Man, you got a point Chester. The Golden Rule exists in every culture. Confucius speaks of it. Buddhists speak of it. The Bhagavad-Gita speaks of it, and, of course, the Bible speaks of it...To the extent it's honored even a little more, there is an improvement Yes, you can say that's what you believe, but when you start viewing it like you are better than they, that they are excluded, that is when you have strayed from the straight and narrow path. The mystical branch of Islam, the Sufi movement, insisted that when you had encountered God, you were neither a Jew, a Christian, a Muslim. You were at home equally in a synagogue, a mosque, a temple or a church, because all rightly guided religion comes from God, and a man of God, once he's glimpsed the divine, has left these man-made distinctions behind This is what we need to show people. But when I'm trying to explain to them, will they listen? Or will they get hung up on the irellevant details. "His birthday is June 6th? The bad things started in 2006? 06/06/06?!?!?!" They are already lost, irrational. Will they put their prejudices behind them, grant me mercy when I ask for it, or will they view killing me as their ticket to salvation?
When the night, has come and the land is dark and the moon is the only light we'll see, no I won't be afraid. Oh I won't, be afraid. Just as long as He stands, stands by me. If the sky that we look upon should tumble and fall, and the mountain should crumble into the sea I won't cry, I won't cry, no I won't shed a tear. Just as long as He stands, stands by me. Great song, written by a good man. Remember those words, should anything like that ever happen. Find comfort in knowing that such a good man believed, and none of this seemed like it was going to happen in his time, right?
Euthyphro's Dilemna Ethics are ethics. If you don't have ethics no god can give them to you, and if you do no god is necessary for you to follow them.
You know Chester, I had hoped that when I die I could meet Jesus, The tooth fairy, santa claus, The Easter Bunny and all the other colourful characters that I was told about as a child. I was always curious to know why God turned a blind eye to war crimes, genocide, nuclear bombs, the list of Human atrocity against humans is rather extensive but I think you get the point it. God is my favorite fictional character. Me personally I don't believe in an afterlife, it contradicts the laws of nature and entrophy. I don't have much time or respect for any organized religion or any religion for that matter. I generally just try to live by "Good Thoughts, Good Words, Good Actions" that is enough for me.
Checkmate wrote Does it ? Energy is a constant after all. The concept of entropy is challenged there. I dont know what I am , but i read the bible and find comfort in it. I am in many ways a heathen. And I have studied crypto-zoology, metaphysics, para-psychology and pseudo-history as part of my drive towards my future self. I am a wee bit weak in the Al-chemical department. The totalitarian beliefs i cant handle. I dont know that J was his Only son or not. It sound more like he was the dude and the one with the message. What they made their soup from between HSI death and the meeting in Nicea I just dont know. My first religious experiences were heathen. The god frey ( Joy ) opened the sky one day during easter, and I saw the light. If that frey isa the love of Jesus all the better. I have both heathen and christian ancestors and would like to see them all againj in the afterlife. The problem with evil in the world that Joe speaks of finds a certain answer in the christian thesis of free will. As an old philosopher put it. We live in the best of all possible worlds.
One can never kill the "Will to be free" I'm certian that in North Korea it is multiple times stronger than here. And rules? It's like there is a three yesar old in the kitchen looking at cookies baking in the oven and you tell him "Don't touch that glass it can hurt you" guess what the kid does? Now to help the kid out you could tie him to a chair and sit him in front of the oven then the urge to touch the glass would actually be greater. I personally still believe that some of the most evil societies are the most restrictive. Quakers during the early colonization period of this country could potentially have been the most evil society this country ever hosted. But that is purely speculation. I think you see the point. Free will will always exsist rationalization can make for prudent decision making if only the world had "joelogic".
Do you believe it's a coincidence that we're all alive and conscious right here, right before the end? I call it the end because it's the end of our age, but there will be good things again after it. But here you are, with little to no faith. Good actions are awesome, though. I heard Isaac Asimov talking about what he felt about religion, stating that he believed that when he died there would be nothing. This didn't make him want to go out and rape and steal because he didn't fear eternal punishment. He thought that it was insulting that there would have to be a system of rewards and punishments to make someone a good person. Couldn't they be good of their own accord? And he's right. Honestly good people are better men than those who do right only because they want to go to Heaven and don't beat their children because they don't want to go to hell. But come on, dude. You show contempt for thousands of years of prophecies, predictions, teachings and knowledge? Every major culture around the world says that we have souls, they say that they are the energy in our bodies, the fire that rests in the water. This should have been PROVEN the moment we discovered energy traveling our nerves, creating storms of consciousness in our minds. Are you smarter than humanity, Checkmate? Than all our ancestors? I'm sure you believe it's all a coincidence; that our world is falling apart, that the climate is rapidly changing, and that we're all alive and thinking right before it happens. In the face of all that, you would have no belief in anything? The Gospel According to Mary Magdalene: Saying 19
