What is the monetary system in Heaven?

[Feeding Crows]

So I guess, pretty much all of us get very low-level status in Heaven. Because we're all bad. We wouldn't be here if we're good. We'll have to sweep the clouds of the heavenly poop rained down upon us every day.

Priests and other clergy, must be above us, taking "care" of children. But the lower clouds are meant for judges that allow or deny people into the castes of heaven.

So is Heaven a caste system? That's not cool... No way... I'm not into that...

 

[Feeding Crows]

That's very racist. And a society we don't want to live in while we're alive. So why would we want that to be our heaven?

 

[Feeding Crows]

Or maybe, there is no heaven. And you're all just making believe, because you're afraid to die, and making up fairy tales to make you feel more secure.

Your religion takes advantage of that, and takes a lot of money and sacrifice from you, just to tell you that your fairy tales are true. But some more than others. So you have to believe more! And give more money!

 

[expat_panama]

That's the way a lot of things work in Christianity. Just another example of when some particular aspect of Christian teachings isn't popular with a particular group, they generally just ignore that part.

True but what we're really looking at is this is how things work w/ human beings, not just Christians. People have a habit of adopting an ideology (call it 'dogma' if it's religious) and then back it up w/ whatever they can find that agrees, disregarding the rest. U ask them about some biblical passage that seems to contradict their dogma and they'll INSIST that it agrees.

This confirmation bias we're afflicted w/ is insidious, we THINK we're free but we're as blind as everyone else. The only solution I see is cutting others a lot of slack and being impatient w/ those who belief they got it all sewed up.

 

[expat_panama]

Or maybe, there is no heaven. And you're all just making believe, because you're afraid to die, and making up fairy tales to make you feel more secure.

Your religion takes advantage of that, and takes a lot of money and sacrifice from you, just to tell you that your fairy tales are true. But some more than others. So you have to believe more! And give more money!

did u notice how smoothly u went from "maybe" (true) to "your religion takes" (maybe not true)?

 

[BULLDOG]

True but what we're really looking at is this is how things work w/ human beings, not just Christians. People have a habit of adopting an ideology (call it 'dogma' if it's religious) and then back it up w/ whatever they can find that agrees, disregarding the rest. U ask them about some biblical passage that seems to contradict their dogma and they'll INSIST that it agrees.

This confirmation bias we're afflicted w/ is insidious, we THINK we're free but we're as blind as everyone else. The only solution I see is cutting others a lot of slack and being impatient w/ those who belief they got it all sewed up.

But belief in everything that is written in the Bible is a tenet of Christiaity. You can pick and choose which parts to believe or not. Which is it?

 

[expat_panama]

But belief in everything that is written in the Bible is a tenet of Christiaity. You can pick and choose which parts to believe or not. Which is it?

It's hard for me to follow you here, on the one hand we agree that some "believe in everything that is written in the Bible". Personally, I see the Bible has a Divine Text (so I believe it) and consequently it has to be taken as a while studied for what it is (so I study it w/ quite a bit of humility knowing all I don't know).

On the other hand you go on to say that it's possible to "pick and choose which parts to believe or not". My take is this is a different option enjoyed by many & my thinking is that it's for those that want to be able to say that the Bible is on their side, and not caring about being on the Bible's side.

 

[BULLDOG]

It's hard for me to follow you here, on the one hand we agree that some "believe in everything that is written in the Bible". Personally, I see the Bible has a Divine Text (so I believe it) and consequently it has to be taken as a while studied for what it is (so I study it w/ quite a bit of humility knowing all I don't know).

On the other hand you go on to say that it's possible to "pick and choose which parts to believe or not". My take is this is a different option enjoyed by many & my thinking is that it's for those that want to be able to say that the Bible is on their side, and not caring about being on the Bible's side.

Of course it is possible. Christians do it every day. I never said it was intellectually honest, or the honorable thing to do. It feels good to say " My god is all that is good and right", but you have to ignore the cruel, vindictive, and hateful parts of the bible to do that. Most are too dishonest to admit it, even to themselves, but the main use of the Bible is to justify whatever you already think is true. Look hard enough, and you can justify anything you want somewhere in the Bible. The Bible doesn't have a side. It can truly be all things to all people. You can use it to justify good and evil behavior. If you don't believe that then just watch a few TV preachers, or check out the fairly recent batch of preachers who preach politics more than compassion, or read about the atrocities comanded by god in the old testiment.

 

[expat_panama]

Of course it is possible. Christians do it every day. I never said it was intellectually honest, or the honorable thing to do. It feels good to say " My god is all that is good and right", but you have to ignore the cruel, vindictive, and hateful parts of the bible to do that. Most are too dishonest to admit it, even to themselves, but the main use of the Bible is to justify whatever you already think is true. Look hard enough, and you can justify anything you want somewhere in the Bible. The Bible doesn't have a side. It can truly be all things to all people. You can use it to justify good and evil behavior. If you don't believe that then just watch a few TV preachers, or check out the fairly recent batch of preachers who preach politics more than compassion, or read about the atrocities comanded by god in the old testiment.

What struck me in your post were three things. The first was--

,,,the main use of the Bible is to justify whatever you already think is true...

--and it's hard to believe you've done a study of Christians around the world, measuring the sincerity of a representative sampling of believers in all the predominantly Christian nations and determining motivations of all. Perhaps you meant to say "from what I've seen my impression is...".

The next was how u capitalized Bible and Christian but not god. One idea would be to consider the possibility that the god you don't believe in is the same god nobody else believes in. For instance, my God is unknowable, and I have no quarrel w/ the Buddhists who won't even mention God.

The third is all the complaints you have against Christians. Hey, I got lots of complaints against Christians and the Bible but to me life is short and there seems to be a bigger percentage in building bridges than there is in burning them.

--but that's my personal bias/agenda.

 

[BULLDOG]

What struck me in your post were three things. The first was--

--and it's hard to believe you've done a study of Christians around the world, measuring the sincerity of a representative sampling of believers in all the predominantly Christian nations and determining motivations of all. Perhaps you meant to say "from what I've seen my impression is...".

The next was how u capitalized Bible and Christian but not god. One idea would be to consider the possibility that the god you don't believe in is the same god nobody else believes in. For instance, my God is unknowable, and I have no quarrel w/ the Buddhists who won't even mention God.

The third is all the complaints you have against Christians. Hey, I got lots of complaints against Christians and the Bible but to me life is short and there seems to be a bigger percentage in building bridges than there is in burning them.

--but that's my personal bias/agenda.

No, I haven't done a world wide study of Christianity, but I did grow up steeped in Christianity, and I accepted all the customary premises of the religion as unquestionable fact. It was only when I did an indepth study of the bible with the intention of becoming a better Christian that I discovered so many contradictions, and horrendous actions that were condoned, or even commanded by the god of the Bible. Sincerity doesn't really figure into it. I Sincerily believed all I was taught. It was only after study that I saw how much I wasn't taught. I believe the people that have, and in many cases still do use the Bible to justify every vile belief they hold were and are sincere in their beliefs. As I said before, you can find something in the Bible to justify the claim that God supports anything you might want him to support.

Generally the word god is not capitalized unless it is referring to a specific god. If you were to say "thank you God" in a prayer, that would be capitalized because it is being used as a name. Saying "my god" does not call for a capital.

I have no complaints against Christianity in and of it's self, or the people who follow it. If it gives you comfort, and you think it helps you to make better moral choices, then that is a wonderful thing, and you should hold that close. I suspect that your sense of comfort might be less pronounced if you didn't just ignore the uncomfortable parts.

 

[Meriweather]

I suspect that your sense of comfort might be less pronounced if you didn't just ignore the uncomfortable parts.

People do things that make others uncomfortable. Some are even necessary. It is part of our existence to make our way through what is uncomfortable, simply because so much is uncomfortable.

 

[expat_panama]

No, I haven't done a world wide study of Christianity, but I did grow up steeped in Christianity, and I accepted all the customary premises of the religion as unquestionable fact. It was only when I did an indepth study of the bible with the intention of becoming a better Christian that I discovered so many contradictions, and horrendous actions that were condoned, or even commanded by the god of the Bible. Sincerity doesn't really figure into it. I Sincerily believed all I was taught. It was only after study that I saw how much I wasn't taught. I believe the people that have, and in many cases still do use the Bible to justify every vile belief they hold were and are sincere in their beliefs. As I said before, you can find something in the Bible to justify the claim that God supports anything you might want him to support.

Generally the word god is not capitalized unless it is referring to a specific god. If you were to say "thank you God" in a prayer, that would be capitalized because it is being used as a name. Saying "my god" does not call for a capital.

I have no complaints against Christianity in and of it's self, or the people who follow it. If it gives you comfort, and you think it helps you to make better moral choices, then that is a wonderful thing, and you should hold that close. I suspect that your sense of comfort might be less pronounced if you didn't just ignore the uncomfortable parts.

Interesting, it's for sure that believing everything we're taught is not a good idea, and that a search for the truth has to be on an individual basis.

It's possible that I've misled u as regard to my own personal beliefs. While I don't think Christianity deserves the rap that u seem to be hanging on it, my own bent takes in all the religions as being from a common sacred source, and Christianity is one of several.

More info available only upon request.

 

[Feeding Crows]

did u notice how smoothly u went from "maybe" (true) to "your religion takes" (maybe not true)?

Yeah, it's called sarcasm. And GC is right. I didn't need him to agree with it, but he just puts it so perfectly well that you can't argue with it....

Here it is again...

 

[Feeding Crows]

Religion is a method used by rulers to create armies, that are willing to die for them.

Back then, they didn't have sniper rifles or missiles. It was hand to hand combat with knives and swords. Anybody willing to join the ruler's forces has to be ready to die.

The only way they could get people to commit their lives in combat was to make them think their afterlives depended on it.

So the rulers made up afterlives, and the sheeple fought for it. Or they would be killed if they didn't...

That's religion.

 

[Feeding Crows]

Please listen to this, and don't just blindly dismiss it because you hate it...

 

[expat_panama]

Yeah, it's called sarcasm....

That's fine.

My first thought was to return in kind but I don't have enough faith in the mods for this forum to be willing to allow an even interchange of sarcasm concerning hatred for religion (a protected view here). Beyond that, one thing is I'm simply not very good at name-calling and another problem is that I just don't enjoy it.

Cheers!

 

[Feeding Crows]

All cool. But did you at least watch the video above?

I'd love to hear your comments on it.. and the prior post as well about how religion came to be.

I don't want to fight. I just want to understand how rational people can come to these absurd conclusions.

 

[Feeding Crows]

You're all intelligent. I'm not trying to say that you aren't. I just don't understand the religion thing..

 

[Admiral Rockwell Tory]

So, if you're rich on Earth, do you get a better spot in Heaven?

If you're poor, and pray hard, can you upgrade your status in Heaven?

The monetary system in Heaven is pavement!

 

[Feeding Crows]

But apparently, I'm being told that there are different levels of heaven, and it's based on our lives here...

I am clueless about this, and want to find out more!