Great quote about religion
 

Who Is Jesus? Answers to Your Questions About the Historical Jesus

?My point, once again, is not that those ancient people told literal stories and we are now smart enough to take them symbolically, but that they told them symbolically and we are now dumb enough to take them literally.?

Like most people it's always seemed logical to me that ancient people existing hundreds and hundreds of years before the age of science and skepticism would have been very simple ignorant people who told and wrote and accepted the stories of the Bible as the literal truth - the writer of this book turns that upside down and says that the writers of the Holy Scriptures created the stories as symbolism and it's those that came after who were the simpletons who chose to take them literally and here we are in 2013 and we still have billions of people who still do.

http://www.amazon.com/Who-Is-Jesus-Q...pr_product_top

my all time favorite religious statement
 

When one person is delusional we call them insane but when a group of people are delusional we call it religion.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/in...9170545AAYtdC4

"Is Jesus really just a metaphor for the sun?"

Best Answer

"Yes. Jesus is the sun and the 12 disciples are the 12 signs of the zodiac. The sun is reborn every year on Dec 25th when it stops at it's lowest point in the sky and remains there for 3 days under the southern cross (crux) constellation. After 3 days it moves 1 degree north (the resurrection) and at easter, when the day is longer for the first time than the night, we then celebrate the resurrection of Christ due to the movement of the sun.

The 12 disciples (zodiac signs) are all fishermen (Pisces), water carriers (Aquarius), goat herders (Sagittarius), the herd themselves (Capricorn), etc.. "

That would be the 21st of Dec (winter solstice) and not as yahoo would have you believe on the 25.

Excellent quote!

I recall an episode of Star Trek (the original 60s series) where a planet adopted a book about Chicago mobs of the 1920s (accidentally left behind by another spacecraft) and patterned their entire society after it.

In retrospect, I can't help wondering if Gene Roddenberry had the bible in mind when he came up with the episode.

Interesting that Rome issued a warrant for the arrest of the Prophet Jesus. and it has been located and authenticated. funny thing is the description is not what the Vatican likes so they say its not real.

What I will never understand is if someone is an non believer then why do they care if others believe?

Plenty of reasons for that, for example :

1. part of my taxes is used to support church
2. they teach religion in schools, there is a choice to attend ethics classes instead, but in small villages where the majority is religious, the ethics classes are sometimes not available due to low interest, hence all kids are exposed to religious stuff at a young age
3. church officials mess with the politics, trying to influence the way the state works
.
.
.


there is a ton of reasons like this, thats why I care, I am non believer but the church still tries to influence my life and the life of my kids.

As long as I am the one not believing, I'm safe ...

Well said. :thumbsup

when this man jesus lived about a good two thousand years ago he was persecuted then executed on the cross by who were a government, the roman empire. jesus was crazy, he was mentally ill, possibly a drug addict as well. he wasn't a tortured genius.

Sweet one! As a massive atheist I dig this thread already... :pimp

https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.n...62117493_n.jpg

https://scontent-b-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/...97399564_n.jpg

https://scontent-b-mad.xx.fbcdn.net/...58777450_n.jpg

do you have a link to that?

1. Part of your taxes support the bombs and the war machine, the banks, etc. Why are you not complaining about that?

2. The school systems of the United States, great Britian and Canada are pathetic to say the least. Why is teaching religion in schools are greater problem then a school system that is incapable of teaching ANYTHING.

3. Large transnational corporations do far more damage to a gouvernment with their campaign contributions, political lobby groups, etc. So why is this not an issue but religion is?

4. As for influencing your children I must ask why you are not attacking Walt Disney, Television commericals, Lady Gaga, Miley Cyrus or for that matter why not attack me? I am a pornographer and I guarantee that like other pornographers, the shit I produce has influence more children than any church. ((( At least a church tries to influence people to be nice to each other, chaste, responsible... I teach people to swallow cum and that romance is being fucked in the ass on the hood of a car with a power drill )))

Now personally I do not care what someone believes in or does not believe in when it comes to relgion. Because if it gives them comfort and meaning to their lives then who am I to judge? And having read the books of several different religions, I have come to the conclusion that I would personally prefer a pious believer as head of state. Because if they were true to their faith they would :
1) Feed the poor
2) Not kill,
3) Not steal,
4) Not lie.

Which to me is a lot more than any of these so-called "secular" gouvernments.

All valid arguments, but ... where did I say I support wars, weapons, banks or any other thing you mentioned, I complain about politics issues a lot, many times more than I do about religious stuff. Religion is just another form of politics IMO thou, I complain about both. There is a lot of things in this world that Im not happy about, religion is part of them, and as this thread was about religion, I posted about it :)

I like your porn argument a lot, it was funny actually :) But, I think its safe to assume that pretty much everybody knows porn is a fantasy with actors doing all kinds of shit for money, so its hard to take it as a guide to live your life after. While the church tries to make us believe the bible and all that religious stuff is the real deal, while its a fantasy too. So in a way, porn is more honest with people than the church :)

But I agree with you partially, I am certainly not the one to tell people what to believe in or not, it's their live and if they are happy with it, so be it. My point is that
1. I dont understand how they can actually believe that crap,
2. I'm not ok with what they believe and want to do, when they try to force that shit on me, my kids or take my money to support their case.

My take on religion is very similar to gay relationships in a way, I don't understand why they do it (since I'm hetero), but I have absolutely no problem with gay people, unless someone tries to persuade me I'm gay too and fuck me in the ass :)))

Religious threads and yoga pants threads are definitely my two favourites.
Hmmm now if only I can combine the two.

Your gay analogie is actually very understandable for me. So if that is your approach to religion then it is fair. The only thing I will say is that in my life I have learned that in most any situation I would prefer dealing with a priest/rabbi/etc than a politician, lawyer, banker, etc. (((( However I still consider certain religious groups like the Jehovah's witness, baptists and pentecostals to be no different then politicians))))

Now considering porn...
I have been creating filth for more than 40 years and I am too old to care about protecting the myth. So I will say what no one else will say.

The truth is that porn does influence the opinions, attitudes and behaviours of many people. It is also very addictive... Destroys relationships.... Destroys the ability of many men to have a normal sex life..... And young under age adolescent males are one of the largest market groups viewing the filth we create.

I have seen all these things myself and the shit that is created today is far worse than it was 40 years ago. Plus the people that watch it today are far more messed up and do not know it. Truthfully porn should be censored and many of us producers should be put out of business.

One of my grand children asked me about becoming a pornographer. My response is that I am personally happy that this industry is dying because it will prevent them from becoming like me. I understand that to an adolescent it may appear to be cool what I do but the truth is that I do NOT want anyone in my family to follow in my footsteps. Especially considering the type of pure shit that is created today.

So if any of my grand children wanted to go to seminary university, I would be very happy to pay for it and very happy to listen to whatever they have to say.

Joshua bin Joseph, a.k.a Jesus, was the Military leader of the Nazarenes, an ultra-orthodox Jewish sect. When the Nazarene's spiritual leader, commonly referred to these days as John the Baptist, was executed, Joshua also took on the role as spiritual leader.

Coming from the Military point of view, Joshua realized the sects strict orthodox rules prevented the group from gaining enough followers to overthrow the local government and drive the Pagan Romans out of Palestine.

Thus, he began preaching tolerance and acceptance, in order to build sufficient force to achieve those military goals.

Funny how Christianity evolved from a bunch of Jewish Jihadists.

Whos got Jesus on their side then? :D

What are you - 12?

It is because we are ALL impacted everyday in innumerable ways is why!

Laws are passed based on religious dogma BS (here in the US but if you are asking the question then you need extreme examples so think about Iran and being a woman).

The porn industry has always been at war with believers and their wanting to control what every one ELSE thinks, reads, or watches! So being in this business YOU are directly effected.

You a woman? Want to be told what you can and can not do with YOUR body? Atheists don't care. Christians think you will go to HELL so they are very happy to tell you!

Need more examples? Just open your eyes!

I am not the one acting like a 12 year old. Furthermore I have probably been making porn longer than most people on this forum have been alive.

Now if you want to talk religion
Then I will be the first to say that the 3 great revealed faiths are the porn industry's best friends. Their dogmas keep both demand and value high. Ask any pornographer that has been around since the late 1960s early 1970s about how it used to be when religion had a greater influence in the world. In short, people PAID.


But if you want to talk about what a woman can or can not do with her body.
Then what I will ask you what do you think I do as a pornographer? I tell women all the time what they can and can not do with their bodies. I tell them who they have sex with, how, what they are supposed to look like, etc.

In fact I am far WORST because after I am done telling a woman what she is supposed to do with her body.... I go out and convience hundreds of men that my films are something to aspire to and that so called "desirable women" look and behave a certain way. In all honesty men like me have managed to convience literally huge groups of the population that women are bisexual, enjoy anal sex and are supposed to be hairless from the neck down.

It all boils down to THE EFFECT on your life. Doctrine aside.

People with broken lives, addictions, self-defeating attitudes were BORN AGAIN into a new HAPPIER, MORE SUCCESSFUL, and MORE IN CONTROL life because of religion.

Could they have tried other paths? Sure, but many have tried psychiatry, drugs, and other paths but Religion FREED them from the previous life patterns that made them unhappy.

Who gives you the moral authority to tell them they are wrong? It worked for them. Do you have a better alternative? What makes you think that what works for you should work for everyone else? Aren't you acting just like those religious hypocrites and intolerant religious clowns you purport to hate?

Me? It's all about LIVE AND LET LIVE. Tolerance is the key.

There...

and more:
http://www.tyndale.cam.ac.uk/Tyndale...20censored.pdf

I agree with you à 100%

I fully agree.

Now - if we can just convince the other people in the equation to adopt this philosophy...

its too bad they are living a lie but the real trouble comes when they support religious leaders and doctrine that supports intolerance, wars and hatred.

couldn't the same thing be said about alcohol, cigarettes or even the fast food industry? not to mention religion. there are some people it really messsed up, many have killed themselves or others due to it. religion has effected way more lives negatively than porn could ever dream of.

The bible was written by men. Edited and changed over the years to suit the purposes of men in power who ruled their times and changed the "Book" to suit their purposes. The Bible is a complete work of fiction that might - just might - have tenuous roots in reality. Roots that have long been lost. Even by science.

Although the Bible is mostly a fictional joke - much like modern day government - I have chosen to believe that God exists. Why? Because life is more fun to me if He actually lives - and I hate self-absorbed, pretentious athiests so much that I'll believe in anything if it gives me a reason to punch them in the face.

"God" was ostensibly created by modern men to control the ignorant and illiterate, but I'm going to delve into philosophical science because I can... Its GFY!

One day "BOOM!" - the Big Bang happens. I'll buy that theory for a dollar. The Universe is created in the blink of an eye. Abracadabra! Shazam! A couple of billion years later there are floaty rocks in the sky. Yay!

Fine.

So now we have to look at basic scientific facts. Molten Earth gets hit by a rogue planet, and Moon is created. The Moon orbits the Earth. The Earth orbits the Sun. The Sun orbits the massive Black Hole at the centre of the Milky Way Galaxy. The Milky Way Galaxy orbits exactly what? Following the rules, the Milky Way has to be in orbit around something.

You can't just say "Orbit, orbit, orbit... Ok! WEEEEEEEEEEEEE! Random ride! The Universe is expanding! No, The Galaxy orbits SOMETHING. That something IS the Universe.

Up until recently, science thought that the Universe was slowing down in its expansion. But it is not. The Universe is speeding up. This would suggest that the Universe is following an elliptical orbit, but scientists do not seem to understand that if every known celestial body exists in a predictable orbit, then what is our Universe orbiting? Our Universe is in an orbit around a celestial body on a scale that we will never be able to comprehend. The time and the space is just too vast. Our Universe is not just flying out into space, into nowhere. Our Universe is in orbit around a Celestial body that is beyond our comprehension. This is science's own rules; the Known Universe has to be in orbit around SOMETHING. And - I hate to say this - there has to be an unknown Universe orbiting another celestial body outside of our own Universe. Space does not end. It is infinite and it is not empty. Steve Miller? Help?

The Moon orbits the Earth. The Earth orbits the Sun. The Sun orbits the Galaxy. The Galaxy orbits what? The Universe. But that is too big to measure. I believe that the Milky Way Galaxy exists in a Universe that orbits God. But maybe I am thinking too small. If our Milky Way galaxy is in a predictable orbit - and of course it is - just as every other known celestial body is in orbit around something... then there must be other galaxies in other Universes in orbit around SOME OTHER celestial body.

My God is not some sad old white dude with a beard who told a few Kings to write a stupid book. My God is billions of years of old and has an entire Universe at His fingertips.

Science and Religion need to stop being retards who think they know everything. They are both wrong.

ITT: Assholes talking shit behind my back.

What I don't get is that you know I visit this site? Did you think I wouldn't see it?

Like my fucking feelings are nothing to you.

who was that male pornstar in california who topped himself about this time last year? and that canadian dude who was a gay male pornstar with that asian boyfriend? but he killed him, then beheaded him and then hid his severed head in the hollywood hills? that was some crazy shit but my question is did anyone who were opposed to them like the right wing (and left) family first groups were the reason their lives ended so tragically?

Atheists think that decisions made by people who believe in god are fundamentally flawed and that in fact these religious people are delusional. Non-believers think that we as humans have to do it on our own, fix it on our own. There will be no help coming from a god or gods. The religious among us make their important decisions with the inclusion of a extra supernatural component. Makes for some really strange and horrible things done in the name of religion. Still being done today. :helpme

Religious folks tend to think of this plane of existence is a stop on a journey to another place that's better than this one. The decisions they make usually reflect this. These skewed points of view affect us all. They don't care about this world, they think they will go to another after they destroy this one. After all this world has to be destroyed in order for the prophesy to be true.

Atheists therefor are themselves affected by the decisions of religious people who hold high government offices and other very powerful people who believe this god/jesus mumbo-jumbo.

From killing in the name of, to abortion, to homosexuality and on down the line the religious among us won't let us forget how violent their god wants them to be.

Lastly: Atheists are afraid of the believers in god. We know just how easy it is to underestimate stupid people in large groups. Stupid people in large groups will kill you if you don't believe what they do, or look like the do, or act like they do.

What he said!!! :thumbsup

And then there's this.............






Part 1 - look up the other 6 parts yerself







Use these as a starting place, do your own research. :error

The cocksucker/mother fucker known as jesus is fictitious bull shit. :2 cents:

Science doesn't claim to know everything - religion claims to know much more than science does.

I would like to add because an organisation of atheists is not knowingly guilty of aiding and abetting pedophiles with a documented history of it going on for hundreds of years.

I have no issue with belief itself, you go right ahead and believe whatever the fuck you want, I do take issue when a group claims moral superiority, tries to force itself and its set of morals on others all the while being the most evil bunch of cunts history has ever seen.

Religion is like a cock. It's fine to have one, its fine to be proud of it, but don't spend all your time talking about it, dont force it on others and dont get it out in public.

:thumbsup

Read about it in some history books never tried to find it online.

Would love to see it myself.

just to stir up the pot a little:

1. not everyone in power is religious, so religious people have the same argument about laws being passed based on non-religious beliefs as things being 'forced' on them

2. not every child molester is religious, yet that argument about those who are religious collectively taking a higher moral ground is exactly the same as atheists who believe they have the upper ground over dumb fuck religious nuts etc

3. religion doesn't claim to know more than science does. Non-religious people think religious people claim that, just like some religious people think science claims to know more than religious people do

4. how can any sane person on either side of the belief fence downtalk the other side without exposing their own hypocrisy on their belief?

religious nuts = annoying as fuck
atheist nuts = annoying as fuck

people who live and live (and yep plenty of religious people do that) = breath of fresh air

Well this starts to get to the very root of the problem. We are a greedy, narcisstic an violent species. Most only think of themselves, what makes them feel good and how they can aquire more stuff. To this effect the "MARKET" is probably the root cause of 99% of all human suffering and injustices.

I am a porngrapher and not a boy scout and I am not someone that has any right to lecture about morality. But as I get older I have started to see things as they truely are. I am old man and the fact is that I am not going to live much longer. Therefore I do not care what other people think when I speak my mind.

I have never met an athiest in my life that does not use politics as a basis to argue against the existance of the "devine." I also believe that scientists are pretty fucking arrogant when they claim there is no scientific proof of the "devine." After all what have they really accomplished in comparison?

Religion is violent because humanity is violent. But as I have come to understand from life experience, religion.... If followed correctly and without fault, offers a way out of the insanity. Unfortunately very few people are ever smart enough to understand how to follow a faith and even less are able embody the pious devotion that is required.

So I suppose that exiges the question if I regret choosing to be a pornographer.
In some ways I do. I was a flower child hippie and I saw porn as an extention of "peace and love." In a bizarre mannier I thought that showing sex as playfuly fun and enjoyable would help bring peace and happiness to the world. I certainly never imagined that the punters would take over the industry and make it a shitty mess.

Without a doubt there exists no conceivable way that I would want to get involve in today's porn industry. But unfortunately for me it is too late.

Yes, this is true and we know that most politicians make decisions based on greed regardless of their religious affiliation to boot.

It is my argument that decisions based on science, facts and logic in stead of religious superstition usually usually work out for the better.

If you don't think logic and reason are superior decision making paradigms to religion........ Keep on praying for rain and on every fourth day your prayers will be answered.

Science and technology have given us nuclear bombs, depleted uranium, a pacific ocean with more plastic in it than actual living creatures, created an over population problem, extinction of species, etc... etc... etc... etc....etc

If all of the so called "scientific-factual-logical" people were indeed scientific, factual and logical.... Then would it not have been prudent to NOT develop the "*toys*" that we use to kill our fellow human beings and destroy the enviroment?

A dichotomy of logic and science most often tends to be a very selfish dichotomy that provides power hungry men the tools to commit their atrocities but never accepts any blame or responsibilty for its own involvement.

So how about just basing decisions on sympathy, compassion, respect and tolerance. Which are at the very least words within the language of religion.... But are in of themselves illogical, non-scientific and factually irrelavant.

It doesn't? The Bible says the Universe was created by an omnipotent all powerful entity with human characteristics named God/Jehova/Elohim - in 7 'days'. It also includes a supposed factual history of mankind. The New Testament says God sent the world a Messiah, his son, who died for all humankind's sins. Nowhere in the Bible is it suggested this is just a theory and all of the three monotheistic religions, Christianity, Islam and Judaism accept and teach the Bible as fact.

Science offers for the creation of the Universe the 'Big Bang Theory'.

Half the idiots in one religion don't even know that the god of the other religion is the identical god, only named differently. Religions are full of violence too. Ever read that shit? Smite this, smite that, rain fire on your ass... jesus christ.

The key word is "Theory."
Webster's onlne dictionary defines the word "theory" as :

- An idea that is suggested or presented as possibly true but that is not known or proven to be true.

Therefore it is still just supposition on their part

Yep......People are mostly assholes no matter what they believe in. On top of that the current system of greed is really unfair to all but the very elite/wealthy. Greed causes most of the poor decisions of the non-religious. Science, reason and logic are not the problem, humans themselves are the problem. Greed, power and the misuse of technology are the problems you are pointing out.

The inmates are running the asylum!!!

Science and inventions can be either horrible or magnificent depending on their usage, this doesn't change the fact that science is real and provable and god is not. Using the tangible and provable as a basis for decision making seems better.

Another