| The Bible says that no one has seen god and that satan deceives the world, so since it is no humans fault, a loving god would take everyone to a nice afterlife.
January 10, 2011 - 03:06 PM
loving humanist |
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| I find that Ken has written this site with a wonderful honesty and admirable sense of justice and fairness, also a good dose of humour. If there is hate voiced then it is against uncaring ideas & barbaric injustice in the Bible. [I hate when ministers try to tell you that when god asks you to sacrifice your child that that is just fine and dandy. No; it is insane ]. The hate is spoken from a normal, balanced sense of what it is to care and love, concern for the well being of fellow humans. Maybe a loving god would be insulted by anyone suggesting he would do the hell thing? Actually there are Christians who have enough conscience to stand against hateful interpretations of the Bible. The official doctrine of the Church of England (since 1995) states that there is no hell; no eternal torture, unbelievers just cease to exist.I'd guess many atheists would concur and continue with living their life in a reasonable way, as they see fit. Look at The independent on Sunday 15th Dec 1993 where Bishop Dr Jenkins said that unbelievers would not be tortured in hell but rather face annihilation. His stance was supported by Bishop of Bath and Rev J. Thompson. Dr Jenkins described the imagery re hell in Revelations as psychopathic. See the article on Wikipedia on annihilation, a view supported by John Stott, Bishop Charles Gore, William Temple, C.S Lewis, O.Quick, John Wenham, John Wesley, Justin Martyr, Irenaeus, Arnobius, Ignatius of Antioch. The N.T. ideas on hell possibly came from Greek influence e.g Plato or Persian. After a decade or two of Bible studies the really intelligent, loving ministers realise the Bible is errant but the average ones take much longer.People leave Christianity not from too little love but rather too much, the Bible and its picky Jesus is an embarrassment. Imagine winning the right to save everyone and then only picking a few. Saying,"forgive them for they don't know what they are doing"; yet promising not to. The bible says no one has seen god a... |
January 02, 2011 - 06:11 PM
enquirer |
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| Just read Kens superb 'Resurrection of the Lord?' section with the brilliant observation about the stone didn't need to be rolled away since Jesus could pass through solid objects like doors. Reading the various accounts there about how many people went to the tomb I have a question: Do the accounts count days by the Gentile morning& evening =one day system, where as the True Jews would have counted evening& morning?? For Jesus disciples morning would not have been their start of a different day of the week? Maybe I'm wrong about this? |
December 31, 2010 - 12:06 PM
me |
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| Come on Christians, tell us where heaven and hell are, in some other cosmic dimension? The Bible authors don't agree with you. Matt 12v40 'Jesus went down to the heart of the earth.' Ephesians 4v9 'Jesus descended to the depths of the earth.'Who now adays thinks hell is at the core of this planet, why would a soul go down there? Quick tell BP/Halliburton not to drill any deeper or all hell might break loose. Or maybe they will drill a tunnel for dead souls to escape back to life. Rev 20v13 Why would dead souls/spirits hang around in the oceans? Watch out fishermen, don't use too small a mesh or you might dredge up souls. Is that what Jesus meant by becoming fishers or men? Rev 21v1 Why would we need a new heaven if that is the undefiled place where God lives? They thought God lives among the stars.Why would we need another universe, just transport the saved to another planet? What was Gods Genesis plan when the earth became over populated since no one died? Why didn't He make it possible for humans to travel the universe at an appropriate time. Oh, after the fall he removed all the oxygen? |
December 25, 2010 - 06:25 AM
me |
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| 1 John 3v15 "Anyone who hates his brother is a murderer". Well if that is true, then since the Bible is full of hatefilled language against those who don't hold its views, does that make God a murderer who doesn't have eternal life? [There is plenty of incitement to hatred or incitement to murder in the Bible,read revelation, look at the religious wars it has inspired as this website reminds us]. There should be freedom of speech and thought. What about Kens excellent C4 film of 19 Dec. Love your enemies isn't the appropriate response to 9/11. The tit for tat is a more successful tactic. The threat of don't do that, it isn't in your interest, we'll prosecute, we'll counter attack is what works. If that verse meant "see if you can negotiate a deal that removes your opponents desire to attack" then why didn't it say that. "love your enemy" could mean manythings, but mostly just daft things, as Ken points out. |
December 25, 2010 - 06:06 AM
me |
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| See the Phil Plait,"don't be a dick" video of 13 Aug 2010 for part of the discussion on what is the good/effective way to conduct a debate. Phil says what the Bible authors don't quite manage to grasp about the use of name calling/ metaphor.He says it far more eloquently and clearly than vague Bible mumbojumbo. If Phil who is a skeptical thinker/atheist spoke those words in the first century then people might say he was inspired by God/Holy Spirit. They thought intelligent thought and happy feelings came to people by magic from heaven. They seemed to think people were puppets of good or evil spirits.Mostly people do destructive acts by accident in the heat of the moment/ while intoxicated or having failed to think through the likely consequences. How is it that Ken and Phil can think better/more rationally and clearly than the Bible authors? |
December 22, 2010 - 04:40 PM
me |
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| The bible does not score highly on emotional literacy. 1 John 2v11, 3v15, 4v20 eg "Anyone who hates their brother is a murderer." I don't think so! To feel hatred or anger toward someone is miles away from murder. However unless you excercise self control and stop yourself obsessing about it I suppose it could push you to speak or act destructively.
Some people respond to their anger by giving a good solution to the person causing it that gets the job done or sitution sorted. It could propel you to change job/relationship/home to get away . In any case what is meant by "I hate you"? Mostly this is a grossly exaggerated and inaccurate way to speak. What is usually meant is more accurately, "I hate what you did", "I am angry/ hurt about something that you have done or said", "I wish you had not done that, do not do that, I'm really upset that you won't allow me to do what I want", "I do not trust that person because they did somethings in the past which hurt me, so I try to avoid them". If you don't like the DJs voice or manner switch channel, it is just one of those things(chemistry) millions might like that DJ but their stile doesn't suit you. It is only reasonable to walk away. The question is whether you find a positive way to channel your hatred. Ok, make love your goal but the key thing is good decision making. Anyway there is a lot more to good communication than words used. The N.T. just reflects first century thought, not a higher divinity. |
December 12, 2010 - 02:10 AM
Radio 2, Graham Norton listener |
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| Ken makes good points in "Jesus thinly drawn section".Nun Sister Wendy Beckett spoke on Radio 2 11/12/10 saying earliest icons of Jesus only go back to 600AD and have no connection with what Jesus physically looked like. She said Christian crusaders used to go into war with icons of Jesus as lucky mascots to help them defeat the Moslems but when the crusaders kept getting beaten the commanders wondered why and figured out it was because the Moslems didn't have graven images [which pleased God more?] so the icons were ordered to be destroyed. Talk about superstitious! Anyway how come though Jesus was supposedly well loved, no one made a sculpture, sketch or painting or kept a lock of hair or clothes from childhood or said "He was my great*7 uncle" |
December 08, 2010 - 05:44 PM
S'aint Asin |
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| Pssst,want to know how to interpret a Pentecostal message 'spoken in tongues'? Well against my better judgement I will follow the example of WikiLeaks and yield to the temptation of revealing some secrets; Power to the people, down with church establishment! It could be you standing up to give the interpretation next time you are at a charismatic church:
Eh yeh Ka kama la ma na coco sugalicky-- God I'm desperate for an ice-cream with chocolate flake
Oh lama coopii er kam kana carling el sha assara fagii haven my---could someone nip down to the shop and get me a packet of cigarettes and a beer please.
Shameran noni elohim ya kam khana standi sheitie---God that sermon was boring
Adonai yir eh ca cha loo kat malakh adonai--God that woman in the front row is angelic |
December 07, 2010 - 05:32 PM
St Isee C. |
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| Woe to you unbelievers! Is it not obvious that Christ had to delay his return until everyone had HDtv? Otherwise he would have appeared as only a tiny speck at 30,000ft, visible only to those chosen ones living under his flight path where it wasn't too cloudy. When he does return, in a few years/millenniums time, the spotter planes will fly alongside and beam back images, globally, to HD sets where they will see the Son & so the Father as He really is, in the full glory of HD.Are you ready for the 2nd coming of Christ? Woe to those who are not for they will weep and gnash teeth in frustration. But those good and faithful servants who believed in better and signed up to Sky+3DHDtv will declare,"Truly, Verily, Surely there is no better vision than this. This is virtual reality in all its richness; giving life in all its fullness. Come Lord Jesus come! Yes Lord yes. |
November 28, 2010 - 03:47 AM
New Atheist |
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| Who is heathen? Is it those who blaspheme mainline established scientific fact and rational thought? Those who say that organic life started by magic 8000 years ago and a flood which happened everywhere except on Egyptian pyramids? Who are the miserable? Is it those too afraid of good&evil spirits to see the funny side of history. New Atheists rejoice in the sure and certain hope that the Bible is false on all significant points. New Atheists enjoy laughing their way through that funny book and in depth rational analysis of it, a thing that Christians appear to rarely do; they prefer the minister or bible notes to snatch a phrase out of it and stitch it into a whole different modern day life experience. But why not?
If by some quark the mass-energy that always existed had a consciousness then it is still every bit as likely that humans would cease to exist at death or if not that all will have a positive outcome to look forward too. |
November 27, 2010 - 02:43 PM
Archbishop Renouncey |
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| As we approach the glad time of celebrating the end of pagan myths like Jesus Osiris Dionysus Mithras Attis Bacchus, let us join together in singing new songs p v
"No'el, No'el, Hell?NO! Hell no!, Hell never existed, no'el! Hell? No!"
"Ding dong merrily on earth in brains the bells are ringing, Ding dong merrily on earth, with children's voices laughing; Ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha Ha ha ha ha ha ha HA HA HA, hell never existed. Ha ha etc, Jesus likely never existed either. Ding dong merrily on earth, in brains the lights are switching on, ding dong merrily on earth, to the fact the Bible is disproven; Ha ha etc there's nothing there to fe'ar, Ha ha etc don't be a fool for Christs sake" Happy Christless mas everyone! Have the best party ever!
And now, for the love of christ, go and be loving, caring and don't hurt anyone, for goodness sake, Amen-Ra |
November 25, 2010 - 01:55 AM
Bob the yob |
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| The bible is so contrary and contradictory that sometimes its words swim around in my mind. In a mid night haze I sometimes find myself wondering if the gospel said,"Before the cock cum twice you shall deny me" and I can relate to that experience because often my wife denies me even before the cock has cum once, but this is a source of matrimonial acrimony so I shall quickly Passover the subject. |
November 21, 2010 - 11:46 AM
cheeky chap |
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| Jesus said he'd return in the first century, maybe he's got cross with us and refused to return? That old greek was difficult to translate, maybe "come again" got miss spelt? No, probably not. |
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