Why does religion still exist ?

Quote from Free Thinker:

the way you use reason is to use your ability to think to evaluate what you are told. i dont know your age but i suspect i have spent more time thinking about this than you have been alive.
ok. we have both agreed that the three major stories in the bible that we talked about are not factual. here is the question we have to consider now. in the bible there is a story about a man called Jesus who was killed. in that story 3 days after the was killed he got up and started walking around. then later he flew up into the clouds promising to return someday. as a college educated man can you think of any way that a man dead for 3 days could come back to life?

since we have already concluded that 3 of the four stories we talked about are not factual how do we conclude that the fourth story about a dead man coming back to life is factual? what basis do we have to think any of the bible stories are factual?
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I hadn't intended to reply but I thought I would give it one last stab.

There are several factors to take into account when analyzing your question. Whether or not you think Jesus was the son of God what was his goal while on earth? What did he focus most of his efforts on? The majority of the time he spent in debate with the Pharisees over what they were teaching and how they were teaching it. He disagreed with the direction that Judaism had gone in. The main difference between the new and old testaments is the emphasis put on symbolic texts versus literal texts. Jesus took issue with the way the religious hierarchy deceived its following and blended symbolic and literal texts. The most obvious difference between the old and new testament is the distinction given to parables and symbolic stories in the new testament. The new testament makes sure the reader knows what is suppose to be interpreted symbolically. Where as in the old testament the reader is given no distinction and has to guess what is meant to be literal. Given this major difference I find it ironic that you choose three old testament stories to contradict the new testament.

To this point you have only focused on your problems with the bible. A lot of these problems are the same issues Jesus had with religious texts. The word of God had been bended and twisted after years of being looked after by man. My question is why do you ignore my other statements? Why are you looking for God in a book? People like us that are not given unyielding faith will not find answers in a book. You need to start searching elsewhere.

Have a great night man.
 
Quote from bkveen3:

I hadn't intended to reply but I thought I would give it one last stab.

There are several factors to take into account when analyzing your question. Whether or not you think Jesus was the son of God what was his goal while on earth? What did he focus most of his efforts on? The majority of the time he spent in debate with the Pharisees over what they were teaching and how they were teaching it. He disagreed with the direction that Judaism had gone in. The main difference between the new and old testaments is the emphasis put on symbolic texts versus literal texts. Jesus took issue with the way the religious hierarchy deceived its following and blended symbolic and literal texts. The most obvious difference between the old and new testament is the distinction given to parables and symbolic stories in the new testament. The new testament makes sure the reader knows what is suppose to be interpreted symbolically. Where as in the old testament the reader is given no distinction and has to guess what is meant to be literal. Given this major difference I find it ironic that you choose three old testament stories to contradict the new testament.

To this point you have only focused on your problems with the bible. A lot of these problems are the same issues Jesus had with religious texts. The word of God had been bended and twisted after years of being looked after by man. My question is why do you ignore my other statements? Why are you looking for God in a book? People like us that are not given unyielding faith will not find answers in a book. You need to start searching elsewhere.

Have a great night man.
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dont give up so easily. we are getting somewhere. since you didnt try to defend the resurrection story i will conclude you have problems with that too. so per your suggestion we will dispense with the bible as out source of evidence.
you said i need to look elswhere for answers. lets take your suggestion and look elsewhere for evidence that justifies what you believe. where do you suggest we start?
 
What is your academic background so I can know what is worth going into detail with? That's not meant to be an offense, I just don't want to have to write a thesis to describe some of the concepts of quantum physics. What areas of science would you consider yourself well versed?
 
Quote from Free Thinker:

dont give up so easily. we are getting somewhere. since you didnt try to defend the resurrection story i will conclude you have problems with that too. so per your suggestion we will dispense with the bible as out source of evidence.
you said i need to look elswhere for answers. lets take your suggestion and look elsewhere for evidence that justifies what you believe. where do you suggest we start?
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Before we continue I wanted to comment on something first. I think I gave a very thorough defense of the resurrection, at least against your complaint with it. I rationalize it differently but against your complaint I think I gave a satisfactory explanation.
 
Quote from bkveen3:

What is your academic background so I can know what is worth going into detail with? That's not meant to be an offense, I just don't want to have to write a thesis to describe some of the concepts of quantum physics. What areas of science would you consider yourself well versed?
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lol. come on man. you arent going to try and dazzle us with bullshit are you? give it your best shot. remember, no pratts.
 
Quote from bkveen3:

Before we continue I wanted to comment on something first. I think I gave a very thorough defense of the resurrection, at least against your complaint with it. I rationalize it differently but against your complaint I think I gave a satisfactory explanation.
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"rationalize" is a very apt description of what christians have to do a lot of.
i am waiting. this is just starting to get fun..
 
Quote from Free Thinker:

lol. come on man. you arent going to try and dazzle us with bullshit are you? give it your best shot. remember, no pratts.
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Alright so not that much obviously. Here is where I started my discovery process. You can use this as your starting place as well. Maybe you won't come to the same answers, thats fine.

Quantum consciousness is a field of study that was discovered during Einsteins experiments in quantum physics. While conducting experiments Einstein and Plank found that they could not be present or think about the experiments while they were being performed. If they did it literally changed their results. Consciousness is a force that is capable of affecting our dimension while not existing as matter inside of it. Thus our literal reality is created from an external force outside of our dimension/universe.

This is a mere starting point. There are several steps in between that I skipped and many many more to build on from here. But if you have an interest in physics and as you say desire to find the answers to some questions than this is a good place to start. You didn't really think all those academics who believed in God were just backwards, did you?
 
Thanks for a great discussion. I encourage you to have fun and use what I said as a starting place. I've spent a little too much time at the computer and I really have to get up. Have a good one man. *for the last time really*
 
Quote from bkveen3:

Consciousness is a force that is capable of affecting our dimension while not existing as matter inside of it. Thus our literal reality is created from an external force outside of our dimension/universe.

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no its not. individual consciousness is confined to an individuals brain.when the brain dies consciousness ends.

i suspect academics who believed in God who put forth unproven speculation such as this have a need to believe so they try to fit their god into whatever gap in our knowledge they can find. nothing you have postulated even remotely points to the christian god.
 
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