Do you believe in Jesus Christ ?

[SussexHoop]

I was brought up a Catholic, I believe Jesus existed, I believe and hope there is life after death.

I have major issues with the church. The 'every sperm is holy' even in countries rife with AIDS or where people cannot afford to feed their kids, the constant money grabbing, an astonishingly rich organisation yet it leaves people living in abject poverty and the child abuse. They put a priest into our parish knowing he had been accused of abusing someone who was having problems, a parish with a primary school where he was a regular visitor. I believe he argued it wasn't child abuse as she was over 16 when he had sex with her, she disputes that. No police involvement, swept under the carpet like so many others. A disgusting, corrupt, immoral organisation ... imho.

A happy and peaceful Easter to you all.

 

[One Love]

The thing that always gets me on threads like these is that no religious person is having a go at those who choose not to believe, but those atheists/sceptics cannot help but feel the need to try and "convince" or belittle those that do.

So ask yourself, in general, which one is happier?

 

[Triggaaar]

how can you say 'educate' people when religion is a very good and positive aspect of their lives? The reason you shouldn't try to 'educate' anyone is because you have no right to. Just as they have no right to 'educate' you. Let people have their beliefs. You have your beliefs and they have theirs. No one can say they are right and everyone else is wrong.

This makes no sense. If everyone stops 'educating' others, then religion dies out. Religion only continues because children are preached to and told there is a god.

 

[Triggaaar]

The thing that always gets me on threads like these is that no religious person is having a go at those who choose not to believe, but those atheists/sceptics cannot help but feel the need to try and "convince" or belittle those that do.

That's a fair point. I'm sure there are several reasons. Most atheists have been preached to for years, and they're getting their own back. The majority of people here don't believe. People are moving away from religion. The atheists are right.

 

[Mutts Nuts]

That's a fair point. I'm sure there are several reasons. Most atheists have been preached to for years, and they're getting their own back. The majority of people here don't believe. People are moving away from religion. The atheists are right.

shirly KevtheRev will Know the answer

 

[PC-Gull]

I was brought up a Catholic, I believe Jesus existed, I believe and hope there is life after death.

I have major issues with the church. The 'every sperm is holy' even in countries rife with AIDS or where people cannot afford to feed their kids, the constant money grabbing, an astonishingly rich organisation yet it leaves people living in abject poverty and the child abuse. They put a priest into our parish knowing he had been accused of abusing someone who was having problems, a parish with a primary school where he was a regular visitor. I believe he argued it wasn't child abuse as she was over 16 when he had sex with her, she disputes that. No police involvement, swept under the carpet like so many others. A disgusting, corrupt, immoral organisation ... imho.

A happy and peaceful Easter to you all.

I have not had the same experience with the church as you've had, but I have nonetheless become disillusioned with it. I do not put any faith in the Church as an institution and feel that it is infested with contradictions. It feels it is infallible and therefore can do whatever it pleases. I am proud to call myself a Roman Catholic, but I have an education and I will not follow any person with blind belief. I have my own set of beliefs and live a life I can be happy with, and one that I believe God will be happy with. I am not perfect, as I am a person and therefore inherently flawed as is every other person. If God wanted us to be perfect, we would have been created that way. However, we have control over our actions and therefore capable of doing wrong. The Church has done wrong and their refusal to accept and admit that has driven many people away from it.
As I have said before, no one can say they are right and others are wrong. There is not just one way to live a good life, but it is up to us to find our own way of living a life that we can be proud of.

 

[Drumstick]

I have not had the same experience with the church as you've had, but I have nonetheless become disillusioned with it. I do not put any faith in the Church as an institution and feel that it is infested with contradictions. It feels it is infallible and therefore can do whatever it pleases. I am proud to call myself a Roman Catholic, but I have an education and I will not follow any person with blind belief. I have my own set of beliefs and live a life I can be happy with, and one that I believe God will be happy with. I am not perfect, as I am a person and therefore inherently flawed as is every other person. If God wanted us to be perfect, we would have been created that way. However, we have control over our actions and therefore capable of doing wrong. The Church has done wrong and their refusal to accept and admit that has driven many people away from it.
As I have said before, no one can say they are right and others are wrong. There is not just one way to live a good life, but it is up to us to find our own way of living a life that we can be proud of.

Nail on head.

 

[Drumstick]

This makes no sense. If everyone stops 'educating' others, then religion dies out. Religion only continues because children are preached to and told there is a god.

No one here is a child and is being preached too.

 

[PC-Gull]

This makes no sense. If everyone stops 'educating' others, then religion dies out. Religion only continues because children are preached to and told there is a god.

An education about this subject matter should be to tell children what people believe, from various religions as well as secular. This way the child can learn and make up their own mind as to what they believe. You seem to be preaching the idea to stop teaching religion all together or to teach that religion, although widely accepted, is wrong and should not be followed because that is what you believe. Don't forget that Atheism is a belief in there being no God. A belief is acceptance of something to be true without proof. You have no proof that no God exists, but you believe that to be the case.

 

[Mr Burns]

He no doubt existed. Was probably the equivalent of a modern day terrorist.

In fact, he is still delivering terror today.

How much happier would this world be if religion did not exist.

How much of the national debt could be repaid if every church was sold to a developer.

How many kids would not have been abused by clergy

How much money would hard pressed couples save by not marrying at a church

How many of us would be more intelligent by not wasting our school time learning about this crackpot

How many of us would have not wasted a Saturday evening by spending it in some church hall, 50 miles from home for some relative we hardly know

I'm sure many more can be added!

I hope your a woman, because that post turns me on

 

[TheJasperCo]

I am 100% atheist. I don't believe in Jesus any more than I think the Easter Bunny is real.

 

[Triggaaar]

No one here is a child and is being preached too.

We're talking about whether people are preached to in general, not just on here.

An education about this subject matter should be to tell children what people believe, from various religions as well as secular. This way the child can learn and make up their own mind as to what they believe.

But that's not what happens in our society.

You seem to be preaching the idea to stop teaching religion all together or to teach that religion, although widely accepted, is wrong and should not be followed because that is what you believe.

No - either stop preaching altogether, or if (as is the case) religion is preached, match that with education and atheism.

Don't forget that Atheism is a belief in there being no God. A belief is acceptance of something to be true without proof. You have no proof that no God exists, but you believe that to be the case.

I understand the argument that you're making, but it doesn't work that way, otherwise we'd all have infinite beliefs - ie, you would hold the belief that Inigo Calderon is not the creator. You would also hold the belief that they keyboard you are typing on it not god, etc etc. Mankind was born without belief. To not go along with the belief that others have is not a belief in itself.

 

[beardy gull]

I am 100% atheist. I don't believe in Jesus any more than I think the Easter Bunny is real.

Again, you are another confusing the historical person who has become known as Jesus and the Jesus of the christian faith. I am an atheist (not sure what a 100% atheist is) and believe that such a person did exist - Jesus that is, not the bunny.

 

[PC-Gull]

We're talking about whether people are preached to in general, not just on here.
But that's not what happens in our society.
match that with education and atheism.
I understand the argument that you're making, but it doesn't work that way, otherwise we'd all have infinite beliefs - ie, you would hold the belief that Inigo Calderon is not the creator. You would also hold the belief that they keyboard you are typing on it not god, etc etc. Mankind was born without belief. To not go along with the belief that others have is not a belief in itself.

It is the way it works when I teach religion. I do not teach one religion as being right and other being wrong. I teach what people believe and, because I find it interesting, I teach how the religions are similar to each other.
Now, if you simply disagreed with what people believe then fine that isn't a belief in itself, however you are speaking outright that they are wrong and that you are right. That becomes a belief. Your other examples are facetious and if ever stated would be used in jest to try and prove a point as you are doing. Case in point, look up the Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.

 

[Meade's Ball]

I don't think long and hard as to whether one man existed at one time or another. I like the world of exaggeration we've always seemed to live in, the world of invention outside of the lightbulb and the modem and the naked, Austrian, killer robot from the future. I like that we can't go back in time and really examine how this utter madness of faith first started and how our brains expanded directly enough to create in a world without understanding. I like that we can't travel into the future either and find out whether everyone will believe far off, or no one will once science has proven the fiction of godly fantasies, or that i start a cult inadvertently and have enough disciples to polish my ego and spread my seed with the aid of science to thousands of wombs the world over so that there'll be so many me-alikes that moobs become the acceptable and stylish norm and having one chin is the sign of a loser and sitting nervously and unspokenly in most room's corners is utterly cool. We humans are longers for sense in the most, an impossible wish to materialise. If it comes in the shape of a bearded boy from an unproven past, then so be it for some. If what we believe in most is an Eton-educated snoot who has no time for compassion or the merest element of self-doubt, then ok for others. If it happens to be in the form of a celebrity we deem most like ourselves and is best to follow and adore and idolise and, in the end, assassinate, just like little Jesus, then ok too. We want the gaps filled and the world, when we have enough time to think about it, to be as it should be, based on all we've read and seen and the insane ideas we had implanted into us by the deafening medium of opinion. We all need to believe. Even if that is in non-belief, no matter how lonely the non-structured world of the atheist can sometimes seem.

 

[Drumstick]

Again, you are another confusing the historical person who has become known as Jesus and the Jesus of the christian faith. I am an atheist (not sure what a 100% atheist is) and believe that such a person did exist - Jesus that is, not the bunny.

WhaWhaWhaWhat! He doesn't exist!

 

[Goodfella]

I am an atheist...........therefore i am my own god.

 

[TheJasperCo]

Again, you are another confusing the historical person who has become known as Jesus and the Jesus of the christian faith. I am an atheist (not sure what a 100% atheist is) and believe that such a person did exist - Jesus that is, not the bunny.

100% as in, there's no convincing me otherwise. Is this thread referring to some historical character who happened to go by the name Jesus Christ, or referring to a person who could supposedly heal the blind, cure leprosy, walk on water and feed 5000 people? I'm sure there may have been someone out there who was once called Jesus, but I don't for one minute believe in any of this "spirituality" business. Sorry.

 

[beardy gull]

100% as in, there's no convincing me otherwise. Is this thread referring to some historical character who happened to go by the name Jesus Christ, or referring to a person who could supposedly heal the blind, cure leprosy, walk on water and feed 5000 people? I'm sure there may have been someone out there who was once called Jesus, but I don't for one minute believe in any of this "spirituality" business. Sorry.

Oh, an atheist then.

 

[Triggaaar]

It is the way it works when I teach religion. I do not teach one religion as being right and other being wrong. I teach what people believe and, because I find it interesting, I teach how the religions are similar to each other.

If you are not stating 'historical events' as facts, then you are teaching, but there are others that are preaching.

Now, if you simply disagreed with what people believe then fine that isn't a belief in itself, however you are speaking outright that they are wrong and that you are right. That becomes a belief. Your other examples are facetious

That's ridiculous. So you accept it is not a belief to disagree with those that believe, but you say that to speak outright suddenly makes it a belief - nonsense. If you believe in God, and never tell a sole, that is still a belief. It's not about whether you tell others.

And if you don't like my facetious examples, fine, I have plenty more. There are hundreds of religions in the world, that people genuinely believe in. So, sticking to your argument, if you are Catholic, you believe (without proof) that hundreds of other religions are wrong, so therefore, as a Catholic, you have hundreds of different beliefs. So everyone in the world has the same number of beliefs, equal to the number of religions in the world. what bollox.

Religions started through a lack of understanding of nature, and a desire to control others. None of us were born believing, and to stay that way is not a belief.