RIP Christopher Hitchens:

Originally posted by sonhouse
Hardly. Deaths are deaths no matter what the reason but religious killing can never be justified, I don't care WHAT your belief system is.

Okay then, religious and non-religious killings are equaly bad in your opinion.
I think some killings are more justified than others. I think killing for
protection is sometimes justified. I suppose you are like the JWs in that
being in the police or military service is an evil occupation because killing is
sometimes involved. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this matter
then. Have a good day and I wish you a Happy New Year. 😏

Originally posted by RJHinds
Okay then, religious and non-religious killings are equaly bad in your opinion.
I think some killings are more justified than others. I think killing for
protection is sometimes justified. I suppose you are like the JWs in that
being in the police or military service is an evil occupation because killing is
sometimes involved. I guess we will have to agree to disagree on this matter
then. Have a good day and I wish you a Happy New Year. 😏

You are making assumptions again. Of course I think killing to protect oneself or loved ones is acceptable, someone attacks me or my family physically, I will stop at nothing to protect them but for a religious or political reason, no way. Religious and political killings have been the bane of human existence for as long as there have been humans.

Originally posted by jaywill
The charge of God in the Old Testament as merely a typical "tribal deity" is completely bogus. Those who happened to be God chosen people probably would wonder why He did not pick on someone else.

What we have is a God seeking to reach the whole world through His covenant with Abraham.

God could not get through with the created race. So after the ...[text shortened]... o many times this so-called "tribal deity" demonstrated that He was no respector of persons.

he was the tribal deity of the hebrews and remains the tribal deity of the jews (who may or may not be hebrews). he has never departed from that role.

jesus is not abrahams god. jesus is one of three gods accepted by most christians. some minority of christians just call the 'father' of the new testament their god.

Originally posted by sonhouse
You are making assumptions again. Of course I think killing to protect oneself or loved ones is acceptable, someone attacks me or my family physically, I will stop at nothing to protect them but for a religious or political reason, no way. Religious and political killings have been the bane of human existence for as long as there have been humans.

I did not make any assumptions. I went by exactly what you said.
Nothing more and nothing less. So if you meant what you said the
conclusion should come as no surprise. Perhaps you did not really
mean what you first said then.

P.S. Did not you say, "Deaths are deaths no matter what the reason...
I don't care WHAT your belief system is." ??????

Originally posted by jaywill
He just said he [b] hoped he repented. That's all.

We know Hitchens was adamant as an Atheist to the end.

But " love believes all things, hopes all things ".[/b]

You mean a sort of Thief on the Cross conversion?

Originally posted by Kunsoo
You mean a sort of Thief on the Cross conversion?

No way he would repent. He was too arrogant and stubborn for that.

Originally posted by RJHinds
I did not make any assumptions. I went by exactly what you said.
Nothing more and nothing less. So if you meant what you said the
conclusion should come as no surprise. Perhaps you did not really
mean what you first said then.

P.S. Did not you say, "Deaths are deaths no matter what the reason...
I don't care WHAT your belief system is." ??????

I was including atheism as a belief system. I am not exactly atheistic but am atheist enough to reject the BS gods put up by organized religion. I can't deny the possibility a god of some kind could exist, it's a very large universe and there are things we can't and may never see but I think it is clear all these supposed gods of yours and the rest of the modern organized religions are based on nothing but man made stories. The pathetic anthropomorphic nature of what religious people attribute to a god is proof enough they haven't a clue as to what a real god would be like, nor do I, but it is clear to me these man made gods are more to do with controlling people and subjugating women than ANY attempt at actual spiritual uplifting.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I was including atheism as a belief system. I am not exactly atheistic but am atheist enough to reject the BS gods put up by organized religion. I can't deny the possibility a god of some kind could exist, it's a very large universe and there are things we can't and may never see but I think it is clear all these supposed gods of yours and the rest of the m ith controlling people and subjugating women than ANY attempt at actual spiritual uplifting.

Would you reread the 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and give
me examples of how the main purpose of Jesus dealt with controlling people
and subjugating women than with ANY attempt at actual spiritual uplifting.

Originally posted by sonhouse
I was including atheism as a belief system. I am not exactly atheistic but am atheist enough to reject the BS gods put up by organized religion. I can't deny the possibility a god of some kind could exist, it's a very large universe and there are things we can't and may never see but I think it is clear all these supposed gods of yours and the rest of the m ...[text shortened]... ith controlling people and subjugating women than ANY attempt at actual spiritual uplifting.

I couldn't have worded that better myself.

-God.

Originally posted by RJHinds
Would you reread the 4 gospels (Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John) and give
me examples of how the main purpose of Jesus dealt with controlling people
and subjugating women than with ANY attempt at actual spiritual uplifting.

Well, lets think about that. How many women pope's have there been? Does your baptist church have any women preachers? Why does it say in the bible a man is worth 50 shekels and a woman 35?

Then pretending those who believe in him will go to heaven and so forth, a nice dodge for building up a power base. If you believe all that, I have a great bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

Originally posted by sonhouse
Well, lets think about that. How many women pope's have there been? Does your baptist church have any women preachers? Why does it say in the bible a man is worth 50 shekels and a woman 35?

Then pretending those who believe in him will go to heaven and so forth, a nice dodge for building up a power base. If you believe all that, I have a great bridge for sale in Brooklyn.

There are many women preachers today. They are even on television.
I can think of 4 of them immediately that I am sure you can see for
yourself if you would watch Christian television. So you are nothing
but useless. No wonder God has not tried to save you.

Originally posted by RJHinds
There are many women preachers today. They are even on television.
I can think of 4 of them immediately that I am sure you can see for
yourself if you would watch Christian television. So you are nothing
but useless. No wonder God has not tried to save you.

So there are thousands of men preachers and you can come up with 4 women preachers? Don't you notice a tiny misrepresentation of women? I asked you about women preachers in YOUR church or don't you remember?

Originally posted by sonhouse
So there are thousands of men preachers and you can come up with 4 women preachers? Don't you notice a tiny misrepresentation of women? I asked you about women preachers in YOUR church or don't you remember?

There are more than four on TV, but that was just the number
I could immediately think of at the time I made my reply. But
there are thousands all over the US but there have only been
two at the church that my wife and I have attended together.
Presently there is a man and I will admit the majority are men,
but many other professions are dominated by men also. For
the normal duties of the women have normally been to take
care of the home and the family. Today, it has become
necessary for more and more women to work outside the home.
I don't see that this ever had anything to do the efforts of a
religion or religions to subjugate and rule over women.