Jan 31, 2010 -- 2:28PM, Dutch777 wrote:

Stephen:

The prior reference to the book Holy Horrors, I presume, is made to this volumn:

www.centerforinquiry.net/oncampus/events/james_haught_in_daytona_beach_032209/

I read the book several years ago and found it factual and fascinating.

A previous poster gave a catalogue of biblical quototations.  The lowest level of theological sophistication, of course, is proof-texting.  In a discussion where one or more participants do not accept the authority of scripture (bible, Koran, Tripitaka, etc.), quoting scripture is a pointless exercise.

Dutch

Hello Dutch:

Thank you for finding this new topic site without any prompting from me.  For those who are new to this new topic site, or more accurately, to my constant prosletyzing for the Religion Of Truth, Dutch is an old acquaintance from my old site which was called StephenK.Adams.  It can only be accessed from the Archives which can be reached as follows: ---  I am sorry but the hyperlink that I created does NOT take you into the Archives site.  Perhaps someone with more computer"know how" than I have, will provide the correct link for those who are reading these messages.  

Although I copied those quotes from the actual book, thank you for providing a link for other readers who are browsing this new topic site and still deciding whether to post or not.   Just by coincidence, I recently came across the following article from the Toronto Star newspaper dated April 13, 1996. 

I put it in my wallet as if I knew that eventually its use would present itself on this site.  I did'nt know that it would be the very next day.  I know that people want to forget about religion and they are sick of the endless bickering about one religion's authenticity or another.

In that regard one could say that I am no different except in this one area.  I do not say that I have a lock on the truth which demands that what I say must be accepted as absolute.  I know that the human race increases its knowledge and in spite of religion's desire to resist change, --- change occurs whether those religions like it or not.  In fact the only thing permanent in life is change itself.  Instead of ranting on ad infinitum as is somethimes my wont,  here is the article that I referred to above:

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"You call it suicide bombs or whatever.  We say martydom operations.  They are not ignorant, they are not illiterates, they are nor poor people."  Many voluteers are affluent and educated, eager for the chance to strap bombs to their bodies. 

Hezbollah, Nasrallah says, doesn't brainwash them, or pay them off (or their families.)  "They are believers in God, Allah, and they have this religion that pushes them to do this." he (Nasrallah) says.  We sacrifice this life for the sake of the eternal,peaceful and just life.  And I believe this is reasonable, and this is natural."

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I know, I know, crying wolf gets boring when nothing happens.  But can you honestly say that nothing has happened in this vein since this article was written in April 1996?  Can you honestly believe that this problem will just go away if we look the other way and let "God" look after it?   I suppose one could say that Churchill cried wolf about the Nazis and was ignored for the prime minister's job until it was almost to late.

Perhaps he-man will enjoy my paraphrasing of the Bible when I say that sometimes I feel like I am that ilone ndividual crying in the wilderness.  But alas I know better.  I am not alone in these kind of thoughts.  There is an astonishing number of what is quaintly called "the silent majority" waiting for someone to show them the way.  

I am asking that you give me that opportunity.  Not for some kind of aggrandisement for myself, but as I say on one of my open blog entries in this Other Beliefs site, --- I do it in an attempt to thank my Creator for having given me the chance to experience the incredible miracle of life.  Long live the human race!  Long live the truth!       

Hello:

Although Christianity puts forward good rules for living a decent life, because of its superstitious (supernatural) foundation, it will never achieve the level of success that its creators envisioned for it.   In fact, all superstitious religious belief systems will ultimately fail.   The only question left to be answered is when.  Unfortunately for the human race itself, it might take another 100 or 200 years before this ultimate and totally rejection comes to pass.

Believing in heaven and hell, a virgin birth, the resurrection, --- etc. etc.,  is indeed, a study in irrationality.   It would be similar to an astronaut looking out of the window of his spacecraft at the planet earth and then uttering the following irrational words:  “ I still believe that the earth is flat.”

About the religion of Truth, I was touched into asking if the author of the OP does even understand what the Truth is. In a prayer of his, Jesus once said that the Truth is the Word of God, according to John 17:17. He might have been meditating on Psalm 147:19,20 where we read that the Word of God was given to Israel only and to no other people on earth. Therefore, we are now aware that the religion of Truth is Judaism. So much so that, according to Isaiah 2:2,3, whenever Gentiles are interested in learning the Word of God, the address must be Zion, which is a synonym with the Jewish People. Or Jerusalem where the Word of God is supposed to come from.

Ben