I was seeing a movie 'iris', when I heard what a man said and it sunk in2 me. He said, "Believe there is a God. If eventually there is a God, u'll gain eternal life. But if there is no God, u've gat nufn 2 lose."
Hear! O ye atheists.

what if you have believed in the wrong god? your belief would then make no difference from disbelief. We are all atheists to gods we dont believe in.

Is it a christian film? Sounds like a christian.

We've got notin to lose if thre is no God but I suppose there is.

ooman: what if you have believed in the wrong god? your belief would then make no difference from disbelief. We are all atheists to gods we dont believe in.

it seems all wrld religions fall into a) apostate christianity b)true christianity c)non christianity
to the best of my knowledge no non christian religion makes the followg claims:
only way to God thru a certain person (only christianity does so)
.
Theyre all riddled with ambuity
and vagueness.

2. Tht gettg right with God isnt based on credits earned from Good deeds but based on trustg a person.

All others base gettg right with God on wat d adherents do. The adherents never know if theyve done enuff.
They hope theyve done well enuff.
With islam theyr rules like givg alms, prayg 3 times a day, fightg and killg to gain paradise etc

3. No other wrld religion tells you to love ur enemies i.e human enemies and forgve them no matter their offence even if they killed a persons mother and father . No other religion does because such bhviour is not human. It takes divine enablement fr somebody to live like ths.
So no other religion require this level of Love.
More like they'll encourage adherents to get even because gettg even is the natural way to assuaging hurt.
So based on this christianity is markedly incomparable.
With d bible in one hand its easy to dispatch apostate christianity.
Jw,catholocism,mormonism etc.

...

^^Still doesnt mean your god is the true god.

ooman: ^^Still doesnt mean your god is the true god.

agreed. But it seems the most plausble to the sceptc mind pick in a whole stack.

kambo:

agreed. But it seems the most plausble to the sceptc mind pick in a whole stack.

agreed, but things are not often the way they seem.

I personally think that if indeed there is a god, he would be more concerned about new inventions and innovations than become angry and jealous of some conscious spec of dust he created to keep the earth busy.

@OP
You must be new here. FYI, what you heard in the movie is called Pascal's Wager, and it is a completely nonsense way of thinking.

Rather than writing another long post explaining why it is nonsense, I think I'll just copy and paste something I posted over 2 years ago. I'm tired of shooting down the same dead arguments over and over again.

Evil Brain: Wow, this Pascal's wager has really opened my eyes to the folly of atheism. From now on, I'm going to become a born-again Christian and serve Jehovah God so he doesn't throw me in hell.

But come to think of it, isn't it risky to stick to just one god? What if my parents were wrong and I'm betting on the wrong horse? I don't want to end up in hell! Just to be safe, I think I'll also start worshipping Allah, Shiva, Orunmila, Chukwu, Egbesu and all of the thousands of other gods. This might take a while.

But then many of these gods have rules against worshipping other gods. If the one true god turns out to be the jealous type (e.g. Yahweh or Allah), he/she is going to be pissed at me for praying to all the others. Not to forget that there are different variants of all these gods (which Yahweh should I worship, the Jewish, catholic, pentecostal or Jehovah's Witness version?).

Gaddem, this stuff is far too much stress. I'm going back to being an atheist.

^^^^

How about you put all them gods to a contest, and whoever wins becomes God. Like Elijah and the prophets of baal...

Then you'll know you have the right God, or at least the most powerful, to stop the others throwing you into their own hells.

^^the story of Elijah is a myth

ooman: ^^the story of Elijah is a myth

What I mean is that, it is something similar.

The children of Israel where torn between two Gods - and they held a contest.

@evilbrain argues that Pascal's wager creates a conundrum 'bout which God in particular is the right one, and I said - hold a contest...

Just be serious and sincere to follow whoever wins...

rapture_ready: ^^^^

How about you put all them gods to a contest, and whoever wins becomes God. Like Elijah and the prophets of baal...

Then you'll know you have the right God, or at least the most powerful, to stop the others throwing you into their own hells.

Like Project Fame: Divine Edition :-)

Funny thing about that story. The word baal is actually a title meaning “Lord" in the language of the semitic tribes that lived around Palestine in ancient times. It actually means the exact same thing as the hebrew word Adonai.

So when Elijah was praying to the the Lord god in heaven to send down fire, the prophets of Baal were also praying to the exact same god, except in their own native language. I'm not sure why he chose to only answer Elijah though. Maybe god is a racist.

Evil Brain:

Like Project Fame: Divine Edition :-)

Funny thing about that story. The word baal is actually a title meaning “Lord" in the language of the semitic tribes that lived around Palestine in ancient times. It actually means the exact same thing as the hebrew word Adonai.

So when Elijah was praying to the the Lord god in heaven to send down fire, the prophets of Baal were also praying to the exact same god, except in their own native language. I'm not sure why he chose to only answer Elijah though. Maybe god is a racist.

@bold, he definitely is.

Evil Brain:

Like Project Fame: Divine Edition :-)

Funny guy

But no, something simple.

Evil Brain: Funny thing about that story. The word baal is actually a title meaning “Lord" in the language of the semitic tribes that lived around Palestine in ancient times. It actually means the exact same thing as the hebrew word Adonai.

So when Elijah was praying to the the Lord god in heaven to send down fire, the prophets of Baal were also praying to the exact same god, except in their own native language. I'm not sure why he chose to only answer Elijah though. Maybe god is a racist.

Baal as "lord" referred to their own gods, not Yahweh.

For example, if a pagan calls "lord", he may be referring to amadioha or whichever god he serves, as opposed to the Christian's "Lord".

So when the semtic tribes said Baal(lord) they were referring to their gods.

When the jews said Adonai(Lord) they are referring to God.

*pascalswager*

ooman:

@bold, he definitely is.

Most popular bible verse;

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

rapture_ready:

Most popular bible verse;

John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

why did your god order the death of the amorites etc

ooman:

why did your god order the death of the amorites etc

Judgement for their innumerable sins and unrepentant evil nature.

Even when his own people Israel sinned, and wouldn't heed his incessant warning, he punished them also.

Romans 6:23

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

#itsnothingpersonal

rapture_ready:

Judgement for their innumerable sins and unrepentant evil nature.

Even when his own people Israel sinned, and wouldn't heed his incessant warning, he punished them also.

Romans 6:23

23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

#itsnothingpersonal

why choose only 1 race of many if he is not racial

ooman:

why choose only 1 race of many if he is not racial

He made a covenant with his servant and friend Abraham, and his seed.

The children of Israel are the descendants or seed of Abraham.

He didn't just look around the earth and pick one tribe via tumbom-tumbom to favour.

And BTW, FYI Israeli is not a race.

rapture_ready:
Baal as "lord" referred to their own gods, not Yahweh.

For example, if a pagan calls "lord", he may be referring to amadioha or whichever god he serves, as opposed to the Christian's "Lord".

So when the semtic tribes said Baal(lord) they were referring to their gods.

When the jews said Adonai(Lord) they are referring to God.

Not true.

Baal-Hadad is name the philistines called the lord of heaven, and creator of the universe, i.e. God. Same name, same god, except addressed in a different language.

What you're saying is like claiming that Olorun is different god and that all non english speaking Yoruba Christians deserve to die for praying to him.

kambo:

[b]it seems all wrld religions fall into a) apostate christianity b)true christianity c)non christianity
to the best of my knowledge no non christian religion makes the followg claims:
only way to God thru a certain person (only christianity does so)
.
Theyre all riddled with ambuity
and vagueness.

2. Tht gettg right with God isnt based on credits earned from Good deeds but based on trustg a person.

All others base gettg right with God on wat d adherents do. The adherents never know if theyve done enuff.
They hope theyve done well enuff.
With islam theyr rules like givg alms, prayg 3 times a day, fightg and killg to gain paradise etc

3. No other wrld religion tells you to love ur enemies i.e human enemies and forgve them no matter their offence even if they killed a persons mother and father . No other religion does because such bhviour is not human. It takes divine enablement fr somebody to live like ths.
So no other religion require this level of Love.
More like they'll encourage adherents to get even because gettg even is the natural way to assuaging hurt.
So based on this christianity is markedly incomparable.[/b]
With d bible in one hand its easy to dispatch apostate christianity.
Jw,catholocism,mormonism etc.

Seen some of your post, you come across as a quasi-intellectual dude.

The kind of logic you use can be likened onto a Laplace transform(one sided). For example, in the emboldened, you use your religion(Christianity) as the base point for analysing other religions. Like WTF!!!, think outside the box!.

Speaking of boxes(cubes) an analogy comes to mind, what you just said is like saying a cube is better than any other 3D shape because:
- it has four corners.
- all sides are equal.
you shouldn't use the properties of a cube to categorize all other 3D shapes.

Evil Brain:

Not true.

Baal-Hadad is name the philistines called the lord of heaven, and creator of the universe, i.e. God. Same name, same god, except addressed in a different language.

What you're saying is like claiming that Olorun is different god and that all non english speaking Yoruba Christians deserve to die for praying to him.

Let wikipedia answer you...

Baal, also rendered Baʿal (Biblical
Hebrew בַּעַל, pronounced [ˈbaʕal]), is
a Northwest Semitic title and
honorific meaning "master" or
"lord"[1] that is used for various gods
who were patrons of cities in the
Levant and Asia Minor, cognate to
Akkadian Bēlu. A Baalist or Baalite
means a worshipper of Baal.
"Baʿal" can refer to any god and even
to human officials. In some texts it is
used for Hadad, a god of the rain,
thunder, fertility and agriculture, and
the lord of Heaven. Since only priests
were allowed to utter his divine
name, Hadad, Ba‛al was commonly
used. Nevertheless, few if any Biblical uses of "Baʿal" refer to Hadad, the lord over the assembly of gods on
the holy mount of Heaven; most refer
to a variety of local spirit-deities
worshipped as cult images, each
called baʿal and regarded in the
Hebrew Bible in that context as a
"false god".

Pay attention to the bold text

^^^^
Yes I already said baal was a title not a same so it could have referred to any god. I'd like to know how you came to the conclusion that in this particular instance, they were praying to a small minor god instead of the main one in the sky (Wikipedia notwithstanding).

Keep in mind that none of this stuff actually happened and we are arguing about a myth.

ooman:

agreed, but things are not often the way they seem.

I personally think that if indeed there is a god, he would be more concerned about new inventions and innovations than become angry and jealous of some conscious spec of dust he created to keep the earth busy.

actually God inspires new inventions THT ARE GOOD though the inventor thnks he is solely responsible for his thoughts.
The bible says "all good things come dwn from above".

On the anger part, its over rated but all administrators know tht for a systm to function smoothly some rules must b introdced . If d rules ar followed thyll b no problem.
Mankinds problems hav com from rejectg God's rules doing things their own way and pointg accusg fingers @ God fr not infringg on their will wen they were bent on doing wrong!
Actually the bible has keys and rules a person can apply to experience success in life in general and in specifc areas of life but from my experience i've never heard them taught in most churches and most christians dont question so the church thing is just tht church going.but there's more to it. A whole lot more.

Afrobasic:

Seen some of your post, you come across as a quasi-intellectual dude.

The kind of logic you use can be likened onto a Laplace transform(one sided). For example, in the emboldened, you use your religion(Christianity) as the base point for analysing other religions. Like WTF!!!, think outside the box!.

Speaking of boxes(cubes) an analogy comes to mind, what you just said is like saying a cube is better than any other 3D shape because:
- it has four corners.
- all sides are equal.
you shouldn't use the properties of a cube to categorize all other 3D shapes.

ok. I'm christian and i know of christian framewrk more thn other religions. But i know a lil of the ideologies of the other religion based on d basic ideas of these religions i pointed out y christianity is the stand out one.
Also i pointed out to claims only christianity makes. No other religion makes these claims.
In buddism,eastern religion, theres no judgemnt after death just eternal recycling. Karma etc.
The God factor is out.
Human relationship:
all religions kinda permit revenge or ar silent on it. Christianity again stand out by actually preachg lovg ur enemies not just your friends with examples in scripture. If Jesus were God by man's reasong he wudve wiped out the hecklg pharisees but he ddnt. Peter came close to and sliced off a soldiers ear.
The history of civilaztion is rife with seethg hatred btwn groups.
I said this defining characteristc cudnt hav been from man. Therfore it was from God.
If it were from man it wudve been rampant like war and bloodshed has been rampant in civilizations history.
Most leaders thru out histry were profoundly wicked.
Christianity states tht God sought for man, then made way fr man to b reconciled to God just as they are.
Other religions state the opposite.
Man has to earn his way to b accepted by God . I.e fr those religions tht hav a God in it.
Again this is very appealg to man because men like earng their way thru life.
The muslim has his rules. Alms givg, going to mecca, prayg 3 times a day.
The bhuddist has the rule of discipling himself till earthly desires are extinguished
catholicism has the rules of prayg thru saints and statues..
Traditional afrcan involve appeasg angry idols failure to do so and a family member may b afflicted or the village may suffer crop failure or the river may drown a villager..
Fear and rules to get with God.
At the end ppl under these systems still dont know their fate.
The muslim is never sure of eternal life.
But christianity again shines.
Categorically it states how to get to God. Repent ask fr forgive believe you receive confess and your in.simple. No million mile trekk on ur knees. No vow of poverty.
No askg saint francs to beg God for you.
No fearg tht the thunder God will get u fr failg to giv him his daily sacrifce.

Actually wen studied side by side christianity beckons. Its the real mccoy. It is compelling.