You reference Einstein. Do you just pull out quotes without understanding the back story, or do you truly understand why Einstein said that, and why?
“there are no other books more likely to make me disbelief in deities than the bible and koran”
What parts of these books stand out to you when you think of that statement. What was the first thing that made you doubt?
I’d be keen to know how faith is anyway different from gullibility too.
I’ve yet to see any Theist describe faith, in a way that couldn’t also be applied to gullibility.
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For me, such stupid statements that your god is “just, loving, and merciful”.
How can a god be both just and merciful? They are contradictory qualities.
It is that easy to unearth the BS from the bible.
And the loving part? A god that punishes mankind for the sins of one person, committing mass genocide, or inflicting horrible pain and abuse on societies?
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@David_Killens the question must first be asked is the same consideration done when referencing biblical information? What is the context of the story?
@David_Killens I’m going to respond here further but I wanted to say before I did that I understand your reasoning. Coming from a place of no faith these are particularly the kind of questions I asked.
Are you trying to justify the egregious acts of a homicidal psychopathic god?
That was an Einstein quote about imagination, and I wasn’t necessarily sure anyone needed me to cite it.
Here are some cited Einstein quotes about Einstein’s perspective on God. He thought outside the box. He didn’t believe in an angry old man in the sky. Neither did he believe there was nothing. I don’t want to argue Einstein’s belief system because mine is different. I only brought up Einstein, because someone said that imagination was not part of science. If someone wants to argue relativity or imagination, they can argue with Einstein. That is said softly.
A human being is part of the whole called by us universe, a part limited in time and space. We experience ourselves, our thoughts and feelings as something separate from the rest. A kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from the prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty. The true value of a human being is determined by the measure and the sense in which they have obtained liberation from the self. We shall require a substantially new manner of thinking if humanity is to survive. (Albert Einstein, 1954)
The most beautiful and most profound experience is the sensation of the mystical. It is the sower of all true science. He to whom this emotion is a stranger, who can no longer wonder and stand rapt in awe, is as good as dead. To know that what is impenetrable to us really exists, manifesting itself as the highest wisdom and the most radiant beauty which our dull faculties can comprehend only in their primitive forms - this knowledge, this feeling is at the center of true religiousness.
( Albert Einstein - The Merging of Spirit and Science)
Sadly, you failed my little test and proved you are just using quotes without understanding the “why” or even Einstein.
Einstein did most of his preparatory work on what he described as “thought experiments”.
@David_Killens I’m sorry I failed your test.
How often are Bible quotes taken out with context? What are the parameters for the rules?
and if I cite the whole context of every history and every Bible quote, is it something that anyone is going to read?
I quoted Einstein in regards to imagination previously because someone said that imagination and intuition has nothing to do with science. It wasn’t even relation to God directly.
That’s what I’m saying, one limits themselves when they are so determined not to believe anything. we could spend another hour arguing the validity of relativity and Einstein’s relationship with God. I’d rather not. I was just trying to point out that to find truth you must be receptive.
Just because you disbelieve in imagination (which is surely your choice) it doesn’t mean that it isn’t a part of science and it isn’t utilized by respected individuals.
That question is something of a misnomer, since I doubt all claims that are presented without sufficient objective evidence.
I answered this in my post?
Though to be clear, neither bible or koran are necessary for me to disbelieve in any extant deity, as I keep stating, the inability of anyone to demonstrate any objective evidence for any deity is sufficient justification for me to withhold belief.
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One man, I’d “imaginatively” have sit at my proverbial dinner table. And Planck (hehehehe)…
He met many a reality challenge to his thinking and imagination.
Another mind that furthered humanity’s body of knowledge (as did Aristotle 
)
Again though - does this mean he exposed pure truths every time he opened his mouth or experimented or wrote mathematical formula?
His e=mc2 was hypothesis until demonstrable. A disbelief was warranted as there were refinements to mathematical proofs. Now it is accepted through repeatability - an accepted reality.
In 1933, the energy released from the reaction of lithium-7 plus protons giving rise to 2 alpha particles, allowed Einstein’s equation to be tested to an error of ±0.5%.
So - the man Einstein had an “opinion”. We all do (like assholes, we all have one 
)
I would gladly debate and discuss his perceptions.
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My test was to determine whether you just Googled for quotes or knew what was behind why they made such quotes.
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And his published papers on special relativity (1905) were not initially accepted by the scientific community because they had not been tested. It was not until 1922 when Eddington confirmed special relativity by his observations during an eclipse of the sun was Einstein’s theory accepted.
Who was Einstein’s “audience” … where was he speaking (geographically), what were the current events taking place at that time…
ALL of those questions (and answers) give insight to context.
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I don’t know why you bother. Are you aware of the fact that Einstein got so irritated with idiot theists attempting to use his remarks as support for their stupidity that he actually wrote a letter completely clarifying his view on God.
You want to run about, cherry pick quotes, and then attach your own meaning to them. Einstein was QUITE CLEAR with what he meant and clearly stated it so people like you would KNOCK YOUR SHIT OFF!
" … The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. No interpretation, no matter how subtle, can change this for me. For me the Jewish religion like all other religions is an incarnation of the most childish superstition. And the Jewish people to whom I gladly belong, and whose thinking I have a deep affinity for, have no different quality for me than all other people. As far as my experience goes, they are also no better than other human groups, although they are protected from the worst cancers by a lack of power. Otherwise I cannot see anything “chosen” about them."
(From a letter to Gutkind, Prinston 1954)
"Einstein was averse to the Abrahamic conception of Heaven and Hell, particularly as it pertained to a system of everlasting reward and punishment. In a 1915 letter to the Swiss physicist Edgar Meyer, Einstein wrote, “I see only with deep regret that God punishes so many of His children for their numerous stupidities, for which only He Himself can be held responsible; in my opinion, only His nonexistence could excuse Him.”[35] He also stated, “I cannot imagine a God who rewards and punishes the objects of his creation, whose purposes are modeled after our own — a God, in short, who is but a reflection of human frailty. Neither can I believe that the individual survives the death of his body, although feeble souls harbor such thoughts through fear or ridiculous egotisms.” Religious and philosophical views of Albert Einstein - Wikipedia
Pretending Einstein had anything nice at all to say about your silly God idea is utterly and completely delusional.
Wasn’t that letter auctioned fairly recently, and for a substantial amount of money?
Theists even tried to posthumously convert Christopher Hitchens ffs, take a moment, absorb that level of desperate mendacity.
It bodes very badly for any belief or claim, that it requires any of its adherents to lie so shamelessly…
His quote that I have found to be true just reading the scriptures or any other holy book claiming god inspiration or “word”.
For me, because of my model, asking the questions I posed, normally draws a context in which words (thoughts) were expressed.
I’m afraid it’s a matter of “let me count the ways”. Probably easier to say “which parts do you believe?”
Answer; none, it’s myth. Once againthey (the authors) made it all up
If one reads sacred texts as folk tales and mythology, one is able to suspend disbelief. When on tries to accept such writings as history, the flaws jump in one’s face .
The revered Hindu work " The Mahabharata" is the world’s longest epic poem. It covers the history of mankind. The escribe who wrote it all down is the elephant headed god Ganesh. Do Hindus generally believe that to be literally true? Not to my knowledge, although I’m sure some do.
No, I have not read all of it. I have however read arguably the most revered part ‘The Bhagavad Gita’
It takes the form of a dialogue between the protagonist Arjuna and the god Krishna. The dialogue is on the nature of suffering and is imo quite sublime.
Some parts of the gospels are also quite sublime if taken for their own sake rather than divine writ. Eg The Lord’s prayer, and The Sermon On The Mount. I also like the parable of the Good Samaritan***. Plus of course the most basic and most ignored admonition in the New Testament.IE when Jesus is asked what is the greatest commandment.
Matthew 22; 35:40 " And one of them, a lawyer, asked him a question to test him. “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” And he said to him, “You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. And a second is like it: You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two commandments depend all the Law and the Prophets.”
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***At school, we were never told exactly who or what a Samaritan might be. Understanding the position of the Samaritan in Jewish life makes the parable even more powerful.
@boomer47 you are absolutely right! There are a lot of folded meaning in ancient texts that modern researchers, scholars, and even theists miss or get wrong.
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That’s maybe what I was saying with the book of Job and Jonah. If you go and you research Nineveh, there is an extensive historical record. Who they were, what they were doing, what they believed in.
Nineveh was huge. It took three days to walk through it. Jonah 3:3
Just knowing about the city changes the story for me.
After learning that the Ninevites worshipped a fish deity changed broadened my perspective. Within the text, Jonah was swallowed by a big fish.
This was witnessed by seafarers that then prayed to Jonah’s God after the storm cleared.
The fish then spit Jonah out after 3 days into dry land.
There is a Tell of Yunus (Jonah), and a shrine to Jonah across from the Nergal Gate.
Jonah 4:5
Whether one believes or not, it gives one a greater understanding of the text. I personally believe that you can’t judge something until you understand it.
When I first began to read the Bible with an open mind, I didn’t do it seeking spiritual enlightenment. I looked things up pretty much like I do now. The philosophical things absorbed much like I would anything else that moved me.
Reading scriptures in this way changed my life.
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