Posted on 03/13/2002 4:47:26 AM PST by JediGirl
Let me appear miraculously here and make a comment.
No one is above sin. Its part of our natures. People may claim to be Christian, or may just be bad Christians, but that doesn't mean that Christianity is the problem.
While scripture can be difficult to understand at times, there is meaning in it if you take the time, and trust in prayer. I think the Protestants threw the baby out with the bath water when they threw out a millenium and a half of well thought-out analysis of scripture.
And no, there isn't the kind of observational evidence like there is in a naturalistic approach, but let me say this;
What other faith, creed or philosophy has produced a free-er, more prosperous, more powerful nation, than the United States of America?
‘Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart.’ (Matthew 11:29) "Gentle! The word has several shades of meaning. One of those is: 'considerate.' God is considerate. He cares how people feel. He is mindful of the raw sensitivities of the weak and helpless. See Jesus sitting in the temple court. The well-to-do are passing, ceremoniously dropping their gifts in the treasury. Now, a widow approaches. She is anxious not to be seen. She commits two small coins to the box and hurries off. But Jesus is moved to remark: "That woman put in more than anyone else." Christ was drawn to that little woman with her tiny offering. He is aware of the shame that the poor endure. He considers their feelings. He is gentle with them."
"God shows his gentleness in that he has no favorites. A restaurant was about to open, in a big city. The restaurant was close by government office buildings. The advertisement advised applicants that they would need to know how to behave in the presence of dignitaries, and VIP's. Clearly... God---would probably not get a job in that establishment! He has no favorites. Christianity is the most egalitarian of religions. "In Christ there is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, but all one in Christ Jesus."
You might want to re-think that; I have it on good authority that the initiation ritual involves vasoline, a welder's mask, duct tape, and "Plato the Platypus."
I started collecting ancient coins somewhere around 1982. Back then you could still get widow's mites for about $5-10 a piece. These were the little bronze coins that were minted under Pilate's authority as governor.
I bought a bunch and gave them all away. The folks I gave them too were not weak in their faith, but they were excited to get them and excited just to see that such things actually existed after all this time.
Now they're worth quite a bit more and I can't afford them, but I don't feel bad at all about giving them away. The folks were very excited. So I've tooted my own horn again, but your post reminded me of that story and I thought I'd relate it.
It's sad to see a once-respected freeper's innermost fantasies revealed in the light of day. I shall politely look the other way, in the hope that longshadow can recover his customary equinimity.
Ah, but I NEVER said who's fantasy it was......
It's the sort of thing a SETI fetishist would dream up, while alone in his control room on a dark and stormy night.
As opposed to what someone in his basement la-BOR-a-tory with his Platypus mascot would dream up?
Not as a matter of science, but as a force of logic, if you will.
Of course I can no more prove it, than you can disprove it.
In summation, we are both men of faith, I suppose. Though this begs the question of whose faith is more reasonable; in my view, faith in the absence of reason is blind.
If there is no transcendant reason, or purpose for us being here, our "reason" will die a cold, slow death..as the universe succombs to absolute entropy.
How depressing.
"The Heavens Declare the Glory of His Name."
Brian.
Devilcrats!
It takes no faith at all to believe in the existence of the natural world. We can observe that it exists. When there is observable, verifiable, testable evidence for a super-natural world, it will require no faith to believe in that one either. Until then, it does, and my mind doesn't entertain such a purely conjectural domain.
In summation, we are both men of faith, I suppose. Though this begs the question of whose faith is more reasonable; in my view, faith in the absence of reason is blind.
No, not both of us.
If there is no transcendant reason, or purpose for us being here, our "reason" will die a cold, slow death..as the universe succombs to absolute entropy. How depressing.
Depressing? Yes, if I let it get to me. True? Perhaps. I want to know the truth, even if it's unpleasant.
I'm pretty sure we're not going to exist that long to witness the heat death of our universe ;->
There is good reason to believe that your quest for truth is doomed, since there is a good chance humanity will annhiliate itself before we can find it. It is also quite possible it is unattainable, due to the vastness of the universe and the obvious physical constraints it presents, in terms of exploring it.
If this is true, truth will be humanities' empty chalice.
But the Truth is not an empty chalice
The Truth is an empty Cross
The Truth is an empty Tomb.
The Truth wants to set you free.
"I AM the Way, the Truth and the Life, no man comes to the Father but through me. John 14:6
Brian.
To the contrary, my premise indicates an absence of faith. And I didn't say that "all there is is what can be observed," rather I implied (and intended to say) that all I know is what is observed. If there is more out there -- and there may be -- then let it be seen, and we will know it. Until then we don't know it.
There is good reason to believe that your quest for truth is doomed, since there is a good chance humanity will annhiliate itself before we can find it. It is also quite possible it is unattainable, due to the vastness of the universe and the obvious physical constraints it presents, in terms of exploring it.
That's okay. I'll take my chances, and learn all I can while I can. No harm in that.
There are a lot of things in our contempory society and (recent) history that aren't so nice -- the Holocaust, government-protected abortion-for-profit, the lies told to persuade the naive to allow themselves to be degragraded, the torments the strong inflict on the weak.
If you believe Jesus to be God and understand what He taught then you will know that God is good. If you don't belived maybe you will doubt.
Just because some (many) of those who profess to believe in Jesus sometimes (often) fail to follow his teachings doesn't mean you shouldn't try.
If this is true, truth will be humanities' empty chalice.
Not if the journey is its own reward. I believe that's pretty much how we're made. Otherwise, we'd have abandoned the quest for knowledge as soon as we attained some absolute measure of comfort & security. But that's not the way the mind works: We tend to seek comfort & security relative to what we have now. Thus the neverending journey.
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