90% of Americans believe at least one conspiracy theory (1 Viewer)

[SamAndreas]

I started out Baptist, became a Catholic and now I am not sure what I am. When I was taking classes to become Catholic the last day was a day of quiet no talking etc. At the end everyone was moved to tears except me. I was very frustrated. Everyone was saying the felt Jesus and God moving in them. Yet I felt nothing. I prayed, I asked to feel the same way. I asked myself if I had done too many things to be forgiven. Over the next year or 2 I continued trying. I was a lecter, taught Sunday school, trained alter assistants etc. Nothing changed. I saw I was a good person but the sames sins (according to the church) didn't go away. I was still the same person. I gave it all up and quit going. I believe in God, I believe he gave me the breath I needed to survive in the hospital. When I couldn't breathe and they were discussing a ventilator and I prayed for a breath it was there. I didn't go on a ventilator and I got better.

Jesus has always been my hang up. I can for sure believe he existed but not the supernatural Jesus. From what I understand his divinity didn't exist for almost a hundred years after his death. The at the council they merged several religions together to form Christianity as I understand it. I can see people establishing a faith to control the masses and create laws that if you don't follow them you will spend an eternity in hell.

The concept of hell is another thing I can't comprehend. My example I use is this. If I were given the ability to know all and see all with just my children and I knew one of them would be born and be a terrible killer I would choose not to have that child because I would still love them and not want them to spend an eternity in pain. Now I was taught that God's love for me was even stronger. That I couldn't comprehend His love. If thus were true then how could he cast me away knowing in advance that my creation would ultimately lead to my spending all eternity in hell.

Some Catholics tell me it is all free will. I can believe and ask for forgiveness and He will forgive me. But I also have to believe in Jesus first. Now my concern is the 10 commandments, isn't there something there about worshipping other gods before God.

Ultimately like I said before, I believe in a God. Is he the God in the Bible? I don't know. Worst case scenario if I am wrong then I have done my best to live as a good man.

You sound like Thomas Jefferson. I mean that in a good way.

I suggest that if you haven't already, that you pick up a copy of his Bible, I think it would speak with you, not at you.

Jefferson Bible - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[Semper]

You sound like Thomas Jefferson. I mean that in a good way.

I suggest that if you haven't already, that you pick up a copy of his Bible, I think it would speak with you, not at you.

Jefferson Bible - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

I will take a look. Thank you.

 

[SystemShock]

This was the only reason I even engaged on this thread. Maybe I didn't read the enough of the earlier conversation, but it seemed to me that this was exactly what some were saying. I don't care whether or not anyone here believes in the supernatural elements of the gospels. But for intelligent people to doubt that Jesus (even as an ordinary man) ever existed is beyond me. It’s quite telling, & I only wanted to call out the transparent absurdity of it.

It is beyond you because you want to believe on faith that this man lived.

BTW, intelligent people look at the evidence, and there is no actual evidence that Jesus existed. Besides, a Jesus without the supernatural elements is irrelevant: if not for the supernatural elements attributed to him, we would've never known of a Jesus, as no one would've written about him decades after he allegedly existed.

You know, I tried to be as matter-of-fact as I can in this type of discussion, either presenting arguments or countering arguments... but the passive aggressive crap is getting old.

 

[Sailorsaint]

Why are the FAA, airlines, pilots, etc in the US waiting until the day before the switch is hit on 5G to voice concerns? Even though it's used all over the rest of the world with no adverse effects? I think they may be doing themselves more harm by making people think air travel won't be safe because of 5G. We've been fighting the 5G battle for a while now with conspiracy theorists, now this.

 

[SystemShock]

Why are the FAA, airlines, pilots, etc in the US waiting until the day before the switch is hit on 5G to voice concerns? Even though it's used all over the rest of the world with no adverse effects? I think they may be doing themselves more harm by making people think air travel won't be safe because of 5G. We've been fighting the 5G battle for a while now with conspiracy theorists, now this.

5G is all over the place already. What are you referring to?

 

[Sailorsaint]

5G is all over the place already. What are you referring to?

You haven't heard the morning news? The FAA and all the airlines/pilots are asking that 5G not be turned on within 2 miles of any airport for fear that it will effect electronic systems. I don't know why they think this or why they waited until the day before activation to voice a concern over it. And why is 2 miles the cutoff? Doesn't it transmit further than that?

 

[Sailorsaint]

Executives from the nation's largest airlines are asking the Biden administration for "immediate intervention" in the planned rollout of 5G technology near major airports. The rollout, which is scheduled for tomorrow, would present several transportation and economic consequences, the airlines said in a joint letter sent to the White House. The carriers are concerned that 5G signals will interfere with aviation technology, including the radar altimeter onboard planes. The Federal Aviation Administration said in a statement late yesterday that it "will continue to ensure that the traveling public is safe as wireless companies deploy 5G."

5 things to know for January 18: Covid, Texas synagogue, voting rights, Ukraine, 5G | CNN

Here's what else you need to know to Get Up to Speed and On with Your Day.

www.cnn.com

 

[SystemShock]

You haven't heard the morning news? The FAA and all the airlines/pilots are asking that 5G not be turned on within 2 miles of any airport for fear that it will effect electronic systems. I don't know why they think this or why they waited until the day before activation to voice a concern over it. And why is 2 miles the cutoff? Doesn't it transmit further than that?

I did not hear that. I'm looking it up now.

Edit: I see your link. Thanks.

 

[Mamba]

It is beyond you because you want to believe on faith that this man lived.

BTW, intelligent people look at the evidence, and there is no actual evidence that Jesus existed. Besides, a Jesus without the supernatural elements is irrelevant: if not for the supernatural elements attributed to him, we would've never known of a Jesus, as no one would've written about him decades after he allegedly existed.

You know, I tried to be as matter-of-fact as I can in this type of discussion, either presenting arguments or countering arguments... but the passive aggressive crap is getting old.

There are plenty of reasoned, nuanced, scholarly articles available all over the internet. I'm sorry, I'm simply not going to waste my time typing out a 1,500 word defense of Jesus' existence. I know how this story ends. And I know how these threads go.

If you want to bury your head in the sand and convince yourself that Jesus from Nazareth never existed, I sure as hell am not going to stop you. But you at least deserve to know how ridiculous your position actually is outside of this little echo chamber.

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

Why are the FAA, airlines, pilots, etc in the US waiting until the day before the switch is hit on 5G to voice concerns? Even though it's used all over the rest of the world with no adverse effects? I think they may be doing themselves more harm by making people think air travel won't be safe because of 5G. We've been fighting the 5G battle for a while now with conspiracy theorists, now this.

checkmate Bezos!

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

There are plenty of reasoned, nuanced, scholarly articles available all over the internet. I'm sorry, I'm simply not going to waste my time typing out a 1,500 word defense of Jesus' existence. .
.

this really kneecaps your argument

 

[SWJJ]

There are plenty of reasoned, nuanced, scholarly articles available all over the internet. I'm sorry, I'm simply not going to waste my time typing out a 1,500 word defense of Jesus' existence. I know how this story ends. And I know how these threads go.

If you want to bury your head in the sand and convince yourself that Jesus from Nazareth never existed, I sure as hell am not going to stop you. But you at least deserve to know how ridiculous your position actually is outside of this little echo chamber.

I was taken aback by your claim of scholarly articles with evidence of Jesus existence, and I have done a search and don't see any that have any proof. The ones I see say it's difficult or there is no evidence.

I'd love to see something that is historically based and not scripture based:

Some of the articles I read:

The Historical Evidence for Jesus

In this thoroughly researched study, G.A. Wells has squarely faced the question of whether a man named Jesus lived, preached, healed, and died in Palestine during the early years of the first century of the Christian era - or indeed, at any time.Building on the biblical studies of Christian...

books.google.com

Jesus: A Short Life

"The last few years have witnessed an unprecedented stream of blockbuster-style claims about the man from Nazareth. Believers and sceptics alike have hardly had time to process one controversial theory before the next one hits the market." Recent claims about the life of Jesus have raised many...

books.google.com

 

[guidomerkinsrules]

I was taken aback by your claim of scholarly articles with evidence of Jesus existence, and I have done a search and don't see any that have any proof. The ones I see say it's difficult or there is no evidence.

I'd love to see something that is historically based and not scripture based:

Some of the articles I read:

The Historical Evidence for Jesus

In this thoroughly researched study, G.A. Wells has squarely faced the question of whether a man named Jesus lived, preached, healed, and died in Palestine during the early years of the first century of the Christian era - or indeed, at any time.Building on the biblical studies of Christian...

books.google.com

Jesus: A Short Life

"The last few years have witnessed an unprecedented stream of blockbuster-style claims about the man from Nazareth. Believers and sceptics alike have hardly had time to process one controversial theory before the next one hits the market." Recent claims about the life of Jesus have raised many...

books.google.com

if one had the faith of a mustard seed, they'd be able to produce scholarly articles about the existence of jesus

 

[Mamba]

I'll see about articles a bit later today. But here are a couple recommendations:

Here's one written by Bart Ehrman, PhD from Princeton. Ehrman is an agnostic.
Amazon product ASIN 0062206443
And here's one by Greg Boyd, PhD from Yale & Princeton.
Amazon product ASIN 0801031141

 

[SystemShock]

There are plenty of reasoned, nuanced, scholarly articles available all over the internet.

All by apologists, and along all of the reasoned, nuanced, scholarly articles available about the Earth being flat, humans riding dinosaurs, the existence of the Loch Ness monster, the faking of the moon landing, how 5G controls your mind...

I'm sorry, I'm simply not going to waste my time typing out a 1,500 word defense of Jesus' existence. I know how this story ends. And I know how these threads go.

It ends with you believing based on the type of faith described in the Bible. You can type 15,000 words, or 150,000 words, or millions of words, and still, you will not be able to present actual proof beyond suppositions and fallacious logic.

If you want to bury your head in the sand

You can't help yourself, huh?

and convince yourself that Jesus from Nazareth never existed, I sure as hell am not going to stop you. But you at least deserve to know how ridiculous your position actually is outside of this little echo chamber.

My position is simply that there is no actual evidence of a particular Jesus existing 2000+ years ago, and that without the magic powers attributed to him decades after his alleged death - and the gospels can't even get their story straight - a man named Yehoshua born in Nazareth 2000+ years ago is as irrelevant as Alvin from Yorkshire living in San Francisco in 1873.

I do understand that you must believe in this figure to validate Christianity, but don't go around insulting people's intelligence because you must believe on something without actual proof.