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Also, when you sing "Jesus Loves Me This I Know" and "Jesus Loves the Children of the World" there is the fact that Jesus lived two thousand years ago, and everyone who lived two thousand years ago died and are incapable of loving anyone, to consider. "The Bible tells me so," that the Earth one stopped rotating on command from Joshua, hordes of dead people came up out of their graves, according to Gospel Matthew, and that God is an omnipotent Being who makes mistakes. Among other preposterous claims.
In other words, perhaps it's time to outgrow the childish notions that are found in the Bible.
"Twinkle, twinkle little star. How I wonder what you are." Stars are not "diamonds in the sky" at all. They are giants balls of mostly hydrogen and helium undergoing thermonuclear reactions, very very far away. It's possible to grow up and actually know things. But it does require putting our childlike assumptions behind us.
Good point. I wonder if all this confusion is just a crossing point in time of child-to-adult understandings.
Those of the kingdom of heaven have no need to ask, for God knows every need.
(Matthew 6:30-34) First one must seek "His kingdom, and His righteousness; and all these things shall be added to you".
As for praying to God, he apparently does not hear the prayers of a sinner. (John 9:31)
In order for one to repent, they must know what they need to repent from.
That is hard for the hypocrite and the doubleminded.
Darn it...I thought I had found a kindred soul at your first sentence, I bolded.
Homeless, no. But I have been unemployed, and gotten tremendous help from the church. And not just the church writing me a check, but individuals within the church deciding to bless me and my family. With money, food, gift certificates, short-term work, and encouragement.
Homeless, no. But I have been unemployed, and gotten tremendous help from the church. And not just the church writing me a check, but individuals within the church deciding to bless me and my family. With money, food, gift certificates, short-term work, and encouragement.
Alas, organized religion does seem to have an edge with this type of support, and from what I have seen, the Baptists and LDS are particularly supportive.
Good point. I wonder if all this confusion is just a crossing point in time of child-to-adult understandings.
Why do we stop believing in Santa's flying reindeer, and yet continue to believe that Jesus actually returned to life and flew away? The answer, for most people, is because their parents always expected them to, nudge nudge wink wink, grow out of believing in Santa, but were dead serious about believing in a flying reanimated corpse. Because that's the process THEY went through. The question is not whether or not we grew up to be smarter than our parents. The question is whether or not we grew up to be less ignorant than our parents.
I was born in the 1940's. Relatively few people in the 1940's graduated college. Today graduating college is quite common. My parents graduated high school, something that was itself considered quite an academic achievement not many generations ago. I hold multiple degrees. So the answer to the question, "Are the people of my generation less ignorant than their parents" is a resounding YES! People are much better educated today than their grandparents were. Being less ignorant necessarily means being able to put the ignorant make believe that was accepted as common knowledge by the earlier generations behind us. We are not smarter than our parents. But we are and should be less ignorant.
Being less ignorant and being less childlike in our understanding of how the universe works as a result go hand in hand.
Homeless, no. But I have been unemployed, and gotten tremendous help from the church. And not just the church writing me a check, but individuals within the church deciding to bless me and my family. With money, food, gift certificates, short-term work, and encouragement.
If indeed that does happen (and unverified claims are not unknown) what a wonderful system to have the church support some people out of the money they get from them and pay no taxes on thus enabling the party the church supports and which supports them, to cut any commie atheist government help programs. Thus enslaving the people to the church even more and edging that bit closer to a US Christian fundamentalist theocracy.
Alas, organized religion does seem to have an edge with this type of support, and from what I have seen, the Baptists and LDS are particularly supportive.
Supportive of whom? Support their enemies, or their friends? Do not the Gentiles/wicked support their friends? (Matthew 5:42-48)
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