The Bible is completely made up....

[Norset]

The older I get, the more I appreciate a moderate religion (most of Christianity in its current form). As I get even older, I will probably begin to publicly declare myself Christian and go to (a relatively sane) church.

As with everything in life, one choice opens up new problems. So, one must chose the lesser evil.

Whether you believe in an afterlife or not is the biggest divider, as Scorpion elaborated on.

Also Taleb shares his wisdom: "The mind abhors a vacuum"

 

[dk902]

The OP - I recommend Christopher Hitchens - God is not great, why religion poisons everything.

He creates a logical and well thought out argument against religion.

Also he systematically destroys the main religions, i.e. Islam, Judaism and Christianity and demonstrates how they're imitations of each other.

The language can be unnecessarily flowery and reads as a bit pretentious at times, but overall very engaging and a great read.

 

[TheCaptainPower]

The Catholic Church says you can't eat meat on Fridays during lent...What does that have to do with anything???

Most families order in mozzerella sticks and pizza on Friday's during lent as their "sacrifice"...

The more you try to organize religion, the more it just sounds like B.S to me...

 

[Merenguero]

The Catholic Church says you can't eat meat on Fridays during lent...What does that have to do with anything???

The story I heard was that one year, many fishermen in Northern Italy were having a slow season and went to the pope and asked for his help. The pope's solution was to forbid people from eating meat during a specific season in order to increase the chances that they would be buying/eating fish. I heard that story many years ago and never fully researched it, so I'm not completely sure.

 

[Yano]

I think of organized religion as a way to control the masses.

Religion is easy to preach and hard to prove wrong. Without control over the masses, civilization would have had a tough time becoming stable.

The world would be a Wild West style scenario in which daily activities would be rape, pillage, and then rape some more.

I like the Wild West.

 

[MrXY]

Don't believe the Bible if you guys think you're so smart

But you're all going to spend eternity up to your nostrils in a pit filled with the boiling dung of the Wholly Mammoth

 

[Kish]

I think of organized religion as a way to control the masses.

Religion is easy to preach and hard to prove wrong. Without control over the masses, civilization would have had a tough time becoming stable.

The world would be a Wild West style scenario in which daily activities would be rape, pillage, and then rape some more.

I like the Wild West.

Exactly. If i had physical evidence that there was no GOD...I'd burn the evidence and keep my mouth shut.

Society can't function without religion.

 

[TheCaptainPower]

I think I believe in a higher being, I just don't believe most of the bible stories...

 

[Fitzgerald]

Something to keep in mind about the bible is that it is NOT one book. Rather, it's a collection of religious texts used by the early Christian church. The early Christians were spread far and wide, there was no central authority until the Catholic Church, a tool of the Roman gov't, came about, and the ec's didn't all use the same books. Biblical canon wasn't established until the council of Trent in the 1400s. This is why there are contradictions and such, the bible is truly a compilation of dozens of different books.

Not a Christian, but Church history is an interest of mine.

 

[Clash1e]

Christian bible is a rip from the jewish one. Its hard to say the bible is complete bullshit when Jews who are likely the highest IQ group actually believe every word. I mean have you ever tried to to argue with a religious Jew? The more brighter ones have everything figured and will demolish every argument you have in a way that will make you think "hmm he may actually be right..."

Anyways I grew up atheist and I do think religion of some kind is required to keep society stable and advancing. Look at the West pre-atheism. More stability, more unity, highly advanced (compared to others at the time) and now look at it now... nuff said.

 

[InternationPlayboy]

I just don't understand how a believer can say that the bible is not supposed to be taken literally. It doesn't make sense. If that's the case then who decides what is literally and what is not and who's to say that that Heaven is even a place or that god is even real if the bible isn't to be taken literally?

 

[iknowexactly]

[
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Obviously aliens exist, foreheads and hair like that prove it.

 

[2Wycked]

I just don't understand how a believer can say that the bible is not supposed to be taken literally. It doesn't make sense. If that's the case then who decides what is literally and what is not and who's to say that that Heaven is even a place or that god is even real if the bible isn't to be taken literally?

I didn't want to get dragged into the last post about atheism, but I guess I'll bite. Literal interpretations of the Bible is just one strand of Biblical interpretation. Trust me, I have been through law school, and you can quibble over anything in the Bible. Like any other massive body of knowledge, it is very receptive to interpretation. While some quotes of parts of the Bible have been used to down the Bible, I am not going to touch that.

I will touch on two things: the necessity of an organizing morality and how religion does that.

Religion may be false in your eyes, but religion has existed in every civilization because you have to have a social guide for the socialization of the young. You need overarching social mores in order to have a orderly society.

We forget that because of our roots in Christianity. I might critique our Puritanical roots as much as anybody else, but understand we all Americans have descended from those roots. While Puritanism lead to many psychological problems in modern America, that mindset also led to this point - that that self-absorption lead to one of the greatest nations this world has ever known.

Someday, I will go to Sunday service with my wife and kids.

 

[InternationPlayboy]

Yeah, but you don't need religion to have social morals. I know you've met plenty of atheists who have much higher morals than many Christians.

 

[WanderingSoul]

Motherfuckers gonna burn.

 

[sheesh]

I just don't understand how a believer can say that the bible is not supposed to be taken literally. It doesn't make sense. If that's the case then who decides what is literally and what is not and who's to say that that Heaven is even a place or that god is even real if the bible isn't to be taken literally?

The bible has always been interpreted. If it weren't the case, we probably would have one "understanding" of Christianity but that's clearly not the case.

Protestantism e.g. is as diverse as it get's since every sect interprets the bible a bit differently.

I also don't think that a complex work as the bible can be taken literally at all, it's not possible and those who do are really fooling themselves.

 

[Derpface200]

So what if the bible is completely made up? It still makes for a great fairy tale.

Just don't pay too much attention to the plot holes or sloppy editing job. :angel:

 

[Parlay44]

The stories in the bible are metaphorical not literal. You're supposed to draw parallels between them and your own life experiences. The more people believe the same thing the tighter society is as a whole. It makes it easier for people to relate to each other and creates a sense of community.