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But ... "I cannot prove or disprove a God, so I may as well assume there is one and waste countless hours in church, studying an archaeic book, praying, devoting my life, and praising this possible god."
Think about it.
You assume that people are just going on feelings and hopeful thinking. If I agreed with you, I'd give up this Christian-theistic thing in a minute. And so would many others. But, fact is, we have evidence and events in our lives that remind us the God is real.
I want to respond to this. Although, I am not Christian, so I don't spend my time in Church, I hardly spend any time of all at my place of worship. I believe more in living my life the right way and the way God would want me to live it than spend my time in some stuffy synagogue dealing with all of the undesirables there.
I really don't even pray that much. I try to be a good person and I think that's good enough.
You say that you don't know much about God, but you seem to suggest that you know how he/she/it wants you to live. How would you know that unless your God has some attributes, and I don't mean physical attributes. Will your God punish people for not living the way he/she/it wants you to? If so, what type of punishment? If not, why not? How does he/she/it expect you to live? Does this reflect how he/she/it lives? Did your God create the entire universe? How? When? Why? These types of questions begs answers that provide the attributes of your God. Then, and only then, can we evaluate your God and the likelihood of his/her/its existence.
I've never said I know what God looks, smells, feels like (God takes many forms). All I have stated that I believe he or she exists. Like I have already said (please read my posts before posting about them), we would need an entirely new supernatural scientific method. And because science and humanity doesn't know enough about the supernatural (including God), that isn't possible at this time. In 50 years? Maybe. But, right now we just need to accept there is no way to really know if he exists or not, which means it is a personal choice. If you are atheist, Catholic, Jewish, Muslim, agnostic, or whatever, I really don't care. What bugs me is when people like you try to claim that there is a right or wrong question to whether God exists or not, because nobody knows, and these earthly tests aren't going to figure it out.
Many Gods have been claimed to exist, so we must evaluate each one on it's claimed merits. IMO, we can't make blanket statements as to whether all Gods exist or do not exist.
You assume that people are just going on feelings and hopeful thinking. If I agreed with you, I'd give up this Christian-theistic thing in a minute. And so would many others. But, fact is, we have evidence and events in our lives that remind us the God is real.
I have a question. Do you stereotype much?
It's not a stereotype to point out that one of the central themes of Christianity is that faith (i.e. belief without evidence) is a virtue. I know religious beliefs are tough to pin down, but this seems to be a pretty uncontroversial idea. Why does it make you so uncomfortable?
It's not a stereotype to point out that one of the central themes of Christianity is that faith (i.e. belief without evidence) is a virtue. I know religious beliefs are tough to pin down, but this seems to be a pretty uncontroversial idea. Why does it make you so uncomfortable?
It's not a stereotype to point out that one of the central themes of Christianity is that faith (i.e. belief without evidence) is a virtue. I know religious beliefs are tough to pin down, but this seems to be a pretty uncontroversial idea.
Faith as biblically defined IS evidence and is seen by Christians as evidence of highest quality -- superior, even to material, observable evidence -- as you say, faith = virtue.
If you want to get at the core of virtually all religious beliefs, it is that there are invisible supernatural entities -- whether god(s), angels, demons, spirits, demigods, dead people, etc. These invisible entities are asserted to exist and their existence is an unquestionable given. That is the nubbin of the matter, regardless of what religion is under discussion. Religions can differ on the subject (or definition of) faith, the nature of revealed truth and religious authority and orthodoxy, etc., but they always have invisible beings beyond the natural realm. That is what makes theism so dangerous: if your evidence, whether bald assertion or sincerely held belief / faith, is not subject to question, scrutiny, or substantiation, there are no effective brakes on behavior. Anything can, and eventually will, be justified in the name of belief.
If you want to get at the core of virtually all religious beliefs, it is that there are invisible supernatural entities -- whether god(s), angels, demons, spirits, demigods, dead people, etc. These invisible entities are asserted to exist and their existence is an unquestionable given.
If you want to get at the core of virtually all religious beliefs, it is that there are invisible supernatural entities -- whether god(s), angels, demons, spirits, demigods, dead people, etc. These invisible entities are asserted to exist and their existence is an unquestionable given.
Well that is true, I suppose.
Those monsters under the bed and in the closet seemed pretty damn real to me too when I was a child.
It's a simple question. Why does it make you uncomfortable that Faith (that is without adequate valid evidence, no valid evidence or even in defiance of validated evidence) is often considered to be a virtue in religion. Indeed, it seems that, the more one denies fact in favour of Faith, the stronger and more praiseworthy the faith is supposed to be.
Why does that make you uncomfortable? Or, if you maintain that it doesn't, why on earth doesn't it?
If I thought it was great to believe things on little no or counter evidence, I would deserve locking up and being given therapy.
If I thought it was great to believe things on little no or counter evidence, I would deserve locking up and being given therapy.
And like I said in another post, those who are given to believing in things on faith are ripe picking for con artists and confidence men.
Yeah, sure, buy this invisible car for only $50,000. You just need FAITH that there's really a car there. You have faith, dontchya?!
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