Icons, what gives?

Page 2 of 10<12345>Last »
Poll
No votes (0%)
No votes (0%)
No votes (0%)
1 vote (100%)

1 member has voted

April 21st, 2015 at 2:14:15 PM permalink
FrGamble
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 67
Posts: 7596
What I meant to say was that in the midst of war atheism provides no boundaries, no governor to the machine of war, the enemy is just that and there is nothing to temper one's desire for their demise. Christianity encourages one to love their enemies and even if war is inevitable to never forget that the other person you are fighting is a child of God as well. How many atrocities were prevented throughout human history because of these powerful ideas. It helps to understand how something like the Shoah could happen only after God and religion were forgotten or banished.
“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” (
April 21st, 2015 at 2:33:26 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: FrGamble
What I meant to say was that in the midst of war atheism provides no boundaries, no governor to the machine of war, the enemy is just that and there is nothing to temper one's desire for their demise.


How would you know, when no large atheist organization has ever fought in a war?


Quote:
Christianity encourages one to love their enemies and even if war is inevitable to never forget that the other person you are fighting is a child of God as well.


Something thoroughly demonstrated in the Crusades.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
April 21st, 2015 at 2:42:09 PM permalink
FrGamble
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 67
Posts: 7596
Quote: Nareed

Something thoroughly demonstrated in the Crusades.


Yes, there is a reason we have never before seen anything in human history like what we saw in WWII, Cambodia, and other places. Nations that formally proclaimed there was no God did unspeakable things to human beings that the Crusaders, as bad as they were, would not have imagined doing because of the power of religion.
“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” (
April 21st, 2015 at 3:00:37 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
What's interesting is, all non Catholic
Christians say Catholics are idol
worshipers. I say it, because they obviously
are. Yet the Catholics maintain it's
just not so. It's called denial, and it's
a real thing, it really exists. People can
successfully ignore the truth when it's
staring them right in the face. Like a
woman who has a hundred clues her
husband is cheating and ignores them
all to keep the status quo intact.

That is Catholics and idol worship exactly.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
April 21st, 2015 at 4:09:00 PM permalink
Nareed
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 346
Posts: 12545
Quote: FrGamble
Yes, there is a reason we have never before seen anything in human history like what we saw in WWII, Cambodia, and other places. Nations that formally proclaimed there was no God did unspeakable things to human beings that the Crusaders, as bad as they were, would not have imagined doing because of the power of religion.


Recently Mike Duncan in his podcast on the French Revolution downplayed the Terror, largely by highlighting how few executions took place compared to the dead in latter wars. The gangsters killed by rivals in the Valentine Day Massacre in the 20, was rather small compared to how many modern drug-related killings occur just between rival gangs each week on average these days.

So what?

The fact is people get used to almost anything. A mass killing of ten criminals by other criminals is a shock because nothing like that had happened before (though recall this was after WWI). Mass executions of and mass persecution for political ideas, or even opinions, during the Terror was shocking for the same reason; but also because people lived in fear of being taken before the Committee of Public Safety next.

The Crusaders terrorized and killed people, both soldiers and civilians, in the name of their "loving" god. I don't care how much worse things got later on, or how bad WWII was. What the Crusaders did was despicable and inexcusable. Doubly so if one considers they were taught such actions were despicable and inexcusable. One wonders if they prayed out loud what Twain assumed to be silent.

But the real point is this: things such as the Crusades, the persecutions of heretics, the persecutions of Jews and Muslims, the persecutions of Gypsies, the persecutions of Protestants, and for that matter the persecutions of Catholics, all show that religion is no guarantee of civilized behavior. When it suits them, Christians can be as barbaric as they want to be.
Donald Trump is a one-term LOSER
April 21st, 2015 at 4:15:16 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: Nareed
When it suits them, Christians can be as barbaric as they want to be.


+1

'When it suits them' being the key.
They're just another power hungry
organization hiding behind religion.
Their history speaks for itself.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
April 21st, 2015 at 6:09:50 PM permalink
terapined
Member since: Aug 6, 2014
Threads: 73
Posts: 11786
Quote: FrGamble
What I meant to say was that in the midst of war atheism provides no boundaries, no governor to the machine of war, the enemy is just that and there is nothing to temper one's desire for their demise. Christianity encourages one to love their enemies and even if war is inevitable to never forget that the other person you are fighting is a child of God as well. How many atrocities were prevented throughout human history because of these powerful ideas. It helps to understand how something like the Shoah could happen only after God and religion were forgotten or banished.


My atheism encourages me to love all mankind.
"No boundaries", I am somewhat offended by that.
I have strong boundaries.
I refuse to own a gun.
I will not take a life with a gun.
If somebody breaks into my house and tries to kill me with a gun
Of course I will try defend myself or hide or get away.
But I will not kill another human being with a gun.
I am an atheist and I would make a poor soldier due to my strong boundaries.
You don't need God to love mankind.
It comes from inside.
If I do a good deed, its because it makes me feel good as a fellow human being.
All great deeds through the ages have nothing to do with god. Its good people doing good things because it feels right, it is right, and we feel better for doing right, good deeds.
Sometimes we live no particular way but our own - Grateful Dead "Eyes of the World"
April 21st, 2015 at 7:21:49 PM permalink
FrGamble
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 67
Posts: 7596
Quote: Nareed
When it suits them, Christians can be as barbaric as they want to be.


Yet whenever they do this they go against the fundamental nature of what it means to be a Christian. This statement is very true because Christians, and all of us, will always be barbaric when we do whatever suits us and what we want to do; without caring about and respecting others.
“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” (
April 21st, 2015 at 7:27:17 PM permalink
FrGamble
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 67
Posts: 7596
Quote: terapined
My atheism encourages me to love all mankind.
"No boundaries", I am somewhat offended by that.
I have strong boundaries.


I'm sorry you are offended and I am glad you have strong boundaries. However, I have been told many times on this forum that atheism is nothing, it is not a belief system and adds nothing to you or anyone who holds such a strange position. Your strong boundaries have nothing to do with your atheism. In fact I might argue that your atheism taken seriously could undermine those boundaries.

You are of course proving a truth that you don't need God to love mankind. It does come from some mysterious place deep inside. For some reason we feel incredible good when we do good things and help others. This is an undeniable truth. This truth fits perfectly in my belief system because we are made in the image and likeness of God and perfectly matches the teachings of Jesus Christ. In your lack of belief system it remains a mystery, but I'm still very glad you follow those feelings and live by them.
“It is with the smallest brushes that the artist paints the most exquisitely beautiful pictures.” (
April 21st, 2015 at 7:44:08 PM permalink
Evenbob
Member since: Oct 24, 2012
Threads: 146
Posts: 25010
Quote: FrGamble
For some reason we feel incredible good when we do good things and help others. .


Nothing strange there, if the evidence of
reincarnation is correct. We help others
because we are them and they are us.
We know without knowing it that this
person could have been close to us in
another life, could have been a relative
or a friend. By helping them we're helping
ourselves.

It's the story Campbell tells of the cop
risking his life to save a suicide jumper.
The cop said later it was like he had no
choice, by saving the jumper he felt he
was saving himself. Reincarnation fits
this perfectly. We instinctively know we're
all connected, we are the universe and it
is us. God has nothing to do with it.
If you take a risk, you may lose. If you never take a risk, you will always lose.
Page 2 of 10<12345>Last »