The bible has a lotta evil in it I think many are aware of that. Forgiveness breaking free from evilness or whatever is great advice obviously . But do u really need the bible to teach u good morals ? The good morals in the bible was created by people who wrote the bible . They were HUMAN BEINGS like me and u ! Hense my point that advice came from PEOPLE who said it came from a god . Just regular people wrote the bible who invented god with nothing more then there imaginations. So even if the bible helps people live better lives that advice from the bibls was MAN made. Why did we have to invent a charactor named jesus to make the advice more helpful?
Theists confuse morality with religious indoctrination. That's why they claim that morality comes from a being that is only ever described committing evil acts.No matter how evil the Bible depicts god to be they have no real morals to hold him up to.
God says that you can beat your slaves to death as long as they take more than 48 hours to succumb? No problem for the theists.
God says that if a woman gets raped but nobody heard her scream we should throw rocks at her until she's dead? They like throwing rocks.
God says that we should murder the guy with the Sunday shift at 7/11? That's christian morality at its finest!
People tend to forget the evil the bible spouts the killings etc. But this is the word of an all loving god. Reading the bible and trying to live by it would drive any sane person nuts.
I've had trouble with all the killings, too. In the Old Testament, God destroyed the people who practiced human sacrifice; maybe that was the only way to stop it. But I don't understand why they killed babies and their animals. Researching the culture of those days, just about all victors in battle did that, regardless of what god they worshipped. Maybe God said, "thou shall not kill", yet they kept doing it anyway. That's what I think. And as far as those chapters where it says, "And God told Ray Bob...go kill everything that breathes"....I think they're just trying to take the blame off themselves. I don't know if anybody remembers the 60s show "Laugh In", it there was a joke people used: "The DEVIL made me do it!" Basically, I think the writers were pulling that in the same way. "And God said" kind of takes you off the hook.
+The bible calls for the death of any non believers and the many battles that do just that. A very kind perfect god created something that was not perfect. They write it off to free will. You just cannot have it both ways.
Very few people choose what they believe. It is from their parents or what their culture teaches. If you spin the earth globe and put your finger on a point you can name those people's beliefs 9 times out of 10. I was a Christian at one time but through a life time of study I am not religious now. It is very hard to overcome the brainwashing since our birth. Most people will not be able to overcome it. It has taken a very long time for me to do it. My life got better and better after getting rid of those religious beliefs. I was enslaved by them. Life is so much better now. I know so many people whose lives are miserable because of their beliefs. These religious beliefs enslave people and take away from them their ability to make good choices that make them productive and happy in this one life that we have. I can tell you that I wasted a lot of my life in trying to do what the bible says. I am glad to see those on here that have found freedom too. It's nice to have a place like this to discuss things.
People are Christians mostly because they were raised that way from childhood, from when they are young enough to trust adults.
If they never question their culture and upbringing, no reason to change.
Usually discrepancies alert the brighter ones to BS, or they attend college where their values are questioned, perhaps for the first time, by people they respect.
As a former evangelical I can tell you that the idea that the Bible is anything other than inspired by god, inerrant, and virtuous is taboo. They will jump through rings of fire and eat little pieces of glass to turn the mental somersaults necessary to see it that way.
Religious organizations all teach that THEIR belief system is required to be a good person and live a good life for the simple reason that if they didn't convince people of this baloney their religions would disappear in one generation. Just as companies bombard us with endless commercial messages to convince us that we can't live without their products (because if they didn't we would realize we DON'T need their products and they would go out of business) all the religions brainwash people that these beliefs are required...lest they, too go out of business.
I think the whole idea is a comfort for some people and so that is why it continues, despite being unbelievable to many of us - I don't know that I'd want to rip someones comfort blanket off them just to bring them to reality before they are ready. I agree that to lead a good life you just go for it develop a conscience and try to be a kind person when you can- To be honest I have met many people who were religious, that I never knew were, so it doesn't have to be in your face just a private whim - Its the ones who are in the sects that need to proseletyse that cause difficulty.
I agree it's people's comfert blanket . Childish but let them believe in it
It's been ingrained for a few thousand years. God knows--haha--why that one was chosen over any others to con people. The early popes gathered and wrote on people's hearts when the populace couldn't read and write. By the time they could, their hearts were branded. I guess.