Quote from: BADecker on April 06, 2017, 02:22:17 AM

Quote from: Horacewoodwood on April 05, 2017, 06:15:21 AM

Quote from: c789 on April 04, 2017, 10:34:21 PM

Quote from: Horacewoodwood on April 04, 2017, 09:41:54 PM

That's what sacrifices were made for in the first place. The fear of an angry god that might kill them if they do not give him something. The word for it is oppression. That's what the gods and religion have always been and will always be, no matter how much they try to stick with science to gain some new credentials.

I'm guessing the OP is referring to Christianity? If so, Christianity does not fit the above quote. Christianity is God sending himself as Jesus to be a sacrifice that humans could never make since they are themselves sinful. As far as rules about how Christians live and what they do or don't do, that's more of a result of having been changed by God, not an attempt to earn God's favor since it can't be earned.

As for proving God's existence, that's probably not the best question since even tangible things from recent history are debated, such as if we landed on the moon or not. You can probably think of more examples. The point is that if even tangible things from recent history are quibbled over, then how much more difficult is the question of God?

This must be the most controversial thread on here so I had to throw in my .02.

A sacrifice for what, if not for a lesson that teaches sacrifice in a much more wicked way? What was the sacrifice made for? To save them from his wrath? Besides that, you missed the whole point. That is just the initial story of Christianity, the effects of it have been more than brutal and sacrifices were still a thing. Tangible things from recent history are debatable, not unprovable and are also a different thing. We can debate the fact that the first landings on the moon were fake. However, we did land on Mars, we know the moon exists, we have proof for them. We have prove for these tangible things.

The sacrifice that the ancient Hebrews made were ordered by God. At their base and core they were pointing to the sacrifice that Jesus would make, and did make, on the cross, to save any and all people who accept the sacrifice for themselves.

The result is that some will go to Heaven, and some will go to Hell.

Cool

Nothing ever has beed 'ordered' by God, people made these claims so they could make the sacrifice. The story of Jesus, and we're calling it a story because there is almost nobody except the ones who wrote the bible, that witnessed or heard about a Jesus in those times. The story of Jesus teaches anyone that a sacrifice of an innocent one is needed to forgive the crimes and sins of everyone else. Jesus did not sacrifice himself since he did not really have a choice. Either your God is incredibly stupid, or he has a complete lack of reason and no sense of good or wrong. The conclusion: if you claim your God exists, those are his teachings. Do you accept he exists and he might be an idiot or a 'bad guy' or maybe do you find it a bit 'manmade' and...fake?