Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences 
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I am a Christian and I am afraid most Christian men believe women to be subservient even if they say otherwise. I do not believe women to be subservient. The Bible records the words, actions and thoughts of God but also records the words, actions and thoughts of ordinary people like you and me. So, for example, there is a Psalm in which the writer praises anyone who would bash the head of an enemy’s baby against a rock. This kind of emotion is very human albeit scary when we are in dire circumstances. God wants to show us that many people have been through the same things in the past we are going through now. However, He also wants to show us how to live. He certainly does not approve of bashing babies’ heads against rocks. Similarly, Paul was a male chauvinist and often wrote about women submitting to men. Too many Christians happily quote Paul as though he is God. He was human and also had his opinions. If we want the truth, let us look at Genesis: God created Adam and Eve to be equal (just read about it). Of course, Eve ate the forbidden fruit and then offered Adam some. What did the coward do when God confronted him? He blamed the woman. As part of the punishment God pronounced, He said that Eve would be subject to Adam. This is not because God wanted it this way but because Adam would not get it out of his stubborn skull that Eve was to blame (even though she was not). One finds two kinds of punishment in the Bible, one imposed and the other natural. For example, if a parent warns their child repeatedly not to hurt their brother or sister but they persist, the parent may impose a punishment such as a hiding. However, if a parent warns a child about not touching poisons or other bottles they are not familiar with and the child drinks the poison anyway, the ‘punishment’ is natural. The ‘punishment’ Eve received was not God punishing her. Adam was going to punish her because he (like a twit) blamed her for his wrongdoing. God simply informed her of what was going on in Adam’s head. God’s punishment on both of them was banishment from the Garden of Eden, physical death and a life of toil. This is obviously a harsh punishment humanity bears to this day but God never made women to be subservient to men.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,The situation in the Middle East is complex. Part of it is the fault of the Western powers but part of it is the fault of the Islamic community, which is often predisposed to violence because of the contents of the Koran.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,They are susceptible to lice just like everyone else. Refer the late Bob Marley.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,All religion is rubbish. You should become a Christian. If someone tells you it’s a matter of faith and not of proof, their belief is a matter of foolishness. The God of the Bible is no fool and has left lots of evidence for us. It is up to you to weigh up this evidence with a critical and open mind. Here are a few bits of evidence: 1. The Bible claims that everyone spoke just one language originally. Some linguists support this although some are still trying to work out if it was one language or several languages. 2. The Bible refers to two people starting the human race. Ask evolutionists and other experts what they think. 3. The Bible describes the order of creation. Evolutionists almost entirely agree with this order. 4. The Bible prophesied the rise and fall of the Greek, Persian, Medo-Persian and Roman empires long before it happened. 5. The Bible foretold even before Jesus’ birth the destruction of Israel and the bringing back to Israel of the Jewish people (which started to happen in 1948, thousands of years later). 6. Languages have a tendency to become simpler. Take English as an example and consider creoles. So why were they originally so complicated if they were not given to us by a higher being? 7. Does the Bible demonstrate a thorough understanding of human nature. Absolutely, like no other religious text. 8. Does the Bible have an historical context with lots of archaelogical evidence to support its descriptions of various battles and events. Definitely. No other religious text has this. 9. The Bible foretold the method of crucifixion in Israel as a method of execution hundreds of years before the Romans came onto the scene. 10. The Bible foretold the preaching of the gospel all over the world. What is happening? 11. Jesus foretold that the Bible would never go away. Has it? Sorry, I have run out of space. There is a 2 500 character restriction on messages. Everywhere in the Bible is far too much wisdom and far too much ‘coincidence’ for it to be just another book. A thinking person would at least admit that it comes from some higher being, even if they thought that being to be an alien.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,I am not a Jehovah’s witness so I stand to be corrected. The Bible forbids the eating or drinking of blood and as far as I understand it, Jehovah’s witnesses believe that if you were to physically drink blood, it would enter your system. Similarly, if you were to get a blood transfusion, you would be getting the blood into your system – this would be equivalent to eating it. Perhaps a Jehovah’s witness could let us know if this is indeed the argument against blood transfusion.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,There are lots. They also go along with the attitude of ‘women belong in the kitchen’, ‘I’m the boss because I’m the man’ etc. It also offends me that I must stand up or open a door for someone etc. simply because they happen to be female. Should black people stand up when a white person walks into the room? I don’t think so. Sexism is as bad as racism.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,Because the Koran preaches violence, hatred, intolerance and oppression. When 9/11 happened, Muslims in mosques all across South Africa rejoiced and became militant and were eager for war. The response was pretty similar throughout the rest of the world. The Islamic world is described as the House of Peace while the rest of the world is described as the House of War to be subjugated, by force if need be, to be brought into the Islamic fold. It is justifiable in terms of the Koran to ill treat or even murder non-Muslims e.g. the dhimmis. These are non-Muslims who are treated as second class citizens for that reason and have special taxes imposed on them and enjoy less protection under the law in Islamic countries. In South Africa, we had the evil system of Apartheid for many years. I am white and have always and will always oppose Apartheid. There were many whites who said that black people were all evil and dangerous etc. but this is not the case. Unfortunately, in the case of Muslims, the Koran teaches them some very bad things and compels them to accept without questioning. People are sometimes murdered if they leave Islam because the Koran condones this. It is very difficult for Muslims to leave the faith because of these threats and because they are discouraged from thinking critically. Those few who do speak out are censored or worse. In other words, most people can be trusted and reasoned with, even if they have been through hundreds of years of hell like the black people in South Africa because they are prepared to debate and think and try to see the other side’s point of view. Muslims are not prepared to do this.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,I am a Christian and agree that if there is no proof for something, drop it. I don’t go along with this nonsense that ‘It is a matter of faith’. That is a matter of stupidity and closed-mindedness. I am not a great scholar but have found lots of evidence since becoming a Christian to support Christian claims. I am also not averse to questioning if something should be in the Bible or if it was made up by some corrupt human being or critically examining something that seems to be contradictory or wrong etc. There has been lots of corruption and closed mindedness in the church over the centuries and there still is and will be until Jesus Christ finally winds it all up.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,So, if parents can take care of ten children, that’s okay. Does this mean that only rich people should have large families? What will happen to all the wealth when the parents die? Also, some of the resources used to take care of the ten children could have been spent on helping uplift the poor if there were only two or three children, although two is too much in some countries e.g. China. Admittedly first world countries with shrinking populations need bigger families to survive unless they encourage immigration from countries with ‘surplus’ populations. But big families should be a definite no in poorer countries. Of course, in poorer countries, children are the only form of social security. Basically, I’m saying the world is a screwed up place.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,I agree that God condemns same sex intercourse but nowhere does He condemn being homosexual. I feel you are one of many Christians who are more eager to condemn homosexual people than you are to reject the actions of paedophiles. A lot more noise is made in the Christian community about homosexuality than paedophilia. That is sick! The attitude of many Christians is similar to that of the Pharisees: you shut the door to the Kingdom of Heaven in the faces of others – in this case gay people. How about substituting the word ‘prostitute’ (I am not suggesting that a gay person is promiscuous or a prostitute) with ‘homosexuals’ as in ‘You will see the homosexuals and taxpayers going to the kingdom of heaven before you’ or does this make your skin crawl? PS: I am a born again Christian.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,Muslims hate Jews because the Koran teaches them to. The conflict in the Middle East just helps them to reinforce the stereotypes they hold about Jews. Even if the state of Israel were to cease to exist tomorrow, Muslims would hate Jews forever.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,I am a Christian and you should not think of religion in a positive light. In fact, I despise religion. When I was growing up, I thought I was a Christian because my family went to church and I was taught ‘all the right things’. It was only when I was about nineteen that I became a Christian and realised that I had been religious before that. Religion preaches rules and regulations, often to please some god or gods or to attain salvation. As a Christian, I do believe there are certain rules that must be obeyed but not in a religious way. Religious people often find the rules burdensome and have many of them. Christians have very few rules and they are internalised – not external burdens. Submitting to any religion crushes one’s spirit (even if only partly) and robs life of so much joy. It also causes war because ‘my religion says you are wrong and evil and you must die’. I don’t know if I am making any sense because most people do not understand what it is to be Christian, including most people who call themselves Christian. Even those of us who are Christian do not always behave in a Christian way. I for one am sickened by the blind alliance between the Republican Party and the religious right in the US. Anyway, I do not think you want to read a book, so I will end it here.
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Name : Eugene, City : Johannesburg, State : NA, Country : South Africa,
