FROM MY DISCUS ACCOUNT COMMENTS AND POSTS

Science and religion

Tricky thing is mystical ideas of God that he is very unlike us and virtually unknowable come from philosophy not the Bible. Doctrines such as spirit meaning something that has no parts are not in the Bible. The Bible never calls God spirit in that sense. Christianity smuggled in pagan philosophy and logic to create a system that on the face of it looks plausible. It does similar manipulations today with pretending that science and the Bible fit. The reality is that when the apostles said Jesus went up to Heaven on a cloud they thought he was going to live in the sky. And he gave that impression. Science finds no heaven up there. The believers read what they know back into the Bible. Thus they fail to see that it was a mythological product of its time. It's odd to say that the pagans really believed in magical squabbling gods and that the author of Genesis did not mean his tale literally. He did especially when it is tamer than what appears in other religions. Religion and "science" were not distinct then and its spindoctors pretend they are distinct now. If a religion is really true and not man-made it will not all that lying and adjusting to look sensible. 

How do atheists explain resurrection story of Jesus?

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/crossexamined/2017/08/atheist-explain-resurrection-story/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_campaign=Nonreligious&utm_content=44

The most important thing is to remember that the New Testament never actually says WHY the tomb was empty. If Jesus was stolen he could still have risen. The accounts say the stone was moved and there was nobody about all the time when that happened. Nobody says the body was gone then. The body could have been taken by anybody after the stone rolled back. The accounts of the appearances never tie him down to a physical time or place so it is really a Jesus who has such different properties that it hardly has much of a connection to what was buried. The believers in fairness admit that apparitions would not be enough to justify belief in the resurrection and they lie about the tomb being empty for Jesus vacated it via resurrection.

 
Ex-congresswoman Michele Bachmann is calling on Trump to reverse the ‘evil’ gay agenda

I hope the gays who give money to Christianity are proud of themselves. They enable an anti gay religion and their delusion has dangerous consequences as we see in the cast of that woman.
 
Policing criticism of Islam: the new Star Chamber

But it [Christianity] is also remarkable for approving of the past violence engaged in by divine command. Jesus refused to apologise for it or repudiate it. He even regarded Moses highly though Moses claimed God gave him the nasty commands. The followers of Jesus need to think about kettles and pots if they criticise Islam.

"On that account: We ordained for the Children of Israel that if anyone kills a person - unless it be for murder or for spreading mischief in the land - it would be as if they killed all people. And if any one saved a life, it would be as if they saved the life of all people."

(Holy Quran, Chapter 5, Verse 32). This verse could be read as saying honour killing is fine. And is a verse that makes out you are the same as mass murderer for killing one person really concerned about justice? No.

Discussion on PinkNews - Catholic Bishop claims debates on LGBT issues are like ‘arguing with an alcoholic’
 
The Church regards a book allegedly created by God through men as infallible on faith and morals. Jesus taught the Old Testament had no errors. God in it commands that gay men be tortured to death by stoning.

There is evidence that Jesus was an active homosexual though he certainly refused to admit that the murderous laws of his Bible that wanted gay men stoned was evil. Why aren't they going to bookshops and asking them to stop selling the Qur'an which says things like that Jesus was not God's son and did not die on the cross and that Muhammad was the best prophet and not Jesus?
 
The Bible mocks homosexuals by saying God demanded they be stoned to death. And are you stupid? If you are offended by something you look the other way for no two people are offended by the same things. But the offensive Christian faith deserves to be offended for trampling on the blood of gay men stoned to death thanks to the God Jesus worshipped!

EU chief under fire for hailing Castro as ‘hero for many’ despite persecution of gay men

Jesus Christ took responsibility for giving Moses a law that demanded that gay men be stoned to death along with statue worshippers and mediums and others. He went as far as to start the Sermon on the Mount by saying he had no intention of ever contradicting the law. The law was dropped by Christianity after his death for it could not afford to antagonise the liberal societies of Greece and Rome. Add him to your list.
 
Discussion on Slugger O'Toole Ashers lose appeal in ‘cake’ case

Ashers could have assumed the message on the cake was a windup. How did they know it was meant? They knew Lee was gay. They discriminated. What dreadful people the mc Arthurs are.
 
Stop calling the message on the cake a political one. Not all marriages are recognised by law. The Catholic Church does weddings after annulments and which do not fit the law of the land.

The Bible if people would read it is clear that it contains revelations in God’s own words that demand that adulteresses and children be stoned to death. Jesus preached hellfire without any regard for how that would effect sensitive scrupulous souls. I find the Bible offensive. Ashers would have no problem if I refused to print it on that basis and was forced to. It would not give me the right to stand up and object in Church to such a blasphemy against human dignity smeared in blood and innocent blood being honoured as the only infallible and good book.

It is clear that all the problems are caused by people of faith in religion. No secularist would have done what the bakery did even if they did believe gay sex or marriage was wrong.

Even if religion should be respectfully given exemptions that allow it to discriminate against people, it does not follow that religion should exist. Better get out of it folks and let it die out. Problem solved! Something has to be forced on everybody. If it is not religion it is going to be secularism. The good thing about secularism is that it minimises the forcing or should do. There is enough to force over without religion contributing. If religion gets the right to force it will soon look for this right in nearly everything.

The secular state cannot allow a religious person to argue that they must discriminate against another for their conscience says they must. That would drag the state into the area of judging if the religious person is sincere. To judge that, you have to judge if a sane person would believe what the person claims to believe. That means examining if the belief could be true and if there is good evidence in its favour. It would destroy religious freedom and cripple the nation in court-cases because there are many different faiths all disagreeing with one another. It destroys the secular principle that people of religious belief or who say they believe (even if they don't) should not get special treatment under the law. It is clearly unfair for one person to suffer just because another claims to believe something.

Any priest can absolve 'grave sin' of abortion, Pope rules

Priests forgiving sins is allegedly based on when Jesus told his disciples that whoever's sins they are forgiven and whoever's they retain are retained. In fact nothing in the Bible says this authority was passed on. It was a once off and we know the apostles never absolved sin. And what kind of God would keep a repentant person in sin until they get a priest? The doctrine is gross blasphemy.
 
Discussion on PinkNews - Catholic church: Banning gay cure therapy is ‘persecution’ against religion

This pope is worse than Ratzinger who said that gay sex is intrinsically disordered. He said that committed gay love has NO similarity at all with man and woman marriage. That is harsh even if you think gay love and gay sex are sins. Nothing is totally bad.
 
Grafton Is Dust

Don't condemn a religion just by what evil it does. Look at what evil it enables. The Church lets Catholics print extreme newspapers in its name. You cannot be excommunicated for saying gays must be put to death but you will if you say the notion of saints influencing God contradicts the notion that God is perfect and thus cannot be influenced. The Church is warped for having sex outside of marriage is banned in all circumstances while killing people is not. The Church is another creation of the human need to follow and spell out what is "good" not what is really good or for the best.
 
Discussion on Wake Up Call, 10 surprising truths about Jesus.

"Salvation is of the Jews". Jesus told the Samaritan woman that. Though Samaritans believed the same essentials as the Jews Jesus had a problem with her religion. Jesus is pointing to a faith that was based on scripture supposedly written by God which says plenty about divine anger and God wanting innocent people such as heretics and idol-worshippers and adulterers put to death by stoning the cruellest thing imaginable. This man is an over-rated role model. No truly good person tolerates evil in the name of religion or anything else.