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"They polarize themselves, putting themselves above the rest because they are followers of “THE TRUTH,” which other religions don’t hold"Alot of religions do, but Islam teaches Muslims not to consider themselves Superior or "Better" than any other based on their religion or anything else. Although Muslims do believe it is the truth, they feel all humans are equal and will judged equally by God at the end,regardless of religion.
The problem with your defense to my previous statement about them acting that way, is that I know many people who are of a particular religion who do not conform to the stereotype and also will go at lengths not to be labeled of the religion in order to avoid some of the negative connotations associated with it. Most of them do not consider themselves above the rest either. Not to say that this is a majority, but it is definitely a large part of the population of these religions. I do not think the problem is inherent in the religion, I believe the problem lies with those who abuse it or use it as a means to justify their life because they have failed to do so themselves. In regards to your statement about the lack of beneficial effects of the value systems imposed by these religions, I would care to debate that point as there is a definite trend in the actions and lifestyles of those who follow these value systems compared to those who do not. This trend exhibits some of the finer qualities of people which are quite lacking in mainstream society nowadays. These people have common decency, character, integrity, and the ability to judge between right and wrong. This is not just beneficial from a moral or spiritual perspective but a psychological one as well. The phrase "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" has psychological merit as it deters people from doing things that would ultimately hurt them more than the one they are attempting to hurt. In this way, these are not forms of control, but rather safeguards against naturally destructive human impulses.
"They lacked breadth of literature, music, painting and philosophy, preferring to stick to trade, traveling continuously around the Middle East adopting and adapting from other cultures."The Jews, historically, guarded their beliefs and are known to have been very careful NOT to be influenced by other cultures. They saw themselves as different people, and they strongly resisted pagan ideas and rituals.I don't know much about the historical dating of the Old Testament, and the documents that it supposedely "plagiarizes," but I do know some information about the dating of New Testament books. You're dating all of the New Testament to Constantine's time, in the 300's AD. The standard scholarly dating of the Gospels are in the first century. Even liberal circles agree that Mark was written in the 70's, Matthew and Luke in the 80's, and John in the 90's. Based on how the book of Acts ends, however (with Paul still alive), some believe that Mark and Luke can be dated 10-15 years earlier. If Christ was put to death in AD 30 or 33, then this would still be within the lifetime of people that would have seen him. Part of the reason these documents are so reliable is because they were written at a time when individuals could have come forward and said "No, I was there, this part didn't happen." Also, it is important to remember that almost all of Paul's letters contained in the Bible were written during the 50's.Historically, if we were to compare these to other biographies, you will see how reliable these documents are. Take Alexander the Great, for example. His earliest biographies were written more than 400 years after his death, but are considered trustworthy. The first 500 years after Alexander's death, the stories of his life remained trustworthy. It wasn't until the next 500 years that legend started to develop. So, regarding Jesus, the short amount of time between his death and the New Testament writings is certainly no time for a legend to arise -- especially when there were still eyewitnesses living!Also, outside of the New Testament there are two very reliable historical accounts of his life. These accounts are regarded as legitimate by historians. (The historians that wrote these accounts were Josephus and Tacitus, both regarded as important historians.)So basically, I see no reason to believe that Jesus's life is pure myth.
Why bother remaining involved in a religion when you are going to "go to great lengths" to cloak it from the outside world? If a religion has negative connotations that one cannot bear being associated with, isnt everything else pretty much lip service? (enter Judas) Sounds pretty disingenuous to me. "In regards to your statement about the lack of beneficial effects of the value systems imposed by these religions, I would care to debate that point as there is a definite trend in the actions and lifestyles of those who follow these value systems compared to those who do not. This trend exhibits some of the finer qualities of people which are quite lacking in mainstream society nowadays"Why couldn't this be viewed the other way around? Could it not be true that these individuals are involved in a religion because they are "good" people who believe it is the "right" thing to do? America is the most 'religious' of the world's industrialized nations, and yet is the most violent nation in the worldLouisiana has the highest church attendance rate in America. It also has twice the national average for murders. In his book MEIN KAMPF Hitler wrote: "I am completely convinced that I am acting as the agent of God. I am now a Catholic and will always remain so." Hitler never left the church and the church never left him. Great books were banned by the church but MEIN KAMPF was never banned. Hitler was never excommunicated. Ok, Catholics are an easy target (ie, the sexual abuse scandal involving pedophiliac priests(!!!!)...they must have missed that "Do unto others as you would have them do unto you" day in seminary.
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