"Belief is more powerful then genes or any other physical reality. May God open your eyes to see and believe."

Well Jesua, I have no problem if people believe whatever they want,
as long as they don't use Govt to try to force me to live by their beliefs. Otherwise its religious tyranny.

There have been many gods and holy books, the followers of each just as certain of their perceived truths. My take on it is that its tied up with brain function. To achieve homeostasis, religion helps to reduce anxiety for some people, so rather then have them go nuts, let them believe, just leave me and my life out of it..

Faith can be a wonderful thing. I mean some have faith in Santa
and faith in the Tooth Fairy and you can't even prove that they
don't exist :)

BD, hebrew scriptures, but they said very little. It wasn't until the German 1906 expedition that they discovered about 10000 tablets. They were a very secular society, even though they adopted some Babylonian laws, they were much more gentle with their populance.

BD “Why not start with an open mind and let the facts speak to a common sense mind.” We the unbelievers,(who jesus was the leader of, he, he,) see the facts and do speak with a commonsense mind. You can't have an open mind and believe in god, because that means you must dismiss any other option, leaving you very single and closed minded.

Jeshua, “We cannot comprehend this reality by intellectual enquiry alone.” Then you have lost your argument, nothing exists accept your intellectual understanding of the unsee able, unfeeling (except in the violent actions in its name), never do anything god.

Numbat, “written by men who were pagans. The contents of these Books cannot and will never be proved.” A pagan is one who is unenlightened. Enlightened is to be free from prejudice and superstition, read those not encumbered by religion

For your unenlightened mind, what I referenced are tablets, parchments and physical evidence. More verifiable than the book that you follow. Which is a very bad interpretation of letters written by Hebrew scribes, late in the first century to late 2nd. It was not until the 7th century that they were brought together in any form. They were given the names of the supposed writers well after that.

Hundreds of years later they named it the bible and many things were taken out and changed. Since then it has been rewritten many times, so that now it doesn't resemble any of the original works. So what you follow, is a false book, giving you a false belief. Common sense, wouldn't you say.

Coach
Do you have any conclusive evidence that the Bible is the word of an omnipresent, benevolent deity and not the invention of white males to justify oppression of women and black people everywhere?

I don't think you do.

Boaz, I'm intrigued with your comment

"MARACAS and there is no 'war' being waged by the ACLU in America to establish their 'god' of 'secularism' on the rest of society."

There is no god of secularism.The following is a definition from the encyclopedia.

"Secularism is commonly defined as the idea that religion should not interfere with or be integrated into the public affairs of a society. It is often associated with the Age of Enlightenment in Europe, and plays a major role in Western society. The principles of separation of church and state in the United States and Laïcité in France draw heavily on secularism."

You are obviously taking your cue from George W. Bush who is recorded as saying.....

"See, in my line of work you got to keep repeating things over and over and over again for the truth to sink in, to kind of catapult the propaganda," Bush said in explaining his communications strategy last May.

The rub is he wasn't telling the truth......

Of course he would support I.D He believes his own propaganda. He is a product of the religious right who are desperate to maintain their image which is flagging as more people use their own intelligence and reject religious dogma

What makes a society function agreeably is a common morality and set of values that explores the ultimate purpose and fulfilment for every individual. Any system that deprives or opresses an individual from achieving those idealistic goals is suspect. An examination of past societies would help us to see what is ideal. If we are honest societies based in Westminster Christianity has offered most reasonable opportunities for that to happen.

The constant negative comments by knockers of a Christian conscience do not put foward the experience and example of a workable ethical society. From my position I see the right living espoused by true followers of Christ has no equal as a wholesome society. From my position if a principle works as the best known then its closest to what is known truth. The god / God of that society is not a doctrine: but what is actually lived out in real life.

One's true belief is what we live in reality. That becomes the view of the nature of our god / God we believe in. Ancient societies became focused in gods of sexual perversion as the basis of the psyche of that society; very similar to the current focus of the modern secular society outside living as Christ.

Because many atheists use evolution conveiniently to jusatify any form of selfish behaviour without social conscience and personal accountability to a moral and ethical standard allows them to act as they please.

I would suggest if someone has a better model of society they present an example of a functioning modern society that does not have a moral model based in religous values and accountability.

I am not denying evolution here but the use of evolution as a anti God belief doctrine that justifies any behaviour as OK.

Yabby, God could indeed stop all the injustice in the world tomorrow as you say. But God does not have to do anything on our terms just because we demand all suffering to end immediately. The God of Bible has indeed promised a day upon which he will put an end to all suffering and exact his justice. That could be tomorrow, it could be in the next minute, or it could be beyond our lifetimes. Are you prepared? The point is that it will happen and we should not think that God is unjust for not doing it on our terms. Consider this, had God decided to end the world before our lifetimes then we would not even be here to say anything at all, let alone accuse God for sustaining the world long enough for us to be born! Think of when that day finally arrives and the end of history has finally come. How futile will any charge have been that God is unjust when that day finally arrives!