Religious Tolerance

[UndecidedFrog]

Dear followerofjesus,

This is just my opinion. You don't have to accept it if you dislike it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a christian.

Thanks for your reponse. Hmm you have several questions for me, which I will try to answer with hopefully some clarity:

Do you believe the bible to be manmade lies?

I believe the bible to be written by several men who are all now dead. As to lies, I do not know. I know the bible claims some incredible stuff which is hard to believe without evidence.

My question is what are your beliefs on the existance of man?

I believe we (as homo sapiens sapiens) exist.

How was man created?

I do not know if man was created. How do you know this? I understand creationist theories of abiogenesis. I also understand other theories on abiogenesis. I do not know that either is correct.

Why ? What purpose?

Well, let's see...if man was created, how would I know what the purpose was unless I was the creator (I'm not claiming that I am). And if man was not created, how would I know what purpose there was if any?

Is love an emotion created for human reproduction? if so, who created emotion & why?

I don't know that emotions were created. I do know that emotions exist in humans. I don't know if love or any other emotion is necessary or sufficient to reproduce. Why do you think so?

Regards,

UndecidedFrog

[followerofjesus]

Frog ,

It goes against mans nature to have faith in the Lord agreed? Do you believe in nature & spirit as seperate?

"For as bats' eyes are to daylight so is our

intellectual eye to those truths which are, in their

own nature, the most obvious of all."

ARISTOTLE,

Metaphysics, I (Brevoir) i.

[UndecidedFrog]

Dear followerofjesus,

This is just my opinion. You don't have to accept it if you dislike it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a christian.

It goes against mans nature to have faith in the Lord agreed? Do you believe in nature & spirit as seperate?

I'm not sure I agree with that statement. What I do know is that there are many people who believe in at least one god. I also know that there are some people who do not believe in any god/s. I have yet to see any data enumerating the exact number of each or any experiments done to determine the cause of this to make any conclusion as you have made that it is in man's nature to have faith or not have faith in any god. Why do you make such a statement, and on what basis do you use?

As to my belief in nature and spirit being separate, that is difficult. I do not believe in spirits, so it would indeed be difficult for me to believe that something I do not believe in as being separate from nature.

Regards,

UndecidedFrog

[followerofjesus]

Man operates on his own will & understanding correct? Christians merely base their belief on faith. Faith which requires more than belief but the Lords' will.

Why would man have the attributes it possesses compared to say animals? Animals operate on instinct yet man operates beyond instinct alone. Why is that?

"Since the life of Christ is every way most bitter to

nature and the Self and the Me (for in the true life

of Christ, the Self and the Me and nature must be

forsaken and lost and die altogether), therefore

in each of us, nature hath a horror of it."

THEOLOGIA GERMANICA XX.

[UndecidedFrog]

Dear followerofjesus,

This is just my opinion. You don't have to accept it if you dislike it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a christian.

Man operates on his own will & understanding correct? Christians merely base their belief on faith. Faith which requires more than belief but the Lords' will.

It seems you have answered your own question here, and would not be interested in a differing view.

Why would man have the attributes it possesses compared to say animals?

I don't know about which attributes to which you are refering. Are you perhaps referring to man's penchant for killing each other? If that is the case, I have no idea why humans do this and animals do not. Do you?

Animals operate on instinct yet man operates beyond instinct alone. Why is that?

I do not know if this is factual. There are some who claim animals operate beyond instinct. Assuming you are correct though, I have no idea why man operate beyond instinct yet kill each other. Do you?

Regards,

UndecidedFrog

[followerofjesus]

Animals do kill each other w/ animal instinct. Man operates outside of instinct because we were given intelligence , emotions , & the knowledge to discern right from wrong.

I am very interested in your view knowing you rely on your understanding. Man has failed in his ways there is only one who is true & perfect.

Your right men do kill each other whether justly or injustly. There is a difference between killing & murder, having read the bible you know that already.

The attributes I mention is what separates animal from man. There are some examples listed above.

He that overcometh, the same shall

be clothed in white raiment; and I will not blot out his name out of the book of

life, but I will confess his name before my Father, and before his angels. 6He

that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

[UndecidedFrog]

Dear followerofjesus,

This is just my opinion. You don't have to accept it if you dislike it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a christian.

There is a difference between killing & murder, having read the bible you know that already.

I'm sorry to disappoint you again, but one does not need to read the bible to understand the difference between killing and murdering. As far as I know, animals do kill, but do not murder. Murder is a uniquely human attribute. And I do not know why humans do this. What do you think?

Regards,

UndecidedFrog

[Budman]

Thanks for your response. You have posed 3 questions. Here are my three replies:

1) I am here to see what christians and their beliefs are all about.

2) I am not here to discredit christianity. I do not attack anyone's faith. Along the same line, I don't think anyone needs to defend their faith. I think everyone has a right to believe (or disbelieve) what they want. I'm not here to convert anyone to anything.

3) I frequent christian sites (and other sites) because I wish to interact with people who are not like me. I enjoy interacting with people who are different. Do you?

Hope I was able to answer you with some clarity.

You have indeed answered my questions with complete clarity. Thank-you very much, UF.

I look forward to our interaction in the future.

warm regards

-bud

[Budman]

My heart tells me to continue to disbelieve until given evidence. Deep down in my heart, my heart tells me to disbelieve until given evidence. If your god truly exists, then he/she/it must be omniscient (all-knowing). Being omniscient, your god will know what evidence will satisfy me to his/her existence. As you have said before in a previous post, if he exists, and wants me to believe in him, he will provide that evidence in no uncertain terms (i.e. draw me to him).

I don't want to sound harsh UF, but I want to point out something to you. God loves you, but He doesn't NEED you.

You seem to want God to come to you. To prove to you that He wants you. Well, He already did that - when Jesus came to this earth to die for you.

God already did His part.

As far as God proving to you that He exists: Here is a good article that was sent to me by a friend...

Does God exist? I find it interesting that so much attention is given to this debate. The latest surveys tell us that over 90% of people in the world today believe in the existence of God or some higher power. Yet, somehow the responsibility is placed on those who believe God does exist to somehow prove that He really does exist. To me, I think it should be the other way around.

However, the existence of God cannot be proven or disproved. The Bible even says that we must accept by faith the fact that God exists,

[UndecidedFrog]

Dear budman,

This is just my opinion. You don't have to accept it if you dislike it. DISCLAIMER: I am not a christian.

Thanks for your replies. I have heard/read the arguments you raise for the existence of a god many times before. And I am sure you may have heard the rebuttals to each and every one, many times before. I would rather not debate it. Suffice it to say that I and others continue to disbelieve (yes, I must be part of that 10%, or is it now 2%?).

If you are curious to my personal take on each of your arguments, I would be happy to communicate via PM, as I am sure the admins would not appreciate me writing things that could cause one to doubt.

Regards,

UndecidedFrog