The main topic is Adam and Eve...can anybody explain to me how it doesn't discourage free thinking and preach blind faith?

And if you think blind faith is a good thing...how so?

Actually, according to your opening post, the main topics are Adam & Eve, Noah's Ark, and then The Bible itself.

You clearly don't understand the story, nor do you understand the teachings of any faith, the lessons behind so many biblical events. Instead of trying so hard to instigate debate, you should go check with a theologian or two. You might just learn something.

Apple

Why dont you explain to us how it discourages free thinking? I just dont see that....

We all accept things on blind faith everyday.. whether we realize it or not.

Still no argument. Just crap being posted.

Go ahead, keep deluding yourselves if you want...no skin off my nose.

Blind faith and devotion to God and his word...he tells you not to listen to the snake, don't eat the apple, Adam and Eve eat the apple, and God banned them from the garden of Eden and gave them a hard life.

Experimentation, free thinking, educating yourself = suffering.

I don't know how you can't see that.

See.. I dont get your conclusions from that story at all..What I get is we all have the ability, the right to make our own choices. But we must also suffer any consequences they may bring. Nowhere does it say you cant make a certain choice. .i dont even see where it discourages it...

We all take what we want from the story.. YOu are taking what you want from it which is different than my view.. it doesnt make mine bad or evil or wrong....

Hope all here have a very Happy and Healthly Passover along with a Joyous and Happy Easter!

This is the time of year that I look forward to watching the Classic "Ten Commandments," and "The Passion Of The Christ."

Both excellent movies. The fact that these stories are believed by many as a result of their having such strong faith is what makes them that much better.

Enjoy these holy days everyone!


Don Cardi

Think of it this way then.....

God created the garden.. he had every right to set whatever rules he wanted for it (whether you agree with them or not), and Adam and Eve chose to disobey a rule God put forth. God punished them for it... how is that any different than what is out there today.

Laws (rules) are everywhere and if you break them, you will pay the penalty. If you are in school and cheat on a test, you are breaking a rule and if caught you pay the price. That isnt discouraging free thinking, it actually encourages it.. you should earn your grade off of your own work and study not the guy next you. (I know it isnt an exactly direct correlation, but makes the core point).

From your brief synopsis of the Adam & Eve story, it appears that the only 'free thinking' that has been discouraged is yours.

You are 'free' to interpret it as you like. If that's really all you get from the story, and if its all you care to get, well then it's your loss.

Best,
AppleOnYa

First of all, I didn't see this movie.

Second, I heard much of the film was just gore, blood, and Jesus suffering, and that there was little to none shown about the normal part of Jesus life, his role in the Roman-Jew conflict, his being a Jew, his role in society, his religious meaning, ...

Again, I didn't see it, but to me it doesn't look like an excellent movie.

I don't recall the story being God giving them a hard life. I believe it was that he gave them paradise, they betrayed the only simple rule, and therefore they were taken away from paradise to the normal world of imperfections. God never left them, in fact he looked over them.

I don't take that literally, but what annoys me is the repeated use of "blind faith." It's starting to feel cliche.

Go ahead, keep deluding yourselves if you want...no skin off my nose. [/b][/quote]If you wanna believe in something else, go ahead. But don't put yourself on a podium above those who do with the "delude yourselves" horseshit.

I'm a Roman Catholic, not strictly, but I don't judge other people's religion, provided they aren't harming people like fundamentalists or Satanists.

Blind faith and devotion to God and his word...he tells you not to listen to the snake, don't eat the apple, Adam and Eve eat the apple, and God banned them from the garden of Eden and gave them a hard life.[/b][/quote]Can you elaborate that some further. Like telling all of the Adam and Eve story, maybe also why God forbade them , if that is in the story at all, ... Doesn't have to be a long outline, you know.
Because we're all unique, not all 6,550,000,000 humans are the same. There are different kinds of religions and religious books with all their unique content and nuances, and you can choose the one that satisfies you most.

Those two phrases aren't synonymes of each other..

Still no argument. Just crap being posted. [/b][/quote]This post owned you, DVC.

I've posted this topic on a number of different message boards, and this is the first one where the majority disagrees with me.

The ebb and flow of these debates is often more interesting than their actual subject matter.


DVC, you are well out of your depth. (And that's saying something, since you're locking horns with Double-J, you're still in the shallow end!)

...And? Many people just disagree with you because you appear to have blind faith that the bible is an eveil and dangerous book. You obviously can't and will not even try to understand what's behind the bible.

Whether a person chooses to believe in the bible or not, it's there choice. But just blindly saying it's evil and dangerous is stupid.

That doesn't take away the fact that their life became considerably worse for not obeying their God. The story portrays experimentation and free thinking as a negative thing, and that to me is a very dangerous thing to teach our kids.

God let them do whatever they wanted, he just laid down one simple rule, just one. "You may freely eat of every tree of the garden; but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall die."

They couldn't follow one rule. So God took them out of Paradise. How does that discourage free thinking?

Yeah, that's what Vercetti said. They had paradise, and ended up in the real world. I think everything is worse than Paradise.
Is it really teached? They are presented to you, it's not indoctrination. TIf you have a religious education from your parents, then yes they are presented to you, and also at religion classes at school. But outside that? It's not like the Bible is The Constitution, and almighty document that is part of the law system. And when they grow up and become wise, kids can choose for themselves if they want to say "screw the bible" like you, or if they want to think about the ethics and the life lessons and the good things of faith, presented by these tales.

How is disobeying that one rule "Free-thinking"?

It's not like they were discussing the moral issue of abortion or euthanasia. God gave them free use of all fruit other then one, and they had to have that one.

Who knows what the significance of the story is.

Originally posted by DVC
I am an atheist, but I have to come to this conclusion independently. Religion is good for a majority of the society. It keeps them out of the stress that is caused by free thinking .

Pick me, pick me, teacher!

I don't know, maybe the significance is that there are rules that just have to be followed. Like to let society as a whole function better, or ethic rules that have to be followed. Both are in favour of humanity.

Yeah, like when many lives are lost because people don't agree with the religion of others. The "if you don't agree with me, then you're wrong" philosophy. Causes the beginning of many wars, which are infavorable of humanity.

Whether you believe the story of Adam and Eve is a fairy tale or the actual, literal, word of God (it appears in The Old Testament and The Qur'an) I don't think that it is necessarily a "ridiculous story." If kids are taught the story of Adam and Eve and The Garden of Eden and The Fall (from grace) whether through Judeo/Christian or Islamic traditions and taught that it cannot and should not be questioned that THAT is RIDICULOUS. We all have our religious beliefs. Whether you pray five times a day and go to The Mosque every Friday or you don't believe in jack shit, that is your business. It doesn't make you any less or more Canadian or American or whatever.

Organized religion has a tendency to preach blind acceptance and a sheeplike mentality that supresses critical thinking and stifles free and open debate. Islam, Christianity, Judaism and pretty much all religions have been guilty of this in the past, are guilty of this in the present and (most likely) will be guilty of this in the future. If you want to blindly except every letter of what is in The Bible, The Torah, The Qur'an, The Gita or whatever, that is your choice. Freedom of religion means that you have the freedom to accept every single letter of your chosen religious scripture as the absolute, infallible word of God Almighty or as complete horseshit or somewhere in between. No one has the right to question your motives in believing in what you believe unless you make it their business to do so. Having said all this, personally I feel that to blindly accept every thing that is in a particular religious scripture, be it The Qur'an or The Bible or The Torah or The Talmud or whatever is not something that I am prepared to do. It is in my nature to question these types of things and as long as I have the freedom and right to do so, I will continue to do so. At the same time, calling The Bible or The Qur'an or The Torah or whatever an "evil book" without having read, analyzed, researched and carefully searched either all or part of the scripture is just plain stupid to me.

You believe what you wanna believe.. you don't have to live like a refugeeeeeeeeeeee.

DVC, if I'm not mistaken, you live in the US. Who made you teach the Bible stories to your kids if you've got have any children?

DC, if you remember you backed DS when he said he doesn't like Santana. This is no different than someone voicing his/her opinion. It doesn't matter how absurd or unpopular an opinion might be, it has a right to be voiced and you don't have to understand its basis or reason. However, you can simply disagree, and state your opinion/reasons if you like.

I will teach my kids these stories. I'll teach them evolution. I'll let them pursue whatever they think makes the most sense according to their understanding. I believe no one can hide the fact that these stories have been around for a long time, and kids are going to be exposed to them sooner or later. To deprive kids from any information is the true barrier of free thinking.

Welcome to the real world.

Further indication that you have little or nothing better to do. You've just admitted that you posted your Adam & Eve 'theory' to a number of boards...apparently just to see the reaction you'd get and or what discussion could be generated.

Apple

Welcome to the real world.

Further indication that you have little or nothing better to do. You've just admitted that you posted your Adam & Eve 'theory' to a number of boards...apparently just to see the reaction you'd get and or what discussion could be generated.

Apple [/b][/quote]He posts about this topic (with which you disagree) on a number of boards and you conclude he has no better work to do :rolleyes: :rolleyes:

I'm guessing the bible says 'generating discussion' is a sin as well?