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As I stated earlier, The Epic Of Gilgamesh was written before the bible yet has very similar occurrences (the great flood, sacred tree, the fall of a man by a woman's lust). Many pagen stories reveal occupations of the Great Flood, and is was written that it happened well before Moses.

I have been more than willing to see things from another person point of view, and I have found it to be unfounded and radical. She is not simply stating these things as her opinions, she is stating them as FACTS. If she wants to state them as FACTS then she needs to back them up with FACTS. Christianity is not the foundation of hope in this world. It's not possible for an entire belief system to disappear over-night, and if it were never introduced the lack of Christianity would matter to no one. Society has proven its ability to function without it, even though it is present in the current world. (again, my example of India). Mass suicides? Unfounded and radical.

I....never claimed that I was captain. I pointed out that the rude address Sapp made was directed towards the captain. More respect should be given than what was. Rude and crude statements, like the one she made, are frowned upon in debates, and in this guild and to make them is not a good idea, especially when talking to the guild captain. I am not the captain.

Actually Pitiful, we've had this discussion in the religious forum (I believe). Although many Christian holidays bear similarities to pagan ones, they are not necessarily "taken" from paganism. Christianity and the Bible are based off of Abrahamic beliefs. Most pagans ultimately converted to Christianity, taking with them quite a lot, and I'm sure they influenced the religion a great deal, but Christianity is no way based off of any form of paganism.

I don't really see how Christianity could just "disappear" over night though. It's a belief structure. Unless you completely wipe it from the minds of people, it can't. Though I could also counter with "If all the McDonalds suddenly disappeared there would be chaos" Anything just magically disappearing overnight would cause issues.

@Lord: Thank you!

@Pitiful. I can see where you might think that she may be implying that the Egyptians where there before God, but you are getting two different belief practices mixed up. The Egyptians did not worship God, so they therefor did not kill in his name.

The Israelites were there and stayed there as slaves because of their belief in what God wanted them to do. In their eyes, they were slaves for a reason and they must wait for God to free them. However, this DOES somewhat side with your thought process. Yes, it may have been God who freed them, but it was also God who put them there and let them suffer for so long then.

@Geek: I will have to look it up then I suppose.

@Moon: I think the one who was being offensive has left to be honest.

@Cain: Though this may be true, there is no way to be certain. They were mostly documented though to be followers of one religion or another.

@Geek again: "the fall of man by a womans lust". If you are referring to when Eve ate the apple from the Garden of Eden, I've always had one question. If the bible DOES say that it was a womans "lust" that made her do it, then would that not mean sin was already within her being? Wouldn't that mean that she was CREATED with sin in her? Then would she really be the one to blame? I have not read that story in a long time, so I cannot remember the details.

Well my main point with that was that Paganism was here before Christianity was... where it isn't proven but you have to wonder like you said what things were rubbed off by paganism... for instance Easter.


I wasn't saying that Christianity would be wiped from the Earth overnight... I was just making an example it wasn't meant to be taken literately.



I wasn't implying that the Egyptians did that... I was talking about todays society... Yes, the Egyptians did not worship God... they worshiped Gods and Goddesses... ^^

No Atheist means disbelief or no believe in a God. There are atheist religions such LeVey Satanism and Buddhism but atheism in and of it's self is not a religions.
How? By sputtering the same dogma and tired lines? If they don't believe in your God or Christ how is using a book or lines they don't believe going to convince them.

Sounds like sola fida not all Christians accept this and it was labeled as a heresy by the Early Church. James 2 has quite some critical remarks about this stance you might want to look at.
Your bible also has verses that defend the possible salvation of non-believers and righteous pagans.
Sounds like Yeshua is more concerned about living a decent life and helping the poor. Also the verse you are using is taken out of context. Where in John does it say that you have to believe in his deitiship? It sounds like he's more concerned with his teachings being followed than one actively believing in his deitiship.

Only God knows what's in people's hearts and God is just and merciful. Your claim is quite presumptuous and borders on missing the beam in your own eye..

Atheism is the belief that there are no deities, yes. BUT it is a religion. You do not need to worship something for it to be a legitimate religion. LaVeyan Satanism is in fact a religion, and if you actually think Buddhism is not a religion then you might want to do a little research.

Different myths different purpose. Just glossing over the summary of the Enkidu myth, it seems to be about divinity in nature becoming civilized and part of urban/city culture.
In Samson's myth you have a man who is given divine strength by a being for keeping an oath, he breaks that oath and looses his gift. He then gets his long hair back thus restoring his oath and then kicks a** against his capturers. Enkidu accepts his new life happy and even opposes his old way of living.

I see your point.. I guess it could go either way...

Yeah the egg thing is quite debatable considering that eggs were pretty common for Hebrews and Gentile wink