Behira, these are my points you are responding to so I will have to once again post my answers.
Originally posted by Behira
ZMan:
1 - conflicting stories in the various books of the Torah/Bible, which includes not only Torah to Bible but also Torah on Torah and Bible on Bible conflicts.
Name one conflict please?
Here are several:
[Matt 27:5] Judas committed suicide by hanging
or
[Acts 1:18]Judas did not hang himself, but died another way
[2 Sam 8:4]David took seven hundred horsemen
or
[1 Chron 18:4]David took seven thousand horsemen
GEN 1:25 And God made the beast of the earth after his kind, and cattle after their kind, and every thing that creepeth upon the earth after his kind: and God saw that it was good.
GEN 1:26 And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.
OR
GEN 2:18 And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
GEN 2:19 And out of the ground the LORD God formed every beast of the field, and every fowl of the air; and brought them unto Adam to see what he would call them: and whatsoever Adam called every living creature, that was the name thereof.
GEN 7:2 Of every clean beast thou shalt take to thee by sevens, the male and his female: and of beasts that are not clean by two, the male and his female.
or
GEN 7:8 Of clean beasts, and of beasts that are not clean, and of fowls, and of every thing that creepeth upon the earth, GEN 7:9 There went in two and two unto Noah into the ark, the male and the female, as God had commanded Noah.
DO you want me to post more? I can.
2 - Relgions significant role in dividing humanity.
In the beginning G-d created, G-d gave humanity through Adam a mission, to manage or rule the earth, Adam failed there were consequences; one of which is death entered in both to humanity and to the creation; it is slowly deteriorating; not global warming.
This mission to the Children of Israel was indeed to be a light unto the nations; to reveal Himself through them; which He has done, in His Messiah (Jesus Christ). That revelation is given to anyone who truly wants it.
The "revelation" is only there who share the same religious belief and if they do not then it is perfectly okay to hunted them down, force them to make a confession and then torture them before murdering them for their confession.
The Inquistions and the Crusades are more than shining examples of the "revelation" of Jesus Christ.
3 - "God" choosing only to reveal him/her-self to only a few people instead of to the entire world.
G-d revealed Himself to Adam the first human; and all of humanity that would ever lived was in Adam; G-d did therefore reveal Himself to all of us at one historical time. G-d said He carved us on the palm of His hand; when He scooped up and formed Adam He made a mark; and the mark is on everyone to this day. Look at your palm you should find a mark like a W. That is a Shin, a Hebrew letter that looks like W. It is His mark and name.
Okay, I have yet once again been proved wrong.
This is the stupidest thing a Theist has ever said to me.
Your proof of god is the faint resemblance to a Shin on our palms?
And why would it be a Shin? Why is it hebrew when Judaism did not even exist in the "Garden". If your argument is that the language we call hebrew is the one that Abram [later known as Abraham, the first hebrew] spoke before he became a hewbrew then we are all really just Chaldeans for that is where Abram came from.
4 - It is just my nature to put more faith inthat which can be logically explained than what is based on superstition and myth.
If you study with the Rabbis and learm some Hebrew you will find the logic you look for. The Christians bless them lost it when they left Jerusalem in 70 AD or so. They were not Christians of today; they were Hebrews, Jews, and they continued practicing Biblical Judaism; they were called by their contemporaries Notzrim, offshoots, branches. Constintine was largely responsible for the Christianity you see today; it was a politically correct thing to to.
The covenant was first given to the Children of Israel; but it had provisions for the stranger; those that were not Israelites by birth; but by faith; they believed in the Hebrew G-d; and accepted the obigation and benefits of the covenant. This holds true today;with G-d; maybe not the Israeli gov't but with G-d. When the covenant was severly broken by the nation; as a result of King Soloman's rule; the Israelites were exciled and their seed dispursed to the four courners of the earth. Jesus at the cross reconciled the exciles and opened the covenant to the Gentiles. Today in legal term when a contract is broken; a party suis to regain loss; there is a reconcilliations of both parties and reparations if you will are made sometimes by both; it is said the contracting parties are to be made whole; Shalom in Hebrew means "whole" wholeness.
Read Deutronomy; and you will see the stipulations of the covenant; such as keeping the Shabbat, The Lords Feast Days etc. and you will see specific curses (consequences) for obeying or disobeying. Very logical indeed. And they work for everyone; G-d invented "what goes round comes round" He said it you reap what you sow.
The tradgedies in life and destruction earthquake, flood, famine, hurrican are both a result of not obeying and of a world in slow deterioration. There were no earthquakes, floods, hurricanes, valcanoes, bombarding comets, wars, murders prior to Adam's fall. That is the last time there was utopia. There isn't any way humans can perfect themselves nor their world as a result; only when the fullness of time has come, and this is soon, will G-d restore all things.
Science was not/is not/and will not be perfect as it uses faulty humans to look into a faulty world, through fautly instruments; as they instruments are all made from the dust of this earth.
I studied in an orthodox yeshiva in Brooklyn. The same one my father went to BTW. Even when he lost his faith he still sent me there to learn.
When I was 15 I scrounged up the courage to confront him with my doubts. To my utter and complete shock he not only agreed with me but showed me more integral failings of the belief in god.
This was a man who for 15 years kept kosher [man's law], did no work on Shabbos [ man's law], and did just about every other crazy and useless ritualistic doctrine placed on us by rabbis of thousands of years ago.
Religion drives people apart, rather than bringing them together, unless one party converts to the other religion.
I opnely challenge anyone to show how to differing religious opinions have ever truly made peace with one another?
There is still hatred in the Middle east. Irishmen still have Englishmen.
All religion is a lie and a slap in the face of humanities ability to grow.
