Religous debates and questions

About 80% memory- then I wasn't sure about some of the wording- and Adams skill is in his word choice and perfect placement, so I double checked with the radio play and had to make a few corrections where memory had failed me a bit.

Naughty to put in this thread I know- but I couldn't resist!

That is actually pretty good Petty!

Hey Lorient, good to see you around again! How've you been?

Hi Lorient- glad you saw the humour in it. I really hummed and hawed (what is hawing and how do you do it? ) over putting it on this thread as I didn't want to offend anyone- glad you it has been taken in the spirit it was meant. And welcome back- great to see you about and posting again.

ps did you read my piece on this thread on the histrorical Jesus (meant to ask you, Tin and Kafria as you two are coming at it from a more religous viewpoint and so your thoughts would be insightful)

Eldorion wrote:Hey Lorient, good to see you around again! How've you been?

I've been great Eldo! I was actually in your territory a few weeks ago, had a family trip to DC.

Petty-As I have not extensivley studied the NT yet, Im not really sure what unbiased insight I could give. All I could really say at this point would sound like Im just a preaching mormon who doesnt want to accept any other explanations or ideas. While I do not feel this way, I just dont have enough knowledge to really contribute to the discussion.

No worries Lorient- just thought it might interest- dont think youd need to have extensively studied the NT to get a feel for it however.
And you might find the purely historical parts of it interesting. Its not meant as a rebuke of Christianity or anything- just as impartial a lok at the time period and circumstances around the lifetime of Jesus as I could manage.

To be clear, what page of the thread is your Historical Jesus Petty? Im curious and I think I might have read the wrong post.

Its not in one chunk I did it in 'chapters' Lorient. Its on this thread and it begins on page 11. My post with the map.
You should be able to follow fine from there -there is of course the usual Forumshire insights inbetween chapters too.
I look forward to hearing any thoughts on it you may wish to share.

Lorient Avandi wrote:I've been great Eldo! I was actually in your territory a few weeks ago, had a family trip to DC.

That's cool! I hope that DC wasn't too humid while you were there; Summer has been pretty muggy in this part of the country so far with only a few periods of respite. I was in Reno last June but I flew through Salt Lake on the way and it occurred to me that I was in your neck of the woods. I actually really enjoyed the dry heat. The temperature was higher but it's humidity that I really can't stand.

Eldorion wrote:

Lorient Avandi wrote:I've been great Eldo! I was actually in your territory a few weeks ago, had a family trip to DC.

That's cool! I hope that DC wasn't too humid while you were there; Summer has been pretty muggy in this part of the country so far with only a few periods of respite. I was in Reno last June but I flew through Salt Lake on the way and it occurred to me that I was in your neck of the woods. I actually really enjoyed the dry heat. The temperature was higher but it's humidity that I really can't stand.

Yea, it was pretty humid and I totally agree with you. I lived in Wisconsin/Michigan for 2 years and the humidity was terrible. I like dry heat much better.

A friend of mine on Facebook posted this interesting little quiz from the Pew Research Center about knowledge of religion. Pew is an American organization (though despite the name it's not a religious one; Pew was the surname of their founder) so some of the questions are a little America-specific but I thought it was quite interesting overall. They also have a lot of detailed statistics about the nationwide survey the answers were derived from.

http://features.pewforum.org/quiz/us-religious-knowledge/

One thing that jumped out at me was that Jews, atheists, and Mormons are apparently the most knowledgeable groups about religion.



Some more stats about the response to specific questions (spoilerized in case anyone here wants to take the quiz themselves).

Spoiler:

Anyway, I found this interesting so I thought I'd post it and see what you guys thought.

But have any of them even heard of Eru Illuvatar? Sad times, sad sad times, Eldo.

I think as minorities mormons, jews and atheists feel they have to understand their position. Why no muslims?

I wouldn't have got the Jonathon Edwards question.

I was wondering, do Christians (as an example) accept Islam as a legitimate 'God' religion whose practitioners/worshippers will go to Heaven?

No takers? You weaklings!

Some Christians definitely do, some Christians definitely don't, some don't know.
Some Muslims don't think other Muslims are legitimate and going to Heaven.
Some Christians don't think other Christians are legitimate and going to Heaven.
Some Jews don't think other Jews are legitimate and going to Heaven.

It's all in shades of grey......

It's all ducking and weaving and often smacks of insincerity.

It is amazes me they can all have the Truth, the only one true knowledge of God and yet all be completely different. Who knew there was no many versions of absolute truth?
Slippery chap this God, either that or, you know, they are all just making it up then arguing over whose made up version is best.

Religious folk never admit they hate every other religion --- and every other sect, for that matter. Why? Are they too frightened to stand up for their God and pass on how God hates the God of every other religion/sect? Pissweak, really. Their Faith seems weak...

Faith and hope seem alike to me- you can live by either if you like but the universe still wont give a monkeys and will still shaft you without a second thought regardless.
I'd rather not rely on faith in a God that if there is a massive tsunami here I'd be saved, same as I'd rather not rely on just hoping I'll be ok.
No, much better to have some scientific knowledge of a tsunami and prepare occordingly.
I cant think of a single situation where I would swap actual knowledge for a faith.
That just seems mad to me so to actively choose not to have knowledge because your faith says you shouldn't have is ridiculous in my view.
Faith thrives on ignorance.

Pettytyrant101 wrote:Faith and hope seem alike to me- you can live by either if you like but the universe still wont give a monkeys and will still shaft you without a second thought regardless.
I'd rather not rely on faith in a God that if there is a massive tsunami here I'd be saved, same as I'd rather not rely on just hoping I'll be ok.
No, much better to have some scientific knowledge of a tsunami and prepare occordingly.
I cant think of a single situation where I would swap actual knowledge for a faith.
That just seems mad to me so to actively choose not to have knowledge because your faith says you shouldn't have is ridiculous in my view.
Faith thrives on ignorance.

It's wonderful how you manage to miss my point nearly every time, Petty. You gorgeous Scotshobbit, you!

You have points?

Good point...