Pete

The UK forum has been asleep for sometime now. Tribal has gone. I blame Facebook. Things ain't the same sadly.

According John Jesus said my kingdom is not of this world. My question is how is it that many evangelical Christians are supporting a genocide of the Palestinian people whilst directly knowing this is not going to be the place of God's kingdom. Surely murder was never in the teachings of Jesus. Even if you see the Palestinians as an enemy Jesus said you should love your enemy. Mass killing and slaughter of thousands of a people was never in Jesus' teachings and not a sign of love.

Jung described psychological conflict as the work of resolving two opposing ideas. He described religion as the need to resolve the fact we have life and the opposing fact we die. This leaves the mind needing to add purpose to the fact we have a temporary existence. He believed religion was born out of that internal struggle. Lang went further in suggesting religion was a socially accepted delusion in order to cope with the conflict of life and death. Marx also described religion as the sigh of the oppressed spirit and the opiate of the people. Opiate suppress the pain of life and makes it's hardships as more acceptable.

Connolly was an atheist. When he was describing the provable he was differing his thoughts from those of faith or belief based reasoning.

I know that Marx described religion as the opiate of the people and the sigh of the oppressed. He dismissed religion as nothing more than the coping mechanism to deal with a cruel world. However James Connolly who got a catholic upbringing said he was not against religion. He just based his reasoning on the provable rather than the unknowable. I kinda like that.

I get enlightenment used as a term for wisdom revealed but that has no support to a plants photosynthesis.

I have no criticism about your views Jonathan. In fact I respect them. It was just the statement "is god light?" It seems we are trying to discuss the characteristics of an unsubstantiated concept that has no physical evidence to prove its existence. We must first prove God before we can describe character. Otherwise it is similar to debating does a vacuum have consciousness.

Is god light. Is god real. What do we really know first hand about god that you were not taught to think. How can we test that god is light?

Genesis makes no sense. The day and night and the vegetation were made before the sun and moon. Without the sun there is no day. it is the rotation of the earth in relationship to the sun that creates a day. Plants need the sun in order to grow but they flourished on the third day and sun was made on the fourth day. This is just poetic nonsense.

That said the Tsar before the revolution was also a butcher who kept the country in poverty and at a pointless losing war with Germany and on it's other border Japan. We all know how he had the people killed in Red Square. Well that was not the only time he sent the troops in to murder whole groups of people. However he was Royalty and a Christian so we never talk about this.

Jonathan said:- Without Christianity, Islam would have taken over the world. Without Islam, Christianity would have taken over the world. Christian vs. Christian holy wars are the stuff of legend. Muslim vs. Muslim holy wars are the stuff of legend. Jewish infighting is also the stuff of legend. Too much to drag out now. The Temple Mount in Jerusalem is the hottest of hot spots. Good luck cooling that down. _----------------------------++------------------------ I would argue with Judaism, paganism and possibly Hinduism Christianity would not of existed. Without Christianity Islam would not of existed. Mohammed 's first wife was an ebonite. One of the many early christian splits that retained Judaism and saw Jesus as the good teacher and definitely not god. Mohammed sort to correct the errors as he saw it of Christianity. They did not follow Paul's teachings and saw it as a pagan heresy. Trouble was Ebonites hated this world and felt the sooner it died the quicker would come god 's kingdom. They therefore did not encourage having children and so their christianity died and was swallowed up by Islam. The progression of Christianity and Islam despite the denials was a developing theme rather than a complete birth into what they are now. As for communism that is a long debate in it'self. After the revolution 17 differing countries tried to invade is. The land owners insisted on ownership and caused mass starvation. Lenin hated Stalin even though Stalin was the Secretary of the party but after Lenin's death Stalin ruled by fear and the revolution was lost and it became a dictatorship. He ran the whole country as one factory and tried to trade with the World but many countries refused to do so. Hence causing a lot of poverty. It was Stalin who was the butcher and not communism. Was he seen as a god? I doubt it. It is more like if you want to live you best be respectful of this guy.

There are three ways to stop a fire. 1/ deprive it of oxygen. 2/ deprive it of fuel. 3/ lower its temperature. Debating highlights the nonsense the religion is founded upon. Even if they are persistent in quoting dogma, the ridiculous nature and lack of foundation of the religion shows through. I guess that is why you have given so many posts to the topic and interesting they are. I note there is no response back to challenge your logic. If they did it again would show up the ridiculousness of having a faith with no logical foundation. Hence you put the fire out.

Having seen how believers behaved under the Trump.regime I do not believe they have any right to question atheist 's moral compass. I do not need a bronze age book to tell me somethings are wrong. You do not have to believe in a god to value the life of another and respect their personal rights as human beings. Most atheists know this. Believers it seems need to be told this from a bronze age book. I question any believer who needs to be told to respect others rather than know this from their own heart.

Not defending one religion or another but Christian's use the book of Hebrews in order to convince Jews of their standpoint. The trouble is the only thing the book of Hebrews convinces them of is how little Paul actually knew about Judaism and how unlikely it is that he was schooled in Judaism as he claims.

A few years ago I made contact with Jews for Jesus. I just found them more like a Christian evangelical church with a few Jewish trimmings but with no pretence at being part of Judaism. Just New Testament bible believing Christian's.

WHO advised a three layer mask. I think that is good advice However, many people do not know how to wear them. They are supposed to cover the mouth and nose and plastic visors are only really useful if you are wearing a mask under it. The numbers I see wearing a mask and not covering their nose is incredible. The nose is just as capable of catching it and spreading it as the mouth.

Stay at home when ill? The virus has up to a 10 days incubation period in which a person maybe symptom less but still able to spread it to others. if people would only follow the rules then maybe less people would die and many of my professional colleagues would still be alive and not so much under strain. I do not care whether you think the mask is good or bad but our research says it helps. I will follow that. Personally I am sick of armchair and facebook experts sounding off about something they know little about. Why do people wear masks in operating theatres? So they do not spread bugs to the patient. It also helps prevent you catching stuff. Every Nurse and Doctor wears a mask with infected patients. However, I accept that on its own that is not everything. Distancing, vaccinations, perhaps vit D, changing clothes if you have been near infection risks, and good hygiene are the approach taken in all care settings. I have no wish to debate this further. I was paid to do this sort of stuff.

70,000 deaths in December worldwide. My error but the rest is so.

Further to my answer earlier. 1% of the world population is about 78.5 + million. Highest death rate from covid was nearly 70 million in December. The figures are off set because the flu death rate was also lowered by the Covid restrictions. Hence, not much movement on the mortality figures. However, if there had been no restrictions then the mortality rate would be very much higher..

Much of the thanks has to be laid at science's door and the early warning from China. If this virus was allowed to spread freely many more would have died. you get seriously ill. You feel like sh1t and you are in pain. Your tubes going to your lungs are inflamed and eroding and your drownIng in pus and inflammation. No not a nice way to go. Many who recover have sustained injuries to their internal organs. The age range of mortality was from three years upwards. Mostly in the elderly but not exclusive. The last time we had something so dangerous was the spanish flu in the early 1900s. Only it killed mainly young people. Then they had no answer to it. The population took three years to gain herd immunity and thousands died.

Masks, social distancing and the vaccine is the only credible choice at present. I have worn masks every time I leave my flat. I socially distance and I will have the vaccine. I have done that for nearly a year now. If I could make a comment. More Americans would be alive now if Trump had followed his own advice and drank a bottle of bleach. At first masks where they said masks only helped a little but later research showed it helped protect a person and helped stop the virus spreading. Social distancing of at least two metres is also important. However if you have ever breathed out on a cold foggy day you will note your breath goes further than two metres. Still it is helpful. The vaccine is the best thing. It will not stop you getting it but the severity will be less. The problem is with the early return to normal is the more who catch it the more the virus has chance to mutate. Hence, I am sure there will need to be injections every year like the flu jab. Especially since the third world has been slow in getting the jab.

Johnson is no better

It is hard because people are being given stupid advice. I have a friend who is a scientist working in virolgy for Sheffield Hallam University and people are arguing with him because they read something on Facebook. It is amazing. Then there is those who care more about profit than people and just want people working and do not care if they die. It is no accident that Countries like New Zealand, Korea, and Singapore have done better than other countries. Why? Because they took positive action from the start. Well, maybe not North Korea. That is because few want to go there.

There is viruses that help and viruses that hinder good health. Wearing a mask helps prevent the spread by helping people resist infection. Given the numbers that have died both in the states and the UK by the poor responses. I have been dealing with infection for years. The sooner we get the vaccines out the better. This virus has been mishandled from the start.

I know. We have them in the UK.