"I can do all things through Christ who strengthens me"Phil 4:13 [Spirituality & Religion]

@Silverwings It's a probability in here. Out of a thousand people 5 people are discussing about the existence of God and they all are good. I am sorry if I say any harsh word to anyone. I am sorry to @Kwek00 too for being a bit harsh than normal but I guess we are SW mates.

@TheOrionbeltseeker Nah, it's all good

I'm used to having "conversations" with Hippy Joe.
And Speedyman and Pfuzzylogic ... but those belong to the past, poor guys thought I was trolling them. Even tough Speedymans' answers just go: "shut up moron" , "your a moron" , "you are such a moron", "your reasoning is moronic". His vocabulary is more limited then mine.

@Silverwings Ridiculous statements always get many responses!

@Harriet03 Oh wow another unbeliever!!

@Silverwings The path back to Atheism is littered with well read bibles! 🤷‍♀️

@Harriet03 I don't believe anyone that has really studied the Bible and read it all can really come to the conclusion that there is no God, sorry. I just don't believe them!

@Carazaa I believe the opposite hun. Murder, rape, infanticide, slavery, the treatment of Women... I could go on & on! 🤷‍♀️

@Silverwings this is how they twist words and we really shouldn't debate with people who lie! I specifically mentioned that the pagan Vikings were not Christian and were murdering people and then Sweden became christianized and loving. I can not debate any more with people who are not knowledgeable about history, Christianity, or educated! Many have not even read the Bible or travelled or have a degree of any kind. But they sure tell us we don't know what we're talking about and are abusive! So upsetting when we are here to share.

@Carazaa Can we say that some people like bishops, archbishop and the middle man have destroyed the faith of a common man?

@Carazaa [quote]Sweden became christianized and loving[/quote]

The Thirty-Years war, one of the most destructive conflicts in human history, was initially a minor conflict between a few small catholic and protestant states. That conflict was immediately expanded and. intensified by Sweden’s intervention in the 17th century, with Swedish troops and mercenaries rampaging through Central Europe while seeking to impose their religious views on to catholic states.

christianised snd loving??

An oxymoron if ever there was one.

@newjaninev2 Absolutely loving. That is the Swedish motto.

@Carazaa The Swedish motto changes with each sovereign. The Swedish motto is currently [i]För Sverige – i tiden[/i](For Sweden – with the times).

Lutheran christianity is in rapid decline in Sweden, and is no longer a state religion... in fact that entire concept has been abandoned, and the Church of Sweden has been disestablished.

So, progress is being made.

[@newjaninev2No the church is still strong like I said earlier. All the pastors in all the towns are still paid by the government, and even Swedish churches in USA and around the world are paid by the Swedish Government , like in San Francisco and LA etc. Now the people are rich and are abandoning their God so the country will go down until they are poor again and cry out to God.

@Carazaa Desperate times, desperate measures... Emo > Ratio

@Carazaa It sounds like the richest people are the church parasites who are living off the hard work of honest people... as they always have. Fortunately, it seems that the Swedish people have had enough of religious nonsense.

Swedish church membership membership is declining rapidly, about 1% each year (in some years 2%), falling from 85% in 2000 to the current level of 67%.

Happily, we see the same happening in my own country (New Zealand) where the percentage of those reporting any sort of religion has fallen sharply, and christians now form a minority of the population.

Like any infection, we will probably never be able to exterminate religion completely, but at least the signs are that it can be reduced to insignificance.

It’s very enccouraging

@newjaninev2 I do want to add, that I don't think it's a good thing to compare religion with a pathology (as in using the word "infection"). People that internalise that idea, often go to extreme measures to cure the disease....

@newjaninev2 @Kwek00 God doesn't reside in a church. God doesn't reside in a mosque. It's all made by human to offer a remember him in a gathering. People may or people may not use this gathering as something else.

The idea of church or mosque was to bring a person on his spiritual level. The practice by Muslims of 5 times prayer is also set by human to make them more and more inclined towards the God.


@newjaninev2 Try to fool other people not @Carazaa, In New Zealand, the Christian population is minority because it's a small island. people from Asia, mostly of other religions like Muslims, Hindus and Buddhists have started coming in search of jobs just as in US.
The government has land but not enough people leading them to ease the norms to come to New Zealand. Now, It's full of Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists.

@TheOrionbeltseeker If you believe in the Judeo-Christian version of God, then why does God tell the Israelites how to build a shrine to worship them. He's pretty specific too, you can actually find all the measurements of the tabernacle in the bible.

@Kwek00 The Bible is passed information that's why we have versions available. Suppose I tell you I am very rich. You would probably tell Newjeninev that I have a very large home and Newjeninev can tell someone that I have a casino too. So, the best to best informations has flaws too.

@Kwek00 Consider it an add on by the priests.

@TheOrionbeltseeker 🤷‍♂️

When it comes to "God" , and the judeo-christian (even muslim) version of it... do you think that argumentation even works? How much do you need to water down concepts to get exactly in the stratosphere your conception of God is residing? Do we need to abort everything? And is God just an abstract concept that we know nothing about, altough for some reason it residers in our mind somewhere? (still wondering how that is working)

If God is just something so abstract that we don't know annything about it at all... maybe it's better to Follow the reasoning my side is following and cut this extreme abstraction without proof out of your narratives completely?

@TheOrionbeltseeker [quote]The Bible is passed information that's why we have versions available.[/quote]
It's meant to be "the word of god". Something as great as this god thing is supposed to be ought to be able to get the story straight.

@Kwek00 how much old is human species?

@TheOrionbeltseeker You should ask Janine, it's her field of interest.

Just make your case... what does it matter how old we are too?

@TheOrionbeltseeker [quote]it's a small island[/quote]

Now Zealand is the same size as Japan, and 10% larger than England.

[quote]It's full of Hindus, Muslims and Buddhists[/quote]

From the recent New Zealand Census:

Of those reporting that they have a religion... Hindu 2.1%, Buddhist 1.4%, Islam 1.1%