I agree Neb.  I kinda think back in the day, it was a teaching tool.  Because in the old testament, there is a lot of fear. Also, who wouldn't want to live in a perfect world, and so when you die, if say yes I love you, then you get to enter. I went to a baptist church and they would scare the crap out of me. Then I worked at the same church.  Let me tell you, when you working around the business aspect of it, - it isn't so great.  It's all about the $$$.  And the whole idea of Jesus died for your sins, so love him and party like a rockstar, and all is forgiven.  Come on.  And the murderer who "found Jesus" is in heaven right next to his victim.  How nice.  If anything, that sounds like a world with no freewill.  Let me tell you if someone ever murdered a family member of mine, I would, never, ever forgive them.  I would want to hunt them down and kill them over and over.  So why on earth would I want to be in heaven next to "saved" murderers. 

Okay, I am getting off of my soapbox.

i would have to disagree,,,

The sad truth is that, from the very beginning, men and women everywhere have rejected God by doing things their own way.
We all do this.
We don’t like someone telling us what to do or how to live—least of all God—and so we rebel against him in lots of different ways.
We ignore him and just get on with our own lives; or we disobey his instructions for living in his world; or we shake our puny fists in his face and tell him to get lost.

How ever we do it, we are all rebels, because we don’t live God’s way. We prefer to follow our own desires, and to run things our own way, without God. This rebellious, self-sufficient attitude is what the Bible calls ‘sin’.

Someone needs to answer Debby's question.  But I just wanted to say that I also don't agree that all sins are the same.  Meaning a sin is a sin.   One is no better than another.  So if I steal candy it's the same as killing someone, that makes no sense.

"quote from wiki"

    * In 2005 Marithé and François Girbaud's parodied Leonardo's religious painting The Last Supper in a publicity poster. The Catholic church initiated a controversial lawsuit against the Girbauds, sparking a polemic concerning freedom of expression and blasphemy. The judge qualified the poster as "an insult to Christians." The lawsuit was eventually dismissed. [4][not in citation given]
    * Gerhard Haderer's cartoon book The Life of Jesus was banned in Greece in 2003 under Greek laws of "blasphemy" and "insulting religion". In 2005 its author was given a six-month suspended prison sentence in absentia. Both the ban and the conviction were reversed in appeal after an outcry against the initial decision both in Greece and in Europe.[4][5]
    * In the United States there are some states that still officially have blasphemy laws on the books. Massachusetts, for example, still has a law under Chapter 272 of its general laws;

    Section 36. "Whoever wilfully blasphemes the holy name of God by denying, cursing or contumeliously reproaching God, his creation, government or final judging of the world, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching Jesus Christ or the Holy Ghost, or by cursing or contumeliously reproaching or exposing to contempt and ridicule, the holy word of God contained in the holy scriptures shall be punished by imprisonment in jail for not more than one year or by a fine of not more than three hundred dollars, and may also be bound to good behavior."

    * In 2008 a punk festival in Linköping, Sweden used marketing posters showing Satan pooing on Jesus on the cross, under the slogan "Punx against christ!" The poster was taken down by the municipality of Linköping.[5] The publication of the poster in the local newspaper Östgöta Correspondenten caused death threats to the editor-in-chief.



money money money money or threats of death to anyone who publicly blasphemy against god, talk about freedom haha i mean the last quote is a poster for a music concert...... but the editor received death threats hmmm yep sounds like religion to me

i wanst making fun of you or religion i was pointing out a little article that boasts that offenders who blasphemy god are delt with and usually taken to court and sued = money  ( so called independence and freedom of speech n stuff)

and what you mean me and arcanix i think you missed a few?

"and im not telling yall not to sin.  nobody can make you not do that.  but i just know that you are going to regret it someday." your telling me you've never done anything wrong or have your own independent actions? the bible basically is "do as i say not as i do" follow me or live in blasphemy so do you live your life to the bible? if not they your also a sinner ( trust me my aunty is a priest's right hand and even she says it impossible to follow the word of god )

"i want you guys to see somehting.  im not sayingh it will change your minds but...go to youtube and type in "the blasphemy project".  i dont know exactly what video it is but im sure youll find it.  these people got together to deny God and say that they dont believe.

Now type in the "ecclesia project".  these are people that have literly lived through hell on earth, and are saying that they still believe in God because God IS God"

now you say im making fun of you? well that sounds awfully preachy to me!!

i have had many things go wrong in my life, including losing 8 babies. i have lost people i love from illnesses and i am going through some stuff right now. sometimes i do wonder why do things have to happen they way they do, why would god do this to me? sometimes i do feel like i am losing faith, but i do still believe, and faith is what gets me going on a daily basis, if i didnt have that, i dont know where i would be. sometimes i cry myself to sleep because i dont know what is becoming of my life, sometimes i dont know why i had kids only to grow up in such a hateful world. i am not preaching to anybody, i dont preach. i love everybody for just the way they are. i just thought i would throw my feelings out there.

For me, it's better to not believe, because if I really really believed, I would be so pissed off at the creator for the bad stuff.  As you guys know, the bad stuff in the world just brings me down.  I can't believe in God for the good things, and then believe "the sins of the world swirling around caused the bad."  I believe good things happen because of good people with good hearts making them happen.  Bad things, bad people.  Bad natural disasters, that kill thousands of people, I hope there's not a God, just allowing that.  Remember a few weeks ago, how I talked about the people in Burma over 22,000 people just wiped out, and now China, almost 10,000.  If those amount of deaths happened in England or here in the states, we would be shocked, and I would love to hear what religious scholars have to say about that.  I know what the religious sector says about the past fires in Florida:

TV Preacher Pat Robertson Expands On 'Gay Days' Comments
Suggests Fires In Florida May Have Divine Origin
   
WASHINGTON - June 24 - TV preacher Pat Robertson has expanded on his recent warning to Orlando, Fla., suggesting that fires in Florida are divine punishment.

On the June 8 edition of his "700 Club" show (released to the media by Americans United for Separation of Church and State), Robertson denounced Orlando and Disney World for welcoming gay tourists to the theme park during a privately sponsored "Gay Days" weekend. Robertson predicted dire consequences.

Noting that the city government allowed the display of rainbow flags on light poles, the TV preacher warned that acceptance of homosexuality could result in hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, terrorist bombs and "possibly a meteor."

WOW!  So maybe the hurricane in Burma ad the earthquake in China is because of gay people.  Who would want a God that unleashes wrath.  Oh, I also found several of quotes from past and present Popes, who believe in evolution, just not Darwin.