| mewithoutYou – The Dryness and the Rain Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| And yes, before others point it out, the above statement in itself is not very forgiving. The trouble is that if my own personal beliefs about existence were put into words in as forgiving a sense as I would like them to be, not only would they not be wholly mine, but it would detract from any point I try to make as myself, a flawed human. I accept that I have vast room for improvement in myself, and that on a better day I may have been slightly less harsh in my wording. But I make no apologies for who I am and the opinions and thoughts I have on the world at large, otherwise as an agnostic I would have little reason to believe myself. This might not make sense to others, but I'm basically saying that I accept I could be totally wrong, and that others have a right to think so, but I still choose to firmly believe I am not. Otherwise, there would be no point in me having thoughts on anything. | |
| mewithoutYou – The Dryness and the Rain Lyrics | 17 years ago |
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On3, I completely disagree with what your saying. You claim that if you do not believe every word of the Bible you call God a Liar, as "all scripture is God-breathed". Unfortunately, this is a circular argument, as this is quoted from scripture itself. It's a bit like saying "This statement is true". The idea I'd put forward to replace it is that whilst all scripture is certainly inspired by God, is was written down by man, and the vast majority of it does not claim to be directly dictated by God (Paul's Letters, for example). This is exactly why atheists find it so easy to use arguments such as "Line x of Chapter y of Book z says people should kill/hurt/steal from others". It does say it in the Bible, but they misinterpret the Bible as a whole book, rather than a collection of smaller ones, written across millenia. Of course there are contradictions, you can't expect that many authors spread across that large a stretch of time to all have the same ideas and views on spirituality. These passages, whilst appearing barbaric and wholly "un-Christian", say more about the context and time they were written in than about what a good "Christian" should do (I use quote marks merely because I personally believe that the Bible is relevant to all, not just those of the Christian faith). In short, I think that the basic mistake many people (religious or not) make about the Bible is that it is a guide to how to live your life. The Old Testament in particular, rather than being composed of books written to instruct, is a history of the Hebrew people and their interactions with their environment and their God. Yes, it does contain lessons and rules that any good person (Christian or not) should abide by and learn from, but this is not it's sole purpose. To suggest that a collection of scripture written by people of different faiths, spanning 4000 years, should form one conclusive guide to life strikes me as a little naive. As for "Jtehseuwsaiys", not only do you qute the "bigger forces" argument completely out of context (the phrase is CLEARLY referring to an intelligent entity, not merely somethign we cannot predict), but saying "the koran. The same book that teaches to kill infidels" is ridiculously bigoted, ignorant, and closed-minded of you. One can only assume that all the information you get from Islam is from Tabloid newspapers, and the closest you've come to an actual copy is hurriedly running past a mosque for the disgustingly pathetic fear that every Muslim in the vicinity will immediately try to suicide bomb you. And your "ever lied? you're a liar" argument is also irrefutably flawed. Yes, that fact that you have lied makes you a liar, but to then suggest that this in its own right makes you a sinner worthy of Hell is ridiculous. That would condemn practically every 3 year old child, who doesn't know any better, to eternal torment, unless they repent to a God they may not even be aware of. Does this sound like the God you claim to worship? Sin is an unfortunate side-effect of the human condition, and to suggest a mortal can live without it is absurd. We will all sin, it is unavoidable. And claiming that since we all sin we are all worthy of Hell is just as obscene. You cannot compare jail time as a result of committing a crime to going to Hell as a result of sinning, these two are far too dissimilar to use as a metaphor for one another. The error you make here is assuming that Hell is like Jail - you are imprisoned for committing a crime, serve your punishment, and are then released. Without an impossibly rose-tinted view of Hell, this is totally unlike the prospect of eternal damnation, which is both infinitely horrific, and endless. No society on Earth issues such a harsh punishment, and rightly so. Whether or not you believe that God is just in condemning a person to Hell, it is far beyong humans to pass that kind of judgement on one another. Just to say, I'm an agnostic myself, and have been raised in a secular family, so please forgive any errors I might have made in my reasoning, as I have not studied this subject at length. I am not trying to incite any kind of bad feeling here, despite the "occasional" harsh wording. Yes, I personally regard Jtehseuwsaiys as someone in desperate need of an education in faith, but if I am the only one to think so I may well be wrong.I completely accept that many others here will disagree with me, the last thing I am trying to do is claim that my own views are "The Truth". What I'm trying to do is offer a differing opinion on the subject, and add to an interesting debate on faith and religion as a whole. You don't have to be religious to find mewithoutYou an inspiring band. The one thing I have come to learn about the band is that although they may be overtly Christian (or religious, depending on how you choose to define them), the one thing they "preach" above all is forgiveness and love. And that is something we should all practice, regardless of personal beliefs. |
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| Colour Revolt – Circus Lyrics | 17 years ago |
| exactly, xxletme got it right, it's "is this a fashion conscious religion?" | |
| Willy Mason – Oxygen Lyrics | 20 years ago |
| this is the one song i've ever heard that really touched me. and sohereiam is right, its Ritalin, a drug that's used to treat ADHD kids. my brother used to take it, it stunted his growth killed his appetite and stopped him sleeping. i completely understand the "for all the children who think that they've got a disease" line, he's barely got any self esteem. Willy Mason is an amazing guy, and this is the most inspiring song i've ever heard | |
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