Ok but I'm assuming you come from a scientific bent is that true? If that assumption is correct (it may not be) then please point me to some scientific data that shows evidence of Free Will. To my knowledge all the science we have shows the opposite to be true, that is to say, that everything is predestined due to physical laws. This would include this internet conversation/dialogue about Free Will or the lack thereof.
I personally believe in an Omniscient, Omnipresent, Omnipotent god one god and no other. It is the same god that all religions point to and it encompasses the entire manifest AND unmanifest world. It is pure conciousness the one without a second. As Einstein said: I subscribe the Advaita tradition of Hinduism which to me is the same thing Jesus points to in the bible, that the Kabbalah points to in Judaisim, that the Sufi Poet Rumi writes about, that Zen Koans attempt to draw attention and what Lao Tse so masterfully described in "The Tao Te Ching". If god is Omniscient, Omnipotent and Omnipresent as all the ancient teachings of the sages across the globe then everything is God, it is one...without a second.
Uh, I'm not sure most Jews would agree with this...if you mean the Old Testament is derived from the Hebrew Torah you are correct. If you are saying Jews are Christians I think a few Rabbi's would strongly disagree.
Jews Believe there is no Hell. Jews do not think Jesus Christ was God, but another messenger. edit: i meant hell, not heaven
My point is that, because things cannot be exactly known, there cannot be an exact expected outcome. We know that an electron is probably here, but that here, is very vague relative to it's size. if you are genuinely interested, check this out: [video=youtube;rsnEUApVHgI]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsnEUApVHgI&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=095393D5B42B2266"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rsnEUApVHgI&feature=SeriesPlayList&p=095393D5B42B2266[/video] if you open the link, not just in here, it has a series of videos from a free online lecture!
no, i'm not saying that jews are christians. i'm not sure how either of those statements have to do with anything i said.
The united states is part of north america. oregon is part of the United states. Oregon is therefore part of north america.
yes. you can have judaism without christianity but you can't have christianity without judaism. judaism is it's own thing and jews are not christians, but at the same time christianity(in very basic terms) is judaism plus jesus. is that better for you?
yes, can you see why I was confused? This is how I interpreted your statement ((judiasm) christianity)
(north america(united states(oregon))) edit: my point was that I was describing some logic that at the time I thought you lacked, excuse me.
yeah, I have that problem too =\ I think what would have been clearer to me is "part of judiasm is in part of christianity" ok, i'm dropping it now!
you sound like a baha'i... I'm pretty sure the bible says "do not worship false idols" meaning I am the one true god, the others are fake. This does not work with all religions point to the same god. Sorry dawg!
The bible says god is Omniscient, Omnipresent and Omnipotent. How can you logically conclude anything other then god is every thing and no thing. It says god is everywhere, all knowing and all powerful therefore god is the manifest universe and the unmanifested potential of the universe. The Alpha and the Omega. It's all the same and Baha'i I'm not really familliar with. I'm not particularly interested in Religion. Some people don't see it that way and that's certainly their right. No need to be sorry.
Forgot to mention there is quite a bit of the Bible that was made out of whole cloth and only a very limited, fragmentary bit of the spiritual wisdom of Jesus. It's that wisdom that I'm talking about. I'm not referring to the Old Testament or all the cultural/mythological talk in the Bible, nor the blatant politics woven in by the Council of Nycaea. Just the few nuggets of spiritual wisdom left over from the enlightened master Jesus of Nazareth.
Well no, we can't truly know the character of those origin figures. Jesus may have been a jive-talking con-artist, for all we know. But we can accurately gauge the pressures that people felt during those times and that can give us an idea of how sincere/committed those messages were. At the end of the day, what benefit did any of these original Jews, Christians, Muslims, etc. gain from their affiliation? These religions came from a position of weakness, where they ran counter to the mainstream thought of their time. Not only that, but being apart of those religions often meant death or some other form of punishment. Neither the early followers or founders had any benefit to gain from their beliefs but they stuck to them anyways, which gives us an idea of how sincere or massively deluded they were. Scientologists on the other hand, have found a clear benefit from the very beginning. Yep, I admitted as much. But I was talking about origins.
What benefit did they gain? I'd say the not being slaughtered by the angry, vengeful god was plenty good reason to follow the religion, no? What is the clear benefit of scientologists? Public ridicule? In much the same way other members of earlier religions were probably publicly ridiculed?
