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Originally Posted by
jlisenbe
So you accept that because it is taught by the same religions that also teach the concept of judgment? Interesting that you accept one idea but not the other.
As noted, religions are in various stages of development. They can contain both a primitive nature and a developed nature. It is no surprise that judgement is taught by many. Judgement can be fair or not fair. It depends on the circumstances.
This is not a case of "accepting one idea but not the other" as though you have discovered something faulty in the reasoning. In all walks of life including religion, some ideas are good, others are not. You should not be having trouble with this obvious concept.
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Still, go to India. Look around. See how the Hindu religion seems to be teaching loving your neighbor. Moslems? The evidence is plain that ethical behavior towards your neighbor is not high on the list of priorities. See how their women are treated. Look at the religions developed among the native Americans here. They routinely attacked and killed neighboring tribes.
This shows how little you know of other religions.
Your disparagements of other religions are equally true of Christianity. In fact, historically, Christianity is the worst. No religious god has been more evil than the god of the Bible who destroyed the entire race of humans on a whim. And who, according to some, sends people to hell for the simple fact of not believing in him. No God is or ever has been more primitive.
However, with the onset of the Hebrew prophets and with Jesus Christ, this religion has made giant steps away from the raw killing nature of the god it began with. There is much left to be done.
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It is self-evident to you because you have been influenced by the remnants of the Christian west
When a thing is self-evident, that means it stands on its own, not requiring additional proof.
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to many people around the world, it is self evident that the world is proceeding best when your neighbors are being killed or subjugated.
There is nothing self-evident about those people. They are driven by religion which they misinterpret as demanding killing and violence. It requires many factors to believe such evil, none of which are self-evident.
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As to the rest of your comments, I'll stick with the words of the man who was raised from the dead. If He says that people only come to God through Him and that a day of judgment is coming, then that's good enough for me.
That is your privilege to believe whatever you wish to believe. You have every right to believe what is written in a series of two thousand year old books, as many do. Those books also have a message of love and ethics, without which a belief in miracles doesn't matter much.
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I find no reason why I would want to take your word over His.
No one is asking you to take one word over another. As noted, it is your privilege to believe what you want to believe. You, and others like you, are simply being presented with a reasonable examination of the growth and development of religion.
