Yadda wrote on Aug 25^th, 2016 at 10:42pm:




I find this a wiggle statement, e.g. if I've said I've read it, yet am still an atheist, I must not have understood it.

Thanks all, for contributing to this thread, especially Bobby, for the videos. I have to admit I only watched the first one, because Atheists get a bit tedious at times. I am not one of them. I'd rather tell people what I believe, than what I don't believe.

When it comes to Jesus, as the video did, I have to say the numbers involved in converting the Romans, seem to indicate that Jesus did preach in Palestine. But if anyone wants to convert me to Christianity, they are going to have to drop the idea that he was conceived by some other method than me. You'd have to be extremely gullible to fall for that line, even if Joseph did.

But Joseph was probably a decent old chap who just wanted to protect Mary's reputation. That, I can believe, when I look at the way Middle Eastern tribes view female sexuality today. Actually, I don't believe that, and I just broke my first rule.

I suspect that Jesus was a familiar type of neurotic; the type that fixates on the themes of religion which charismatic cult leaders use to great effect. His were pagan times. He was surrounded by all kinds of beliefs. I also suspect that Jesus's disciples, who were much like him, put together or encouraged the stories of virgin birth, and his rising from the dead. Their choice was predictable in some ways, because people had been expecting a kind of Lone Ranger for some time.

The pagan religions had an endless supply of gimmicks and entertaining stories. So the disciples had to out-do them. An Abrahamic gimmick was the one all encompassing cosmic idea. That has a strong appeal to human logic, even if it requires believing in ghosts. It probably came about by an evolutionary process.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Aug 26^th, 2016 at 8:49am:


Agreed.

The bible is a collections of stories written by various authors, who often contradict one another.

A god who is the same now as he was at the beginning of time would surely have made certain that his word was not open to interpretation.

After Raven's parents died he was raised in a cult. Every week on the day of the Sun God Ra he had to kneel before an ancient device of torture and ritualistically consume symbolic flesh and blood.

Once Raven reached adulthood he questioned the core beliefs of this old cult and decided that it no longer appealed to him. This was done after years of reflection and study of their ancient texts.

issuevoter wrote on Aug 26^th, 2016 at 1:15pm:



I read somewhere that there's a religious part of our brains that
has given us an evolutionary advantage.

Prime Minister for Canyons wrote on Aug 26^th, 2016 at 8:52pm:


just google

religious part of our brains that has given us an evolutionary advantage

& you'll get 8 million hits.