Faith closes the mind. It is pure idol worship.

[Sabour]

your dishonesty is duly noted.

Have a nice day.

Lol. So somehow it was okay to say "one" pile to ask a question but it was not ok to say "two" to give an answer.

 

[psychoslice]

I agree that so many use the word faith as an excuse for something they really have no clue about.

 

[Cephus]

So then we know the solution.

Ignore them and let them be delusional? I don't think that's a good solution.

 

[ChristineES]

I read posts all the time about how theists think this and that and the other thing are all idols.
Some, like yourself, exclude god from that particular list for what appears to be no reason other than it is god.

What I am asking is why should god be given a free pass?
It is my opinion your worship of god is in fact idol worship.
No different than a Muslim worshiping Allah is also idol worship.

If someone believes they are worshiping the true God, then that person would not consider that an idol. Whether I or anyone else would believe it to be a false God is irrelevent. Idol worship, to me, is worshiping something that is not God, things such as statues, power, self, money, etc. I, personally, don't call other religion's gods an idol or idols.

 

[Sleeppy]

Ignore them and let them be delusional? I don't think that's a good solution.

Then your only other option is to create the necessary incentives. Eradicate poverty, and certain other forms of inequality. Give people their own space, and their own democracies. Instead of creating more and more powerful lethal weaponry, utilize deterrents like education and medication, and destroy the current world supply of guns, bombs, nuclear weapons etc. Shift the focus from strife, and mandatory high stakes job markets, to entertainment and true self-sustainability.

 

[McBell]

If someone believes they are worshiping the true God, then that person would not consider that an idol. Whether I or anyone else would believe it to be a false God is irrelevent. Idol worship, to me, is worshiping something that is not God, things such as statues, power, self, money, etc. I, personally, don't call other religion's gods an idol or idols.

And yet again you do not answer the direct question.

Why does god get a free pass?

 

[allfoak]

perhaps idol worship just means worship that amounts to nothing.
Which would include many Christians i'm afraid.

Idol:
1.
an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed.
2.
Bible.

1. an image of a deity other than God.
2. the deity itself.

3.
any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion:
Madame Curie had been her childhood idol.
4.
a mere image or semblance of something, visible but without substance, as a phantom.

5.
a figment of the mind; fantasy.

6.
a false conception or notion; fallacy.

 

[Cephus]

Then your only other option is to create the necessary incentives. Eradicate poverty, and certain other forms of inequality. Give people their own space, and their own democracies. Instead of creating more and more powerful lethal weaponry, utilize deterrents like education and medication, and destroy the current world supply of guns, bombs, nuclear weapons etc. Shift the focus from strife, and mandatory high stakes job markets, to entertainment and true self-sustainability.

Or it involves actually training children how to think critically from a very young age and letting them reject religion on their own because it is ridiculous. It takes a cultural revolution that results in more and more people giving up religion daily, which is exactly what we're seeing in first world countries right now. It takes a while but it will happen. The old-school fanatics will die off and their children will largely ignore the foolish beliefs of their parents.

 

[Greatest I am]

Faith is the assurance of things hoped for.

Belief is an understanding of self, world, and our place in it, generally within some mythic framework.

So faith is an assurance then. Ok.

So you idol worship an assurance. Right?
Or what assurance are you talking about.

You seem to be saying that your belief puts you in a myth.

Apologies if I got this all wrong but your answer makes almost no sense to me.

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

Faith in the God of the Bible is not blind, nonsensical faith, but faith based upon historical reality, God's interaction with individuals and nations, personal testimonies, and fulfilled prophetic promises culminating in the ultimate revelation of Jesus Christ whose life was verified by infallible proofs and eyewitness accounts..

The former account I made, O Theophilus, of all that Jesus began both to do and teach, until the day in which He was taken up, after He through the Holy Spirit had given commandments to the apostles whom He had chosen, to whom He also presented Himself alive after His suffering by many infallible proofs, being seen by them during forty days and speaking of the things pertaining to the kingdom of God. Acts 1:1-3

That which was from the beginning, which we have heard, which we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled, concerning the Word of life— the life was manifested, and we have seen, and bear witness, and declare to you that eternal life which was with the Father and was manifested to us— that which we have seen and heard we declare to you, that you also may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ. 1 John 1:1-3

So you idol worship Jesus. Right?

Does the bible not tell you not to idol worship?

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

My definition depends on the context of the word. I believe in God yet I don't take ALL of the scriptures literally; I am convinced that the creation story, Adam and Eve and maybe a couple of others are symbolic. Yeshua spoke in parables, so I assume the prophets did, too.
Faith is 1. Having trust in someone or something. I also use the word to show my belief in a God that has no scientific evidence.

Who is the God you idol worship?

How do you know which scriptures are worthy of literal reading and which are not?

What criteria do you use and have you dismissed miracles as not worthy of literal reading?

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

Sure, if you go around calling reason a whore, I'm guessing you're going to have a difficult time.
But most of us believers value reason just as much as faith.

I did not call reason a whore. That was a Christian.

If you value reason then I take it you are not a literalist. Right?

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

It often is, but not necessarily so.

Are you, or would you be, faithful to your significant other?

She is demonstrably real.

God is not.

Who do you idol worship?

Regards
DL

 

[Sleeppy]

Or it involves actually training children how to think critically from a very young age and letting them reject religion on their own because it is ridiculous. It takes a cultural revolution that results in more and more people giving up religion daily, which is exactly what we're seeing in first world countries right now. It takes a while but it will happen. The old-school fanatics will die off and their children will largely ignore the foolish beliefs of their parents.

You said that you didn't want to ignore the problem.. Education, or training, won't be enough for an effective, longstanding solution. "First world" countries don't exist everywhere. -- And even in these "first world" countries, religious and other forms of fanaticism are being hidden in legislation, and in media.

 

[Greatest I am]

Naturally, then, rather than relying on faith from some supposed "authority" you've constructed your own models of climate change, your empirically-based version of the standard model, relativistic physics, medical science, and so on. After all, if you were just to accept a theory like quantum mechanics or evolution without having determined for yourself all the evidence that has gone into the current state of research, you'd be relying on faith. Speaking of which, have you ever had medical treatment (pills, shots, medical imaging, etc.)? Can you describe not only precisely the means by which you determined the efficacy of such treatments or imaging prior to subjecting yourself to them (which would be, after all, blind faith)?

For that matter, what evidence do you possess that there is any mind that isn't wholly neural states entirely determined by external variables?

Or do you just equate faith of a certain type with closed-mindedness well readily and blindly accepting countless claims from researchers, professional experts, doctors, etc.?





Moral people being...?



And here I thought it was Hebrew. I'm not sure whether to expect yet another ridiculous reference to Strong's vs. a real lexicon, but I would love to hear you commentary on the verse cited.



Among other things, humans are not inclined to grasping logic.





Faith can be blind allegiance to some theistic entity or a belief that sensory input is entirely an illusion. It was faith that founded science (although this was not to last and obviously so).

I'm going to go out on a limb here and guess that you haven't actually read the primary sources for the myths you refer to nor the literature (primary and secondary) on how utterly irrelevant these were to those from antiquity compared to what religion actually consisted of.


RIght. Because "gnostics' and pagans of the first few centuries were well versed in Jungian theory and its popularization via Campbell (and had good reason to reject the overwhelming evidence that such idiocy only survives as a function less useful than one's appendix.



I learned long ago that as much I might expect those, who are like me, to be without religious-like dogma to exhibit a more objective reasoning, this was foolishness. Dogma is dogma and ignorance is ignorance whether one believes in gods or UFOs or Unicorns or whatever.

I said ---
Faith is a way to quit using, "God given" power of Reason and Logic, and cause the faithful to embrace doctrines that moral people reject.

You replied ---
Moral people being...?

I say ---

Those who agree that God is evil and a sinner based on his own word in Job 2;3.

Satan moved me to destroy without cause.

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

Excellent thread, bravo.
Precisely. Blind faith (well ...faith is almost always blind) is a very negative thing because you are supposed to use your own brain to judge things.

I am totally convinced that we are capable of distinguishing right from wrong. so...faith is useless. Immanuel Kant said : Sapere aude, that in Latin means : Have the courage to use your own intelligence, without other people's help. (and that was the Enlightenment motto).

God is reason, and wisdom. The Bible is full of illogical concepts...so it is full of anti-God concepts. but it's full of divine concepts too.
what makes people accept the Bible blindly, is fundamentalism.

I use the word literalist more but that goes hand in hand with fundamentalism.

As a Gnostic Christian, I am against both as they and Christianity ushered in the Dark Ages and Inquisition and I do not want to see a revival of those.

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

To the OP, welcome back! I didn't realize this thread was active and I thought it was another zombie thread roaming around.

It has also lead to alot of good. People have been fed and clothes, homes built, orphans taken in, medical treatments administered, to simply dismiss it all as causing alot of evil is to be ignoring the religious-based charity that probably exists (or existed if it hasn't shut down) within your community.

Check the stats on religious versus non-religious charity and see how non-believers do the same as believers without having to retard themselves with faith.

You might also check why such a great Christian nation as the U.S. has the worse jail stats of all the Western world including mostly atheist nations.

How many dollars are the lives that Christianity has taken worth and have they paid enough to the poor yet from their overflowing coffers?

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

What if that faith tells you to be open minded ? Would you say that you are being closed minded, and you should not be open minded because your faith tells you to be open minded to prove that faith is wrong? Do you think in that condition the faith is making closing your mind to ?

Faith in who or what?

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

perhaps idol worship just means worship that amounts to nothing.
Which would include many Christians i'm afraid.

Idol:
1.
an image or other material object representing a deity to which religious worship is addressed.
2.
Bible.

1. an image of a deity other than God.
2. the deity itself.

3.
any person or thing regarded with blind admiration, adoration, or devotion:
Madame Curie had been her childhood idol.
4.
a mere image or semblance of something, visible but without substance, as a phantom.

5.
a figment of the mind; fantasy.

6.
a false conception or notion; fallacy.

I see it as belief in an imaginary construct regardless of it's shape or personification.

That is why logic and reason get set aside when faith rears it's evil head.

Regards
DL

 

[Greatest I am]

You said that you didn't want to ignore the problem.. Education, or training, won't be enough for an effective, longstanding solution. "First world" countries don't exist everywhere. -- And even in these "first world" countries, religious and other forms of fanaticism are being hidden in legislation, and in media.

Stats show that the better the education, the less a mind is likely to turn to fantasy, miracles and magic to form their theology or philosophy.

Regards
DL