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If life on Mars were (hypothetically) to be discovered, would that impact your view of the Genesis creation story? In precisely what verse of Genesis chapter 1 do you think God would have created life on Mars?

Didn't Moses' prayer cause God to change his mind in Exodus 32:9-14 ? That's how I read that scripture anyway... Ben, if you don't think prayer can cause God to change his mind, what's your interpretation of Exodus 32:14 ?

Isn't "naturalisitc spiritual practice" an oxymoron? i.e., how can something be naturalistic (non-supernatural) and yet spiritual? The definition of spiritual generally refers to the spirit/soul/incorporeal. Naturalistic (non-supernatural) would therefore be non-spirit/soul.

Ben - I'm wondering what your thoughts are on the Fraternal Birth Order Effect? This is the phenomenon where each biological older brother increases the younger brothers' chances of being gay. This is only true of biological brothers, adopted older brothers do not bring about this same effect...

Thomas, do you disagree with any of the Pope's positions? Do you think anyone who believes in the bible and considers themself a "true Christian" should therefore also fall in line 100% with the Pope and the official viewpoint of the Catholic Church?

I didn't say YOU said that, JESUS HIMSELF said it. Unless you think he is misquoted in John 14:6? I don't think John 14:6 leaves much room for misinterpretation, do you? I'm a "wide path" guy myself, and I know a lot of "wide path" folks like to say Jesus also fits into the wide path...

My reading of Einstein is that he did not think god was "still working", i.e. that he didn't believe god has any sort of meddling/micromanagement in anyone's life. i.e. no "personal god" (as many Christians believe) or god that chooses/controls how much rain Iowa gets this year, etc. Is this...

Why do you think Jesus claimed that the Christian path is the ONLY path to heaven/god? (John 14:6, etc.) Why, as an enlightened individual, would he have claimed that the ONLY path excludes Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Hindus, etc?

Good food for thought, but the thing that doesn't make sense to me about "absolute sin" is a scenario like birth control which isn't specifically addressed in the bible... Is it a sin, in the Christian belief system, to use a condom or birth control pill to prevent pregnancy? If so, says who...

For a real-world example, which of the 10 Commandments do you think your definition of Absolute Sin applies to?

Is sin relative or absolute? i.e. can two people do the same action (let's say, for example, not telling the truth), and it be sin for one of them (trying to scam someone) yet not a sin for the other (who's tells a "white lie" to protect someone's feelings) ? Another example would be adultery...

Gate - I like your "focus on the here & now" philosophy. IMHO, waaayyyy too much emphasis is placed on the afterlife in Modern Christianity (just tune in to a radio or TV sermon sometime and count the times heaven, hell, eternity, etc are used). I was debating with a Christian friend the other...

So then, homosexuality is NOT a sin (because it's not defined as such in the NT), but divorcing & remarrying IS a sin (per Mark 10:2-12) ??? Is a Church condoning sin (as defined by Jesus himself) if they remarry a divorced person?

This then assumes that the OT is "inspired by God" instead of "the word of God"? Otherwise, God would have known the truth of the afterlife and instructed the authors to write it as such, no? Do you think the NT is also "inspired by God", i.e. that quotes attributed to Jesus aren't necessarily...

How to decide sin? A question for the group: is homosexuality a sin? If so, why do you think so and what scripture backs up that view? If homosexuality is indeed a sin (per the Christian worldview), is it possible for a non-celibate homosexual to be a Christian?

Why do most Christians get their ideas of creation from the OT (Genesis) but their ideas of a god-less afterlife (hell) from the NT? It seems to me that much more emphasis is placed on NT views of the afterlife, yet those same Christians will quote me verse for verse in Genesis of how the...

Preliminary thoughts: Thinking through the writing of the Popul Vuh makes me think more about languages and also the writing of the bible. OK, the Popul Vuh was written by Francisco Ximénez in the early 1700's after living with the Maya for several years (no one is quite sure exactly when...

Gate - what is your view on faith, then? The NT talks so much about the importance of faith, yet you are agnostic regarding the afterlife and you dismiss Paul's idea that faith is in vain if there is no empty tomb? What exactly do you think Jesus wanted us to have faith in? For example, “For...

And how exactly do you know it is the "whole truth" that you're encountering and not something else? i.e. ego, hallucination, etc.

Well, how can you ever know if YOU know the truth? If you admit that there are many splinters of the beam, how can you ever be sure you know the "whole truth" as you say? Look at all the wackos (doomsday predictors, etc) that thought they knew the "whole truth"... i.e. can the "whole truth"...