Posts by Anthony Perez9

driftingsurfer6 said:You missed the point.
Extending your life isn't the same thing as signing up for eternal life.

Most people just want to live longer. But who actually wants eternity?

My guess is absolutely nobody. It’s just not something you can crave. Living without mortality is theological nonsense.

Besides, that realization would put all those religious theorists and snake-oil salesmen out of business.

You missed the point.
Extending your life isn't the same thing as signing up for eternal life.

Most people just want to live longer. But who actually wants eternity?

My guess is absolutely nobody. It’s just not something you can crave. Living without mortality is theological nonsense.

Besides, that realization would put all those religious theorists and snake-oil salesmen out of business.
Personally, I wouldn't mind eternal life. Most people want it—it’s obvious. Just imagine if this life is the only one we get. That would suck. What’s the average human lifespan? 80 years? That's nothing; it's a joke. Plus, anything can happen; there's no guarantee you'll even make it to that age.

That's why religion is actually great. Sure, religions contradict each other, and yeah, most of them sound ridiculous today, but at least they offer eternal life, and there's a chance they might be right. Even if they aren't, they at least provide some comfort and teach me how to live decently and build some discipline. What does atheism offer me? What do guys like Richard Dawkins offer? Anal sex with men and t-shirts that say "We are all Americans"Africans"?

No thanks, I'd rather take the eternal life option.
Personally, I wouldn't mind eternal life. Most people want it—it’s obvious. Just imagine if this life is the only one we get. That would suck. What’s the average human lifespan? 80 years? That's nothing; it's a joke. Plus, anything can happen; there's no guarantee you'll even make it to that age.

That's why religion is actually great. Sure, religions contradict each other, and yeah, most of them sound ridiculous today, but at least they offer eternal life, and there's a chance they might be right. Even if they aren't, they at least provide some comfort and teach me how to live decently and build some discipline. What does atheism offer me? What do guys like Richard Dawkins offer? Anal sex with men and t-shirts that say "We are all Americans"Africans"?

No thanks, I'd rather take the eternal life option.
Fair enough. Some people prefer the blue pill over the cold, hard truth.

driftingsurfer6 said:Yeah. I'm hitting it. Honestly, who actually wants to stop existing?

Yeah. I’d do it. Who actually wants to stop existing?[/I]
You missed the point.
Extending your life isn't the same thing as signing up for eternal life.

Most people just want to live longer. But who actually wants eternity?

My guess is absolutely nobody. It’s just not something you can crave. Living without mortality is theological nonsense.

Besides, that realization would put all those religious theorists and snake-oil salesmen out of business.

feralpilot0 said:Signature.

I don't want to disappear—not yet, anyway. I don't view my own vanishing as some grand tragedy, though I can't quite pin down why. It's just that I feel there is still so much left to experience, and surely this isn't the peak.
I want to find fulfillment. And I want to help those around me—people are desperate for support these days.

👍

Are you kidding me with this "Quote" thing?More.Wait, did she actually say she’d hit that button?

Who even wants to live forever? I mean, without the chance to finally just crash and merge back into the universe. If there’s no end, there’s no such thing as a beginning.

I wonder how anyone would even handle that button asking about eternal existence.
Would you actually press it? Would you feel that rush of pure satisfaction knowing you could never truly end? Not just for a billion years, but forever.

Alex Ramos91 said:Right back at you, Kenneth Barnes7. 🙂

It’s a fair enough question, I guess, but honestly, this is veering into OFF topic territory—not that this miserable pig isn't already taking us there—but we really should stick to the point: Why did Jesus die?

If I’m following your logic, you're basically asking whether Jesus is actually God himself, or just a man for whom God (Allah/Jehovah) was God. If there’s a specific thread for that kind of stuff, put it there so we can keep the debate going. (And if there isn't one, go ahead and start it)...

Look, what I’m trying to get at here is this: How else are you supposed to interpret these glaring Old Testament prophecies about a Messiah who has to suffer and die for the sins of others, unless they were perfectly fulfilled through the life and work of Jesus Christ? 😉

It’s pretty straightforward. The Old Testament is basically a Jewish text that uses the "Servant of God" as an allegory for Israel, representing God's faithful people.
There aren't any prophecies about Jesus.

Those Gnostic types basically twisted the mentions of God's Servant just to suit their own agenda. They just fabricated the whole story about Jesus in the New Testament.They just took those details and baked them right into the narrative like they were actual facts. It was probably some guy named Mark writing it as an allegory, but then someone else came along and took him way too literally.

It's a pretty straightforward explanation—even someone without a brain could wrap their head around it.

If that's not the case, we're screwed. Spot-on prophecies that nail hundreds of tiny details. Some of them were fulfilled in Jesus centuries ago—though it’s all pretty debatable. Then you have this book that exists mainly to broadcast prophecies about Jesus, basically keeping the Jewish people trapped in a massive delusion.

Sure, it’s absurd, but people will believe just about anything when it comes to faith. It's like how some Muslims see Muhammad in the New Testament, while Christians find Jesus in the Old Testament—or even those Sai Baba followers. History just keeps looping back on itself.

Harold Reyes3 said:

It honestly feels a little absurd. Why would God get so offended or worked up just because someone believed that the good Jesus is actually God?

It’s not just absurd—it’s actually the ultimate sin. And here’s why.

Think about it this way: when someone decides to follow a different god instead of the one true God, it’s just like a kid deciding that a stranger is their mother. They start ignoring everything their real mom tells them, tossing aside her sincere advice just to listen to what some random person on the street says. It's the same deal with people missing God's guidance in the Quran; they simply refuse to believe, or they can't wrap their heads around the fact that the Quran actually comes from God.
It’s easy to slip up and fall into sin, whether you realize you're doing it or not, simply because you're missing the rules. Think about it like this: if you don't know the tax laws in the US, you're going to mess up your filings, and before you know it, the IRS is knocking on your door with penalties. It’s the same deal with faith. People stumble into sin because they don't actually know what God commands. Instead, they spend their lives following made-up deities that never gave them any real guidance on how to live a righteous life.

How can anyone claim Jesus is God when He seemingly denies it Himself? It just doesn't add up. To me, it completely defies common sense—a human being simply cannot be God.

You could just laugh it off and tell him he miscalculated—even if his heart was in the right place. There's no need to go throwing boiling water at him, beating him with clubs, or setting his skin on fire over a simple mistake.

Here’s what went wrong: he completely misread the situation by breaking God's commandments in every way imaginable. It’s simple—God tells us to stay away from pork and alcohol because they're bad for you. But then you have people acting like it's no big deal, claiming that Paul gave them the green light to do whatever they want. 🙄 Then you see people dead in the streets from car wrecks, women being assaulted at parties because everyone's wasted, or kids and wives getting beaten by some guy who’s had way too much to drink. It's just constant.

It’s like seeing people head to the doctor because they’ve got brain parasites from eating bad pork.
It all boils down to ignoring God's commandments and stepping right into those murky waters. When you disregard His rules, you end up facing consequences here in this life, not to mention what's waiting for you in the next.

Nah, it’s not absurd; it’s considered the ultimate sin, and here’s why (snip)[/I]

To me, that's easily the worst trait any religion can have. 🙄

The idea that some theory regarding the origin of Good can be labeled the absolute worst possible sin is wild. Does it really matter how someone perceives Goodness? As long as they actually practice it and aren't hurting anyone, who cares?

If we start prioritizing abstract ideas over actual goodness, we're just opening the door to the most horrific crimes committed in the name of "ideas" about God.

Can you seriously wrap your head around the idea that Jesus is God? Like, the same God who built the entire universe is just some tiny baby in diapers having his butt wiped by his mom? 🙄

Beyond ridiculous.
People out here claiming just about anyone is God.

Harold Reyes3 said:

All you Christians—or whatever you call yourselves...
Oh right, those are your favorite verses, and they can't be mistakes (of course, a mistake is just anything that doesn't fit your narrative... 🙄 )
You know perfectly well that anyone who believes Jesus is God will be rejected on Judgment Day, right?

Look, I’m telling you again, argue all you want👍 but it is what it is.

I’ve only shown you a tiny fraction of the massive list of errors out there, yet you still just shrug. Whenever you actually open the Bible, you just sniff and skim right over them like they aren't even there.👍

You know perfectly well that anyone who believes Jesus is God will be rejected on Judgment Day, right?

That’s exactly my point! He’s going to reject every Christian who claims he is God. Jesus never claimed to be God himself; I have mountains of evidence from the Bible, the Quran, and plain old logic proving he isn't.

Can you seriously picture Jesus being God? Like, the God who created the entire universe being a tiny baby in diapers having his butt wiped by his mom after a diaper change?🙄

Secondly, there is a ton of biblical proof that Jesus isn't God. If you’ve already locked your mind against that, there’s no changing it if you leave your brain in the closet.

Here is what Jesus says:

John 20:17 Jesus said to her, "Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet ascended to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God"".

Who is Jesus ascending to? Some other God, or himself? Use some logic!

Jesus says God is one, but you guys try to invent two, three, or more of them.🙄

Either Jesus lacks knowledge, or you believe in a God who doesn't know things.

Mark 13:32 "But about that day or hour no one knows, not even the angels in heaven, nor the Son, only the Father."

Jesus doesn't know, but the Father does. Does that sound like Jesus is God to you?🙄

Jesus also says:
John 14:28 "...For the Father is greater than I""

If Jesus equals the Father/God, why does Jesus say Jesus < Father?

Again, zero logic here.

Was Jesus a man???

According to the Bible, yes.

1 Timothy 2:5 For there is one God and one mediator between God and mankind, the man Christ Jesus"

And then there is this verse elsewhere:

Hosea 11:9 "...for I am God, not a man"

So, you can conclude that:

The man Jesus

God is not a man.

Which leads me to the conclusion that God is not Jesus.

It’s incredibly simple. Just open the Bible and check for yourself. How hard can that be to understand?

And Jesus says he will reject Christians on Judgment Day. Here is the proof from the Bible: it's happening precisely because you call him God.

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father in heaven. Many will say to me on that day, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name and in your name drive out demons and in your name perform miracles?' Then I will tell them plainly, 'I never knew you. Away from me, you evildoers!'"

Anyway, getting back ON-TOPIC:
How do you interpret the Old Testament prophecies about the Messiah suffering and being killed?
Specifically Isaiah 53 and Psalm 22?

Let me see what it says—go find those texts for me.

I'm telling you again—argue all you want, but it is what it is.[/I]

Plus, the whole thing is kind of absurd. Why would Allah/God get so offended and enraged just because someone thought the good guy Jesus was actually God? You should be able to just laugh it off and admit you misjudged things despite having good intentions, rather than getting hit with boiling water and clubbed over the head for it. 🙄

Alex Ramos91 said:Why would anything written about Jesus in the Quran even matter? It was written centuries after he actually walked this earth!
And don't even get me started on how the Quran is objectively wrong about Christian doctrine. Like, it literally claims the Christian Trinity consists of the Father, the Son, and Mary 🤷

As for why Jesus had to die on the cross... check the link in my signature. I've got a post there that clears that right up for you.

Cheers,

You could ask the same thing about Paul. Why should we care about those weird visions he had when he never actually sat down with the living Jesus or even hung out with the "real" apostles? How do we know his writings aren't just some random Greek rambling? 🤷

And let's be real, the Quran is clearly full of errors when it comes to how it portrays Christian doctrine. Like, it tries to define the Trinity as the Father, the Son, and... well, it just gets it wrong. Mary

I wonder what the Muslims have to say about this. 🙄

As for why Jesus had to die on a cross, I’ve got a link in my signature for a post that clears things up a bit...

I’ve always found the whole idea of Jesus' brutal sacrifice on the cross a little hard to wrap my head around. You're saying that... Just drank a full glass of God's wrath. May he suffer immensely for every sin committed in the past and the future, torn away from the Trinity. What a shame.

Imagine if King David had committed some massive sin—like orchestrating the murder of a man just to steal his wife—and then Jesus stepped in to take all that divine wrath upon himself through his suffering.
So he just rounded up all those other demons and unleashed God's wrath on every single criminal and monster out there.

It's honestly too absurd and grotesque for me to even bother engaging with. Honestly, it’s just terrible sci-fi. Like, some alien shows up on Earth and starts picking up... Just all the evil, the bad, and the pure malice. Take them right off the face of the earth and toss them into some dark pit. 😂

P.S. And again, when I start getting a little tipsy, there’s definitely "something" to it. It's like God actually drank a whole glass of His own wrath.
Good for him if he actually did that. At least we won't have to deal with those hysterical outbursts of rage like you see in the Old Testament. (Think Dawkins and that comment he made about Yahweh.)

Paul Kern12 said:You are really trying to twist things around! It is interesting how you Muslims always try to lecture others about the Bible, twisting it until you're blue in the face in an attempt to make the Bible seem false. The reason neither Muhammad nor his followers understand God's word is because neither he (Muhammad) nor any of you possess the Spirit of God.
You are attempting to apply logic, as if...
And then you garnish everything with lies and half-truths.
Furthermore, the Old Testament, starting from Genesis 3 onwards, and the New Testament both clearly state that Jesus must suffer. This is described in all four Gospels. Failing to see this in the Bible is either a sign of profound spiritual blindness or diabolical unbelief. I suppose you can decide which one applies to you.
You truly have no idea who Jesus is, why he came, or where he is now. All you can do is provoke, and nothing more. You are pitiable, truly.
Cite me a verse from the Bible where it says that Judah died on the cross instead of Jesus. If you can actually manage that, I will convert to Islam immediately.

But Harold Reyes3 actually has a point. I mean, Jesus swore by God three separate times that He’d spare Him from the agony of the cross. In the end, He just sort of mumbled, "Thy will be done," leaving it up to God's call.

So, what was God's actual will? Muslims claim God answered the painful cries of His beloved prophet, Jesus. Maybe Christians just read the room wrong. 🤷

Harold Reyes3:
You'll get a detailed answer from the Gospel you Christians don't recognize, the Gospel of Barnabas, so we can see what it says about this case.

Who should we believe—the Bible we have today, which is full of errors even regarding Jesus' crucifixion, or the Gospel of Barnabas, which doesn't have those contradictions? After all, the Quran also supports the Gospel of Barnabas..

You really shouldn't have gone there. It's been explained a thousand times already: that thing is clearly a forgery.

Drew Reed6 said:From my perspective, the New Testament is essentially a continuation of the Old Testament. And, of course, the Old Testament serves as the sacred text of Judaism or Jewish monotheism.

I suppose one might wonder just how accurate that really is. I mean, if we say that Jews have their own distinct faith, then what does the term "Old Testament" even imply? It feels like saying it’s the END OF JUDAISM. That's exactly what we seem to be implying whenever we use the terms Old Testament and New Testament.

To a Jew, there is no such thing as a New Testament. Yet, Christianity firmly maintains that the Old Testament covenant between God and the chosen people has concluded, and that God has now established a New Testament—one where anyone who becomes a Christian becomes part of God's chosen people.

How do we make sense of that?

God died (on the cross).
The question is about His will... which is being asked by a mourning flock. 😢

Regarding the "Old and New Testament," we're talking about God's commandment, which He decided to change himself. First, He left everything to the Jews (the Tor), then, according to Christians, He got disappointed and changed His mind, leaving it all to the Christians—who basically take the Tor and repackage it into the Old Testament (and then into their version of the New, promising eternal life in Paradise for themselves and Hell for everyone else). Fast forward 500 years, and the Arabs take these "massaged" Jewish writings and decide they're the only ones who actually understood and interpreted God's commandment correctly, somehow claiming it for themselves. Alongside all this twisting of Divine Testaments, you've got thousands of tiny sects all claiming the true interpretation and divine heritage belongs solely to them.

Anthony Perez9 said:So, they've gone and reactivated those sites feliks2 keeps pushing in his profile bio.
Those pages are crawling with racism, antisemitism, and all kinds of hate speech that would land you in legal trouble under US federal law. I don't even need to list them all—just click the links and read the content. It’s nothing but pure hatred and neo-Nazi garbage.

Can someone tell me if having a link like that in a signature is actually allowed here?
My take? Someone needs to pull feliks2 aside, explain why this is a problem, and tell him to scrub that disgraceful link immediately.

Here goes feliks2 again, promoting that racist site in his bio. Since nobody bothered to reply to my last post, I’m still waiting for an answer.

Does feliks2 really get a pass to advertise a racist website in his recommendations?

Thanks for the input.
I know this topic is messy and pretty controversial. Just hoping they handle it with some actual care and look at each case individually. 👍

Moderators, I’m calling on you to start banning anyone who denies the 9/11 terrorist crimes committed by Islamist extremists or those peddling their lies. We owe it to the innocent victims who died, and honestly, we need to stop giving a platform to conspiracy theories that practically invite future terror attacks.

Just a reminder: the American delegation once walked out of a United Nations session in protest after Ahmedinejad started pushing that tired, antisemitic Islamist trope—claiming Jews brought down the towers and killed 4,000 innocent people just to frame Muslims.

When people defend these brutal terrorists—which even the U.S. Government opposes—they get a free pass to spread toxic propaganda here. It only deepens the divide for any potential future conflict with a backwards, clerical Iran. At this point, there's more than enough evidence out there about who actually carried out that attack.
Thanks

electrictrucker18 said:Anyway, let's get back to my buddy. I guess the real question is, how can he actually find a way to break free from that temptation?😛>

Tell them to stop playing around with temptation and find something better to do with their lives.

electrictrucker18 said:That’s such an interesting quote from Nietzsche. I wonder, how would you guys go about explaining it?

Here’s the full snippet:

"He who fights with monsters should look to it that he himself does not become a monster. And if you gaze long into an abyss, the abyss also gazes into you."

Whatever you sink your teeth into eventually changes who you are. Everything shifts.

Perdita said:

Anthony Perez9 said:Creationism was the starting point.
Jesus, Paul, and Peter were pure creationists. Just like all the early American Christians and church fathers.
Everyone believed in Noah and his flood, a young Earth, the transformation of the universe when Jesus returns, the three hours of darkness at the crucifixion, and all that. I mean, how could they not?
As science progressed, even the Church had to slowly crawl toward symbolism, basically playing along while secretly acknowledging scientific breakthroughs—like evolution and stuff.

The same goes for women's rights.

It’s obvious you don't even grasp scientific terminology if you're calling creationism a "phenomenon" of early Christianity ( 😂 ). And this whole thing about the church fathers is just laughable. If it weren't so pathetic, I might actually find it funny. 🙂

Well, since you've got it all figured out, why don't you enlighten us mere mortals? 🙂

wearyowl29 said:Oh, please! She hasn't actually given them anything besides doing the laundry—you can tell they aren't cut out to be nuns. Honestly, trying to force that is a serious crime, basically on par with pedophilia.🙂

She hasn't strayed far from the prestigious title of "Sister" (given how much they act like handmaidens). Maybe in five hundred years they'll roll out titles like Most Holy Sister, Honorable Deaconess, Cardinaless, Grand Dignitary, Curial Officer, Parish Priestess, Provincial Superior (lol, better than Father Provincial), Jesuit, Franciscan, Cleric, or even Pope. 🤷

Lisa Morales4 said:That's right: just as a fruit fly has a right to life, so does (a single) embryo.
Everything is wrapped in the same love.

Yeah. Women have a right to life, and so do embryos and zygotes. But when a zygote threatens the mother—like in the case of a child who was assaulted—then the embryo needs to go.
There’s something seriously messed up about equating a few cells with a conscious, grown adult.

silentridge8 said:The literalist approach to the Bible really only gained traction with Protestantism; using symbolism and allegory was actually the standard back in the day. Origen was never truly viewed as an apostate; rather, some people just completely misinterpreted his writings on transmigration 😬

silentridge8 says:
Creationism and literalist Bible readings are relatively modern phenomena.[/I]

Creationism was there from the start.
Jesus, Paul, and Peter were pure creationists. Just like all the early Christians and the Church Fathers.
Everyone believed in Noah and his flood, a young earth, the universe transforming when Jesus returns, the entire earth going dark for three hours at the crucifixion, and so on. I mean, how could it be any other way? 😕
As science progressed, the church had to slowly crawl toward more symbolism, basically playing along while quietly acknowledging scientific breakthroughs like evolution.

The same logic applies to women's rights.

silentridge8 said:Creationism and taking the Bible literally are relatively modern phenomena.

That’s how it's always been read, up until recently. Only a tiny handful of people ever really leaned into the symbolism and allegories—kind of like how Origen did with certain parts. That's exactly why he was branded a hated heretic. 😁