I was an extreme Christian for 5 years and I can say without a doubt there is no god.

[Harbinger]

Cause people never hallucinate and their gut feelings are never wrong...

He doesn't get it, he's one of those who is beyond hope.

[Weightaholic]

This same Jesus of the bible appeared to me in an open vision when I was around 23 years of age during prayer wide awake!.... When I was 22 I had 4 angels from God appear to me in big pillars of fire.....

LOL. What a bunch of fcking horsesh-t. Negged for being a liar.

[CoolDehLa]

a man can read the Bible once and get more out of it than someone who has read it over a thousand. you are making it seem as if the amount of times you read the Word and the amount of time you spent praying makes you a bigger Christian, why? God would rather you pray for 1 minutes from your heart.

I hope you really think about what you are saying and pray to become more informed and understanding of how Christ works. Maybe you are going through something in your life that's making you doubt or maybe you are just in a phase where you question everything. I think that over time you will come back to believing what you once did, if you really did so in the first place >.>

Do you dare and challenge his ideas ?
He's claiming that the bible is conflicting.
He sames cereal. No christian in this thread had come forward and challenged this. Why ?

Another verse that proves to me that God is real is in Job 26:7 "He stretcheth out the north over the empty place, and hangeth the earth upon nothing." This verse really blew my mind because the Bible explains the earth floating in space centuries before man had the technology to verify that. Just curious what your interpretation or counter would be for that passage.

Why don't you reply on the fact that dinosaus don't have belly buttons, why are you dodging that claim ?

[BuccoBruce]

The word translated "navel" in Job 40 is shariyr, which means muscle, or sinew.

[lasher]

The word translated "navel" in Job 40 is shariyr, which means muscle, or sinew.

This is true, but you are wasting your time explaining it to R/P.

[Harbinger]

The word translated "navel" in Job 40 is shariyr, which means muscle, or sinew.

This is true, but you are wasting your time explaining it to R/P.

The word sinew is already used in the verse.

[BuccoBruce]

This is true, but you are wasting your time explaining it to R/P.

Perhaps, but just tired of poor hermeneutics and ignorance.

[lasher]

The word sinew is already used in the verse.

Irrelevant. synonymous words describing the same thing. General consensus among Hebraic scholars is that the term merely means “the muscles of his belly". Also, the word is plural, are you suggesting the authors were referring to multiple navels? Have some intellectual honesty and research **** before posting.

[Harbinger]

Irrelevant. synonymous words describing the same thing. General consensus among Hebraic scholars is that the term merely means “the muscles of his belly". Also, the word is plural, are you suggesting the authors were referring to multiple navels? Have some intellectual honesty and research **** before posting.

There is also a version where behemoth is replaced with hippopotamus, which is probably more realistic than a dinosaur.

[BuccoBruce]

There is also a version where behemoth is replaced with hippopotamus, which is probably more realistic than a dinosaur.

Only saw 2 translations out of about 15 that has it translated hippopotamus, the CEV and the AMP. The hippo doesn't have much going for it when looking at the verse describing the tail.

[lasher]

Only saw 2 translations out of about 15 that has it translated hippopotamus, the CEV and the AMP. The hippo doesn't have much going for it when looking at the verse describing the tail.

Oh, you mean the mighty ceder like instrument? That's totally like a hippo tail brah.

[Harbinger]

Only saw 2 translations out of about 15 that has it translated hippopotamus, the CEV and the AMP. The hippo doesn't have much going for it when looking at the verse describing the tail.

Ok then, you continue to use the translations that fit your side of the story and I'll use the ones that fit mine.

[BuccoBruce]

Ok then, you continue to use the translations that fit your side of the story and I'll use the ones that fit mine.

Even if you stick with your translations you'll have to make some hurdles to definitively say it's hippopotamus. Like I said, the hippo argument doesn't hold much water when reading the text. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of translations translate it behemoth.

[Harbinger]

Even if you stick with your translations you'll have to make some hurdles to definitively say it's hippopotamus. Like I said, the hippo argument doesn't hold much water when reading the text. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of translations translate it behemoth.

It's just not that important to me.

[Trigger543]

Its a tremendous difference, not only reflecting the character of God, but puts things on a more level playing field. Everybody dies....those that reject God stay dead. Those that sacrifice this life, their only guaranteed life, get rewarded.

Prove it.

[Trigger543]

Even if you stick with your translations you'll have to make some hurdles to definitively say it's hippopotamus. Like I said, the hippo argument doesn't hold much water when reading the text. Nevermind the fact that the vast majority of translations translate it behemoth.

Maybe people were just a lot shorter back then ... maybe it was a crocodile or a komodo dragon... ?? just sayin

[Scoundrel]

Prove it.

Prove what?

Something that takes place in the future?

Ok...ill try i guess

[jake24]

Cause people never hallucinate and their gut feelings are never wrong...

Not in my case.

[jake24]

LOL. What a bunch of fcking horsesh-t. Negged for being a liar.

I don't tell lies... I only tell the truth of what God has done in my life.... The bible says all liars will have there part in the lake of fire, and I believe it... Those encounters really happened... Duh, it's the reason I am a zealous follower of Jesus Christ because he is 100% real and alive.

[BrbGettingSwole]

The logical answer doesn't have to be that there is no god. Most philosophers since the ancient greeks believe that, according to logic, there must be a god, albeit an impersonal one, and I think their arguments are very compelling

[Maiar]

I don't tell lies... I only tell the truth of what God has done in my life.... The bible says all liars will have there part in the lake of fire, and I believe it... Those encounters really happened... Duh, it's the reason I am a zealous follower of Jesus Christ because he is 100% real and alive.

do you really think jesus likes grovelling morons like you who obviously possess low IQ's? Do you really think he prefers you to a witty, charming, intellectual atheist who questions the very nature of the existence that god created?

People like you belong in hell more than most.

[BuccoBruce]

Maybe people were just a lot shorter back then ... maybe it was a crocodile or a komodo dragon... ?? just sayin

Crocodiles are carnivores. Wouldn't "eat grass like an ox." Komodo dragons don't have much of an argument for it either when looking at the description. As Harbinger said, it's not that important to him, and that's his prerogative, but to dismiss the notion of dinosaurs in the Bible purely from the passage in Job 40 isn't convincing in the least.

[jake24]

do you really think jesus likes grovelling morons like you who obviously possess low IQ's? Do you really think he prefers you to a witty, charming, intellectual atheist who questions the very nature of the existence that god created?

People like you belong in hell more than most.

LOL... At first I thought this was a serious post until I seen the words, witty, charming, intellectual before the word atheist... It's nice and funny for an atheist to think so highly of himself, but Gods word declares anyone that says there is no God is a fool... So in reality what you call intellectual is foolishness... God is light and those who reject him walk in great darkness and perceive it not.

[GoJu]

LOL... At first I thought this was a serious post until I seen the words, witty, charming, intellectual before the word atheist... It's nice and funny for an atheist to think so highly of himself, but Gods word declares anyone that says there is no God is a fool... So in reality what you call intellectual is foolishness... God is light and those who reject him walk in great darkness and perceive it not.

[Jab1]

This same Jesus of the bible appeared to me in an open vision when I was around 23 years of age during prayer wide awake!.... When I was 22 I had 4 angels from God appear to me in big pillars of fire.....

If you really do think you saw these things I urge you to seek medical care and counselling. I'm being serious; you are suffering delusions on a grand scale and your mental health is at stake here. You will probably find this upsetting and infuriating to read but you really must get some help. Please.

[PowerSwede]

HMMM.... Okay so you say you were definitely saved, but you also say in another post that you have no doubt there is no God.... Umm correct me if I'm wrong but if there is no God, there is no salvation or being saved.... So your whole line of reasoning is a contradiction.... So you were either saved or not saved, and God is either real or not real.... The truth is God is 100% real.. You once had a belief in Chritianity, but you never had the person of Christianity.... There is a difference between professing Christ and possessing Christ!.... Millions profess him yet, are not really saved....
Jesus said about many on the day of judgement will say too him Lord we have done many wonderful works in your name, and Jesus will tell them depart from me I never knew you.... Jesus never knew you and you never knew him..... For had you trully been born again of Gods spirit you would know God personally and he would have revealed himself to you.... So for anyone to say they were once in the fold and now say they don't believe in him never had a real life changing born again expereince where they are saved and reconciled back to God...... Your unbelief comes from your faulty reasoning, and my belief In Jesus Christ comes from first hand personal expereince.... For this God you claim to not believe in revealed himself to me many times.... This same Jesus of the bible appeared to me in an open vision when I was around 23 years of age during prayer wide awake!.... When I was 22 I had 4 angels from God appear to me in big pillars of fire..... So if you want the real deal I suggest you humble yourself and demonstrate geniune biblical repentance from sin and geniune faith in Jesus Christ.... You seek him until you find him... If not you shall surley perish! www.christiananswers.net

Delusional disorder seems to be more common than i previously thought it was.

[AceKinQueen]

OP If you want to know why you didn't find God in the church and through habitual prayer look at what this thread has become:

People in this thread getting carried off on crazy tangents about sanity, translation errors/corrections, atheism etc - all tangents to the reason why we contemplate God.


God isn't a building. It isn't a group of people. God isn't a book or the words printed in a book. God is meaning.

I think somewhere along the line people, much like those so far responding in this thread, branched off and started confusing the building 'church' with God and the physical act of 'prayer' with God. The meaning is what you are meant to be taking from the stuff you are dealing with. What I mean is that a church, bible, even different religions can all be created, destroyed and reconstructed because they aren't religion/god but rather representations of meaning. The bricks and mortar, the physical symbols are useful but can be irrelevant - tangents - to what you were looking for in the first place.

This is why I am going to say that I disagree with you that religions are the worst things to ever be created. When you really look at them, they much a shizload of sense. People contemplating meaning and gathering together to share and build their definitions of meaning? Sounds pretty damn smart to me.....

I think contemplation of existence is important because no matter what you do, however much of a dirt pile you amass for yourself, those same questions are sitting there waiting for you to deal with them. That is what religions and churches are meant to be...a place for people to gather and think. Now, as I said, I think somewhere people got lost into the tangents and transformed the physical church as a place of thought into the actual creator of thought itself. Role reversal.

Essentially, what I am suggesting is that if you didn't take meaning from your time with institutionalised religion, it is because you weren't part of a serious group of religious thinkers, but rather a veneer group of masturbating-never-get-laid-wannabees. I would argue that the reason you didn't find God with your experience is because you got all swept up that you lost as to why you were looking in the first place.

Please don't take this as a cue from me to go back into the old church and do everything the same way again, just understand that some conceptions of existence (however little and self-serving) were there in the Christian church. If you completely dismiss it all as nonsense, you might miss the important meaningful parts which have actually survived the corruption of the institution.

/wasteoftimeposttoomuchprocrastination

[IAmBatman]

LOL... At first I thought this was a serious post until I seen the words, witty, charming, intellectual before the word atheist... It's nice and funny for an atheist to think so highly of himself, but Gods word declares anyone that says there is no God is a fool... So in reality what you call intellectual is foolishness... God is light and those who reject him walk in great darkness and perceive it not.

"I have been called arrogant myself in my time, and hope to earn the title again, but to claim that I am privy to the secrets of the universe and its creator - that's beyond my conceit."

[spursbrah]

HMMM.... Okay so you say you were definitely saved, but you also say in another post that you have no doubt there is no God.... Umm correct me if I'm wrong but if there is no God, there is no salvation or being saved.... So your whole line of reasoning is a contradiction.... So you were either saved or not saved, and God is either real or not real.... The truth is God is 100% real.. You once had a belief in Chritianity, but you never had the person of Christianity.... There is a difference between professing Christ and possessing Christ!.... Millions profess him yet, are not really saved....
Jesus said about many on the day of judgement will say too him Lord we have done many wonderful works in your name, and Jesus will tell them depart from me I never knew you.... Jesus never knew you and you never knew him..... For had you trully been born again of Gods spirit you would know God personally and he would have revealed himself to you.... So for anyone to say they were once in the fold and now say they don't believe in him never had a real life changing born again expereince where they are saved and reconciled back to God...... Your unbelief comes from your faulty reasoning, and my belief In Jesus Christ comes from first hand personal expereince.... For this God you claim to not believe in revealed himself to me many times.... This same Jesus of the bible appeared to me in an open vision when I was around 23 years of age during prayer wide awake!.... When I was 22 I had 4 angels from God appear to me in big pillars of fire..... So if you want the real deal I suggest you humble yourself and demonstrate geniune biblical repentance from sin and geniune faith in Jesus Christ.... You seek him until you find him... If not you shall surley perish! www.christiananswers.net

I used the term "saved" because it is a word that christians are familiar with. It doesn't mean that I actually believe in salvation. And I'm glad that you saw angels, if I saw angels then I might be inclined to believe but even the bible says that the devil comes as an angel of light, so how do you know it wasn't the devil? I've heard dozens of claims of people experiencing and seeing crazy stuff yet its all hot air without proof.

You say religion.
The only religion recognised by God was the judaism of the Old Testament.
This is hard to understand for many people, but Christ didn't come to create a religion.
He came to die for His body, the Church, formed by living rocks.

"Therefore thus saith the Lord GOD, Behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner {stone}, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste."
Isaiah 28:16
"Now therefore ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellowcitizens with the saints, and of the household of God;
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner {stone}"
Ephesians 2:19-20
"Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ."
1 Peter 2:5
"And he is the head of the body, the church: who is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead; that in all {things} he might have the preeminence"
Colossians 1:18

People think "Church" and readily associates with an human organization, or different denominations, or as buildings made of stones. That's the problem.
"God that made the world and all things therein, seeing that he is Lord of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in temples made with hands"
Acts 17:24

You're right that church is a failed and outdated concept. Unfortunately church has become nothing more than a highly profitable business.

[spursbrah]

LOL... At first I thought this was a serious post until I seen the words, witty, charming, intellectual before the word atheist... It's nice and funny for an atheist to think so highly of himself, but Gods word declares anyone that says there is no God is a fool... So in reality what you call intellectual is foolishness... God is light and those who reject him walk in great darkness and perceive it not.

Lol that verse is such a joke. If an atheist is a fool, then there are no words to describe how stupid a religious person is. Believing in something without evidence is pure ignorance.