quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew so one of the main goals with the iraq war is to intruduce christianity? and how can you say that they are dumb? to be honest, you are clearly as brainwashed as them, just in a different way.

I'm not suggesting it is the main goal. The spread of democracy is.

And you misunderstood me. I didn't mean they were dumb dumb or unintelligent. Only that they have had education supressed so as to keep them uninformed and under the tight hand of the dictatorship regime.

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Originally posted by tecnolover I didn't mean they were dumb dumb or unintelligent. Only that they have had education supressed so as to keep them uninformed and under the tight hand of the dictatorship regime.

Wait - what country and religion are you talkin' about again?

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

quote:

Originally posted by tecnolover I'm not suggesting it is the main goal. The spread of democracy is.

but you still think that it is an important goal?

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And you misunderstood me. I didn't mean they were dumb dumb or unintelligent. Only that they have had education supressed so as to keep them uninformed and under the tight hand of the dictatorship regime.

well, shouldnt the US free itself from schools that teach that evolution theory is wrong, and that god created the earth etc etc? in what way can you prove that teaching christianity makes people smarter than teacheing islam?

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Originally posted by St_Andrew in what way can you prove that teaching christianity makes people smarter than teacheing islam?

It would be a difficult task, indeed, to prove such a thing. It would have to logically counter a wealth of research papers that clearly state the reverse (at least in terms of intelligence and religion in general):

http://www.huppi.com/kangaroo/L-thinkingchristians.htm

___________________
Whence September dusk grows crisper still,
with leaves all crimson conquered,
I yearn to shout,
and dance about,
and stick pickles in my honker...

quote:

Originally posted by St_Andrew but you still think that it is an important goal? well, shouldnt the US free itself from schools that teach that evolution theory is wrong, and that god created the earth etc etc? in what way can you prove that teaching christianity makes people smarter than teacheing islam?

Sorry, you've misunderstood me again. It's ok.

I am for ALL forms of education everywhere for all people.

As for if I think spreading christianity is important. Sure I do. I think every person in the world should have the oportunity to learn what christianity is at least and then they can choose for themselves if they think it is true.

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Originally posted by tecnolover You are dang right 'to some extent that is true'! If you are say that every christian must believe absolutely every christian doctorine then you might as well count half of the christian population of world out! Same goes for any of the branches of christianity. I think you would be suprised to find there are many catholics that are counted as catholics by the catholic church that when questioned are not complete catholics. I agree with you that it should be all or nothing but that isn't the way they are categorized in statistics. In reality, today you will find that people hold lots of different beliefs some from even religions that have some countering doctorines, but then they probably don't even know it.

Still, for a person to be considered a member of any specific religion, it is essential that such a person follows that religion's fundamental principles. Every faith has gone through mild adjustments, but the general idea rarely changes. So even if you don't follow every single aspect of your religion, you can still generally be classified as a member of that religion. However, you can't be classified as a member of two religions at once, because they cancel each other out. You can share some minor views with other religions, but not the core principles. It's like elections, you can be for either Bush or Kerry, but you can't vote for them both. You can also share some viewpoints with each candidate, but ultimately you have to choose which one you support. You can't support them both.

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Hahaha! Well i tend to agree!. Christianity and the bible clearly don't support the belief of reincarnation. But yet he still considers himself a christian and in a survey and statistic he would be numbered as one. That is the whole point.

Well, I may consider myself anything I want. I may consider myself to be an alien from Alpha Centauri and may even be entered into statistical books as one, but that doesn't mean that I am an alien from Alpha Centauri.

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A cult? hmmm....possibly but im not so sure about that, this seems a bit more than just some cult. they are pretty worldwide.

I hardly believe you'll find much places in the world apart from Utah where they have any members or influence. They're as relevant as Jehova's Witnesses.

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When refering to major branches of christianity it has nothing to do with size or membership of the christian church but the fundamental differences in christian doctorine and their origins.

Well, it should have something to do with the size of membership, because you can theoretically then have a one-man-religion, and that can hardly be classified as a major branch of christianity. If we'd judge by ideological differences, I'm sure we'd find thousands of mini cults based on christianity.

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You are correct, catholicism, protestantism and orthodox are all quite similar in their beliefs. That is the whole point. They are all of the same origin and share common theology. The Holy Orthodox Catholic Church(catholicism). That split into Roman catholic and Eastern orthodox. Protestantism (established from the protestant reformation in the 16th century) is a branch off Roman Catholicism. From protestantism comes thousands of smaller sects. All of these branches off of catholicism share one thing in common and that is the Apostolic Succession. Mormonism however, has very large and fundamental differences in doctorine to catholicism and didn't branch off catholicism like the rest but came about on it's own a kind of reformation supposedly. So they believe the Apostolic Succession is a falsity and they declare they currently hold the keys and that the keys were lost after Christ and his apostles died. Two very different positions and each claiming to have the authority. It seems quite ironic I know but when we group roman catholic and e. orthodox together as Catholicisms since they share a common root this puts Catholicism v.s. Mormonism as the two major christian theologies. Mormonism is clearly a christian religion in that they believe the bible and in Christ.

Hehe, mormonism. There was this funny story about the origins of mormonism that I think occrider posted. I'll try to find it.

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1+1=10

it's completely different in the sense that Germany vs Britain, France, USA, USSR, etc was an old fashioned, yet incredibly modern (for its time) warfare. These were professional armies fairly evenly matched slugging it out on land, sea and in the air.

Now you have professional armies with complete technological superiority fighting fundamentalist people who use guerilla tactics and who behead civilians.

big difference.

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"No offense, but you're stupid"

quote:

Originally posted by DrUg_Tit0 Well, it should have something to do with the size of membership, because you can theoretically then have a one-man-religion, and that can hardly be classified as a major branch of christianity. If we'd judge by ideological differences, I'm sure we'd find thousands of mini cults based on christianity.

Actually, I think you are right Tito. I think there is some kind of criteria somewhere that does suggest a minimum number of members to be considered an established religion. I don't recall that number. Mormonism as well as Jehovas Witnesses have easily met that criterium though and are considered established world religions. I overexagerated a bit to make the point clear that the religious theology/doctorine of the established religions is what is most significant.