jakee 1,489 #376 December 9, 2008 QuoteStop avoiding the question with a question of your own Jesus was simply a man who was able to motivate a number of people into thinking he was magic. That's nothing unique. It's not even particularly unusual. Why does there need to be more to it than that? What more was there to Mohammed, or Buddha, or Joseph Smith?Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #377 December 9, 2008 Mohammed had a whole army to back him up. Jesus did not. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,489 #378 December 9, 2008 QuoteMohammed had a whole army to back him up. Jesus did not. An army of people who believed he was a prophet of god. The way he used them was different from Jesus, not the way he gained them.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
SpeedRacer 1 #379 December 9, 2008 Um, well, Mohammed's army was....ARMED! In other words, armed warriors who could invade cities & convert at the point of a sword. The Apostles & Jesus's other followers (when he was alive) didn't do that. So even if you don't accept Jesus's divinity, Jesus did become the most important & influential human being who ever lived and did it without armed forces backing him up. Speed Racer -------------------------------------------------- Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #380 December 9, 2008 QuoteJust as one can prove the sequence of zeros and ones in a computer were created so to can the complex encoding of DNA was created. DNA result in complexity far beyond what we have yet to replicate through our own "creations" yet it happened by accident? No real explanation as to how just that it happened? Yes, we can produce DNA synthetically: oligonucleotide synthesis & gene synthesis. Iirc, current cost is ~50 cents per base pair. The virus, polio, has been chemically synthesized and it was physiologically active (the mice got sick). That took close to 2 years. Subsequently, a bacteriophage (a virus for bacteria), was synthesized in less than a month (2 weeks, iirc). Proteins can be designed and created from 'scratch': de novo synthesis of proteins (one of my favorite researchers in the area is Prof Les Dutton from U Penn; he calls them "maquettes"), RNA, and DNA. That in addition to this. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tkhayes 348 #381 December 9, 2008 Quote Um, well, Mohammed's army was....ARMED! In other words, armed warriors who could invade cities & convert at the point of a sword. The Apostles & Jesus's other followers (when he was alive) didn't do that. No, but the DEVOUT FOLLOWERS of Jesus killed and invaded for 2000 years (in his good name), and given what goes on in the US Military today, it is still ongoing...... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
shropshire 0 #382 December 9, 2008 ... ouch ... that's going to leave a mark (.)Y(.) Chivalry is not dead; it only sleeps for want of work to do. - Jerome K Jerome Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
nerdgirl 0 #383 December 9, 2008 QuoteNo, but the DEVOUT FOLLOWERS of Jesus killed and invaded for 2000 years (in his good name), and given what goes on in the US Military today, it is still ongoing...... Would you provide an example or two of what you are referring to in the last phrase, specifically w/r/t the US military? Thanks. VR/Marg Act as if everything you do matters, while laughing at yourself for thinking anything you do matters. Tibetan Buddhist saying Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tkhayes 348 #384 December 9, 2008 sure http://www.google.com/search?q=christians+in+the+military&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a I'm not saying that it is a 'christian war'. But I am saying that there are PLENTY of Christians in the military, including a lot of brass, that firmly believe they are doing 'god's work' by invading and killing people. Much like there are plenty of Muslims that feel they are doing 'Allah's work' by killing the infidels. It scares me (on both sides) when these people are holding weapons. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
billvon 2,991 #385 December 9, 2008 >But I am saying that there are PLENTY of Christians in the military, including >a lot of brass, that firmly believe they are doing 'god's work' by invading and >killing people. No doubt. (See picture.) But there are people in the military who believe a wide variety of things, from somewhat realistic (i.e. defending the US) to downright scary (i.e. killing Arab vermin.) That is very different from waging a religious war. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
labrys 0 #386 December 9, 2008 QuoteWould you provide an example or two of what you are referring to in the last phrase, specifically w/r/t the US military? Thanks. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/58866/ http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200303/s819685.htm Maybe related?Owned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
tkhayes 348 #387 December 9, 2008 yes but the original point was eluding to Jesus' followers and 'non-violence' There is plenty of violence to go around - much of it perpetrated by religion and religious views. Reason #57 to stay atheist for me. "If there was no religion, there would be no evil" Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,489 #388 December 9, 2008 QuoteUm, well, Mohammed's army was....ARMED! An army of people who believed he was a prophet of god. The way he used them was different from Jesus, not the way he gained them. QuoteSo even if you don't accept Jesus's divinity, Jesus did become the most important & influential human being who ever lived and did it without armed forces backing him up. That's not true. Jesus didn't have an army himself, but the influence of christianity has been spread through conquest and force ever since.Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
kallend 2,027 #389 December 10, 2008 QuoteUm, well, Mohammed's army was....ARMED! In other words, armed warriors who could invade cities & convert at the point of a sword. The Apostles & Jesus's other followers (when he was alive) didn't do that. So even if you don't accept Jesus's divinity, Jesus did become the most important & influential human being who ever lived and did it without armed forces backing him up. That didn't happen until it became politically expedient for the Emperor Constantine to make it happen.... The only sure way to survive a canopy collision is not to have one. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Coreece 190 #390 December 10, 2008 Quote"If there was no religion, there would be no evil" No it would just be called something else... ...this the stupidest thing I ever heard anyway....completley careless.Your secrets are the true reflection of who you really are... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
feuergnom 28 #391 December 10, 2008 QuoteQuoteWould you provide an example or two of what you are referring to in the last phrase, specifically w/r/t the US military? Thanks. http://www.alternet.org/blogs/video/58866/ http://www.abc.net.au/news/newsitems/200303/s819685.htm Maybe related? this is for real?The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle dudeist skydiver # 666 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
labrys 0 #392 December 10, 2008 Quote this is for real? This is for real. Owned by Remi #? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
vortexring 0 #393 December 10, 2008 Quote Quote Stop avoiding the question with a question of your own Jesus was simply a man who was able to motivate a number of people into thinking he was magic. Ok. Then they all went off and wrote literature about Jesus the Magician. . . 'for it's Tommy this, an' Tommy that, an' "chuck 'im out, the brute!" But it's "saviour of 'is country" when the guns begin to shoot.' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
jakee 1,489 #394 December 10, 2008 Quote Quote Quote Stop avoiding the question with a question of your own Jesus was simply a man who was able to motivate a number of people into thinking he was magic. Ok. Then they all went off and wrote literature about Jesus the Magician. . . Exactly. (Well, not all of them, just a few.) Why does there need to be more to it than that? What more was there to Mohammed, or Buddha, or Joseph Smith?Do you want to have an ideagasm? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
philh 0 #395 December 10, 2008 Ok. Then they all went off and wrote literature about Jesus the Magician. . . Its likely that those who wrote the Gospels were convinced of his divinity, that doesnt make it so though. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pirana 0 #396 December 10, 2008 Quote If it's just inheritance, how did it all begin in every society throughout the Worlds history? One last thing; most scientists in the 19th century believed in something called the aether, there were very good reasons to believe it existed. However it turned out that the aether didnt exist, Einstiens theory of reltativity made it redundant and superflous. Sure - and no doubt people will look back at todays scientists and laugh their bald heads off!That's pretty well covered, and supported by archaeological evidence. Worship of inanimate objects, worship of celestial objects, respect for elders (first as living beings, then as deceased beings), and so on. Pagan worship morphed into organized religion over long periods of time. No mystery about that. As far as laughing at scientists. Sure, some of them were pretty silly (healing by electrical shock); but many silly ideas only needed further observation and refinement by future generations to become very solid. (Democritus and his a-tom theory). The ether may also not have been as zany as once thought; what with current theories about Higgs field, virtual particles, massless particles, etc. C'mon, Einstein wasn't laughable. Well, maybe except for the hair." . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
pirana 0 #397 December 10, 2008 Quote "reactionary moronic ramblings of dogma-driven whackos." Wow--another defender of the realm falling on ad hominem. How typical. Not meant as a personal attack. Apologies if it came off that way. All wackos are equal in my eyes. Wacko is as wacko does. If this decsribes a person's belief: "The belief that a cosmic Jewish zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree . . . yeah, makes perfect sense." . . . then it seems wackoness is a foregone conclusion." . . . the lust for power can be just as completely satisfied by suggesting people into loving their servitude as by flogging them and kicking them into obedience." -- Aldous Huxley Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
