Egyptian Dreams

[Unas]

[Chepses]

When I refer to extremism I mean to say when people are not that flexible when it comes to religion. That is, to accept that some things in one's religion may not be that right. Well, I have a very different view on religion so maybe that's the reason I think like that. I am like the ancient egyptians, completely open minded and religiously tolerant. As long as no one offends me, I will not offend anyone (although I know some people might be offended by the way I see religion but that's not a direct insult to someone, I guess). If you believe in the Bible, good for you. As I said, it's good and normal to have beliefs. I have my own But you must expect divergent opinions. Not everyone have the same beliefs you have and one must respect the other. You just can't wait for everyone to believe the Bible or God. Or else you will face many other arguments :p

I'm from Portugal

[Robson]

And besides, regarding to Christianism, both Saint Augustine and Thomas of Aquinas, already established that religious authority field is faith and moral. For the knowledge of mundane/material issues God gave us intellect and capacity to know and transform the world. It, of course, changed with anti-intellectualist 20th Century US born Evangelical tradition.

[Unas]

[Chepses]

But I'm not saying I believe it or not because «God» said so. The origin of life is in fact a mystery but not a total mystery. It's about simple cells that started to organize together, living in something like a symbyosis. It started to get more and more complex and eventually autotrophic living beings originated. Of course, it is easier to say: "The origin of life is God. God gave life". I'll respect if you think that way but I'm not buying it. And when science doesn't know, it gives us probabilities, like "this probably happened this way" or "it may have happened this way". Scientific certainty is only attained when you can prove it

I deal with everything in a very special way. I take a scientific approach on everything. But, I do recognize that the Universe has a lot of things that science cannot explain. Does that mean that God exists? Not for me, it means, as said, that science cannot explain it, yet. I'll give you a very simple example. Some years ago, an epileptic seizure was perceived as a demonic posession. When medicine evolved, scientists found out that it was a neurological disease. My point is to say that it is easier to "blame" God when you don't know/can't explain something. But eventually, there will be an explanation. That's how I perceive things

[Lutz]

[Unas]

[Unas]

[Chepses]

[Lutz]

[Unas]

[Chepses]

As far as I'm aware, the ramp system for the pyramids building is still the most accepted

[Naunacht]

The bottom line is that if you believe that the Bible is literally true, if you are a fundamentalist, then nothing anyone can say will change your mind. If you believe that the Bible is a mix of myth, philosophy, historical traditions and metaphor--the approach taken by Catholics, many mainstream Protestants and reformed Jews and don't insist that every word it historical fact then it becomes much more easy to see that the Exodus story comes from a whole bunch of sources, some mythological, some from traditional history, some which may have happened to the ancestors of the people who eventually became the Jews and some which happened to other people in the region all of it blended into a hell of a good story over many generation which eventually proved inspirational for the foundation of a nation and a religion. I don't know if Moses ever actually existed--but he's a seminal figure in history nonetheless.

[Unas]

[Unas]