Jesus solves world hunger (Derail from serious topic)

[fester30]

Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000, not including women and children.  I'm not sure if that means women and children starved, or if he fed them all and the Bible only counted the men.  Anyway...

Assuming he fed them all and the Bible only counted the men, and given a similar ratio of women and children in the population then as it is now (not sure how to confirm that), here are the numbers:

World population hit 6,928,198,253 in July 2011 (est.) according to index mundi, so we'll go with that number.

~3.4 billion were men.

So if you get 680,000 Jesuses, 3.4 million loaves of bread, and 1.36 million fish, you could solve world hunger.  I'm just not sure where we'd get 680,000 Jesuses, since I'm not at all certain there was ever even 1.

Edit: Forgot to include the link to my source.  My apologies.

http://www.indexmundi.com/world/demographics_profile.html

[DeterminedJuliet]

Hey, if they can bring out that water-to-wine trick again, I think that's a great idea!

[Stevil]

Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000, not including women and children.

I would have thought a person with this trick up their sleeves would be obliged for the rest of their life to feed the hungry rather than to preach salivation(sp).

[AnimatedDirt]

Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000, not including women and children.

I would have thought a person with this trick up their sleeves would be obliged for the rest of their life to feed the hungry rather than to preach salivation(sp).

It's not this life where hunger, pain and death runs rampant that this magician (as you seem to suggest) came to prolong...But that would require actual reading into that piece of fiction.

[DeterminedJuliet]

Jesus used five loaves of bread and two fish to feed 5,000, not including women and children.

I would have thought a person with this trick up their sleeves would be obliged for the rest of their life to feed the hungry rather than to preach salivation(sp).

It's not this life where hunger, pain and death runs rampant that this magician (as you seem to suggest) came to prolong...But that would require actual reading into that piece of fiction.

Then why provide any ease of suffering in this life at all? Why just a tease?

[Stevil]

It's not this life where hunger, pain and death runs rampant that this magician (as you seem to suggest) came to prolong...But that would require actual reading into that piece of fiction.

I'm reading a book called Unholy Ghosts at the moment.
Ghosts are invading the earth, they have killed lots of people and most churches except for one.
The surviving church is the Church of Truth.
Their mantra
"I do not need faith because I know the Truth. I do not need to believe. Belief is unnecessary when fact is Truth. I do not pray to a god. Prayer implies faith and gods do not exist."
Cool huh?

Anyway, if I could magically multiply food, I would certainly help the starving. It seems (fictitiously YHWH gave this gift to the wrong person, such a waste)

[OldGit]

I don't like fish.  Why couldn't he conjure up a nice curry?

[Guardian85]

Or, considering what part of the world he's in, a decent kebab?

[AnimatedDirt]

It's not this life where hunger, pain and death runs rampant that this magician (as you seem to suggest) came to prolong...But that would require actual reading into that piece of fiction.

Then why provide any ease of suffering in this life at all? Why just a tease?

You stated in another thread you used to be a Christian.  Do you still retain some of the beliefs (not that you believe these) in that you could see that this life is a fleeting moment in the great scheme of things?  We, Christians, believe that even if we suffer as the Jews of the Holocaust did or worse, the pain of this life is trivial compared to the offer of a better life.  You see a tease.  We (Christians) see hope.  It's the cup half-full, half-empty view.

Sin must be completely unveiled.  So that all understand...no one therefore has to have "faith" that sin is bad, they will have the empirical proof of its destructive work.  The Atheist loves truth...empirical proof.

[Too Few Lions]

maybe if we all grew beards and wore a toga we could solve world hunger?

[Crow]

Or, considering what part of the world he's in, a decent kebab?

That sir is a paradox.

[DeterminedJuliet]

It's not this life where hunger, pain and death runs rampant that this magician (as you seem to suggest) came to prolong...But that would require actual reading into that piece of fiction.

Then why provide any ease of suffering in this life at all? Why just a tease?

You stated in another thread you used to be a Christian.  Do you still retain some of the beliefs (not that you believe these) in that you could see that this life is a fleeting moment in the great scheme of things?  We, Christians, believe that even if we suffer as the Jews of the Holocaust did or worse, the pain of this life is trivial compared to the offer of a better life.  You see a tease.  We (Christians) see hope.  It's the cup half-full, half-empty view.

Sin must be completely unveiled.  So that all understand...no one therefore has to have "faith" that sin is bad, they will have the empirical proof of its destructive work.  The Atheist loves truth...empirical proof.

I used to be a Christian, but I was often an unhappy one because I couldn't make sense of things exactly like this. So I just tried not to think about it too much.

I still view life as a fleeting moment, but, to me, that gives it more emphasis, not less.

If you view Jesus with the presumption that everything he does is good, then, of course, you'll see that everything he does is good. He freaked out at money lenders in a temple? That's good. He got a bunch of men to leave their live's work to follow him? That's good. He told everyone to render "unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar." That's good. There are rationalizations behind why all of those things could be good.

Is that really intellectually honest? I don't really think so. I could provide an arbitrary list of all of the things that I've done in my life and you could paint me as a saint or the devil. It could be a half-full or a half-empty analysis, depending on how much you like me (if you ask my ex-boyfriends who I am, you'll get a far different story than if you ask my husband), so I guess I agree with you on that.

I guess you're just in the unfortunately position of constantly having to defend what atheists see as arbitrary stories.

[fester30]

My cousin had another idea concerning my plan for world hunger.  He thinks we could do this with significantly fewer Jesuses.  Let all the people die... Jesus can raise from the dead, and if you set up some churches to be resurrection factories in key locations around the world and put a Jesus in there, you could revive the dead.  As zombies, they would then eat the brains of the living, turning them into zombies.  Before long, everybody will be zombies, and won't require food, but will simply eat brains for entertainment.  You could do this with like 100 Jesuses in the world's largest cities.  This effectively ends world hunger while significantly reducing the Jesus footprint required to do it.  Both effective AND environmentally sound.

[Ali]

Sin must be completely unveiled.  So that all understand...no one therefore has to have "faith" that sin is bad, they will have the empirical proof of its destructive work.  The Atheist loves truth...empirical proof.

So the idea is that sin shows itself to be the destructive force that it really is, right?  Like, you can just look at the ravages of sin to know sin is bad, you don't have to take the bible's word for it.

What about homosexuality tips it off as being naturally bad?  I mean sure, lots of gay people get bullied, which sucks, and many commit suicide.  But I would argue that is the effect of living in a homophobic society more than the effect of homosexuality itself.

Discuss.

[AnimatedDirt]

I used to be a Christian, but I was often an unhappy one because I couldn't make sense of things exactly like this. So I just tried not to think about it too much.

I still view life as a fleeting moment, but, to me, that gives it more emphasis, not less.

Exactly!  Life is so much more than just this.  If there is more, then it is worth gaining.

If you view Jesus with the presumption that everything he does is good, then, of course, you'll see that everything he does is good. He freaked out at money lenders in a temple? That's good. He got a bunch of men to leave their live's work to follow him? That's good. He told everyone to render "unto Caesar that which belongs to Caesar." That's good. There are rationalizations behind why all of those things could be good.

If people were to come into your house and treat it less than you would want it treated, it is not good for you to throw them out?  If "God" is, then the temple was where the people met to worship God.  He "got" a bunch of men to leave their work?  You presume they were forced.  Render to Caesar that which belongs to Caesar is bad?  How so?  It speaks of many things, but mostly about being a citizen in harmony with your govenment (as long as that gov. isn't making you do things that would be against God), paying taxes, helping in the community...I suppose I simply just rationalized.  But isn't rational good?

I guess you're just in the unfortunately position of constantly having to defend what atheists see as arbitrary stories.

I choose to be at HAF.  I do like you all.  Some I may not "like" at times, but for the most part I like all the members here, Atheist or otherwise.  I have to defend my position on most everything, not just my religious beliefs.