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Originally posted here by stflook
Let's start from the beginning, more specifically Adam and Eve. If you know your Bible, you will know that God told them they could do whatever they wanted as long as they didn't eat from the tree of knowledge. Satan came along in the form of a serpent, and tempted eve into eating from it, and God punished them by putting them in Hell on earth. Let's analyze this, shall we? First off, why was eating from the tree of knowledge so bad? Would it be that they could learn something that could potentially disprove some elements of Christianity as we have so many times before? I think so. Maybe you disagree, and you have every right to. There is nothing wrong with the analytical mind. Also, why did God punish both of them? Eve ate the apple. Adam did not. If God is so fair, why did he unfairly punish? I think we just found a major hole in the teachings of the Bible.
i personally think that in this story the "tree of knoledge" is used to represent knoledge of right and wrong, for if one does not know what they are doing is wrong they cannot sin; the sin lies in the intent of doing wrong. having both of them thrown out represents them no longer being able to live in a "perfect" world, because they now know wrong when they see it. also, to throw out woman and not man would be to end the species. also, you have to remember that the God of the old testament is not really a fair guy who you would like; He's a god to be feared. he doesnt sentance them to hell, he removes them from paridise(this may be some difference of opnions between our particular religions(roman catholic vs lutheran))
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Also, Satan promises knowledge, and God punishes all those who don't follow him by sending them to hell. You can see how this links back to Adam and Eve. Anyway, why is God so bent on keeping knowledge from people. It sounds to me like there is some truth to be hidden. I still fail to see how knowledge is evil, regardless of what the Bible says.
erm, im not aware of this happening anywhere in the old testament. could you quote a passage for me? AFAIK, hell isnt really talked about untill the new testament, where Jesus saves EVERYONE from hell, so any banishing-to-hell before that would be rather pointless because that would be where everyone would go anyway.
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Now, onto Jesus. In short, he was sent down to die so we all could be forgiven our sins. Let me ask you this: Why would God, the "supreme" being of the universe have to have his son killed so he could forgive us? Why couldn't he just forgive us? Also, he had to have us sin even more before he could forgive us. He couldn't forigve us until we killed his own son? Maybe I'm missing something here.
here the point was not to have his son killed, but to have Jesus, in death, take on all the sins of the world, go to hell, and fight his way out(basically; i think the actual language is "trimph over satan")
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Now, let's go on to the issue of Catholicism. I'm sure we all remember how much blood has been spread by the Catholics in the past just because other cultures believed in other religions. There was the Spanish Inquisition and the Crusades, just to name a couple of the wars that have been fought in Christ's name. Does such a "righteous" cause justify the killings of so many? Methinks not. No religion, even Satanism, has even some close to shedding so much blood for their cause.
well, religious zelotism was in no way limited to Catholicism. infact, if you could look back and get actual records further back, im sure that you would find that Jews killed quite a few back in their day in the name of God. also, this in no way actually takes an issue with the religion itself. there is no part of Catholic doctrin that says "you must kill anyone who does not believe what you do"...infact far from it, it preaches kindness to all, even non-believers. all this takes issue with is corruption of the past. if you look at the time periods these examples are taken from, you will find that people were killing people left and right for just about any reason they could find.
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They also have some very odd traditions. For a long time, Catholics weren't allowed to eat meat, except for fish, on Fridays. If you know your history, you will know that there was no religious motive for the pope of the time to declare that. The reason he did that is because he was trying to help a struggling fish market get back on its feet.
this rule is still in effect(sorta) for certian times. it has nothing to do with the fish marked, but has to do with sacrificing things you like to show your faith(something i dont personally agree with, but understand)
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There was also a period when they began killing Lutherans. So at that point, they had gone from killing others to killing their own. And they did it in Jesus's name, too.
yes, its called the inquisition(it was NOT limited to spain, as alot of people think). durring the inquisition many christians were killed, you know why? because they were protistants, and as such were concidered HERITICS. the church at the time thought that something had to be done to "fix" the situation, and hence the inquisitions began.
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We can also remember back to our history class, and how the Catholic church abused its power by having people pay for forgiveness. As a result, they became big, powerful, and above all, oppressive. Greed is one of the 7 deadly sins, and they certainly were guilty of it. Maybe they aren't so "righteous" after all.
once again you take issue of corrupt people of the past. this really has nothing to do with the religion itself, just greedy bishops and popes from a long time ago. just so you know, the actuall practice was to sell either religious icons or papers saying "this paper forgives you for X sins". the practice was stoped a LONG time ago(middle ages or early renosance if im not mistaken).
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In summary, Christianity preaches blind faith and threatens eternal torture for all of those who don't follow them. That is a textbook scare tactic, and perfect for thought control. It's also a perfect setup for a cruel joke. There have also been countless scientific advances that contradict the Bible that I couldn't remember them all if I devoted my whole life to it.
i cant really argue with the blind faith part, but i cant really think of any religion that doesnt say "you must believe because it is what you should believe". as far as the erernal torture, im not sure i agree with that, as one can lead a virtious life and not believe in christ...i can hardly see the God of the new testament allowing them to go to hell in that case. also, i cant really think of ANY religion which doesnt say "if you dont believe in my religion bad stuff will happen to you after you die". the whole scientific thing isnt really true. any scientific advances can be explained within the context of the bible with some interpretation(infact, feel free to chalenge me with one).
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You should never just believe in something just because somebody tells you to, especially in religion.
im definatly with you on this one, and i do think there are some problems with some things within christianity.
this is not ment as a flame, just offering other opnions/views.