| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/1/2008 11:35:59 PM | Guardston,
I agree with most of what you said, particularly how the scientist is eager to test the validity of his findings.
The one correction I would make though is that the notion that it was a scientific fact that the world was flat is itself somewhat of a myth. What most people don't realize is that people knew the earth was round for thousands of years. Great evidence of this can be found in the myth of Atlas. No matter what version of the story you read, Atlas is always carrying a spherical Earth on his shoulders. Long ago, scientists must have figured out the significance of the horizon line and what was really happening during an eclipse. It's possible this was some of the knowledge that was lost after the destruction of the Library of Alexandria as we entered The Dark Ages, but I'm pretty sure the scientific world at least still knew the shape of the Earth, though it probably took Columbus to give them a better understanding of the size of the Earth. A better example might be Ptolemy's view of the universe being overturned by Copernicus.
Ultimately though, all that matters is that science polices itself and science has a perfect record when it comes to throwing out well accepted ideas when new evidence overturns them, as opposed to religion, which denies, denies, denies everything that they find threatening to their beliefs until the point where it becomes untenable. Then they eventually adopt the science and reinterpret scripture to claim that The Bible ALWAYS SAID [insert modern idea here], that The Bible knew it before the secular world, and that those Christians in the past who denied it weren't "real Christians." | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/2/2008 3:33:17 PM |
Atlas is always carrying a spherical Earth on his shoulders.
That's a popular misconception. Atlas carried the firmament, or Heaven, which was believed to be spherical.
From Wiki:
Atlas, along with his brother Menoetius, sided with the Titans in their war against the Olympians, the Titanomachy. His brothers Prometheus and Epimetheus weighed the odds and betrayed the other Titans by forming an alliance with the Olympians. When the Titans were defeated , many of them (including Menoetius) were confined to Tartarus, but Zeus condemned Atlas to stand at the western edge of Gaia, the Earth and hold up Ouranos, the Sky on his shoulders, to prevent the two from resuming their primordial embrace. Thus he was Atlas Telamon, "enduring Atlas".
A common misconception is that Atlas was forced to hold the Earth on his shoulders, but this is incorrect. Classical art shows Atlas holding a Celestial Sphere, not a Globe. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/3/2008 8:07:14 PM | | Then I may stand corrected. I always thought it was the other way around and that people just took for granted the idea that no one in the ancient world knew the world was round and so it never crossed anyone's minds why Atlas was holding a sphere. But I still feel there's plenty of other evidence to suggest scientific minds in the ancient world did know the Earth was round, though perhaps the Atlas story is not one of those pieces of evidence. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/3/2008 11:38:27 PM | | there was a article in scientific american about Christopher columbus and what he thought about the size of the world. He was underestimating it by about 25% to 17,000 miles around and it was standing in his way because the true size of the earth was known! He couldn't get anyone to accept his erroneous figure! He was very lucky there was the new world around to save his neck because he was a nutcase. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/4/2008 1:35:58 AM | | Not that it's really "on-topic" but some people should understand that the belief that people "back them" believed the earth was flat is a myth created back an century or two in a book designed to question religion. In other words, it's not a fact. The fact is that the ancients believed the world to be round. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/4/2008 4:52:43 AM | Why did the Jesus character not realise how harmful the central theme of his tale: voluntary suffering is praiseworthy, would found an industry based on masochism?
While this perhaps may be a reasonable conclusion, if you just stare at a cross, but that's missing the point. I think the cross can represent countless things; in my opinion, at the very least, it represents Christ's love for the Father, and for us.
How could the God/Jesus character who managed to be his own Father and his own Son at one and the same time not manage to be unequivocal?
Read a book on the Trinity? | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/4/2008 6:41:59 AM |
I think the cross can represent countless things;
Absolutely! The cross was originally represented the Zodiac and vernal equinox. The symbol is used today in many churches, the actual symbol is the cross with a circle in the center. Has nothing to do with crucifixion. You can see the same symbol in paintings of Christ with the circle or "halo" around his head. Have alook at Acharya S.'s video on her site thruthbeknown.com. The video is titled "Son of God/Sun of God" . Jesus and all of the savior god/man myths that went before him are personifications of the sun and the reason why they are so similar is that the sun can be seen all over the globe. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/8/2008 10:38:02 AM | | SO many of you quote so much knowledge that it totally amazes me.... I am very unversed in the Bible.... my father was an Atheist... my mother at best was a Sunday morning Christian..... I was shipped back and forth between Bible Schools only because neither wanted me around .. and it was there form of free baby sitting...... in Church ... I learned very little and at home I was told to forget what ever I had been taught...... I long to believe.... but at best I manage to be an Agnostic...... I just need that one tiny shred of evidence...... the closest I can find in my own searching... is that every country has some form of believe..... which means someone did one Hell of a job of brain washing of a lot of people.... or something mighty strange took place in the past... because every tribe of people has some form of worship..... Are you confused ????? Don't feel to badly so I am. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 7/9/2008 7:25:38 AM | Ravish:
Consider yourself lucky. You wern't indoctrinated with BS. If it's spirituality you seek, I suggest you look within and perhaps take up some form of meditational discipline such as Buddhism. "God" doesn't have to be an invisible sky fairy who judges you for wearing short skirts or makeup. God can be the spark of life which animates every living thing and drives the universe. Study ALL religions and pick out the best features in each one. The one thing in common with all of them is the Golden Rule, "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you." That, and the other one I like comes from our Wiccan friends, "Do what thou wilt and harm none". If all religions practiced this, we wouldn't have this garbage of violence in the Middle East or Ireland where children are killed and maimed in the name of God. | |
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| The God Who Wasn't There
Posted: 9/20/2008 8:46:21 AM | The gospel of mary and the book of the dead contain the same verses supposedly told her by Jesus.
How much older is the book of the dead? Do the reseach.
"god" was never about heaven and hell.
One of the lost gospels of Jesus was showcased in a movie called "Stigmata"
Where else does that one verse show up in our diluted history?
DO THE RESEARCH!!!!!!!!!!
The ONE thing I will always love about chrstians is that they are predictable and will always claim that the bible is the 'word of "god" '
GOD MY ASS... its PLAGERISM pure and simple.
The bible maybe the greatest 'story' ever sold. It is also the greatest FRAUD ever told. | |
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