What Religion are you?

[Priran]

religion

atheist

agnostic

http://img6.imageshack.us/img6/47/1230518804051.png

[zoobernut]

I think we're clear on what we're talking about when we say "god." That of the bible, obviously.

Seriously? Seriously?

Wow you are really delusional and negate every post you have made if you think that.

Because yeah every religion in the world believes in the same god and has the same definition for their god and follows the same "bible".

[Mistress Stowastiq]

I fall in the "other's" category. Pretty cool poll idea by the way.

And to the conversation above, god/God is most certainly used by many people with no intention of meaning the Bible's concept of it.

[Vajra]

I'm Seventh Day Adventist.

I was having lunch with one the other day, and we offered her shrimps, and she said that they don't eat creatures from the sea. Now, what i know is that Jews are forbidden to eat from the sea. whats the deal?

No, Seventh can eat sea food, such as regular fish, fried fish, salmon, trout, herring, cod fish, tuna fish and what not, but we aren't allowed to eat shell fish like shrimps, crab, lobster. I've eaten shrimp, but not too often, and I've only ever eaten lobster once in my life, and I hate the taste of lobster, taste like I'm eating fishtank water-meat with butter on top, so nasty. Shrimp is ok even though it is a shell fish, but I just don't eat it as often as much as regular type of fishes I bolded above. Oh yeah we definitely don't eat things like shark, whales and those types of sea creatures, nor squid or clam type fish (clams are shell fish). Only meats I've eaten in my life are goat meat, chicken, beef, fish, and lamb.

Seventh Day Adventist isn't a Jewish-only religion, it's just a basic Christian religion, that requires you to go to church every Saturday (the 7th day of the week), and keep the Sabbath Holy (Jews do this too, they go to church on the Sabbath. But yeah like I said, it's not for Jews only, I'm from Jamaica and I'm not Jewish, so I'm just an Adventist (not Jewish). Adventist also eat alot of healthy foods like white meat chicken, legumes, nuts, fruits, and we also don't eat pork because of the scripture from Deuteronomy 14: 3-20. Only frankfurter I eat is chicken franks. (^- ^)d

[Khajit]

What I think is wrong in most religions is when they force you to do certain things. One example that I find utterly laughable is when a religion requires that you give a certain percentage of your paycheck to them every week. Wtf does god need my money for?

He doesn't need your money. The money was SUPPOSED to be taken and distributed to the poor. In Christianity at least you're being asked to help out people less fortunate than you,not to give God and the church itself any money.
It's for this reason that farm workers were encouraged to not get every last thing when harvesting. That way the poor and homeless could get the leftover food to prevent death via starvation. Essentially they're(supposed to be) asking you to donate to charity , not them.

Besides. WTF does the (X)government need your money for? It seems to be spent on alot of crap that has nothing to do with you so it's highly inefficient. I just love the irony in that people hate when a church asks for money but happen to have no problem with thier tax money being spent on bullshit(not counting the bailout which was too ridiculous for em not to notice.)

[Vajra]

Here's a quote to explain where healthy body life styles came from (yes it began with the scriptures of the Bible).

Corinthians Chapter 6

Do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit Who lives within you, Whom you have
received as a Gift from God? You were bought with a price; purchased with Jesus’ blood, paid for
and made His own. So then honor God and bring glory to Him in your body’.

Summary: The body is God's temple, so keep it holy.

[Plow]

I suppose it being a semantics argument makes sense really, since neo's stayed out and people aren't attacking other beliefs or anything. Not a whole lot else to discuss on the topic aside from "oh, those results are interesting."


So here's my final input into semantics crap:

You *could* separate agnostic/gnostic from atheist/theist in the rawest terms to where they can apply to various "sides."

Here's what you'd end up with:

Gnostic Theist: A person who holds God to be truth, not belief. (I'll get to the immediate responses on that in a moment.)

Agnostic Theist: A person who believes in God, but proclaims no actual knowledge.

___________(no term here... you've taken it to use as an adjective instead... apathist, maybe?): A person who believes we cannot know and does not believe either way. "Undecided."

Agnostic Atheist: A person who does not believe in God, but proclaims no actual knowledge.

Gnostic Atheist: A person who holds the lack of God to be truth, not belief.


As far as "holding it to be truth": You can go down the line with anything a religious person believes and say "nope, you can't verify that as fact, you're taking someone's word for it." But the same can be said at some point for virtually anything. Let me give an example:

There are a few people on this forum who can actually say, "Yes, the world is round, this is a fact. I have done the experimentation, I have seen and evaluated the evidence, and gathered my own. I can say with certainty that the earth is a spherical object." The rest of us? We trust, i.e. believe, that what they are stating is a fact. We believe that they understand the system, because they've shown us tremendous evidence, which we also trust is factual.

Which brings me to my point: gnosticism is that kind of belief. A gnostic believes that his teachers, and their evidence, is factual proof. It is derived from the word "know," and was used to describe a group of people who hold that God is fact.


Words aren't always purely defined by their roots. Sometimes we *need* the specific limitations in order to be able to define groupings.

In the end, what we come to is what I stated before:

Gnostic: Professes knowledge that God is truth, not belief.

Theist: Believes in God.

Agnostic: Does not proclaim either way, due to lack of knowledge.

Atheist: Believes in no God.

A "gnostic atheist" really wouldn't make much sense: it would be proclaiming you have supernatural knowledge... that the supernatural does not exist.


I think a big problem here is people mix up the meaning of atheism with nontheism. Atheism is not "lack of belief," it's belief in the opposite of theism. Nontheism is the much more adaptable, broader term.

The real fact of the matter, though, in my eyes, is that none of us want a label for ourselves.

[Eratosthenes]

I think a big problem here is people mix up the meaning of atheism with nontheism. Atheism is not "lack of belief," it's belief in the opposite of theism.

No, the prefix "anti" means opposite. Antitheism is the opposite of theism. Atheism is the absence of theism.

[Aphelidia]

He doesn't need your money. The money was SUPPOSED to be taken and distributed to the poor. In Christianity at least you're being asked to help out people less fortunate than you,not to give God and the church itself any money.
It's for this reason that farm workers were encouraged to not get every last thing when harvesting. That way the poor and homeless could get the leftover food to prevent death via starvation. Essentially they're(supposed to be) asking you to donate to charity , not them.

Besides. WTF does the (X)government need your money for? It seems to be spent on alot of crap that has nothing to do with you so it's highly inefficient. I just love the irony in that people hate when a church asks for money but happen to have no problem with thier tax money being spent on bullshit(not counting the bailout which was too ridiculous for em not to notice.)

I once knew someone who had to give out a certain percentage of his paycheck every week to the church. I cant recall what religion it was exactly. The point is, he had to sell some of the things he had to be able to pay this, and he still had 5 kids and a wife to feed. They still "demanded" him to pay this crap, when he could barely feed his family. No religion should require such things of one man. And you know the saddest part of all of this? That man had a car accident, and he died, leaving his wife alone to feed 5 kids, and she still never got any retribution from the church to help her. To me, that is utter bullshit.

Edit: I dont have an issue with a church that asks for charity. I do when they demand it.

[Skjie]

I can't believe you people would ruin a perfectly good troll topic on religion and turn it into a semantics thread. This is why we can't have nice things.

[Meian]

I once knew someone who had to give out a certain percentage of his paycheck every week to the church. I cant recall what religion it was exactly. The point is, he had to sell some of the things he had to be able to pay this, and he still had 5 kids and a wife to feed. They still "demanded" him to pay this crap, when he could barely feed his family. No religion should require such things of one man. And you know the saddest part of all of this? That man had a car accident, and he died, leaving his wife alone to feed 5 kids, and she still never got any retribution from the church to help her. To me, that is utter bullshit.

Edit: I dont have an issue with a church that asks for charity. I do when they demand it.

There is no demand, it is a choice.

Heh, the poor giving to the poor. You aren't going to hell if you don't do this. We don't do the % way but we do give some money each month to the church.

[Plow]

No, the prefix "anti" means opposite. Antitheism is the opposite of theism. Atheism is the absence of theism.

Again, you have to realize that terms can have further definitions beyond just what the prefix's root is. Antitheism is the position of being actively against theism.

[Khajit]

I once knew someone who had to give out a certain percentage of his paycheck every week to the church. I cant recall what religion it was exactly. The point is, he had to sell some of the things he had to be able to pay this, and he still had 5 kids and a wife to feed. They still "demanded" him to pay this crap, when he could barely feed his family. No religion should require such things of one man. And you know the saddest part of all of this? That man had a car accident, and he died, leaving his wife alone to feed 5 kids, and she still never got any retribution from the church to help her. To me, that is utter bullshit.

Edit: I dont have an issue with a church that asks for charity. I do when they demand it.

If he was having trouble feeding his children then the church should have been giving him money. not the other way around..
In addition you seem to be confusing the church and the people. Think of it this way. If a guy starts going GTA on a random street is it the car maker's fault or the driver's fault?

You're basically trying to pin blame on the religion when really the people that did that shit to your friend were simply complete jackasses or at minimum really stupid.
Just because an idea starts out one way doesn't mean people will do things properly.

Christianity in general is a great example of that. Jesus said that the church itself should not be a business or make profits, preached nonviolence, said to be understanding or at least tolerant of other religions(granted it wasn't as nicely as he normally does things but he did point out that every religion had to have at least one thing right). We ended up with 2000 years of a corrupt organization focused on the exact opposite idea while pretending they adhere to the original ideals it was based upon.

[Aphelidia]

There is no demand, it is a choice.

Heh, the poor giving to the poor. You aren't going to hell if you don't do this. We don't do the % way but we do give some money each month to the church.

Saddly, there are churches that do demand, not necessarily in the form of money, but some require you to do certain things if you want to "stay in". I have another example of someone else I know. This was a woman in the Jehovah witness who raised her family with their rules and whatnot. Everything was fine with them and all. But one day, her son decided he didnt want to be part of this anymore. That was his choice. But their church told her that she could not talk to her son again because of this. They "demanded" her to deny her own son. Can you believe she told them right then and there to fuck off?

Im not saying that religions are a bad thing, but as Ive mentionned before, they should be nothing more than guidelines in life. The second they require you to do something, no matter which religion, no matter what they ask, if it is a requirement is when it is wrong.

[Meian]

No, the prefix "anti" means opposite. Antitheism is the opposite of theism. Atheism is the absence of theism.

"Inflammable"

[Vandole]

the only provable god.

http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-con...009/06/fsm.jpg

don't care if it was posted already.

[Max™]

I'm still looking for the term to describe someone who thinks Religion is an idea virus which threatens to destroy his species...

Antibody?

Scientists are antibodies against the infectious bullshit that is Religion.


Why sit and fret and argue and kill each other over what might be, let's go learn about what is, I promise you it is far more interesting than some stories made up by dead men from thousands of years ago.

[Jefe]

You meant "ideal virus"? Also, I didn't know antibodies were viruses. And your post doesn't make any sense to begin w/. Anyway, I think what you're referring to is "human nature."

[Plow]

I'm still looking for the term to describe someone who thinks Religion is an idea virus which threatens to destroy his species...

Antibody?

Scientists are antibodies against the infectious bullshit that is Religion.

*This* would be antitheist.

[kareface]

the only provable god.

http://commonsenseatheism.com/wp-con...009/06/fsm.jpg

don't care if it was posted already.

I see your god, and raise you...

http://stomped.com/mini/mwbholo.jpg