Originally Posted by aklim

Or anyone that had not lost their temper. What so special about a christian? He can't lose his temper?

Originally Posted by Air&Road

I hope I am wrong, but apparantly you will never know.

Originally Posted by cmbdiesel

Ezekiel 25:17. "The path of the righteous man is beset on all sides by the inequities of the selfish and the tyranny of evil men. Blessed is he who, in the name of charity and good will, shepherds the weak through the valley of darkness, for he is truly his brother's keeper and the finder of lost children. And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers. And you will know my name is the Lord when I lay my vengeance upon you!



Well, I'm a mushroom-cloud-layin' mother****er, mother****er! Every time my fingers touch brain, I'm Superfly T.N.T., I'm the Guns of the Navarone! IN FACT, WHAT THE **** AM I DOIN' IN THE BACK? YOU'RE THE MOTHER****ER WHO SHOULD BE ON BRAIN DETAIL! We're ****in' switchin'! I'm washin' the windows, and you're pickin' up this ******'s skull!

Originally Posted by kerry

It is a central feature of Christian culture that Christians have greater potential for being moral than unbelievers. It's a very hard belief to maintain after looking around to see if there is evidence of increased virtue amongst Christians.

On the other hand, if by 'moral' one means 'willing to submit to authority' Larry might serve as a good example of its veracity.

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Yeah, I suppose I could improve my character by flipping the bird to every authority figure I come across. I guess it's only a rotten SOB like myself that will actually have respect for others and follow the law and the rules.

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Yeah, I suppose I could improve my character by flipping the bird to every authority figure I come across. I guess it's only a rotten SOB like myself that will actually have respect for others and follow the law and the rules.

Originally Posted by aklim

Lots of people follow rules without a boogie man to tell you to do it

Originally Posted by aklim

Lots of people follow rules without a boogie man to tell you to do it

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Who the **** do you think you are, trying to determine why I do what I do?

My religious beliefs might be indirectly related to why I do things, but the REAL reason why I behave myself is because that is the way I was raised. Is that a difficult concept to understand?

Originally Posted by aklim

You mentioned that you have respect for the rules. I merely pointed out to you that it is possible for someone to follow the rules like you without a religion or some force they surrender themselves to that tells them to do so.

No, not at all. Many people proudly tell us that was how they were raised. What we see is some other force guiding them as to what to do without independent thought as to why they are doing it. "I was raised to....." implies to me that you do what you were told without thought.

Originally Posted by Air&Road

Okay, I see what drew the comment now. I apologize.

I do, however, resent your implication that I can't think for myself. On the contrary, it is much harder to NOT do things that you are told to do, when you know that they are immoral or unethical. I have refused to do LOTS of things on those grounds over the years.

I walked away from a GREAT paying job one time, because they were telling me to do something against proper business ethics. Does that sound like someone that does things they are told without thought?

Originally Posted by aklim

I don't know. When someone tells you that they do something because they were brought up that way, what does it say? If I say "I tell the truth because that was how I was brought up.", what part of that says "I realize that it is the best way to be believed in the future when I say something."? All it says is that my father and/or mother told me to tell the truth. Doesn't tell me that you actually put thought into the matter, does it?

Originally Posted by Air&Road

So you think that NOT telling the truth is a good thing?

Originally Posted by chilcutt

All of these scriptures you mention pre-date Muhammad....
"The Messenger of Allah graced our world in Honorable Mecca in the year 571 of the common era, on the 12th morning of the Islamic lunar month of Raiulawwal. He belongs to the most honorable family in the tribe of Kuraish on both sides of his father and mother"

Marty, during this mans lifetime was seen the spread of Islam.
So.....the scriptures you have qouted were written long before the spread of Islam..meaning they could not have been refferring to Islam..because there was no Islam.

Your argument fails.