Quote from: tekla on January 06, 2011, 01:21:20 AM
Do you remember when you found out that the whole Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny stuff was just a huge fib made up by your parents to make you behave in a certain way?


You should have rethought the entire Jesus deal that that point too.

Excellent observation!!!

Quote from: Dana Lane on January 06, 2011, 04:53:16 AM

As previously stated there are the stone your children to death for talking back, killing your neighbor if they work on the sabbath...on and on. I find it amazing that people know these atrocious evil things are in the bible but just skip over it and grab something that appeals to them.

That is so true Dana. I love your new avatar by the way.

Quote from: tekla on January 06, 2011, 01:21:20 AM
Do you remember when you found out that the whole Santa Claus, Tooth Fairy, Easter Bunny stuff was just a huge fib made up by your parents to make you behave in a certain way?






You should have rethought the entire Jesus deal that that point too.

Heh, I was about 5 and I did.  The thing about Santa, the Easter bunny, the Tooth Fairy and so on is that they were not the types to throw you into hell to burn for all eternity isolated from everyone you ever loved.  Jesus our most loving heavenly father was that very type. 

Not to mention the other message that's beat into many little heads.  If you had any doubt in your heart at all when the rapture happened, due any day now, your parents would disappear right before your eyes.  You would be left all ALONE in a world gone mad!  If that's not terrifying to a 5 year old toddler I don't know what is.

One of the biggest problems I have with religion is how they torment children and adults as well through fear and manipulation.  If your the foundations of your belief was that strong you wouldn't have to scare people into believing and emptying their pocket books for the sake of their eternal and obviously vulnerable soul.

Although I completely agree with what Squirrel has written, I think that it was that very thing that probably saved my life a few years ago. I had hit a real low point and could see no way forward and had some pretty heavy  suicidal thoughts, and it was only that completely illogical lingering doubt from my deeply Catholic upbringing that maybe after death would come something even worse if I were to take my own life. I knew that I didn't even believe in God but some of that programming from my childhood stuck and I couldn't go through with it.

That said, all of that religion at a young age did far more to screw me up than it ever helped me!!

There are so many contradictions in the bible, if you really know your stuff, you can counter just about anything the religious manipulators throw at you.  But this is one you can toss back almost any time they start messing with you.

"Therefore all things whatsoever you desire that men should do to you, do you even so to them. For this is the Law and the prophets."
-- New Testament, Matthew 7:12, from the Christian tradition, circa 30 AD

And if they don't speak that language...

"This is the sum of duty. Do not unto others that which would cause you pain if done to you."
-- Mahabharata 5:1517, from the Vedic tradition of India, circa 3000 BC

"What is hateful to you, do not to our fellow man. That is entire Law, all the rest is commentary."
-- Talmud, Shabbat 31a, from the Judaic tradition, circa 1300 BC

"That nature alone is good which refrains from doing unto another whatsoever is not good for itself."
-- Avesta, Dadistan-i-dinik 94:5, from the Zoroastrian tradition, circa 600 BC

"Hurt not others in ways that you find hurtful."
-- Tripitaka, Udanga-varga 5,18 , from the Buddhist tradition, circa 525 BC

"Surely it is the maxim of loving kindness, do not unto others that which you would not have done unto you."
-- Analects, Lun-yu XV,23, from the Confucian tradition, circa 500 BC

"One should treat all beings as he himself would be treated."
-- Agamas, Sutrakrtanga 1.10, 1-3, from the Jain tradition, circa 500 BC

"Regard your neighbor's gain as your gain and your neighbor's loss as your loss."
-- Tai-shang Kang-ying P'ien, from the Taoist tradition, circa 500 B.C.

"Do not do to others that which would anger you if others did it to you."
-- Socrates (the Greek philosopher), circa 470-399 BC

"Treat your inferiors as you would be treated by your superiors."
-- Epistle XLVII,11, from the Seneca tradition, circa 5-65 AD

"Be charitable to all beings, love is the representative of God."
-- Ko-ji-ki, Hachiman Kasuga of the Shinto tradition, circa 500 AD

"No one of you is a believer until he desires for his brother that which he desires for himself."
-- Koran, Sunnah, from the Islam tradition, circa 620 AD

"We obtain salvation by loving our fellow man and God."
-- Granth, Japji XXI, from the Sikh tradition, circa 1500 AD

Obviously a lot of people throughout history felt the need to get the pressure other people were putting on them redirected back at them.

Be excellent to each other.

Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure

Quote from: Mrs Erocse on January 06, 2011, 09:35:53 AM

Excellent observation!!!

That is so true Dana. I love your new avatar by the way.

Thank you! 

I was thinking about this title and I thought, "Isn't prejudice a rebellion against God?" 

According to the dictionary prejudice is:
1. an unfavorable opinion or feeling formed beforehand or without knowledge, thought, or reason.
2. any preconceived opinion or feeling, either favorable or unfavorable.
3. unreasonable feelings, opinions, or attitudes, esp. of a hostile nature, regarding a racial, religious, or national group.
4. such attitudes considered collectively: The war against prejudice is never-ending.
5. damage or injury; detriment: a law that operated to the prejudice of the majority.

One takes what God created and, without knowledge, thought or reason, causes them harm.

Quick, someone get me a Bible quote to defend my position!