Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
Belief is not the issue. If people said "I have faith in my belief, and don't need proof", then there would be no issue. The point is some people need proof, and there is none, so they make it up , and then rationalize their invention.
Gender: Female Location: at the second star to the right
Not that I'll convince you, but things that defy our imaginations happen all the time. If you're God, why couldn't you make yourself fully God and fully human? Just because humans can't do it doesn't mean it's impossible.
Gender: Female Location: at the second star to the right
You laugh, but what we once thought impossible and fantasy is now real. Who would have thought just 300 years ago that we would be able to fly? Although with the state of the airlines nowadays, that dream might fade away, lol.
You seem very analytical and I like that, but the problem a lot of people have with anything in the Bible is that it stretches their concept of what is possible. Virgin births are impossible, turning water into wine is impossible, etc. It's not about what we're familiar with and our current state. Faith in God and religions in general tackle the unexplained. They deal with things that exist beyond science. If God has limits, then why consider him God or even worship him? If he is incapable of doing anything for us, then there is no point to worship. Yet the Bible has lasted and Christianity has lasted and people today still testify that God in some way has touched their lives. You can't explain how such a varied group of people as the entire Christian population manage to believe [nearly] the same basic truths: God created us, we have all sinned, and God came down as a human to die for our sins and rose again. Mass hallucination is not an explanation. Neither is just deception since you will find just as many educated, well-read Christians as you will "hicks." There are even people who believe in God but are generally skeptical about other things.
That's a lot more than Santa and the Easter bunny have done...let me know how many adults you know that will speak as passionately about these two as they do about God.
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
Please keep in mind that I'm a Buddhist. Have you ever read any Buddhist text? Most likely not. The Sutras are filled with imposable imagery that cannot be taken literally; no Buddhist would take them literally. Books like the Lotus Sutra are designed to challenge your preconceived notions and open your mind to fundamental truths about being human. The way they are written is a means to the end. When I read the bible, I can tell it was written in the same way as the Sutras (mostly the OT). So, I never take any of it literally, and always search for the underling message that has to do with being human in this life.
Gender: Unspecified Location: One for the other hand
Yep your wrong, its the whole 100% thing Back to the whole 100% thing. If he wants to break all laws and have two people occupy the same space at the same time then sure. It comes down to fundamentals that humans do not have the power of a god so how could a 100% human have them? Now this is a subject that I have brought up before. Can we do god like things to people that do not have the knowledge of how it is done and I would totally agree. I’m sure that in the years to come we will master space and the human body and things that are beyond our current level of technology and understanding. However will this make us gods, I don’t think so just very smart and capable humans. Could God be some other type of life form that created the universe with technology or natural ability that we can’t fathom, I could see and accept that but the God of the Bible is not something that can be explained with science or biology but mystical.
Gender: Female Location: at the second star to the right
I have not read Buddhist text and I will admit my knowledge of the religion is limited to what we covered in high school and in The Philosophy of Religion course I took. But we do have the common trait of reading for meaning. Of course there are underlying messages in the Bible. In two of the books, Esther and Song of Solomon, God is not even mentioned in the text once. And yet the reader has to determine why they were included. Maybe God is present in some way. Revelation is written almost entirely in a poetic format with so much symbolism it cannot be taken literally. Nor is it meant to be. Even Jesus told parables to get his points across.
The Bible was also meant to challenge our way of thinking. When Jesus walked the earth, he did quite a few things that made people sit up and think about life in general and their take on it. But if that was its only mission, there would be no need to include a death/resurrection. We would already have the words Jesus spoke to make us rethink how we live. Because of politics, misunderstandings, betrayal, and God's will, Jesus was put to death. Even the most scientific archaeologists will admit Jesus was a real person. And yet approximately 500 people interacted with him after his death. Why include this? If the Bible was just meant to make us think, it wouldn't matter if Jesus rose from the dead or not. Being dead, he could have just slipped into the role of a great human being, right up there with Gandhi and Mother Theresa. But the Bible's real purpose is a way for God to reach out to us, as he always has. Christianity is the only faith I know of that constantly talks about God trying to get close to us rather than us getting close to him. And that's what it's all about: the love of God for his people.
Gender: Female Location: at the second star to the right
Oh, shaky, please don't be under the impression you offended me. I love learning about different religions. I was a psychology major in college and I love knowing what different people think. It's fascinating how the whole world has the same questions and yet there are so many different answers to them.
I don't want you to misunderstand me, though. I don't think God is separate from us. He's different from us, which is what I think you mean, but correct me if it's not. I feel I have a close, personal connection to God.
Please tell me your beliefs. This is a place where we're all supposed to come and be able to discuss them intelligently. I'm a little disappointed so many people don't bother to think or understand when they come here.
Gender: Unspecified Location: One for the other hand
The resurrection could easily be explained with the lack of knowledge of the human body in their time, what people in that day considered “dead” is far from it today. They had no way of detecting brain activity, no understanding of how the heart worked or any of the other detections of life that is common knowledge today. A person is a comma could easily pass for dead, a slowed heart beat could easily be missed and the last time I checked they didn’t have any stethoscopes.
Gender: Female Location: at the second star to the right
You can feel for a heartbeat without stethoscopes. Also, the Romans weren't stupid. If you read just how crucifixtion works, it's about impossible to survive, and when they took Jesus down, they still weren't sure he was dead so they stabbed him for good measure.
But my point was that if the Bible's purpose is just to offer us philosophy, there would be no need for a resurrection story at all, regardless of whether or not it was true.
Gender: Male Location: Southern Oregon,
Looking at you.
However, there are accounts, from the time of Jesus, of people who survived crucifixion. Crucifixion was not always a form of execution. The Romans used disembowelment as a favored form of execution.
Gender: Female Location: at the second star to the right
I have yet to find a source where crucifixion was just a way to torture someone. It was deemed so painful that Roman citizens couldn't even be executed that way. It was reserved for rebels, slaves, pirates, and the like. If you didn't die of the flogging, exhaustion, or dehydration, you died on the cross. It is basically a very painful impalement. Although it is possible to survive crucifixion, very few records exist of that happening and with all the pressure to kill Jesus, if he survived crucifixion, they would have killed him some other way.
KMC Community Forums
Mar 28th, 2008 04:20 PM
Yep your wrong, its the whole 100% thing 
