Well said. I usually hesitate to come into threads such as these because I do not wish to insult those among us that are religious. Due to the OP's delusional thinking that he has figured out some scientific reasoning for religion I had to respond. Religion should be about faith, not science, and I respect everyone's faith. I do not however respect delusional morons, the OP, who think they know better than everyone.
No. He is also out there sponsoring Charities, vollunteering 90% of his time and talking religion 10%
i was born catholic, it never took. there's no better template on how to treat others than jesus christ, but as far as him truly existing, i have serious doubts to that. not one contemporary historian of his time wrote about him. and if he did exist, he was probably just an extremely good man who got into trouble for doing the right things by the powers that be. aka- the romans. using the writings of people who lived in caves thousands of years ago does not bode well for our evolution is this day and age. evolution is about adding on whats necessary for survival and dropping whats no longer of use, and organized religion is no longer of use. all it does is divide everyone. it's stunting humaity's evolution for century upon century now, holy smokes is all ive got in regards to it. but, hey, whatever twirls your beanie then, let it rip. believe what you want.
No one would argue that the Bible doesn't include teachings that provide a good basis for everyone to live day to day. Does that mean it is an entirely factual book and should be interpreted as 100% truth? Not at all.
That's actually both not a fair assessment and not true. Most Romans of the time didn't write about Jesus because they despised him and/or because they would've faced persecution themselves. However, the great Roman historian and Senator Tacitus did write about the presence of a man the Jews called "christ" and how pontius pilate had him executed. On only one page of his greatest work of the History of the Roman Empire of the early AD years, around the time Jesus would've lived. The short one page reference in a 16 book compilation was done on purpose as Tactitus hated Christians., common to Roman scholars of the time period.... (which is why we have to rely on writings of people who lived in caves.... those living among the elites, the historians, the senators, etc... refuse to write about Jesus, and not because he didn't exist - they didn't want to end up living in caves themselves!)
i respect that Browning, but in the end, how do we know whats the truth anyway? history is written by liars, and also the winners of course. i guess my parents named me aptly, thomas, as in doubting thomas. interesting about tacitus, thank you for informing me on it, im interested.
Actually, religion is the only objective check on the abuse of power by world governments. Pope John Paul II, The Great (as he's now known) was the driving force behind the collapse of communism in europe. He grew up in Poland, was one of the most educated people of his time, fought and survived the Nazi's (some would say miraculously), and once inspired a huge crowd in Nazi-occupied Poland to chant repeatedly "We want God!", despite the fact that they were putting their lives in danger by doing so. When the rest of the world remained silent, perhaps out of fear and/or ignorance, the Catholic Church was the first to step in and oppose the Nazi's. They were a driving force behind the world rallying to defeat Hitler. The liberal media won't tell you this, of course. BTW, for those who don't believe in miracles, an expert sniper took direct aim at Pope John Paul II's heart in an assassination attempt, and incredibly the bullet just missed it's mark. The experienced assassin later said he was absolutely stunned he didn't kill him. And famously, the Pope later visited his attacker in prison and lovingly offered his forgiveness. The transforming power of Love! The genius of Christianity. World powers have come and gone, the Roman Empire tried and failed to "kill God", then the Roman Empire collapsed shortly thereafter and has been long forgotten. Yet the Catholic Church lives on, and is followed by billions worldwide to this day. Speaking of miracles ....
Those are supernatural miracles, witnessed by many actual human beings. Hundreds of people .... is it reasonable to claim that all of them were crazy, or delusional, or hallucinating, or whatever else you want to suggest? Too many perfectly sane, rational people living during the time of Jesus witnessed these things and changed their lives based on what they saw and experienced. St. Paul did a complete 360, turning from persecutor of the early church to one of the most energetic, well-traveled evangelists, enthusiastically devoting his life to teaching of the divinity of Jesus. Would a crazy man be able to teach so logically and coherently, write convincing letters to the surrounding towns, and just have the energy and worldliness to do what he did? He was one of the great figures of his time; a crazy man, a hallucinating drug addict, or a delusional wacko could not possibly have done so much and convinced so many people. But back to the question of science.....in the natural world, apart from miracles or anything supernatural, how could the universe and everything in it come into being from nothing, from the empty void of space? What originally set everything in motion? Where did matter or energy come from originally? Do you have a scientific explanation for that, or do you think it just all happened by "magic"? Go back as far as you want, and then tell me how that began, or came into being, following the laws of science, and remember that a primary law of science is that "matter and energy can never be created or destroyed, just change form". So is there a scientific explanation that makes sense, that doesn't violate scientific laws? Can you answer that question?
In one post you claim to be a scientist and can supposedly explain everything with science, but now there are miracles not explained by science. Got it, anything you can't explain was magic just because you can't explain it. Do yourself and everyone else a favor, just stop. There are posters on here I respect that happen to be religious, I respect their faith. Your attempt to put yourself above others does not show your faith only your unwarranted pomposity and is an affront to the faith of others. Your threads expose your lack of ability to follow the teachings of the bible. Where in the bible does it teach to continually draw attention to yourself?
Why do the self righteous zealots feel the constant need to rationalize their beliefs not only when challenged but out of a clear blue sky? As much as they profess there is none, the easy answer is the looming cloud of their own doubt for which they use these debates to try to convince themselves they are correct.
How am I "drawing attention to myself"?! I haven't said a word about myself, all I am doing is talking about OUR Catholic, Universal Faith, that we ALL share in common (or at least the approximately 2 billion Catholics worldwide). To be Catholic is to deny yourself and live for Christ. So when you try to claim I am "putting myself above others" that is just plain false and makes no sense. There is Science, and there is Religion (the Spiritual or Supernatural), they are not the same thing but they work together, and certainly do not contradict each other. In fact, Jesus Himself represented the union of God and Man, since He was both fully human and fully Divine. He demonstrated this throughout His life. There is the Natural and the Supernatural. If you don't know the difference between the Natural and the Supernatural, or between the Physical and the Spiritual, then look it up. Educate yourself on that, and then we can continue our discussion. And I am still waiting for your answer as to how science can explain the origin of the universe.
That's where the supernatural comes in. That's something we can't explain, given our limited human minds. I know that sounds like a cop out, but don't you think it's possible there are things we can't understand given the limitations of the human brain? The best answer I've heard is that God is not a creature, so he didn't need a creator. Instead, He is the essence of all being, of what it means to exist. "I am who am", as the Bible tells us was the way that God revealed Himself to Moses. I can't fully understand it, and I doubt anybody can, but that doesn't make it impossible. My main point is this: the physical, natural universe needed a supernatural Creator because, apart from that, science cannot explain what caused the universe to emerge out of nothing. The simple reason - that would violate the very laws of nature. It would violate everything that science teaches us. Nothing comes from nothing, matter and energy are never created or destroyed. That holds true for anything science is capable of explaining. Anything supernatural cannot be explained by science.
Personally I don't think an all powerful god would require people to worship him. What, is he that insecure?
