riskfreetrading, TraderZones is another who has me on ignore. He too presents a straw man, and argues for it. So he is like vhehn in reverse. The net effect is the same: A false dichotomy which only serves to misdirect one's attention away from the truthful, core message of Jesus. The Bible and the Quran are both straw men, argued for and against as if one of them contained the truth, and not the other. But as the truth is shrouded in either, they both serve a lie. The gOd which makes this world is not GoD at all. It is an idol, set up in a very powerful mind temporarily interested in decieving itself. Look beyond the idol to find the truth. The idol uses misdirection, a staple of illusion. Makes David Copperfield look like an amateur. It succeeds as its audience actually wants to be decieved. So, "the universe" is like a show. TraderZones doesn't actually know what the new or old testament is about. The testaments he presents are both false, so we are back to the false-dichotomy-as-diversion deception. It's like a colossal waste of time. By the time you figure it out, you're dead. Nevertheless, all things work together for GoD's purpose: to save the Son of God from his own false self-concepts, and the mind games that support them. Christ!
Was Isaiah 53 Even a Prophecy? Be very careful with this stuff. Isaiah 53 is very tricky because it is such a tough one to crack. However, keep in mind that almost all the others are relatively simple. And the apparent "success" of Isaiah 53 would in no way make up for the monumental failures of the others. Isaiah 53 is a failure, to be sure, once you examine the nature of prophecy and see that it is not a prophecy at all and was never intended to be one: you must twist this thing all out of context to turn it into a prophecy. However, at first glance, Isaiah 53 looks pretty good! Remember, though, Isaiah 53 is just one passage out of 39 (currently canonized) books of Hebrew Scripture, and it says some things that have nothing to do with Jesus, and also omits some important elements of the Jesus story that you'd expect to see in something alleging to be a prediction about him. The most crucial omission is even a hint -- a suggestion -- that this is intended to be a prophecy at all! It isn't a prophecy. At all. It has none of the elements of the classic Ezekiel "Thus Saith The Lord" if you don't do this, then such and so will happen. Isaiah even contains a prophecy just so we'll know what one looks like (assuming both sections were written by the same man). I shall retell the story based upon the famous commentary by United States Founder Thomas Paine: In Isaiah 7:14, the famous "Virgin shall conceive" passage is actually about Maher-Shalal-Hash-Baz -- not Jesus -- and Isaiah gives this prophecy as a sign to Ahaz, the king of Judah, that he'd win the upcoming battle when Pekah, king of Israel would join himself to Rezin, king of Syria, to make war against Ahaz. In other words, the birth of this child would prove to him that these two kings should not succeed against him! And so, in order to "fulfill" the "birth of the child" section of this prophecy, what does Isaiah do? In 13:2, Isaiah says, "I went in unto the Prophetess, and she conceived and bear a son." Ah, okay! Well, there's a self-fulfilling prophecy if I ever heard one! In verse 18 he reiterates: "Behold I and the children whom the Lord hath given me are for signs and for wonders in Israel." Was Isaiah Even a Prophet of God? Oh, but even Isaiah is not fool enough to carry us through to the finish of this story. Another chronicler, one who was not working in league with Isaiah (and perhaps was unaware of this "prophecy"), tells us what became of this upcoming battle. In II Chronicles 28:1, the chronicler tells us, about Ahaz: "Ahaz was twenty years old when he began to reign. and he reigned sixteen years in Jerusalem, but he did not that which was right in the sight of the Lord." Okay, so we have a different picture: Instead of the Lord giving the king signs as a trusted servant, here he is disobedient and about to be punished. But look very closely at the precise nature of this punishment, described in verse 5: "Wherefore the Lord his God delivered him into the hand of the king of Syria, and they smate him, and carried away a great multitude of them captive and brought them to Damascus; and he was also delivered into the hand of the king, of Israel, who smote him with a great slaughter." So, instead of things going according to the prophecy of Isaiah, they ended up happening in the exact reverse of what Isaiah is said to have prophesied! You don't need to try to verify this one from outside sources, the whole thing is contained right here in the Bible itself. Also, the Deuteronomy 18 gives us a test to determine whether we're dealing with a false prophet: [20] But the prophet, which shall presume to speak a word in my name, which I have not commanded him to speak, or that shall speak in the name of other gods, even that prophet shall die. [21] And if thou say in thine heart, How shall we know the word which the LORD hath not spoken? [22] When a prophet speaketh in the name of the LORD, if the thing follow not, nor come to pass, that is the thing which the LORD hath not spoken, but the prophet hath spoken it presumptuously: thou shalt not be afraid of him. If the prophet makes a single mistake -- if the prophet predicts one thing that does not come to pass, then that prophet has not spoken with God. So, since the Bible god botched this one, we don't have to believe a word that the Bible god says, right? Well, no, it's a bit more complicated than that -- but we've at least nullified Isaiah's claim to having been a prophet of God! According to the Bible, Isaiah was a false prophet, and ought to have been put to death. Do not pay attention to what Isaiah 53 says, no matter how impressive it sounds. http://www.positiveatheism.org/mail/eml8612.htm
No Vhehn admits that he doesn't know everything and he also knows it is not logical to think that some supreme god exists because us humans don't know everything. You focusing on the tonality of his words only shows your insecurity of actually providing a straight answer. I am once again you know there is a god as much as you don't know there is a god. Once you learn this you can stop being such a dumb bitch.
Vhehn serves the purpose of GoD by holding the idol "gOd" up for question, questioning it's reality. I question it's reality as much as vhehn. But that is not the end-all-be-all of rationality. It does not represent enlightenment. To stop there is like a christian which stops at the feet of Jesus looking up at "the truth", and does not look beyond to the truth he pointed to. I'm focusing on the falsity of the dichotomy vhehn sets up. He will only argue with a straw man. That there might be an authentic message obscured by christianity...this idea is not allowed to cross vhehn's mind. Unless someone else quotes me directly, vhehn does not get the message. In this way, he is like to christian evangelists. While others see a difference, I see the same thing...two sides to the same coin trick. While the coin is flipping in the air, you do not notice the con artist [think: subconscious mind] taking your wallet...and taking your life away. Christ!
This has already been learned. So I stopped being a dummy. Do you really want to challenge me to an I-don't-know-anything contest? How do you know you don't know there is GoD? Christ!
I'm betting good $ there's no god. How could a god have created so many idiots, morons, and asswipes? Even if there is a creator , at best, it's incompetent, and not worth bothering about.
And as of right now what are the three biggest pieces of evidence that point towards the existence of god? Evidence meaning directly related to god. There is no evidence. The only questioning should be about actual news about a real god or not. You are not going to figure out if there is a god or not I am by studying every single philosophy in the world. The only way there is can be confirmation of a god is if he factually displays that he is present. Don't give me all your miracle and inner mind Bull Shit either.
Good work Sherlock! Try again. If you are investigating inside the mansion of a brilliant murderer, would you really expect to find any evidence of the murder, or traces of the murdered? Christ!
It does not follow. It's elementary Watson. The only way there can be confirmation of sanity is if insanity is no longer present. Don't give me any of your retreaded "rationality"...either. The insane will not find solutions at the same level that causes problems. You've got to think outside the pandora's box. If you are really the Son of God, and if your will is equal to GoD's, then GoD has no business taking away your right to go insane and deny the presence of GoD, however rediculous your methods achieve their ends. Christ!
I do not know who wrote the Quran, as it has no author, but from the writing it is God who is speaking. That is why I got interested in reading it. If I am able to prove that the Quran contains something wrong, then it is easy to disquality the Quran and Islam. Quran contains prophecies, and all of them that I have checked are correct. I am particularly amazed by "the prophecy" describing the formation of the fetus. Not only it is accurate, but it is more accurate than science has discovered recently. So who ever wrote the Quran possesses more knowledge. Again I do not know who is the author, and I do not care to know who the author is, but the Quran disqualifies from its writing Mohammed as the writer. All what I care about is about the message in it. If I cannot contradict it, and the Quran asks its reader to contradict it, then I must listen or I must shut up. I have not seen any religious book that tells you that if you think that the text you are reading is wrong, then provide a proof that it is wrong. Since it contains descriptions of scientific natural phenomena, then we have multiple opportunities to have a shot at disproving the Quran. So could you read the Quran and find something that you can prove where the Quran is wrong based on science? I also like the 5 books of Moses because he givse a detailed black and white description of things. Therefore I can test them against scientific knowledge of today. I however have not tested the accuracy of the 5 books of Moses yet. Moses writes that God put the soul in humans by breathing in humans from the nose. I do not know if we can test this, but I am eager to know if this is true or not. I am telling you that despite what you may have heard about Muslims, the Quran is amazing. Do not be put down by the description of the unbelievers, and all of that. My understanding is that an unbeliever is someone who already knows the truth but goes against it in a malicious way. Someone searching for truth is definitely a believer, or believing another religion is definitely not an unbeliever. Belief and practice are 2 different things. I am a believer, but I do not practice the rituals. I do not think God cares about the rituals, but rather about the aim behind the rituals: the belief and the good deeds. I got interested in reading the Quran, after reading the writings of John Adams. He read the Quran multiple times as he was impressed by Muhammed. He even got the Quran printed in the US in his state (Massachusetts). The first version of the Quran in the US was published in Springfield Massachusetts, and John Adams (One of the Founding Fathers) read it. We all know that John Adam was the most intellectual and legalist of the founding fathers.