Starise
 
 Now for a small attack on Atheists ( Strummy this won't hurt a bit, if it does I didn't intend it to). The general message you will hear in any atheist circles, that the Bible is totally contradictory and inaccurate. I would say that if you only read the answers as they give them you might be inclined to believe that pitch. Yeah the copyists made a few boo boos in some of the translations.Same with the idea that God is a mean calloused cruel murderer. You will hear plenty of that. This is where I could write a small book in defense of God and how good He is. It is precisely the fact that the Atheist concentrates all his energy on proving the cruelty of this God  and the supposed inaccuracy of the Bible that he totally misses all of those parts about how He loves all of us and wants the best.Why not read the whole book? Take it all into consideration? Strummy we could get deep into why I think the way I do and it would bore at least half the CH. And you likely don't want to hear it. 

It's nice to see a thread like this a) still here and b) being conducted in such a polite, thoughtful manner.
 
Just wanted to make a small point in answer to the above; Christopher Hitchens studied the Bible (and other religious texts) front to back - he wasn't just cherry-picking bits to support his arguments.
 
Likewise people like Matt Dillahunty, who were previously devout Christians but began over time to doubt their faith. People who took years to read everything from 'both sides' and make up their own minds. I've watched them debate these issues with people of faith and it soon became obvious that some Atheists know far more about religion than some of those who believe.

 
" I've watched them debate these issues with people of faith and it soon became obvious that some Atheists know far more about religion than some of those who believe."
 
  I agree James.Sad to say but true.

And I think you might be confusing philosophy and science there Starise, ol pal.  When science does happen to "solve" a social problem it is quite often an unintended consequence of solving a physical one. And again, science is a continuum not a final end point...it is simply our best and most up to date way of explaining what things are and how they work.  Science MUST be disprovable in order to work.  Simplz.
 
My point was simply that as science, i.e. our knowledge of the physical world, proceeds our reliance on or need for supernatural answers will recede.  Like entropy...that can't be reversed.
 

So, how do you guys think the NY Yankees will do next season?
 
 
 
 
 
　
 
　
 
　
 
my compliments on the civility.
Although the hot air around here is enough to heat the city of Detroit this winter :)
 

I've heard that God doesn't like the Yankees.

jamesg1213
 
It's nice to see a thread like this a) still here and b) being conducted in such a polite, thoughtful manner.
 
Just wanted to make a small point in answer to the above; Christopher Hitchens studied the Bible (and other religious texts) front to back - he wasn't just cherry-picking bits to support his arguments.
 
Likewise people like Matt Dillahunty, who were previously devout Christians but began over time to doubt their faith. People who took years to read everything from 'both sides' and make up their own minds. I've watched them debate these issues with people of faith and it soon became obvious that some Atheists know far more about religion than some of those who believe.

As a matter of fact, most atheists I know have a better knowledge of the scriptures than the average believer who take what they want from the scriptures and ignore the rest. The problematic Old Testament seems to often be ignored by many christians.
 
In essence, the Bible is often only there to back up their humanitarian values and to give them hope in an afterlife. In other words, they only pick that which accommodate the values they inherited, values which are the most commonly accepted in our societies. The rest is ignored or viewed as a moral fable which should not be read literally.
 
The problem with that is there is no clear way to decide what's to be read literally and what shouldn't. Most will draw the line at what's socially acceptable nowadays - they won't throw rocks at people who work on Sunday or have their daughter marry the man who abused her in exchange of money.
 
But from the moment you start to reinterpret and take only what you want, you put the whole thing into question because you demonstrate that it's all arbitrary. And, furthermore, you are actually doing exactly what the Bible tells you not to do - relying on your reason to reinterpret the word of God and removing parts from it and denying its self-proclaimed perfection. 
 
Personally, I have a fascination for beliefs, religions and philosophy. As I said, I was brought up a christian by a practicing catholic grandmother. I remember wanting all of it to be true and praying every night before I went to bed. I remember crying when I saw Christ being nailed to the cross, wondering how people could find it in their heart to commit such atrocities and to hurt others like that. But by the time I was 12 or 13, I could not really believe. I still hoped it could be true, at least some of it.
 
But my "faith" did not resist a thorough inspection and a rigorous reflexion. I've read the Bible, many times, the old and new testament. I've studied it all, with maps and references and all. If anything, that put the nail in the coffin.
 
But I still like to read it - I actually used to collect Bibles until recently, I have a few very nice editions - just like I like to read about ancient greek myths or discuss w/ religious people. I seem to act as a magnet for them. For a while, one of my closest friend was a very strict Jehovah's Witness (despite the fact that they are told to avoid contact w/ outsiders). I've read and studied their literature, their revised version of the Bible, everything I could put my hands on. Likewise, I even have a copy of the Book of Mormon. I just love that stuff. 

craigb
I've heard that God doesn't like the Yankees.

Yeah, in fact she hates baseball altogether. Being a woman she knows rounders when she sees it. ;)

paulo

craigb
I've heard that God doesn't like the Yankees.

Yeah, in fact she hates baseball altogether. Being a woman she knows rounders when she sees it. ;)

I used to know someone with a mug that said "When God created man, she was only joking."

yorolpal
And I think you might be confusing philosophy and science there Starise, ol pal.  When science does happen to "solve" a social problem it is quite often an unintended consequence of solving a physical one. And again, science is a continuum not a final end point...it is simply our best and most up to date way of explaining what things are and how they work.  Science MUST be disprovable in order to work.  Simplz.
 
My point was simply that as science, i.e. our knowledge of the physical world, proceeds our reliance on or need for supernatural answers will recede.  Like entropy...that can't be reversed.
 

The utter incompatibility of Darwinian evolution and Sacred Scripture must be recognized. If belief in Adam and Eve is destroyed, then the entire Catholic Faith falls to pieces.
 
Because, if evolution is true then Adam and Eve did not even exist.
If Adam and Eve did not exist, then there is no such thing as original sin.
If there's no such thing as original sin, there is no need to be redeemed from original sin.
If there is no need for a redeemer, then there is no need for the Second Person of the Blessed Trinity to become Man and die on the Cross for our sins.
If there is no such thing as the Sacrifice of the Cross then there is no such thing as the sacrifice of the Mass, etc., etc., etc.
Evolution: Critical for the Atheist Agenda
 
Why is evolution kept alive? Why are we not told that Darwinism is dead? That there is devastating evidence against the theory of evolution? Because ^___ if evolution is taken away, practically every major world view of our modern day will have nothing to support it and will come crashing to the ground. Modernism. Communism. Secular Humanism. Eugenics. The New Age Movement and even the atheistic United Nations ^___ are all based upon the theory of evolution and could not survive without it. Take evolution away, and it would destroy the entire godless superstructure of our modern world in which all these erroneous ideas and institutions reign supreme.
 
The only explanation for the endless propagation of this unscientific theory, is that evolution is actually a pre-scientific prejudice serving not as a scientific end, but rather, a religious end ^___ the uprooting of the Christian belief in Creation and the moral order based on it. Evolution is not an affirmation of scientific fact, it is a declaration of war against Christ, His Church and Christian civilization.

"You stay classy, San Diego."...Ron Burgundy