that because I know the Form of the Good - Justice.

155070[/snapback]

Paul debated with the Greeks and their version of piety in Acts, they worshipped "unknown God" and Paul declared to them who it was they ignorantly worshipped. The fact of the matter is that it was right in the middle of Greece that churches were being started and Paul was a frequent visiter to the area. Some Greeks believed, some didn't.

 

So why do you bother surviving then if there's no other point to it? Because your nature drives you to? Why so, if there is no hope? God doesn't condemn us for questioning, He condemns us for sinning and rebelling against Him. I don't think any of us fully realize just how great our sin/rebellion against Him is. Every time you've gotten mad at someone, enough to kill them, you are guilty of murder. Every time you've lusted after someone you're not married to you're guilty of adultery and defiling God's sacred institution of marriage. Every time you'd have stolen from someone if you could have gotten away with it you're guilty of theft.

 

And God didn't build the nature of sin into us, we brought in on ourselves by sinning and rebelling against Him in the beginning and even from our youth take up where our ancestors left off in deliberate sinning and rebellion against Him.

 

God is just and He cannot let sin go unpunished, He cannot allow the disobedient to ruin His new creation as the old was ruined, by our disobedience. He could have simply destroyed us then but chose to die for us and rise again so we could still escape that judgement.

[Joshua 0]

and if i may dare ask, what do you use to prove biblical information accurate?

155078[/snapback]

What do you use to prove it inaccurate?

 

However, scholars have long seen Biblical information proven right time and time again. People believed the Bible was lying about ancient Ninevah being so great a city... until they excavated it. Luke is considered one of the greatest historians in history because of his attention to detail and exact naming of places, times, and people. As Josh McDowell points out in his book "More Then A Carpenter," (great book for historical proofs, I highly recommend it) someone once tried finding a city Luke told of without seeing what he said of it and looked all over the area, unable to find it. Then using his description which included descriptions of terrain and an old well they found the exact location even though they'd been searching around the area unable to find it. In the Old Testament and what is probably the oldest book of the Bible, Job, which is believed to be written around the time of the patriarchs when Abraham lived, it gives multiple animal descriptions and speaks of rain as coming from clouds, elsewhere in the Old Testament it speaks of the "circle of the earth," if people had read the Bible they'd have realized the earth was round. Ultimately if you are unwilling to believe you will not be convinced, it takes a step of faith just like it does to believe in evolution, indeed more faith I believe for evolution and that "in the beginning, dirt" rather then "in the beginning, God."

[Joshua 0]

one word .... Hurrah!

two words ..... Good Question!

 

you don't need religious dogma to set the moral template of your life .... morality is instinctive .... try thinking for yourself .... it's quite liberating .... XX

155119[/snapback]

As Ravi Zecharias likes to say, God doesn't expect us to commit intellectual suicide. Some people seem to think blind faith is involved for some reason, and while having faith without sight brings a blessing, not all, like Thomas, need believe that way.

 

Examine this verse carefully to see what the Bible says about questioning what the Bible says:

 

Acts 17:11 These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

[Dude Love Fan 0]

Ultimately if you are unwilling to believe you will not be convinced, it takes a step of faith just like it does to believe in evolution, indeed more faith I believe for evolution and that "in the beginning, dirt" rather then "in the beginning, God."

155156[/snapback]

I just want to ask, did you get that in the begnning quote from Kent Hovind? I heard him use it so I assume he is the originator, though I could be wrong.

 

 

And in my opnion Religion(Christianity in this case) does NOT need to change. People speak of not having women priests, but what about women preachers? There are lots of them, Joyce Meyers, Marylin Hickey, Paula White, etc... While I do not actively follow their ministries I do know they exist. The way I see it Christianity CAN'T change, it is founded on the words of a man who died 2000 years ago, although I believe he still speaks through people today, his words will never contradict themselves, and as such you can take the bible to the bank. I realize people disagree with Christianity and that is fine, though I hope one day they change their minds. One book I highly reccomend to any Skeptic is Mere Christianity by CS Lewis. Religion is one topic I love to talk about and dislike to talk about at the same time. Reason? When you find like minded believers it's great to discuss things regarding God. When you don't usually you catch a lot of flak about being a close minded bigot among other things. Therefore I ususally don't bring up the topic unless I know who I am talking to is a christian or the topic is brought up by someone else Saves a lot of anger and hostility that way.

[Joshua 0]

Yeah, is from Hovind. I've liked what I've seen from him before, and he definitely does think about what he says. He wants to talk things out with you and use reason which is a good thing. C.S. Lewis does write some really good stuff on the subject, the other author I find really good is Josh McDowell, "More Then A Carpenter" is a short read that I've found excellent on questions about the Bible's authenticity.I do tend to talk to people who are willing to listen to reason but I'm getting better and better at just walking away from areas where people don't come with "all readiness of mind" as it says in Acts 17:11. As long as they're willing to listen and to think about something there's hope but if not... I don't think there's anyone who there's less hope for then someone who thinks they're right and refuses to listen to anything otherwise, and assassinates not just the ideas but the charachter of the people who they disagree with. Still, all things are possible for God.

[Dude Love Fan 0]

Completely true, and it's really cool to find someone who has heard of AND heard Kent talk, he is really interesting, especially his thoughts on Beer and alcohol. Someone asked him, did you try it? When he said no they said how do you know you dont like it if you haven't tried it and he responded with the question, "Would you like to put your head under the tire of an 18-wheeler?" when they said no he asked them "How do you know you won't like it if you haven't tried it?" Good answer if you ask me.

[adriantc 0]

It's not just about the women beeing priests, but about the hole concept of religion. I really think they are updating religion as we speake because if the catholic church would have tried to keep the exact same religion ideeas from the Dark Ages there wouldn't be a church today to go to. Why? Because evolution and his ability to adapt to new put men on the top of the food chain.let me give you just one example. The theory of evolution...As it seems Darwin was quite right and his theory contardicts (almoust) every known part of the creationist (hope this is the right spelling) theory. As you can see the catholic church has adapted and instead of trying to deny the obvious (Darwin's Theory of Evolution) it has adapted and sad that the evolution theory doesn't stop you from beliving in God and His creation since live must have a beginning. I hope yoyu understand what i am saying because this is a classic example of updating religion

[Anndi 0]

It would be interesting, to say the least, to see religions updated to suit today's societies. However, so many people who are devote to their religions believe that it's all about keeping things the way they were when religion began. Of course, many of us know that religion has changed since then, already, and many people simply fail to notice it. But there are so many stubborn people who might just kill you for altering their religion. Many people are just stuck in their ways and want nothing to do with the forward motion of society. But it would be good to have a very up-to-date religion, indeed. I just don't see that it would ever be feesable. You could end up starting some religious war.

[Milovoriel 0]

As Ravi Zecharias likes to say, God doesn't expect us to commit intellectual suicide.  Some people seem to think blind faith is involved for some reason, and while having faith without sight brings a blessing, not all, like Thomas, need believe that way. 

 

Examine this verse carefully to see what the Bible says about questioning what the Bible says:

 

Acts 17:11  These were more noble than those in Thessalonica, in that they received the word with all readiness of mind, and searched the scriptures daily, whether those things were so.

155160[/snapback]

brace yourself now, but I don't actually own a bible ..... never needed to as I don't believe in the existence of your God, or anyone elses for that matter .... I live my life "God" free .... and it's super ....

[Se?or Maniac 0]

Religion is the Belief in and reverence for a supernatural power or powers regarded as creator and governor of the universe. So what if women are not allowed to be priests. What if the belief that they are worshoping does not allow women to be priests. I think that they are not letting the women do some things like be a preist is based on tradition. Also breaking tradition in their eyes can be bad in their religion. Also I think that you are mostly focusing on christrianty more than anything.

[WeLoveFord 0]

absolutely. for those people who've read ANGELS AND DEMONS (very very good book, you will be a smarter person after you read it) religion should be updated or else people will lose interest in it.Science and technology are taking over in this age, and if religion doesn't make allowances for science, such as accepting that evolution is more plausible than creation, then sooner or later there will be hardly any church-goers, because we strive for answers in life and science seems to be answeing them more plausibly than religion.that's just what i think.