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No.

Which brings me back to the point of how you keep saying you are spiritual but not religious, yet you are constantly on the attack at any perceived sleight of religion.

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ORIGINAL: thishereboi

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife

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ORIGINAL: thishereboi

So sorry. Ok then, I don't wear a burka on my head, but I get really angry when I see bigots doing it. Does this mean I should ignore them when they shout insults at the women who do?

You get really angry when you see bigots wearing burkas?

By the way, you do know that a burka is a full body covering?  Not just for the head.

Let me try it again. I don't wear a burka, but I get really angry when I see bigots attacking those doing it. Does this mean I should ignore them when they do?

better?

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It can hardly be maintained that Greek was used only by the upper classes and was restricted to commerce, or that it was restricted to those who needed it to communicate with the governing authorities; the Christian Hellenizers (Acts, 6:1), who apparently spoke Greek only and were thus more deeply affected by Hellenization, were not restricted to the higher classes. Josephus (Ant., 20:264) clearly indicates that ordinary freemen and even slaves in Palestine had learned many languages. However, his statement (ibid., 20:263) that it had proven difficult for him to master Greek, especially the pronunciation, and the faulty Greek in many inscriptions indicate that the level of knowledge of Greek was not high. Even Josephus (Apion, 1:50) had to employ assistants to polish the Greek of his De Bello Judaico. The knowledge of Greek possessed by Jewish Christians in Palestine, however, because of their closer contact with Diaspora Jews and with non-Jews outside Palestine, must have been better; and recent scholarship has concluded that it is probable that Jesus himself sometimes spoke Greek.

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

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No.

Which brings me back to the point of how you keep saying you are spiritual but not religious, yet you are constantly on the attack at any perceived sleight of religion.

Im not religious. Nor would I have to be physically challenged to take up the cause for Special Olympics. Nor did people have to be black to take up the cause for slavery.

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You keep trying to portray this as the evil atheists attacking those who believe and fail to acknowledge that it goes both ways.

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ORIGINAL: DomKen

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ORIGINAL: Aneirin
Where have all the miracles gone ?

There never were any miracles.

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

It truly is an interesting link. It also shows a seperation among the classes. Merchants (business men) of course were always the first in on the new lingo!

It can hardly be maintained that Greek was used only by the upper classes and was restricted to commerce, or that it was restricted to those who needed it to communicate with the governing authorities; the Christian Hellenizers (Acts, 6:1), who apparently spoke Greek only and were thus more deeply affected by Hellenization, were not restricted to the higher classes. Josephus (Ant., 20:264) clearly indicates that ordinary freemen and even slaves in Palestine had learned many languages. However, his statement (ibid., 20:263) that it had proven difficult for him to master Greek, especially the pronunciation, and the faulty Greek in many inscriptions indicate that the level of knowledge of Greek was not high. Even Josephus (Apion, 1:50) had to employ assistants to polish the Greek of his De Bello Judaico. The knowledge of Greek possessed by Jewish Christians in Palestine, however, because of their closer contact with Diaspora Jews and with non-Jews outside Palestine, must have been better; and recent scholarship has concluded that it is probable that Jesus himself sometimes spoke Greek.

So, while they learned to communicate, its doubtful they were part of any philosophical discussions on the level of atomus.

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

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You keep trying to portray this as the evil atheists attacking those who believe and fail to acknowledge that it goes both ways.

And if someone came here and tried to insist that god was the only way, and started jumping on an atheist for his/her belief... and I dont mean belief in a religious way... I would react the same way I have now.

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ORIGINAL: littlewonder

miracles still happen everyday....

people who were blind from birth or for many many years and one day they can see....did nothing, no surgeries..they can just see now. No explanation.

People who were pronounced dead only to wake up in a morgue hours or a day later.

Then there are those who have lifelong illnesses or fatal diseases and one day it's gone..just gone. Doctors can't explain it. Tests are done and it's just not there anymore.

No more miracles?? Tell that to these people.

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ORIGINAL: rulemylife

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

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You keep trying to portray this as the evil atheists attacking those who believe and fail to acknowledge that it goes both ways.

And if someone came here and tried to insist that god was the only way, and started jumping on an atheist for his/her belief... and I dont mean belief in a religious way... I would react the same way I have now.

I'll hold you to that, but I think we both know you have not demonstrated it before.

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl

Has someone made such a post?

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ORIGINAL: Aneirin
[...] All miracles from the past if one observes the religious books, but why the past and not now, why is all this from a time that could not be empiracly examined, did they actually occur, or were they reported on at a later date ?
[...]
Where have all the miracles gone ?

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I don't recall seeing anyone attacking the women who wear burkas.

What I recall are those who questioned a society that demanded women to dress like that in the heat of a desert.

What I recall is the questioning of societies where women are viewed as chattel and forced to conceal every inch of their bodies.

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ORIGINAL: Aneirin

All miracles from the past if one observes the religious books, but why the past and not now, why is all this from a time that could not be empiracly examined, did they actually occur, or were they reported on at a later date ?

i'm not sure all miracles are from the distant past. Take WWII. Some of the events contributing to the Allied victory could easily be described as miracles. Apollo 13 making it back to Earth. Do you know that the one person who died on the Lewis and Clark Expedition died from appendicitis, which was incurable at the time anyway? Spontaneous remissions from cancer do happen. i'm sure Catholics can tell you about all kinds of modern miracles. Doesn't the Catholic church have a whole department for that kind of thing?

i'm sure God, if there is a God, doles out miracles exactly how he wants. You'll have to ask *him* for the reason. Maybe, and i'm just speculating here, but maybe God doesn't want to make such an obvious show of miracles in modern times, since he places so much value on faith. Maybe he thinks that giving people empiricle evidence of his existence would make it too easy for people to believe in him, and that would defeat the purpose of testing them in the first place.

Now as humanity has progressed to the point where one person or a small group of like minded persons can initiate the destruction of all life on earth, why is God not making his presence felt more forcibly, for surely destruction of all life on earth is his concern or is it true God gave the planet to the humans to do with as they wish ?

Because God, if he exists, probably doesn't feel obliged to do whatever people tell him that he *should*. Also, the story of Adam and Eve is an example of God allowing people use their free will to do things that God doesn't approve of. And how do you know that God *hasn't* prevented the earth's destruction? We're all still here. We haven't been hit by a gigantic meteor or faced a nuclear holocast *yet*.

But going back to those biblical times when the population of the planet was far less than it is now and education was not as widespread perhaps people could be swayed by the magnificent miracles, but why choose to perform for a minority of the ignorant rather than the majority of the educated, what is the problem, what is he afraid of ?

You should really ask him that question. If God exists then he's the only one qualified to answer questions about why he did what he did. Maybe because he thought the ignorant minority were more worthy than the educated majority?

Why such an interest in the people of planet Earth in the ancient past, but seemingly not so now and I say that because of what we know of the natural occurances that wipe out millions of people indiscriminantly saint and sinner in one go, the tsunamis and earth quakes of recent times, events which in the ancient past undoubtedly would have been attributed to the hand of god and those killed be labelled as some sort of evil God wished to destroy or make an example of ?

How can you possibly be sure that God doesn't create tsunamis?

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ORIGINAL: tazzygirl


I have yet to see anyone demand any atheist to believe in god... in the supernatural... in spirituality... in anything.