Quote (CPK001 @ Dec 13 2016 06:25pm)

Earning salvation is what the other religions are all about. The thing is about those religions is that they are all man-made. You can tell they are man-made because they are based on how humans think. Work hard and earn reward. Yet with Christianity it is the complete opposite. That is what makes it unique and the basis of our salvation is that the hard work has already been done.

The Bible itself is not the creator of morality, rather the author of salvation is the creator of morality. God almighty is who created the Universe in 7 days through his word.

So that is your hope, how would you go about achieving that outcome? I would love to hear your thoughts and tactics. I mean doesn't the human mind teach you that if you sit and do nothing then nothing will be achieved? So you think you know what life will be like without religion, what basis do you put that belief on? I mean people will always murder, lie, cheat and steal whether they are religious or not. There will still be wars and hate. How do you think removing religion alone will solve the problem?

You really don't know that much about Christianity do you? You say that you are not the greatest person yet you do not believe you deserve to be condemned to hell. Tell me why you think that is the case. At what point does somebody deserve to go to hell, according to what you believe?

Quote (Impose @ Dec 14 2016 12:54pm)

I know quite a bit about religion, so please don't make the mistake of assuming I'm some clueless 19 year old on facebook spouting out something that Dawkins said one time that seemed like it was infallible.

What basis do I believe life without religion would be fine? Because the human race survived before organized religion. It will survive without it. I never implied that removing religion would solve the issues that plague humanity, I just believe it will be a step in the right direction. Religion impedes progress, lies to its congregation, shelters abusers, is inherently sexist, and has a host of other things that I don't much like. Do I think YOU as a Christian are a detriment to society? No of course I don't.

As for your second question, I don' t believe in hell so that would be a bit hard hard to quantify.

Quote (CPK001 @ Dec 13 2016 08:50pm)

When was this period of time before organized religion? I would really like to know this research you have done.

Even so, doesn't religion tell you to do good things for other people? What happens if people do not follow religion and have nobody telling them to do good things? Won't they eventually fall in despair or do many evil things?
Doesn't religion change people's lives when they have hit rock bottom?

So you don't believe in the afterlife. If that is the case then why do you care so much about what we believe? Why do you care so much about religion that you think it should be wiped off the face of the Earth if you don't believe in the afterlife? What makes you keep coming back here and replying to me?

Quote (Impose @ Dec 13 2016 10:12pm)

The period of time before organized religion? Anything pre Judaism really.

Does religion tell you to do good things for other people? Yes. That doesn't mean you have a monopoly on doing good for others.

What happens if people do not follow religion and have nobody telling them to do good things? Once again you make the mistake, like so many religious individuals, that without religion you cannot have morality. The human race had morality and law pre religion. it will have it post religion as well.

Won't they eventually fall into despair or do many evil things? Simply put, no. The human race is capable of enough evil things, religion has no bearing on that.

Why do I care so much what you believe? I care because I do not view religion as a positive force in the world. And every single person who believes in it is capable of brainwashing children at a young age into believing things that are simply not true. It teaches them to be content with being told what to do. To obey. Various other things.

Why do you care so much about religion that you think it should be wiped off the face of the Earth if you don't believe in the afterlife? The first part of the question doesn't have anything to do with the second. I just answered the first part. The second part has nothing to do with the it.

What makes you keep coming back here and replying to me? I enjoy discussions. Sharing ideas. It's not a hostile argument, so I see no reason to not engage in it. I haven't been surprised by anything a Christian has said in a while but perhaps you may have a viewpoint different of others I have discussed things of this nature with. Who knows?

Quote (ofthevoid @ Dec 13 2016 11:34pm)

You really don't know what you're talking about. Religion defined morality. Much of the western modern day legal systems can be traced back to judeo Christian values that were built upon for hundreds of years. Before christianity slavery, violence, genocide & various kinds of oppressions were common place. Post Christianity they still existed but as Christianity spread and history progressed those things decreased, a direct effect of Christian values. I don't have the time nor will to belabor this point but the idiotic statements you make run contrary to historical facts. If you're going to make such grandiose claims of enlightenment at least know a little history friend.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Dec 13 2016 10:37pm)

Still waiting, after several months, for you to give any kind of evidence that the rates of these went down after the inception of Christianity, because those things were all common for literally thousands of years AFTER Christianity.

Do you know what actually reduced the rates of violence, genocide, and slavery? The industrial revolution.....

Quote (ofthevoid @ Dec 13 2016 11:41pm)

Conveniently you ignored the scholarly paper i posted on the impact of christinization on the Roman Empire. Look up that thread and go read the paper and what the first Christian Roman emperor did for "libertas"

Quote (ofthevoid @ Dec 13 2016 09:34pm)

You really don't know what you're talking about. Religion defined morality. You have to go back really far back to hunter & gatherer type of societies and look at what life was like before religion. Morality wasn't even a thought, people operated almost exclusively in self interest. Much of the western modern day legal systems can be traced back to judeo Christian values that were built upon for hundreds of years. Before christianity slavery, violence, genocide & various kinds of oppressions were common place. Post Christianity they still existed but as Christianity spread and history progressed those things decreased, a direct effect of Christian values. I don't have the time nor will to belabor this point but the idiotic statements you make run contrary to historical facts. If you're going to make such grandiose claims of enlightenment at least know a little history friend.

Quote (Thor123422 @ Dec 13 2016 11:46pm)

I don't see it. Which post specifically?