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And that the earth is less than 10,000 year old. Religion has made the US the most scientific illiterate country of any industrialized country on the planet. The more you learn about the depth and breadth of such ignorance in this country, the more sleepless nights you will have.
We're doing ok with science I think. I think it's the religious part that's getting beat up with 'ignorance'. You know Satan, fire , brimstone, hell, the devil, etc etc etc are really all the opposites of 'good'. They are conceptions of a route going way off the way, the truth and the life. And we know 'good' and 'evil' in our world as within ourselves fight everyday for supremacy. We can't fail to see it going on every day.
I have the feeling we have lost tsome feeling for 'consequences' of our actions today. So if some cannot think 'Satan' exists or appreciate its conception then surely one has to be in some kind of netherworld oblivious to the raging battle going on. It's no wonder we suffer from a lack of setting and upholding values today. Knowing a little about 'Satan' goes a long way on that I think. We ignore at our peril.
We're doing ok with science I think. I think it's the religious part that's getting beat up with 'ignorance'. You know Satan, fire , brimstone, hell, the devil, etc etc etc are really all the opposites of 'good'. They are conceptions of a route going way off the way, the truth and the life. And we know 'good' and 'evil' in our world as within ourselves fight everyday for supremacy. We can't fail to see it going on every day.
I have the feeling we have lost tsome feeling for 'consequences' of our actions today. So if some cannot think 'Satan' exists or appreciate its conception then surely one has to be in some kind of netherworld oblivious to the raging battle going on. It's no wonder we suffer from a lack of setting and upholding values today. Knowing a little about 'Satan' goes a long way on that I think. We ignore at our peril.
You sound like a conservative right-wing Christian, the old "we better get right with God" routine.
There is no raging battle, as you put it, except the usual battles between rival god concepts, battles between rich and poor, etc. Nothing that hasn't been going on for thousands of years.
The problem with letting religion handle the 'opposites of good' is that average people will be sexually well-behaved, but there will still be all kinds of crime, sexual predation, teen pregnancies, STDs, and such.
And the REAL sins will go on unabated by the primacy of religion - because religion doesn't concern itself with things like murder, rape, assault, theft, or any other sin. But contraception, which isn't even in the Bible, will be a big no-no as will abortion - which also wasn't in the Bible.
Who knows, perhaps religion would even see fit to allow the execution of homosexuals.
No, if the 'opposite of good' is to be addressed, it cannot be addressed in religious terms. Otherwise, we'll have oppressive laws concerning morality in a fight against an evil, supernatural demi-god. Once you place our problems into the supernatural realm, you remove our ability to solve them. Of course, perhaps that's what some folks want, so we would have to turn to God. But I don't think a single problem has ever been solved through prayer. Not a one.
If Satan/devil and your god are at odds....and basically counterparts (good vs. evil).......why would satan 'punish' you and 'burn' you in "hell" if you do bad things in life? wouldn't he be patting you on the shoulder instead?
A pat on the shoulder would be a "good" thing. Pure evil (satan) is the absence of any good. He gets pleasure from your pain.
Nobody sends people to hell. The spirit part of us is eternal after the body dies, and the eternal resting places are either in the presence of the Lord or in the absence of his presence.
A pat on the shoulder would be a "good" thing. Pure evil (satan) is the absence of any good. He gets pleasure from your pain.
Nobody sends people to hell. The spirit part of us is eternal after the body dies, and the eternal resting places are either in the presence of the Lord or in the absence of his presence.
If Satan/devil and your god are at odds....and basically counterparts (good vs. evil).......why would satan 'punish' you and 'burn' you in "hell" if you do bad things in life? wouldn't he be patting you on the shoulder instead?
Honestly, that's a very good point that I'd never thought of before!
I know that serious believers think "Satan" isn't the caricature you see in movies (or South Park! That's seriously the first one that comes to mind!), and there are complex ways to interpret the notion. But to many people he IS that caricature, so pointing this out might make them think more critically, which can only be a good thing.
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