[quote]Makavali wrote:
katzenjammer wrote:
Makavali wrote:
katzenjammer wrote:
Makavali wrote:
katzenjammer wrote:
StrongSurvive wrote:
How could God watch His creation burn like that?
He wept.
Instead of doing something. Mmkay.
There is no true love or kindness without free will. We must have the choice of evil if the choice for good is to have any meaning. Etc.
God is a pussy who does little more than cry. Ok.
Thank God he doesn’t live up to your simplistic “Rambo-style” expectations.
Hey I’m not really the one projecting humanity on to God. All organized religion is bullshit. For some reason people refuse to believe morality could be hardwired into our DNA.
Oh but I forget, there HAS to be some defect. How else would the Church/Mosque/Synagogue/Temple keep control?
:)[/quote]
I agree with some of what you wrote. I think we need these istitutions. I have seen many abuses in the Catholic church for one example. I have seen Islamic fascism. Now I’m a Lutheran. I have not seen a lot of bad ion my church. no sex scandals, no beheadings etc.
But without these religions, we would have lost the good in them and what they did. Early on these beliefs helped shape our governments and helped to preserve knowledge. And they killed people and attempted to control their citizens to a much greater degree.
Us Lutherans were the first to break away from the Catholic church. I would like to say it succeeded because of the superiority of how Luther looked at things, but I would be lying if I didn’t mention that the German princes wouldn’t have to worry about hell and now didn’t have TO PAY TAXES TO ROME! Earliest tax dodge I know of.
To me big organized religions have good in them and you have to focus on that. but like any big organization in them, there will eb bad. It doesn’t mean the message is bad.
People these days recoil at you using religious beliefs that have trained your morality and telling them not to do this or that. Let’s say sex. Don’t have sex until you are married.
Don’t put your morality on me! I’m pregnant or have an STD, someone else help me!. This is one reason we the people pressure the government for various laws in regards to behavior right or wrong.
I practice in a small town in Pa. You would not believe in the amount of unwed grossly obese unmarried welfare cases I see strolling their kids around all day. We are paying for their lapse in judgment and morality. Pick one.
What I mean is if you use religious means to guide your decisions, good ole right and wrong, I think most would be better off. Or maybe a better way of putting it, is which one of the ten commandments is a bad idea. Because many religious people display hypocrisy, does not mean the teaching are bad.
In this country, lets say that all of a sudden no one cheated on a spouse, or had risky sex. Most would agree that this would better all of us. More stable homes, less people on welfare would free up tax dollars by the billions.
To me religion has taught me personal responsibility and kindness and respect for others. this does not mean I won’t grit my teeth at people taking advantage of the system or not speak out against abuses.
Let’s look at health care now. Years ago I read an article were a prominent researcher said we could reduce our health care costs by 50% if people chose healthier life styles. I would agree that is a plausible estimate. I do not know the figures, so I’ll put that one out there.
Do you ever hear a candidate in this country say that people need to shape up, change their lifestyles, knock off the booze and ciggies and seem some brocolli for once? Again no personal responsibility.
Believe it or not there are bible verses about how to eat, and versus condemning gluttony. Does it really matter if more people took their cues from the bible to get in shape?
I think more people in this country need more moral guidance that would overall benefit us. where ever they get it is okay to me, but it would seem that the teachings of Jesus would be a great place to start.
