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Originally posted by: Regicidal_Maniac
What a load of piffle.
But since you're curious.
The history of atheism and agnosticism is not the one soaked in blood my friend that history is maintained by the Church the blood was spilled in the name of faith and not rational inquiry.
Marxism is a athiestic/agnostic belief system and it has shed mucho blood.
People seem to attack religion only for being the medium at which the socially powerful manipulate the uninformed masses to violence, when in fact religion is only one of many different ideas that have been used to manipulate the masses into violence.
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There's nothing dangerous about agnosticism it's not an extreme of anything, it's a lack of belief in things that have no proof. If God, why not the Toothfairy the same proof exists in each case. If God why not Aliens or Ghosts, or Goblins and Witches. Because it's all meaningless bullshit that has no basis in facts and no bearing on the world and life. I mean, if there isn't a toothfairy then who or what are you denying? I mean, if there aren't witches then who or what are you denying?
ag·nos·tic ( P ) Pronunciation Key (g-nstk)
n.
One who believes that it is impossible to know whether there is a God.
One who is skeptical about the existence of God but does not profess true atheism.
One who is doubtful or noncommittal about something.
taken from dictionary.com, agnostics dont deny the existance of G-d, only are skeptical or simply say "i dont know". The lack of a belief in G-d is Atheism. (A) meaning no/anti/ , and (theism) belief in G-d, (ruffly speaking of course)
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Choosing not to believe in something for which there exists no evidence whatsoever is not a choice at all it's the only option. The surprising thing is that people will believe any guff you feed them if it comes from a book that is covered with enough dust. It's surprising that given the massive weight of evidence against religion and the zero proof for that there still exists any free-thinking fully-functioning humans who can swallow such lies, sophistry and illusion.
Firstly i find it intersting that you automatically assume that us "theist" are all uneducated, moronic, mind slobs. When in fact i know, and am, many people that have studied the opposing views. Have you done the same? Have you read any of the numerous writing past or present that bring up examples of evidence? or do you disregard them based upon pre-suppositions?
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The Herculean myth resembles Jesus in many areas. Hercules was born as a human from the union of God (Zeus) and the mortal and chaste Alcmene, his mother. Similar to Herod who wanted to kill Jesus, Hera wanted to kill Hercules. Like Jesus, Hercules traveled the Earth as a mortal helping mankind and performing miraculous deeds. Like Jesus who wnt to Hell and then died and rose to heaven, Hercules went to Hades/The Underworld then died, rose to Mount Olympus and became a god. Hercules gives example of perhaps the most popular hero in Ancient Greece and Rome. They believed that he actually lived, told stories about him, worshiped him, and dedicated temples to him. People dismiss Hercules and other Greek gods as myth and legend because people no longer believe in the Greek and Roman fable stories. When a civilisation dies, so to do their gods. Christianity and its church authorities, on the other hand, still hold a powerful influence (vice grip) on governments, institutions, and colleges.
Many of the legends of Hercules from 1500BCE were fables that had been passed down from generations until they were written in more polished form about 500-400 BCE. Some six centuries later these stories show up again, but ascribed to a newcomer, Jesus of Nazareth. Known as the Great Teacher, the Christians began to call him first the Messiah, and then later the Son of God, clearly trying to capitalize on the love the people had for Hercules, the original Son of God.
um the OT refers to the Messiah and the Son of G-d, which predates Greek myth. Heck, the Profit Isiah refers to the Comming Messiah as Immanuel, aka G-d with us, an idea that is evident in the OT far before Isiah Also that aside, there are many other tails that precede the Hercule of G-d having offspring.
Just some inaccuracies...
There was no "union" of G-d the father and Mary.
Jesus didnt go to Hell, he died on earth and then rose again.
But you are right there are various simulaties between the Story of Christ and a landry list of other religious characters/figures. But that in and of itself does not disprove or prove anything. You also seem to be forgeting Zorastrianism and the primary effects that it allegidly would have had on Christianity. You should read up on that, it is a much better idea than this greek stuff, same ancient roots and such...
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If you bothered to read a different book you would discover that yes Jesus lived, but his name was Yoshua and yes he was a good public speaker but an ordinary man who was mythologised by a violent cult.
Again not all christians/ or other theists for that matter are drooling morons... I am well aware of Jesus' real name...
The christian church was pasifistic for its first three centuries. (until it was adopted by constatine as the official religion of the Roman empire. This is also where many other non christian traditions and beliefs creep in but that is another story for another thread.) You also seem to be attributing a long generating and developmental period to Christianity, where as this period in Christianity (a jewish cult) was very short, and you have its leaders (the apostles) some of which that are steeped in Jewish religious thought and spiritual docterine, voliteering to die for the cause. Now i agree that people dieing for a cause doesnt prove that the cause is right, or true, but it does proove that they believe in its authenticity of the idea. If i am understanding you correctly you are stating that the Christian church founders understood the connection and still went out and died.
Also i would like to bring up that the Jews were/are an extremely tight nit culture, and the probability of greek/roman mythology effecting there belief system is highly unlikely.
Oh by the by Goodwins law was invoked pages before i brought up hitler. I think Jimbo brought it up circa page 3 or 4...****
In a switching of gears, RM where are you from? I am sure that you arent as hostile as you come across in your posts. I am known to get ampoed up during discussions, especially internet ones where there are only words and no faces...
On a completely different note: Motti
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several things, since i waasnt here since yesterday morning.
the israel situation: the US is holding a hand over Israel because if they didnt, there wouldnt be any Israel anymore. there is a saying in the Middle East: if all moslem/arab countries spat at once towards Israel, Israel would drown...
Isreals military power is more than enough to defend itself from the rest of the middle east. Do some research.
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the problem is that the Bush Admin does not want to learn from past mistakes. what is going on at this moment is called Imperialism. it was done before in the 14th, 15th, 16th, 17th, 18th century and nobody wants to return to that and nobody thought it was the best thing.
Um there are elections being held in afganistan, and in the planning stage in Irag. In imperialism gov. done allow those things, you set up the Governing