Thoughts on the Existence of the Universe

[Baruch]

Rhetorical language ...

"Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

What, in a non-literal way, is the author trying to say?  And why do atheists have to repeat the mistake of the religious, in taking scripture literally?

Here is one idea ... during the siege of Jerusalem, during 70 CE ... Jews tried to escape thru the Roman blockade.  A rumor developed that Jews escaping Jerusalem would swallow gold coins, to take with them, when they escaped.  So the soldiers of General Titus, would disembowel Jewish escapees if caught, in the hope that they would find gold in their bellies.

[LittleNipper]

If the bible is the word of God, and is inerrant then explain (there are hundreds of contradiction, I only picked two):

(1) MAT 1:16 And Jacob begat Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom was born Jesus, who is called Christ.

LUK 3:23 And Jesus himself began to be about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, which was the son of Heli.


(2)MAT 27:5"And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests...bought with them the potter's field."

ACT 1:18"Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

(2)MAT 27:5"And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests...bought with them the potter's field."

ACT 1:18"Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

The simple fact here is that Judas was paid for his betrayal of Jesus. That money paid for Judas' burial place. This happened to be the field where he hanged himself. It would seem as his corpse rotted it fell and burst open. Everyone likely knew who Judas was especially around Jerusalem. The priests had gathered the money up and not wishing to "steal" or receive "blood money" gave it to the owner of the field stuck with the rotting carrion.

I figured this one out when I was a little kid. This is not rocket science.

[josephpalazzo]

(2)MAT 27:5"And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests...bought with them the potter's field."

ACT 1:18"Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

The simple fact here is that Judas was paid for his betrayal of Jesus. That money paid for Judas' burial place. This happened to be the field where he hanged himself. It would seem as his corpse rotted it fell and burst open. Everyone likely knew who Judas was especially around Jerusalem. The priests had gathered the money up and not wishing to "steal" or receive "blood money" gave it to the owner of the field stuck with the rotting carrion.

I figured this one out when I was a little kid. This is not rocket science.

Indeed you can always add details, only because the original story is FICTIONAL to start with. A god who would want to leave a legacy that can determine if you go to heaven or hell would make sure the story left behind isn't fictional. A sloppy god isn't worth of my time and energy. But carry on.

[Mike Cl]

(2)MAT 27:5"And he (Judas) cast down the pieces of silver in the temple, and departed, and went and hanged himself. And the chief priests...bought with them the potter's field."

ACT 1:18"Now this man (Judas) purchased a field with the reward of iniquity; and falling headlong, he burst asunder in the midst, and all his bowels gushed out."

The simple fact here is that Judas was paid for his betrayal of Jesus. That money paid for Judas' burial place. This happened to be the field where he hanged himself. It would seem as his corpse rotted it fell and burst open. Everyone likely knew who Judas was especially around Jerusalem. The priests had gathered the money up and not wishing to "steal" or receive "blood money" gave it to the owner of the field stuck with the rotting carrion.

I figured this one out when I was a little kid. This is not rocket science.

Nothing about you suggests, Nipper, that you would know 'rocket science' if you saw it.  Your 'solution' does not jibe with the facts as presented by these two passages.  You can push and pull all you want, wish that your solution was so, and have faith that it is.  But that proves only that you are guided (???) by only blind faith.  Facts and reasons and critical thinking (because those things are of the devil, no doubt) don't enter into your existence.  I really do feel sorry for you and your blindness following such a sick and evil belief system. 

[Sal1981]

When, exactly, is Jesus supposed to return?

I want to be dressed properly for the occasion.

[stromboli]

When, exactly, is Jesus supposed to return?

I want to be dressed properly for the occasion.

He'll be riding six white horses when he comes..... better bring beer, the party has been going for 2 millennia. Dude is late.

[LittleNipper]

Nothing about you suggests, Nipper, that you would know 'rocket science' if you saw it.  Your 'solution' does not jibe with the facts as presented by these two passages.  You can push and pull all you want, wish that your solution was so, and have faith that it is.  But that proves only that you are guided (???) by only blind faith.  Facts and reasons and critical thinking (because those things are of the devil, no doubt) don't enter into your existence.  I really do feel sorry for you and your blindness following such a sick and evil belief system.

And you hate to be proven wrong, otherwise you wouldn't be trying to suggest Jesus never existed without any historic validation. I pity you, because you have no future I'd ever desire.

[aitm]

It seems to me that the only way God could become human and demonstrate His love was to become human with intent to sacrifice Himself.

What a crock of shit. God didn't sacrifice himself, he can't die, jesus didn't sacrifice himself if he know all along he was going from a goat herder to a god. You are a complete babbling i_ _ _ _t.

God now has a body and Christians will inherit a body like Christ's.

You poor deluded t_ _ _ _. I hope you don't have children, the idea that more of you nut jobs will be walking around is why we need "danger" signs everywhere. Luckily for us, the religious are slowly dying out and people with common sense, reason and intelligence are taking "your" place. H

[stromboli]

Lol. One for you, big guy. 

http://instantrimshot.com/

[LittleNipper]

What a crock of ____. God didn't sacrifice himself, he can't die, jesus didn't sacrifice himself if he know all along he was going from a goat herder to a god. You are a complete babbling i_ _ _ _t.You poor deluded t_ _ _ _. I hope you don't have children, the idea that more of you nut jobs will be walking around is why we need "danger" signs everywhere. Luckily for us, the religious are slowly dying out and people with common sense, reason and intelligence are taking "your" place. H

Actually, there are more people today embracing paganism then ever before. Christianity is a free relationship between God and man through Christ. Paganism is embracing special personal abilities and secret knowledge. A Christian on the other hand is very open about what he believes and happy to share it with anyone. The only delusional folks I observe are those who are out to prove God is not real and offer no happy alternative. Kind of like offering an empty basket to starving individuals.

[aitm]

"Actually" christians are an embarrassing group of people with a grand arrogance in their fairy tale that they ignore the history of religion.
They claim all the other "gods" are made up, ignoring the obvious implications to their own myth.
They ignore the factual evidence that links all their fairy tales to previous fairy tales, concluding that those previous are simply poo-poo.
They ignore the real proven science that shows the history and evolution of religion throughout the world and how they came about, choosing instead to believe that a god that can create the world but is stymied by iron wheels is really a superior idea.
They laugh at the same fairy tales other religions have that are exactly the same as their own, but claim their fairy tales is right because god told them so.
But worse than all of this is the absolute absurdity that is the babble, which is so full of retarded concepts, ignorant ideas, and downright laughable plots that they appear to normal people to be complete morons.
Lastly, of course is simple simple observation and common sense. If one can grasp the shear vastness of space, realizing how utterly minute our entire galaxy is let alone our own solar system, the concept of a "god", is incredulous. But even more, that a god that would create such a magnitude would be befuddled by a womans period and actually decide that a woman should have her hand cut off for having the audacity to help save her husbands life by grabbing an attackers testicles, or even of more astonishment of such a powerful god...that to consider that tatoo's are an abomination to him, but he champions killing children and raping little girls.

No sir, you are a sick perverted pos that would consider THAT a god, and one to worship to boot. You are what makes humanity disgusting.

[The Atheist]

Good piece of self delusion, Randy.  Seems like you are a good little christian.  Only problem with you little story is that that is what it is--a story.  The universe could have been formed from the stuff of another universe--some think that black holes suck in energy, and at a certain point that energy breaks away and forms another universe.  Hence the big bang--and that energy does not need to come from super-natural or other than natural sources.  God is not needed.  If you prefer to think god is needed, then where did god come from?  Another god?  Is your god like the nesting Russian dolls, except in an infinite fashion?  Seems so.

In The God Delusion, Richard Dawkins offers this criticism against the existence of a complex god: Where did the complex god come from? Who or what created the complex god?

On the surface, it seems like a good argument, but as I thought more about it, I became disappointed. After all, that argument can be made against the universe itself, and whatever answer you use to justify the universe's existence can be used to justify a complex god's existence. (The universe created itself? Then so did god. The universe always existed? Then so did god. So on and so on.)

Personally, I believe that religion is an attempt to answer two basic questions: What purpose, if any, is there to life, and is there a higher intelligence out there?

When it comes to these two questions, I'm genuinely agnostic. I see no evidence to suppose there is a purpose or a higher intelligence, but I'm also not confident enough to rule it out. However, when it comes to the deities of every religion I've encountered so far, not one is worthy of my belief. In this sense, I'm 100% confident in my atheism.

[The Atheist]

Actually, there are more people today embracing paganism then ever before. Christianity is a free relationship between God and man through Christ. Paganism is embracing special personal abilities and secret knowledge. A Christian on the other hand is very open about what he believes and happy to share it with anyone. The only delusional folks I observe are those who are out to prove God is not real and offer no happy alternative. Kind of like offering an empty basket to starving individuals.

I think that generic new-ageism is going to replace religion. There's a large market for books on reincarnation and NDEs, and for many people, this is like religion...but with [alleged] evidence to point to in the face of criticism.

[Sargon The Grape]

The only delusional folks I observe are those who are out to prove God is not real and offer no happy alternative.

"The fact that a believer is happier than a skeptic is no more to the point than the fact that a drunken man is happier than a sober one."
~ George Bernard Shaw

[Baruch]

I think that generic new-ageism is going to replace religion. There's a large market for books on reincarnation and NDEs, and for many people, this is like religion...but with [alleged] evidence to point to in the face of criticism.

People are less social now, particularly with their iCrap.  So basically religion will be an app, that you can play with on your own ;-)