Posted on 12/17/2012 10:06:40 AM PST by Perseverando
I think I have the Progressive/Socialist/Communist movement figured out, and the answer is God. Surprised? Read on.
Humans have an instinctive desire to believe in something bigger than themselves—something all-knowing, all-seeing, all-powerful, that can make everything right when nothing seems to go right.
Ask any anthropologist or archaeologist, and he or she will tell you that pretty much every culture in the history or humankind has had a set of beliefs regarding a god or gods. We westerners are most familiar, of course, with the ancient Greek and Roman gods, but every civilization from the ancient Assyrians and Babylonians to modern-day tribesmen hidden deep in the Amazon jungle have complex and deeply-held religious beliefs.
Heck, even comic book super heroes are god characters. Think about it: Superman, Batman, Spiderman and their comic book comrades all have super powers that they use to fix the wrongs in the world that we mere mortals cannot fix. There’s no difference between that and any other religious belief. It is understood (by most) that these comic book super heroes are fictional, but in a minute we’ll see how some think people that ALL religious deities are fictional.
Now, there could be several explanations for this instinctive desire to believe in an all-powerful being. It could be that humans just can’t comprehend all of the evil that exists in this chaotic world, and the only way we can survive emotionally when we experience terrible things is to believe that somewhere “out there” is a being who is in control of things and who will eventually make things right.
On the other hand (and I will be up front here and tell you that this is what I believe), it could be that this instinct was planted in our souls by God Himself as a
(Excerpt) Read more at canadafreepress.com ...
Nope. Try again.
I’m afraid we are the cul-de-sac.
You use a portion of a chapter which goes on to say “6 But a brother who has a cause at law against another takes it before Gentile judges. 7 More than this, it is not to your credit to have causes at law with one another at all. Why not put up with wrong? why not undergo loss? 8 So far from doing this, you yourselves do wrong and take your brothers’ property.”
Which is an exhortation to refrain from suing one another
in a court of law. It encourages that perhaps we can settle our differences as Christians, among ourselves, by giving up a little.
An affliction can happen in the brain. It can manifest in many ways. Think how difficult it is to think during a migraine which is a physical manifestation of something wrong. How much more difficult to think if your brain is experiencing a chemical imbalance?
Yes, in the Old Testament, we were under the law and had to know the law in order to detect evil and put it from us.
Now we have Christ and his spirit that transforms us and intercedes for us that evil is put away from us.
Is not Christ the shepherd and does he not seek each and every lost sheep? Not just the good and pretty ones, but Every lost sheep.
Nope. The answer satisfied me. Whether it satisfies you is immaterial to me.
I certainly understand your desire to have the world be one way. Just remember a desire is not a proof. My original objection was not that you are not religious, but that you are closed to the possibility that you may be wrong.
I may be wrong, but I don't think being closed minded is a virtue.
OK--so you're not quite the rational being you think you are. You stop looking when you think you have an answer that may satisfy you. That type of approach, while quite popular, is not the definition of rationality, nor of a seeker of truth.
Also remember--what is legal may not always be right.
Occam’s Law: the simplest answer is usually the right one.
Agreed. A universe without a God is not the simplest answer.
What you call “closed to the possibility you may be wrong,” I call “stand for something or you’ll fall for anything.” WYSIWYG.
It actually is. It accepts the “I don’t know” at its real location, rather than adding a couple of extra steps. Because once you start trying to describe or explain God and His workings, you generally have to admit that He is Unknowable, that mere humans cannot explain how He came to be, how He does what he does, why He does what he does. Sooner or later you have to admit “I don’t know” (usually rephrased as “God works in mysterious ways” or “I know because it’s in the Bible” or “I feel it in my heart” or “There must be a reason.”) Sooner or later the answer, boiled down to its honest bones is “I don’t really know.”
It actually is. It accepts the “I don’t know” at its real location, rather than adding a couple of extra steps. Because once you start trying to describe or explain God and His workings, you generally have to admit that He is Unknowable, that mere humans cannot explain how He came to be, how He does what he does, why He does what he does. Sooner or later you have to admit “I don’t know” (usually rephrased as “God works in mysterious ways” or “I know because it’s in the Bible” or “I feel it in my heart” or “There must be a reason.”) Sooner or later the answer, boiled down to its honest bones is “I don’t really know.”
The same goes for the non-God viewpoint. In the words of Douglas Adams--"First there was nothing--then it exploded." Doesn't really explain anything either.
The difference, though, is that I am more than open to the probability/possibility of God while you do not seem to be.
I am also not "open" to the Scientologists.
When/if your situation changes, please do not hesitate to ask questions. I just hope and pray that it will not be too late.
I was raised religious. I don’t have any questions. Thanks, though.
Laws are for governments in a fallen world. It is what it is. It is as it should be.
Well, according to Christ’s words, he seeks redemption of the one that is lost and will leave the 99 in order to bring the one back into the fold.
Jesus fulfilled the law. He became the sacrifice to reconcile us to God. His yoke is easy and his burden is light, says He.
Romans 8, in it’s entirety spells out the fullness of God’s love and his Spirit at work in us. Ending with, “37No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. 38For I am convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons,m neither the present nor the future, nor any powers, 39neither height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
Oh, man. THAT is some love. Why do you want to say that poor, wretched, miserable, suffering, mentally debilitated young man that God is not big enough to love him?
When I read the link you posted about how some of the lost sheep are redeemed, I don’t understand your point. The passage describes a scene in which Satan gathers every evil and surrounds believers.
Then “and fire came downfrom God out of heaven, and devouredthem.10And the devil that deceivedthem was castinto the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormentedday and night for ever and ever.”
Which, to me, sounds like a happy ending in Revelations for believers. God’s people are saved and evil is cast into the fiery pit eternally. It makes me want to rejoice.
A little lost on your point.
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