Re: QUESTION FOR RELIGIONISTS

On Sat, 27 Oct 2007 16:37:33 +0000, Will wrote:

> "Bill M" <wmech@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in news:re3Ui.6130$b9.4174
> @[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> 
>> There are many hundreds of religious and god beliefs.
>> 
>> How do you know your belief is the correct belief and all the others
are 
>> fakes?
> 
> By the daily miracles, signs, and wonders. 

Which would be what, exactly?  

> By the prophecies that have been fulfilled

And what of the ones that weren't?  On the other hand, of the ones that
were, how many were both written before the events predicted, and actually
sufficiently detailed to be sure that they referred to a specific event,
rather than simply finding _an_ event which happens to fit the general
guidelines?

> fulfilled today?  By the grace that He has extended me. 

What grace would that be?

> By the answered prayers.  By the unanswered prayers. 

Ah, so if prayers are both answered and unanswered - thus
indistinguishable from, say, mere chance, or, in polite but blunt terms,
"excrement occurs" - this is how one determines their god is the real
mccoy.


> By faith and love.

Well, no, faith and love wouldn't do it, either.  At most they'd let you
believe that your choice was the right one - but the question was how do
you know?

I mean really, if you're the sort to believe such things in the first
place, one might think you're also the sort to consider that the
implications of it might matter - that, say, wor****pping the wrong one
might get you sent to hell.  Or Jersey.  If you are the sort to take such
notions seriously, you can't very well just glue the names of 1,000
deities on a large die, roll it, have faith in the results and expect this
to actually be the winning horse, now can you?  Or can you?

>> Why would any real God permit his creations to be so deceived?
>> 
>> 
> Why don't you ask Him with an open mind and an open heart?

Could you kindly provide his street address, so we can go meet him and ask
him?  Or is it her?  Them?  How does one know?

-- 
In other words, Ken, Christianity is tailor-made for oppressing
people, installing a rigid hierarchy amongst the populace, and then
quelling any rebellion that might arise. It does this through the use
of fear, misdirection, and outright lying in not a few instances. It
is the perfect control mechanism against people who are denied
intellectual freedom - and it does quite a good job of that. 
-- Preston Simpson