Jonathan H. B. Lobl

It's worse. God doesn't "see" the future. God "remembers" the future. It goes with being omnipresent. All times and all places.

Why does God need Human prophets? The goal is for God to convey a message, from God, to people. Why does God need the help of prophets? It might be the best method that I could come up with, in order to convey a message. Is God as weak and helpless as I am -- to put out a message? Seriously. God. This is the best idea that God could implement? God? It's almost as though God had nothing to do with it.

"should" -- Such a sad word. Remove all the pious fraud and humbug from the Bible; and how much is still there?

By all means. You do that. Think way outside the box. Outside of Rhyme and Reason. Outside of Sanity and Reality. Don't let us stop you. Let your spirit soar. Go for it. Have fun on the far side of the rainbow. Do you have enough pixie dust?

I have seen that one. I don't know who said it.

That is a pure faith statement. You have every right to make it. I don't agree with you.

Perhaps, the poster meant practical in the sense of being useful. As for delusions; I would like to quote Kedem Morton. A Buddhist monk. He said -- "The gods are illusory, but if we call upon them for assistance, they will help us anyway."

To my understanding, it is not the doctrine that matters. Only how rigid we are in following that doctrine. People can be equally rabid on both the Left and the Right. Yes, Atheists who foam when someone says -- "Have a blessed day" or "God bless you" -- are just as likely to have brain damage, as the Godly Fundamentalist. It's about being inflexible. Not what we are being inflexible about.

All those inconvenient facts, do get in the way of a good narrative.

Was the Bible misinterpreted? The greater tragedy, is all the mayhem caused by correct interpretation. God, the All Knowing, knew every interpretation before it was begun. So, it must be correct. They must all be correct.

In fairness, I expect that Child of God is being sincere. Not credible. Not rational. But sincere.

Rash and Condescending? I have trained in Therapeutic Touch, Reiki, Qi Gong and related disciplines. I am well acquainted with the internal energy system, the chakras and yes. The halo. I generally prefer the term aura, but we needn't quibble on that point. When you can speak of the halo, in the sacred arts of the other religious groups, I will be much more impressed by your knowledge. You have only to look at the Sun Disc behind the head of Sekhmet; or the halos behind the heads of the various Hindu gods; or Buddhist icons. The halo is as multicultural as anything gets -- and it is much bigger than Christianity.

You are changing the topic under discussion. Evolution theory is about "natural process" rather than "accident". I don't care whether or not you accept evolution theory as real. The distinction between "natural process" and "accident" is worth making. Unless you just want to troll. Evolution theory is not part of Atheism. I'm not interested in defending evolution and I don't care who accepts it. The distinction between "natural process" and "accident" is still worth making.

This may come as a shock to you. Atheism does not come with a commitment, to Big Bang theory. For that matter, there is no built in commitment to Evolution theory. If you really want to talk deep science, you may be in the wrong forum. Just a thought.

I won't pretend that I understood most of the content. Much of it went right over my head, without slowing down. To the extent that I did understand -- we have to be careful of what the study claims. That people with highly rigid thinking, tend to have similar brain dysfunction. That should apply to minds that lack flexibility, in other areas of life, besides religion. In addition, the link between rigid thinking and Fundamentalism is an "association". It is not "causal". No where is the claim made, that brain damage causes Fundamentalism. I do think, that it is self evident, that rigid thinking contributes to becoming and remaining a Fundamentalist. Again, the association is rigid mental patterns and brain damage. Not a specific belief and brain damage. Since the study does feed my personal bias, I am not the best person to defend it.

Saying it -- even believing it -- does not make it so. Wake up and smell the chloroform.

I have been listening to physics professors on You Tube. It turns out that "nothing" is quite interesting.

Of course. St. Augustine said it, so it must be true. Who could possibly disagree with St. Augustine?

"When we speak to God, it's called prayer. When God speaks to us, it's called schizophrenia." source unknown

Have you looked elsewhere? It's obvious that you have no clue, what other religions and cultures have found.

Your ignorance of other religious cultures, is shocking and pathetic. If you care to examine the religious art of Buddhism, Hinduism or the ancient Egyptian gods, you will see plenty of halos.

There is no reason to see these stories, as anything but what they were. Propaganda. No proof then. No proof now. Just propaganda, on the part of people who were not interested in truth or facts. You still don't understand the distinction, between "accidental" and "natural process. "

Please. Don't feed the troll.

For a Fundamentalist Christian, there are so many false prophets. The short list would include Joseph Smith, Mohamed and Sun Myung Moon of the Unification Church. So many more. Most Jews would take a step back and add Jesus to the list. Atheists take a further step back and throw in the Hebrew Scriptures -- and God. (I know. This ignores or distorts much of the world. I don't want to talk like a legal document.) Faith is not fact. Faith is strongly held opinion. What others do -- based on factless opinion -- is not my responsibility. For me, faith is not enough. Before anybody has a chance to distort my position: God could exist. There is no good reason to think so. It doesn't actually matter. But sure, it's possible.

It's alright. I'm responsible for my words.