religions

Because I'm baptised as a Catholic and was confirmed as a Catholic, mainly because I had little choice in the matter, so I have little choice but to label myself as one.

As for the bible, why do people hold so much belief in it when there is little credibility to it. For all we know it's just another piece of litrature with no proof that what's being said is in anyway correct or what God himself ever said. Need I add that it's full of contradictions? I've seen zero proof as to why I should take the bible any more seriously than a good novel.
You have a choice now. It sounds like you have chosen not to be catholic any longer and that's fine.

People hold belief in the bible because like yourself that's how they were raised. If they were born in a different place or time they would believe some other stuff instead. Your correct, holy books can not be proven, that's why it requires "faith" to believe the things that logic tells us could not be true. If some god made us with the intelligence which we have, I believe he would want us to use it, and not expect us to forsake that intelligence and blindly accept highly questionable things.

I'm not saying anyone's beliefs are wrong, just adding my :2cents:

I am in the same boat as Jimster, born, baptised, and confirmed a catholic but to me the bible doesnt hold as much credibility as it does to others.

I have done research but I honestly do challenge anyone who is a devout christian to do some searching and find out when, where, and why the bible was compiled and why it was compiled in the way it was. It might make you change your mind about the book or laugh because it causes people like me to question the books credibility. Either way you should find it interesting.

Well Jimster, if u knew anything, not to flame, but u'd know why God hasn't wiped us out...ala Noah.

Moving on, you;'re not labeled anything. I could label u anything I want, but ti doesn't mean that's who u are. Come on man. Also, there is much proof to the Bible. Given, there is stilll stuff questionable, many ordeals have been proven. At the bottom of the red sea there is a line of bodies of men and horses and chariots. There are not any evidence though of ship wreckage or any kind of transport. So, either something flew over dumping this in a line or, Moses did part the Red Sea. Sure, I could come up with other ideas, but I'm tired.

Aniwho, just to clear up that the Bible does not have ANY creditbility.

Sorry 'bout answering for ya Houssain (Not on a page w/ ur s/n) but I've done my research and had a Muslim g/f so...I didn't give an excuse for ya, I was just there and decided to reply. And Shiaths? Is that the Shi'ites or the 3rd group that, in technical terms, recently formed.

Shi'ites sorry. I am not a great speller of Arabic words. They are different to us in a major way by not believing that prophet Muhammad was indeed the last prophet. We consider this as the foundation stone of islam. Muhammed indeed mentioned Jesus and Mary and talked about the Bible in much of his life (is recorded as Hadith, or statements from the prophet himself). I believe that both the Qu'ran and the Bible are incredible pieces of literature that they are to be praised by all of mankind (they have a sense of spirtuality and its as though God is with us when we are reading them). And yes Damien, I do believe that the line of men, horses and chariots are indeed the works of the holy prophet Moses (or Musa, as he is known by Muslims). It COULD NOT be a coincidence like that. Moses is known for his arrogance with God in one occasion when he asked him to directly speak to him. But as he did, the ground rumbled and much of a mountain (I known there is evidence supporting this as the mountain is still present) was shattered.

^Ah yes...the mountain. Yeah, I remember studying the Muhammed incident. Those were fun readings.

LIke I said, IM or PM me. I'm sure we could talk about this a lot and I can fill in some gaps of my knowledge on teh subject.

I thing I find very interesting is Jesus's strength, determination, suffering and loyalty to God for the well-being of mankind in the life hereafter. It is surprising to see the few followers he had during his lifetime and how the numbers grew after the time of his death (well, I shouldn't say death, when he rose to the heavens). Muhammed, on the other hand, though had less spiritual powers such as healing others, had a tremendous capability of convincing others, leading him to gain thousands of followers during his lifetime and assisting him in times of war or crisis (they were mostly very loyal to him and is prepared to give away their life for his sake). He took Jesus's original teachings one step further and strengthening it even more. For those who would think that he is a TERRORIST (Lord Allah may have mercy on them), well, what option is there when they are trying their best to kill you and you know that you have a duty from God to accomplish in the world. He had excellent combat skills leading him to gain victory over unbeleivable ratios (such as 100 to 1000 soldiers).These are just some of the reasons why we think that he is the last and greatest prophet of all time, superseding the 3,000 who came before him starting from Adam (the first prophet and man).

Interesting stuff. A few notes on the followers of Jesus. He actually did have thousands of followers but he had a close circle of devoted deciples.These are the ones that are spoken of most often in the New Testament.

Another question. How old was Muhammed when he died? What age did he start his ministry?

Thanks

Hazrat Muhammed (S) died at the age of 63 (he was cleansed of all sins and was proclaimed to be a prophet at his early-late 20s by Gabriel if I could remember) and his first Khalipha (kind of like the Pope in Islam) was Hazrat Ali (his daughter, Fatima's husband). Now, the Shiaths respect this person more than the Prophet Mohammed himself. Plus 1 interesting thing I found out yesterday was that the Ahmedis (a sub-division in Islam) believed that Jesus was taken down from the cross when he was still alive the next day because of a Jewish religious day and that Jesus travelled to Cashmere and died there. They claimed that they have found Jesus's "HOLED" body there and that he was also buried there (though this is doubtful and controversial). There is a video showing evidence of the occurence made by "Non-Muslims". In addition, the Ahmedis believe that a guy called Ahmedi came during the late 19th century and introduced a new revelation to Islam. In addition, he has his own khaliphas and is gradually seeming to take a prophet-like presence (which we deteste and consider as haram). Ahmedi people around the world trust him as one of their major leaders (I find the level of respect they give to him quite alarming as he may someday gain more importance for them than the Prophet Muhammed).

False prophets pop up now and again. Hopefully they will figure it out before he gains too much power.
Strange how some people search so hard and are so easily decieved.

You should not take such risks. If you are pretending to be fake prophet, hell certainly awaits you for disceiving your people...

i am a proud catholic. i go to mass every sunday. it just blows me away how atheists do not believe in God.......just take a look around. how did the beautiful sky get there? all the lovely animals? *tear*

i think people want to deny god because they want to live their lives without spiritual restriction. i don't see anything wrong with that. personally i don't know, i kind of think that the whole thing is a personal matter and you find your faith through yourself. i believe there is something, whether we can determine in a book what that something is... i dunno.