[lanbrown]

Ratchetman,

So you’ve been to Houston then?
ABC News: Jesus Alive and Well in Texas?

Still no one has said a single word about the bible and slavery. The bible does not condemn salvery but does say how slaves should be treated. So if god has shown you the truth in the bible, why did god think that some people were more worth than others? Deuteronomy 15
“If your kinsman, a Hebrew man or woman, sells himself to you, he is to serve you for six years, but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man. When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed, but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you. For remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you. That is why I am giving you this command today. If, however, he tells you that he does not wish to leave you, because he is devoted to you and your household, since he fares well with you, you shall take an awl and thrust it through his ear into the door, and he shall then be your slave forever. Your female slave, also, you shall treat in the same way. You must not be reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary; then also the LORD, your God, will bless you in everything you do.”

[ratchetman]

Did you notice that slaves were to be paid double a working man's wage? "since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary" And you are trying to tell me that the bible values some people more than others? You will note that the scripture does not endorse slavery. It provides a mechanism to end it that releases the slave from poverty. The reason a person would sell them selves into slavery is debt. When a person would become too much in debt to repay they would sell themselves as a slave to the holder of the credit. Things are not so different today. If you declare bankruptcy you will not get credit for 7 years. Folks load themselves up with debt until they are like slaves. At least in the old Testament way they would be sent on their way with double a working mans wage. Today we pay interest on top of interest, and the only pot of gold at the end belongs to the bank.

[ratchetman]

As far as that whacko in Texas is concerned Check out Matthew 24 :4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,[a]' and will deceive many.

[lanbrown]

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Did you notice that slaves were to be paid double a working man's wage? "since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary" And you are trying to tell me that the bible values some people more than others? You will note that the scripture does not endorse slavery. It provides a mechanism to end it that releases the slave from poverty. The reason a person would sell them selves into slavery is debt. When a person would become too much in debt to repay they would sell themselves as a slave to the holder of the credit. Things are not so different today. If you declare bankruptcy you will not get credit for 7 years. Folks load themselves up with debt until they are like slaves. At least in the old Testament way they would be sent on their way with double a working mans wage. Today we pay interest on top of interest, and the only pot of gold at the end belongs to the bank.

It never said they were to be paid double. it says:
"You must not be reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary;"
It says the slave was worth twice a hired mans salary. It says nothing of him getting paid that.

It doesn’t help end slavery and they don’t abolish it. It also says this:
"Remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you."
So god allowed slavery to continue and if god paid the ransom, why was there still slavery?
Comparing credit and slavery is ludicrous. You can get credit before the 7 years, there are other factors. There you are with the double a mans wage. What is all this about mans? What about females? All created equal, right? Nowhere does it say that they will be paid double a mans wage.

If we are created in gods image, then we are screwed since he created Ted Kennedy. Why would god let people impersonate him? DIdn’t god create them?

[analogbear]

Originally Posted by ratchetman

How do you know that we have not met God in the flesh?
How do you know that God has not made himself real to me? Perhaps I know that the bible is true because God has shown me the truth of it. In the context of a God who desires a personal relationship with the free moral agents that he created this makes sense. Why else would he get so angry with people going to seers and mediums? All of scripture points to God's desire to have a restored relationship with mankind. I'm not sure why you are stuck on the faith is an emotion bit. Faith is certainly more than that. Faith is expressed in action motivated by belief. Mere emotion requires no action whatsoever.

If god ever came down from heaven and actually did something at all, it would be news. That has not happened, and the ony "evidence" you have for the existence of god is the hearsay reports from old dead people, and a tendency to accord something "divine" to the natural universe...That is the shame in not really reading what I have written with an open mind...I am not saying god doesn't exist, but am actually saying that anyone who believes in god is not basing that faith on reality, but is basing it on the emotion called faith...That doesn't mean they are necessarily wrong, but it does raise the spector of it. Remember, most people on the planet believe in some variety of supreme being, and has some way to worship...Is every person on the planet wrong but "you" (whoever you happen to be)?

That is my problem. The self-righteousness of the born again christian thinking only they have the hotline to god...The newest perversion of christianity is the most accurate? I don't think so, and at least I am a big enough man to walk humbly with my god, safe in the knowledge that what I believe may not be right...You never get that humility from 2 groups...Born again christians and islamic terrorists...Makes ya think...

[dicknose]

Originally Posted by pilot

Imagine an empty cup in front of you. If you lower a marble into the top of the glass, do you know, with reasonable certinity, that if you let it go of the marble that it will fall to the bottom of the glass? But still, you cannot see the force we call gravity.

We do not have to see and meet God, to know of his great power.

There is a huge difference.

There is evidence for gravity. Someone makes a theory that says how it will act and we can test that theory.
If someone comes along and says "no - it acts more like this" and shows how and it can be tested then people will change their mind (and yes that has happened with gravity)

God is different - you not only cant see him, you cant show in any way that he exists. Well not in a way that will be any more convincing than any other competing god or even a lack of god.

Scientific knowledge of gravity and magnetic forces is based on evidence. Theories are developed that have been shown to be very good at explaining and predicting. Whats even more important is that there are no competing theories that contradict them (not that have any reliable supporters!)

There are plenty of theories of god - problem is that none has any evidence to show that they are a better theory than any of the others (including no god at all)
That is why it is based on faith.
Its not a matter of "seeing" its a matter of being able to show others why the theory is correct.

[ratchetman]

Originally Posted by lanbrown

It never said they were to be paid double. it says:
"You must not be reluctant to let your slave go free, since the service he has given you for six years was worth twice a hired man's salary;"
It says the slave was worth twice a hired mans salary. It says nothing of him getting paid that.

It doesn’t help end slavery and they don’t abolish it. It also says this:
"Remember that you too were once slaves in the land of Egypt, and the LORD, your God, ransomed you."
So god allowed slavery to continue and if god paid the ransom, why was there still slavery?
Comparing credit and slavery is ludicrous. You can get credit before the 7 years, there are other factors. There you are with the double a mans wage. What is all this about mans? What about females? All created equal, right? Nowhere does it say that they will be paid double a mans wage.

If we are created in gods image, then we are screwed since he created Ted Kennedy. Why would god let people impersonate him? DIdn’t god create them?

You are not reading the passage as a whole.

"but in the seventh year you shall dismiss him from your service, a free man. When you do so, you shall not send him away empty-handed, but shall weight him down with gifts from your flock and threshing floor and wine press, in proportion to the blessing the LORD, your God, has bestowed on you."


Therefore the amount that is due the slave is double a working man's wage in proportion to the income of the owner. That would mean that if the owner made 50% more than in the previous 7 years he would owe the now free slave double the working mans wage plus 50% of that value in animals and produce from the farm.

So what there is no mention of women. In that time they only worked at home. Somehow today we think that women who stay home are worth less than those who work. I tell you it is the other way around. What does the woman who puts her children in daycare teach her children? That her job is more important than they are? It is important that mothers look after their children for the first year of life. Even a stay at home father is preferable to having a stranger look after your child. Once they grow up you can never get that time back. What do small children want more than spending time with their parents? My mother was one of 10 children and there was no electricity in their home. They made their own soap. There was so much to do that my grandmother had to have hired help. Hired helpers usually were single young women. Throughout history and in many cultures today, including some of my relatives, hired domestic help is required in order for the woman of the house keep up. Some how folks think that every woman should be doing all the same things that men do and in the same proportion. I have news for you women don't want that. My college class is the perfect example, there is not one woman in a class of 40. Why? because they don't want to be there that's why. Do I think they should not be there? No, it would probably bring a better balance to the classroom dynamic and make the class more interesting. Do I think that women should be excluded from certain professions? No, but they should also not be made to feel that by not working outside the home that they are somehow devalued.

Sometimes I look at Ted and wonder what he did to piss God off.

[pilot]

There are plenty of theories of god - problem is that none has any evidence to show that they are a better theory than any of the others (including no god at all)

Are many witnesses of miracles of healing people and arising from the dead considered "evidence" or can that be discounted because it did not occur in our lifetimes? Only one religion is based on such evidence.

[ratchetman]

Originally Posted by analogbear

If god ever came down from heaven and actually did something at all, it would be news.

That is my problem. The self-righteousness of the born again christian thinking only they have the hotline to god...The newest perversion of christianity is the most accurate? I don't think so, and at least I am a big enough man to walk humbly with my god, safe in the knowledge that what I believe may not be right...You never get that humility from 2 groups...Born again christians and islamic terrorists...Makes ya think...

Why would it be news? What makes you think he would allow his physical presence to be a media event.

I'm not saying I have all the answers, nor am I saying I must be right about everything I believe. I do however say that I am sure about certain fundamental things.

There are more than 2 groups in that category. What about Mormons, Jews and Johos? There are probably more. I don't know why there is this drive among certain circles to make comparisons between born agains and jihadists. There is no room in the teachings of
Christ for the things the jihadist does.

[dicknose]

Originally Posted by pilot

Are many witnesses of miracles of healing people and arising from the dead considered "evidence" or can that be discounted because it did not occur in our lifetimes? Only one religion is based on such evidence.

I think it can well and truely be ignored as evidence. Witnesses are only as good as their word - would you trust a witness who works for the organisation that relies on the "evidence". We only know of these events from a book which is not even consistant, has been selectively picked (what about the gospels that werent included?) and in the end its aim is not to provide evidence but to perpetuate a religious organisation.

Would you accept that a magician who saws someone in half is a god?
They can do that today in front of people and probably pass way better conditions for evidence than stuff that it probably at best about 10th hand reports.

And other religions have their own miracles and stories. What makes the proof behind Christianity any stronger than that behind Islam?

Would you believe the world was created by a large frog because a tribe somewhere passed down a story of it happening that came from a witness?

These sorts of things are only the weakest of evidence ie it requires faith in the first place to believe them. Hearing a story of Jesus healing someone isnt going to convince someone that Jesus was the son of god.

If the evidence was any good why are there so many Jews and Muslims - surely they should see this evidence and be convinced?
No.
Not surprisingly they believe what they are told as children.
Yes probably way more than 90% of people end up the same religion that they were taught as children. Most people by the time they are old enough to "think critically" are already using the concept of faith as the basis of their religion. And also not surprisingly religions push the concept of faith. Great system, get them hooked before they are old enough to decide for themselves and then say "ignore facts, its your faith thats important"

[dicknose]

Originally Posted by ratchetman

I don't know why there is this drive among certain circles to make comparisons between born agains and jihadists. There is no room in the teachings of Christ for the things the jihadist does.

The problem is that "moderate" religion is only moderate because it has adapted to fit current society. You do this by picking and choosing which rules/examples from the religion you will follow, which you will ignore, which are meant to be allegory which are fact.

"in gods image" has been taken to justify racist actions and slavery.
other bits of the bible can justify sexist treatment of women.

Now its easy to say that it was a different time and things have changed. And most moderates will do that. But both the moderates and extreme elements will start with the same book (bible, koran) and pick which bits they want to use and say that their decision is based on "faith".

Is it ok for a Christian to kill a doctor who performs abortions?
An extreme Christian would say yes. A moderate would probably say no.
Both would be acting from the same bible, with the same faith. Who is to say which is right? How is it any better for a moderate to say to the extremist "you are wrong" than it is for an athiest to say to the moderate "you are wrong"

Once you start letting faith guide these sorts of decisions then you have no argument against extremists - why is their faith any less valid than anyone elses.
Moderate religion supports extremists by using the same logic (ie faith) and justifying it as something that shouldnt be questioned by others.

And a country were less than 50% of people would vote for an athiest and some decent percentage dont believe in evolution strikes me as a place of extremists. That a good number of these people are also keen to invade and/or nuke other countries because they are "towelheads".
It truly scares me that the place with most of the nuclear weapons also have a voting public that could make their decisions on who to vote based on religious faith and that their leader could (with popular support) use the same basis for wielding those weapons.

Yes I truly am scared by the religious moderates. I feel that when pushed they easily change to what Id call extremists.

[analogbear]

Originally Posted by pilot

Are many witnesses of miracles of healing people and arising from the dead considered "evidence" or can that be discounted because it did not occur in our lifetimes? Only one religion is based on such evidence.

There is a problem with the supernatural...There never seems to be repeatability. A person who has had a vision can never do it with an audience, remote viewing, ghosts, psychics, etc have ALL --ALL-- been debunked. There is just no evidence for supernatural phenomena...There are certainly, energies and particle-motions that we have yet to fully understand, but there is a repeatability of observation...It is more likely that not that the lesson learned from the ressurection may not be the one intended, as John the baptist was an eastern mystic, discovered by Jesus during his quest for enlightenment; and so the lesson we were supposed to get from the ressurection (if it happened, of course) was most likely the karmic principle of reincarnation...This would of course be less seductive for the beginnings of the autocratic priesthood that was forming within the apostles to supplant the growing body of women/priestesses who were the more persuasive voice of the prophet, than would be a finality-encouraging and deification by pure ressurection, so it is an understandable political perversion of the lesson.

Originally Posted by ratchetman

Why would it be news? What makes you think he would allow his physical presence to be a media event.

I'm not saying I have all the answers, nor am I saying I must be right about everything I believe. I do however say that I am sure about certain fundamental things.

There are more than 2 groups in that category. What about Mormons, Jews and Johos? There are probably more. I don't know why there is this drive among certain circles to make comparisons between born agains and jihadists. There is no room in the teachings of
Christ for the things the jihadist does.

By news I wasn't alluding to a press conference, just that that kind of "proof" for one of the most important unanswered questions of all time -and across all peoples- would not be something kept silent or hidden...It would be out in the public sphere without all the semantic interpretations of ancient texts.

And the parallel I draw between fundamentalists of ALL religions is that freaking sactimony...If you believe your religion is right, you, by implication, believe that all others are wrong. What arrogance and hubris! There is NO PROOF for any of them, so believe in that which gives you comfort; but, when you actually come believe in the absolute truth of the unsubstantiated religion to the exclusion of any others, whatever yours is, you have made a serious error in judgement. And, further, to then make decisions about interpersonal relationships (suicide bombings, handing out pamphlets, knocking on doors, telling friends and neighbors they are going to hell unless they believe as you do) based only on your personal mythology, is rude to the extreme. I have much greater respect for the person who admits his fear of the unknown rather than the mere sheep who parrots back ANY party line...

Originally Posted by ratchetman

As far as that whacko in Texas is concerned Check out Matthew 24 :4Jesus answered: "Watch out that no one deceives you. 5For many will come in my name, claiming, 'I am the Christ,[a]' and will deceive many.

I don't know any wackos in texas personally, but I liken them all to people who use the bible to take the place of thought. Frankly, if you are following ANY religious teachings you have surrendered any freewill you might have had to the decision-making scheme of the "group-mind." You are no-longer acting freely if you act in accordance with any teachings. Only those people undertaking a rational, logical, and reasonable analysis of decisions are really acting freely...Everyone else is merely a robot...Welcome to the Machine.

[pilot]

Originally Posted by analogbear

There is a problem with the supernatural...There never seems to be repeatability. A person who has had a vision can never do it with an audience, remote viewing, ghosts, psychics, etc have ALL --ALL-- been debunked. ...

"The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 1:7). You need to study a bit more. Let's take a look at Bible prophecy...

"Prophecy is foretelling an event in such detail before it happens so as to necessarily require divine guidance. The Bible is a book containing hundreds of detailed prophecies. There are, for example, well over 60 distinct predictions in regard to our divine Saviour Jesus Christ. Here is a sample of just 10 prophecies that foretold the crucifixion of Christ. Not only were the predictions made 1000 years before Christ came from heaven to earth, but they were made over 500 years before crucifixion was first used anywhere in the world as a form of capital punishment! Crucifixion didn't exist when the prophecies were made.

A scientist picked out 48 such prophecies and determined that the probability of one man randomly fulfilling them all is 1 in 10 to the exponent of 157. That is one followed by 157 zeros! Your chances of winning a typical lottery jackpot is about 1 in 108. (100,000,000) Yet, Jesus fulfilled all the prophecies!" See 60 Genuine divine Bible prophecies fulfilled

[TKDmasterZ]

No one is going to be able to convince anyone that God exists and loves us from a few paragraphs. Literally, you need a Godly intervention for you to truely believe. Once you obtain the faith, read "faith" not "reason", it all seems to make sense, but until then it's all just not reasonable to believe. I was like that.

The only thing I can tell you is that, once I learned that God exists, my life is now 10,000 times better in all ways. I work harder and play harder. There is a sense of purpose and priorities become clearer. I have a great relationship with my family and my friends both belivers and non-belivers alike. Since I found God when I felt that it'd be impossible, I also believe that anyone can come to the same realization as I did. Just need some sort of spiritual awakening that convinces or makes you crave for such thing.

In any case, it comes down to four things now...

I love Jesus, Martial Arts, Motorcycles, and drinking (an old habit that I don't plan to shake off unless I know that it hurts myself or others in anyway.)

God's presence can be found anywhere, as it is written:

Romans 1:19-20
"... since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. "

Also if you sincerely search for God, he'll be found, as it is written:

Matthews 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "

For us, who rides, we are putting ourselves in situations that are much closer to death than anyone else who are in cages out there. So if I may, I strongly urge you to be more spiritual, in any way you can, so that you are prepared for the very probable 'after-life'

God bless you.

[analogbear]

You are all a bunch of gullible, arrogant fools if you think you are right. Even Ghandi knew that all religions were merely different paths to the same thing, and he said the truly enlightened did not need invisible men to encourage faith...All of you who believe in the western-judeo/christian faiths are in grevious error. And I have studied, but find the pop-culture religious support to be lacking. There is no serious thinker, in any intellectual or scientific discipline, that has "faith" in a particular religion to the degree that the jesus freaks here and elsewhere do...Those intellectuals have a comforting faith, but they realize the difference between emotion and truth, between mythology and fact, and between religion and spirituality...There is a huge difference, and having studied several religions, I have found that those who claim to be the most devout -or on the path most pious- often seem to be the most hypocritical, ignorant, poorly-educated, naiive, nd generally weak-willed folks it has been my displeasure to meet. See, you are all defending the idea of "faith" when I am not attacking that...You are all defending christianity when I am not attacking that either. What I am attacking is the faithful according factual status to the unknowable; I am attacking according "truth" status to what is at best a murky historical account of disputed events; I am attacking the sanctimony of the religious people who have never read about other religions in an objective fashion, never worshipped in a different house of god (temple, mosque, etc) or read any non-spiritual philosophy before adopting their religious views, and then holding onto them like a pit-bull without any attempt to justify them, but still possessing an obsessive need to tell everyone ELSE how they are wrong for not believing the same way...That sanctimony, that hubris, that arrogance in the face of god is disrespectful to him, and you should all be ashamed.

Remember jesus freaks, what moses said in Numbers 31:


And Moses said unto them, Have ye saved all the women alive? Behold, these caused the children of Israel, through the counsel of Balaam, to commit trespass against the LORD in the matter of Peor, and there was a plague among the congregation of the LORD. Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him. But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves (emphasis added).

Nice god who lets you be a murdering rapist, huh?!

[pilot]

Originally Posted by analogbear

You are all a bunch of gullible, arrogant fools ...

Proverbs 26:11 As a dog returneth to his vomit, so a fool returneth to his folly.

Psalms 53:1 The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God. Corrupt are they, and have done abominable iniquity: there is none that doeth good.

[analogbear]

See, you are the fool...I never said there was no god. You should try reading and learning, rather than spitting in other peoples' faces. Way to love thine enemy, right?! Wanna play quote for quote? For every passage you bring I will bring a contradictory passage, or one that demonstrates just how crazy the editors of the bible were...It is so chewed up, it could ONLY have been assembled by committee, and it so full of bunk that its best use would be as "what not to have as a religious text."

[pilot]

[quote=analogbear;631207]I never said there was no god. You should try reading

DO you believe in God? If so, why, in view of your position that there is no evidence to support same.

[Mogolf]

Originally Posted by TKDmasterZ

No one is going to be able to convince anyone that God exists and loves us from a few paragraphs. Literally, you need a Godly intervention for you to truely believe. Once you obtain the faith, read "faith" not "reason", it all seems to make sense, but until then it's all just not reasonable to believe. I was like that.

The only thing I can tell you is that, once I learned that God exists, my life is now 10,000 times better in all ways. I work harder and play harder. There is a sense of purpose and priorities become clearer. I have a great relationship with my family and my friends both belivers and non-belivers alike. Since I found God when I felt that it'd be impossible, I also believe that anyone can come to the same realization as I did. Just need some sort of spiritual awakening that convinces or makes you crave for such thing.

In any case, it comes down to four things now...



God's presence can be found anywhere, as it is written:

Romans 1:19-20
"... since what may be known about God is plain to them, because God has made it plain to them. For since the creation of the world God's invisible qualities--his eternal power and divine nature--have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made, so that men are without excuse. "

Also if you sincerely search for God, he'll be found, as it is written:

Matthews 7:7-8
"Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; he who seeks finds; and to him who knocks, the door will be opened. "

For us, who rides, we are putting ourselves in situations that are much closer to death than anyone else who are in cages out there. So if I may, I strongly urge you to be more spiritual, in any way you can, so that you are prepared for the very probable 'after-life'

God bless you.

Well said. I can relate with your position. As far as divine intervention goes, it can take many forms and circumstances. However it takes an open heart and mind to realize it. And as far as being not reasonable to believe, there are many things about God our finite minds will NEVER comprehend.

Proverbs 3:5 Trust in the LORD with all your heart
and lean not on your own understanding

That's the rub with many. Until the day we stand face to face....

[analogbear]

Originally Posted by pilot

DO you believe in God? If so, why, in view of your position that there is no evidence to support same.

I "KNOW," from having read, researched, and to one degree or another studied many of the world's religions, that, with only one or two exceptional cases within certain faiths, the non-supernatural components of all of these religions is essentially the same. That is the point Ghandi made; that each one is but a path to the truth; and the most important part of the truth was how we treat eachother, based on the goodness in our hearts, not the godliness we adopt after a significant emotional event or some cultural, familial, or national indoctrination. See, if you pull the "magic" or supernatural characters out of all of the modern religions, and do the same with the more ancient ones too, you will even then find many parallels. I suppose the deeper problems arise when certain modern religions tie the message (which is a good message about peace, love and happiness) to a particular flavor of supernatural diety. It is that tie that has no proof, no support, and defies all reason and rationality. The root message itself, from ALL of these religions: to love other people, to love and live humbly, without murdering, stealing, cheating, envying other people, being honest, working collaboratively with ther people, being generous, assisting the sick, aged, and helpless, etc, is almost identical, and has been shown -if followed- to work and be a good way to live. If the only differences then are the "magic" things, the unproveable things, the supernatural things, why are people getting bent out of shape when someone else has a different name, different holy text, or different names for characters in a typical tale -about creation, perhaps, or whatever?

It seems to me that by harping on the dogma (which, frankly, has become so diluted, reinterpreted, convenient, and driven by tax-exempt status to render it fairly suspect anyway) we are missing the larger lesson. By arguing about the names of invisible folks, or the divinity of a given prophet, or the existence or lack there of of miracles (the claim to which was a time-honored way, 2000 years ago with ignorant sheperds, laborers, and slaves, to attempt to attempt to establish the "good" nature of a given prophet's statements...Not unlike a political advert...Now we are a bit more sophisticated...NOT!) the goodness itself has been left behind for a kind of "Brand-Recognition" of their particular chosen path, not unlike my Grandpa who always drove a "Chevy" and literally refused to speak with me for a month after I got my 1970 Olds Cutlass...This adherence to a brand of religion, representing the 2 or 3% that is different between them rather than the 97 or 98% that is the same, seems a bit foolish to me. I don't think any of then have the supernatural right, because that seems to be the part of all of them that is seeking to explain the truly unexplainable, and I am humble enough to know I CAN'T possibly have the answers; but, I am also strong enough in my sensitivity, intellect, education, highly-spiritual upbringing and ability to see through the BS of other people and directly into their fear and doubts to know they don't either. I see them hiding their doubt and fear behind a religious plan that obscures everything great about faith, and instead turns a belief in god into a Madison Ave Ad campaign, with the loser on the head of a Jihadist stick or in the cultural doghouse.

[pilot]

Intersting information on your views of religions. But, you did not answer the simple question, DO you believe in God? If so, what evidence do you have for that belief?