something happened and all the answers to all the questions disappeared without being posted. Bummer. Guess God didn't want you guys to get handed all the answers. Guess he wants you all to do a bit of study and research into Jesus yourselves.

Bummer, I had good answers too!

[quote=Goon_G
My question is: Why does religion prioritize the human race? Humans have not been Homo sapien sapiens for an awfully long time. Precursor species like Australopithecus afarensis and Homo erectus roamed the earth much earlier and for considerably longer than we likely will. More specifically, why and what would make god be a human? That looks like us? Moreover a human from another dimension? Why wouldn't the god thing be a jellyfish? Or a snake? Or a Darkling beetle?

Sorry for the reference "god thing" I don't want to appear gender bias. Also, this is a real question of mine. I don't intend to come off as insulting or sarcastic ( as text can appear that way sometimes).
If my question doesn't seem clear I'd be happy to try to rephrase it as well.



[/quote]

Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all believe in the book of Genesis, and the account of creation given there. Within the creation account, God gives authority and responsibility of the world to mankind. He gives man dominion over the earth.

so I think the idea that man is prioritized over animals and other creatures is something we derive from the Bible.

but also, is is easy to observe that mankind is almost "alien" to this planet's species because we are of a higher intelligence than the reast of the creatures. Or maybe "intelligence" isnt' the right word... we are more "advanced" than animal species.

so there is the influence of divine revelation from God as the reason we value human life over other creatures, but it is also an observable truth that you don't necessarily need God to spell it out in order to recognize it as truth. Natural revelation shows Man as "higher" than all the other creatures on this planet.

Also, the idea that Man is made in the image of God is a Biblical revelation. I don't know of any natural revelation to suggest this.

Yea, I realize many atheist don't like atheism being called a 'religion'. My own personal logical view is that atheism is a world view that takes the place of or functions like any other belief system. So what makes one belief system a religion and another belief system not? going to church? I personally don't think church has much if anything to do with it all. I view churches as social clubs. They are like any other social club be it a car club, sports club, boy scouts, Kiwanis club, night club, or cannabis compassion club. Well, I suppose one view could be that the more habitually one attends there club of choice the more religious they are.

Anyway, I think that you would be wise to educate yourself as best you can on what ever belief system you profess to subscribe to. How else are you going to make sure that your getting your monies worth? You might want to shop around as you might find a better deal somewhere else



I would have to disagree with this but perhaps I'm looking in the the wrong places



I've been telling people that they will probably find this forum to be more enjoyable if they view it more as a dance and less as a debate. I'm not saying that there is anything wrong with debating or even arguing. However, if your going debate then you should probably have some rules for engagement. I personally recommend Brother Sam Singleton Atheist Evangelist rules for engagement




Yea, well it's easy to push the buttons of atheist's and turn him into a raging GodZilla as well I've been told to F-off and do more research more than once in this forum ... I was starting to think that's the perverted way that atheist's like to show there love

If you going looking through some of my old posts you might find that I can be real asshole at times. I'm really trying to be much nicer these days and I must say it takes a lot less effort to be nice than it does to be an asshole However, I must confess that I'm a bit amused that I can still push peoples buttons with so little effort

Hopefully one of these days y'all will be strong enough to at least make it more difficult for assholes like myself

As I stated earlier in this thread I believe that Hell is for the perfection of fear. What I didn't mention is that I believe Heaven is for the perfection of love. Fear is the beginning of wisdom but love is the end if there is such a thing as the end.

I just bumped an old thread of mine that might clarify where I'm coming from a little better. Check out Perfect Fear Casts Out All "Luv" and feel free to continue this conversation in that thread if you want

I do recognize that the books of the bible were collected by men, but they were given to mankind by God. I accept the 66 books of the protestant bible. The Catholics beliee a few more (called the apocrypha) are inspired. Eastern orthodox and ethiopian coptics have upwards of 80 books they claima re inspired.
I believe in all the books that Jesus quoted from, that were in the temples where Jesus taught during his time, and all of the writings of the new testament that were circulated and accepted by the early church.
I read the other books, but I don't think they're "God breathed" which I will get into more.

1. I believe the bible is 100% man, 100% God. I believe the men who wrote scripture were borne along by God as they wrote/spoke and had others write down what they said. "GOd breathed" or ""God exhaled" or "God perspired/ inspired" fully God's word, fully written down and gathered together by man.

What we have in the Bible is the evidences necessary to reveal God as Jesus Christ, in a way that only an all pwerful all knowing God could do. And it speaks an everlasting truth that is profitable as a guide for life.

2. I don't so much think that, if it doesn't come from the Bible it is evil; but I do believe that the Bible is an accurate divine revelation of the Truth. Some truths are of a natural revelation, but the truths of the bible are revealed to us, given. We couldn't grasp them without them being given to us.

let me give you an example in where the Bible warns us and predicts pot prohibition;
1 TIMOTHY 4:1 Now the Spirit explicitly says that in the later times some will desert the faith and occupy themselves with deceiving spirits and demonic teachings, 4:2 influenced by the hypocrisy of liars whose consciences are seared. 4:3 They will prohibit marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth."


you see how that is just "given" to us. Could science possibly study human nature, power and authority, soceity and soceity rule, to the point of giving us such an accurate prediction of how $#!^ works out in life?

I mean, they have a hard time predicting the weather a few weeks from now. This prediction, (which has come true over and over again in history)was given thousands of years ago, and we see it occur over and over again in various cultures and systems of soceity, this idea of someone controlling someone eles diet. It seems to be human nature to try and control people like this.

My point is, that it would take scientists a long time to develop this hypothesis about prohibition. But in the Bible, it is just "given" to us. It's a divine revelation about how things will turn out... and it's observably true in our lives today.

THe Bible does stuff like that over and over again. It makes me believe in it's inspiration by God.

Thank you for your response Antipas, I appreciate your words. But, I have to disagree with the emboldened statement above. My original point was that we are all products from the same mechanism. Beetles, birds, lizards, fish, humans have all been subject to long term modification for survival.

That being said, I think it is not obvious that we are a higher species. We are simply just a different shape of atoms.

... a different shape of atoms that has dominion over all the other shapes of atoms on the planet, kind of what like the Bible says about it- Man has dominion over all the earth. you're missing something if you can't observe that we're the top of the food chain around here...

Just to show that I'm not some Christian Bashing Godaphobic I'll pass off this interesting article I got today in the NaturalNews.com newsletter.

Titled: Drugs: The Epitome of Frustration (Opinion), by a Hesh Goldstein.

Gave me food for thought and I thought it might do the same for others.

Too long to copy and paste here so I'll just post a bit and supply a link.


Full Article

you would enjoy the book Ecclesiastes. It doesn't take that long to read. here-
https://net.bible.org/#!bible/Ecclesiastes

"The one who loves money will never be satisfied with money, he who loves wealth will never be satisfied with his income. This also is futile. When someone’s prosperity increases, those who consume it also increase; so what does its owner gain, except that he gets to see it with his eyes?
The sleep of the laborer is pleasant – whether he eats little or much –but the wealth of the rich will not allow him to sleep."


the way I see it, we have a body, soul, and spirit. How do you see "spirit" and would you distinguish between a "spirit" and a "soul"?