DDN it seems as if you are very misinformed although you quote the Bible frequently. Here are some things you should realize:1. The Bible was written by HUMAN BEINGS inspired by God. Please keep in mind the prejudices of the people in the time in which the Bible was written. So the Bible is not the absolute direct word of God, because it was not written by God himself.
2. Yes some churches did exploit people. Did GOD do it? No. Guess what? It was PEOPLE PEOPLE PEOPLE. People exploiting other people for their own benefit in God's name!!!!!!!!!!!!
3. Speaking of exploitation, during the Crusades the Pope interpreted the Bible to mean that we should reclaim the holy land. He twisted the words of the Bible to mean what he WANTED them to mean. Guess what, dear DDN? You are doing the same thing, attaching your own interpretations of the Bible to mean what you WANT THEM TO MEAN.
4. Remember again that the Bible was written by people for this next one. You say that God hates other religions. Yes the old testament does preach of a violent God, but remember the time in which this was written, a violent time indeed....people thought that God was violent so they wrote it that way. My religion teaches tolerance and acceptance, forgive and forget, and the like. Please do not inform me that my system of beliefs is wrong because I believe in God.
5. You seem to believe that Christians and followers of God are all snobbish and stuck up....hmmm it seems to me that we aren't the ones who are so hell bent on demeaning anything and everyone that has anything to do with God and Christianity. So I forgive you for your comments and would like to debate with this on a more civil level, maybe it would be for the best for EVERYONE to open up the railways of the mind and operate on just more than one track.
DDN I can see your points but please try to switch tracks once in a while, that is where the quest for true knowledge can begin.
