That should be true for all believers but sadly there are some who get very particular about their own name and as we have seen get very worked about about the fact that different names exist for the same thing - and of course that their name is the only 'correct' name. As if there were not far more important things in life.

In the USA you call your vehicle an 'auto' short for automobile. In the UK we call the same thing by a different name - a 'car' short for carrriage. I've never seen anyone anywhere try to argue that one of those names is 'correct' and the other 'wrong'. Everyone accepts that the same thing has different names for different people.

I think Tom is saying that this should also be true for the God you believe in. Never mind what name you choose to use, the topic for this thread asks if there IS a God, or is NOT. So far we have discovered that some say yes and some say no and some waste vast amounts of time arguing off-topic about the correct name for this phenomenon.

I like 'Doofus' it's good. Better than the shop front I saw the other day which had the name, "The Redeemed Church Of God, Holy Ghost Zone". Do they REALLY believe that ANYONE will take that seriously?

Doesn't talk = communicate??

I guess you did not hear, that GOD loosed satan to rule the world for 1000 years. HE cares, but he also is a man of His word, and I believe its difficult for him to watch. He has protected me over my life time many, many times, and just recently on this site he has saved me from scammers 4 of 4 people who contacted me were that , of evil itself. Pity

add me

You'd do better if you had a photo (unless you're real scary looking).

Dude, everyone discriminates somehow when selecting a person to date.

If a man wants to be with a woman who is half way around the world, then he should do the traveling, not her.

You can prevent people contacting you beyond a distance that you set in your filters.

Should help in avoiding those you feel live too far away.

I'm so sick of the woman who say they read your profile, but try to convince you that distance is no obstacle. Age and distance are just numbers. WTF. Local means local right.

I've just thought of something. The US has the death penalty in some states. Yet it is also strongly religious (in some parts). And it has an army of people happy to go and murder people in another part of the world.

How do they square killing people with the biblical instruction of 'thou shalt not kill'? Seems that is a pretty clear instruction, but no doubt someone will attempt to explain why it is not as simple as that. There's always an 'interpretation' to explain away those situations in which the bible contradicts itself (there are many!) so I'll just get out some popcorn and sit back to enjoy the responses. Keep 'em coming!

THERE ARE MORE PEOPLE BEING BORN THAN DYING.
Let that sink in...

Very well written. I do not see why some people have an axe to grind about religion anyway.

I'm pretty sure there are none in England and I'm sure it is still the rule in the Catholic Church that all priests, bishops and cardinals can only be male.

Can you name any of those you mention? Which country are they in?

I think if people believe that bad things will happen if they don't follow someone's set of rules then they might well happen anyway!

I don't need any of that sort of thing. In my opinion it is man that created the 'God' concept, not the other way around. A bit like Santa Claus, it's quite a good way to teach kids how to behave and relate to other people, but just like Santa, you need to grow out of that thinking in order to become a mature adult.

I make my own decisions. Some of them go against things I've read here on other threads. My philosophy is enjoy it while you're here, but never ever harm any person, or animal. Simples - and easy to follow, without the worry that some priest might tell you off for doing something that in his opinion is wrong. All Catholic priests are male and unmarried. What does that tell you?

The ironic challenge of all of this kind of questioning and reasoning, to the person who seeks logical and rational answers, is that what conclusions you may come to, depend more on your base collection of inexplicable beliefs, than on factuality and careful use of logic.

What I discovered in my own questioning of such things many years ago, is that any answers one can arrive at, are direct results of the starting point one chooses.

If you begin with the assumption that stories such as the Tree Of Life are factual, one set of logical conclusions is possible. If you instead decide that the stories are allegories only, then another set of conclusions arise. If you decide that the stories are millennially muddled hand-downs, who's original truths have been lost in translation, then still more conclusions can be drawn.

It is not possible to be sure that any of those possible starting points is the correct one.

It is also possible, as some theologians have said, that NONE of the stories were ever really intended to be tested for truth. The goal was always to have them be cheerful self-contradictory mysteries, to teach the ultimate act of faith, which is to believe, despite being unable to KNOW.

The basic idea is that the religious leader responds to such questions by saying "of COURSE it makes no sense to YOU, you are only a finite human. Gods may not even USE reasoning, as understood by mere humans."

man goes to see doctor.when he enters docs room he lunges and punches the doc clean on the chi.doc staggers asking."why you punch me"??.man replies.cos you told my wife she has a cute vagina!NOOOO.replies the doc.i told her she has ACUTE ANGINA