Questioning Religion
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What is hell? Is it fire
and brimstone, souls eternally burning? Okay, reality-check. How can
souls feel pain? Don’t you need nerves for that? Yes, I’m thinking on a
human level. What if hell went something like this: You die and go
before God for judgment. Now during this time you are feeling the
all-encompassing love of God, despite the judgment that is taking
place. Now, God tells you to
leave his sight and sends you to this other dimension He has created
where His love doesn’t enter. Wouldn’t that truly be hell? Think of how
bad it hurts to have someone that you care about deny you his or her
love once you had basked in it for even just a moment. Now amplify
that. That would be hell.
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(I had a friend pose
this one to me.) What if (for the Christians out there) Jesus was not
the Son of God? What if he was a test? Doesn’t God say that you shall not worship any god but him? What if God decided to test his followers, send this man to claim to be His son, and see who would follow? Wouldn’t one of the most
sacred laws of God have just been broken?
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I know quite a few
Pagans, most being Wiccan. I find nothing wrong with most of what these
people believe or practice; they just don’t fit in with my own belief
structure. Here is the qualm though.I have met quite a few Pagans (not necessarily Wiccans) that
pick and choose from different religions of earlier civilization to
create there own pantheon of gods and goddesses. I don’t understand
this. Perhaps it’s my own belief in only one god, but I don’t get it.
Why would you take a god from (example) the Egyptian pantheon and the
Nordic pantheon and put them together? These were and are two completely different
religions with different belief structures …I’m still pondering this.
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Here is one of my favorite arguments to get into,
the speaking of tongues. In today’s modern Pentecostal, Assembly of
God, and churches of the like, speaking in tongues consists of a
language and abrupt body movements that no one can understand. Here is
the Bible verse used to justify speaking in tongues. "When the
day of Pentecost had come; they were all together in one
place. And suddenly a sound came from heaven like the rush of a mighty
wind, and it filled all the house where they were sitting. And there
appeared to them tongues as of fire, distributed and resting on each
one of them. And they were all filled with the Holy Spirit and began to
speak in other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. Now there
were dwelling in Jerusalem Jews, devout men from every nation under
heaven. And at this sound the multitude came together, and they were
bewildered, because each one heard them speaking in his own language.
And they were amazed and wondered, saying, 'Are not all these who
are speaking Galileans? And how is it that we hear, each of us in his
own native language? Parthians and Medes and Elamites and residents of
Mesopotamia, Judea and Cappodocia, Pontus and Asia, Phrygia and
Pamphylia, Egypt and the parts of Libya belonging to Cyrene, and
visitors from Rome, both Jews and proselytes, Cretans and Arabians, we
hear them telling in our own tongues the mighty works of God'"
[Acts 2:1-11] If you actually read the verse it says that “And
how is it that we hear, each of us in his own native language” not "And how
is it that we do not hear". The "gift of
tongues" was given so that people who could not normally
understand the language the apostles spoke could understand them.
The gift was not given so that one person could babble and no one
understood them.
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Why do some Christians
feel the need to judge the rest of humanity to hell for not believing
what they believe? Isn’t it God’s job to judge? "But why dost
thou judge thy brother? Or why dost thou set at nought thy brother? For
we shall all stand before the judgment seat of Christ" (Romans
14:10)."Judge not,
that ye be not judged. For with what judgment ye judge, ye shall be
judged: and with what measure ye mete, it shall be measured to you
again. And why beholdest thou the mote that is in thy brother's eye,
but considerest not the beam that is in thine own eye? Or how wilt thou
say to thy brother, Let me pull out the mote out of thine eye; and, behold,
a beam is in thine own eye? Thou hypocrite, first cast out the beam out
of thine own eye; and then shalt thou see clearly to cast out the mote
out of thy brother's eye. Give not that which is holy unto the dogs,
neither cast ye your pearls before swine, lest they trample them under
their feet, and turn again and rend you." (Matthew 7:1-6).
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Here is a qualm I have
about a practice in the Muslim religion. The first time a man and a
woman consummate their marriage the man must pray to Allah asking that
the evilness that is within the woman be cleansed from her and not harm
him. So in essence, the man is saying the woman is evil. Correct me if
I'm wrong, but in the practice of the Muslim religion (not the religion
according to the Koran) women aren't allowed really to do much of
anything. This in itself would keep her from any really sinful acts,
but leave the man more open to them. So, the man would be coming to the
union with more sin on his soul. Wouldn't the man be the one with the
evil?
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Did you know that there
are over 9,000 religions worldwide? How can only one religion be right?
Here's a little theory. Suppose, in the beginning, there was that one
perfect religion. As time went on, and people spread, they took bits and
pieces of that one religion and turned it into their own. So, in all essence,
if you took all of the world’s religions and "put them back
together again" would we have the one true first religion?
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How about reincarnation.
This is for all of you who believe it is not possible because of the
excuse, "how can only a couple souls turn into 6 billion" (the human population).
Say that everything that is alive, including plants and animals, had
"souls" or life energy. Now, it could actually make sense.
Think about how many species of life have become extinct. Now you would
have enough souls or energy to account for the 6 billion people living
on this earth. Now say it was
energy more so than a soul. Would it be possible for energy or souls to
mix? If so, would that mean that no one has a pure soul?
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Here's one that some people actually believe might
be true. What if God was an alien? Yes, he'd still be the creator of
our world, but what if he was a highly evolved life form from way out
there with the ability to create life due to his nature of being? If
this was true, could human beings possibly evolve to that state and be able
to create life at will in the same manner in the distant future?
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Who decides which manuscripts are divinly inspired and which ones are not. This goes for all of the religious texts out there for all the religions. Just cause some Joe Shmo wrote some fantastic story down 3,000 years ago, or some idiot doped up on whatever drug was popular at the time wrote things he said were wise 4,000 years ago doesn't make them more intuned or more able to understand the divine. It is general concensus that mankind is pretty damn smart today. So why do we think people that lived a long time ago may be smarter? What, just cause they happened to be born way before us? Is that what gives them their power and authority?
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What is w/Islamic Extremist? I don't remember reading anything in the Koran about going about and killing innocents. Is it possible that these people have never read the Koran? Is this possibly just a great example of the strong preying on the weak? "You are poor and stupid so you know nothing. I say the Koran says this so you will do it...but I won't tell you it's because I'm a greedy, lieing bastard only interesting in my own power!"
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Oh, I have to share thoughts on Scientology w/all the hype lately. Why in the world would anyone want to follow a religion created by a sci-fi writer looking to escape paying taxes? That doesn't really seem like the credentials to start a religion, let alone a psuedo science that could really mess up a person's life. There is concrete evidence for mental illnesses and for some wack job of a religion to come by and try to discredit real science is very irresponsible (not to mention dangerous). Let me guess, we're going to be hearing how the kid w/ADD is just possessed w/a demon.
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Speaking of demons...there is a modern Christian group...the name escapes me right now, that believe that any and all ailments you have are caused by demon possession. Wow, germs and chemical imbalance are acutally demons!