Author |
|
Scott Wagahoff Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 October 2019 Location: United States Posts: 150
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 11:56am | IP Logged | 1
|
post reply
|
|
I often think about how amazing and incredibly intricate the body is and how a certain section gives all the credit to a "creator".
Kind of how you're supposed to enjoy comic books. But if you start thinking too deeply about the hows and the whys then perhaps you've outgrown them.
So, to me, once you start trying to reason out how a single creator made all living things, then maybe you're too old for religion...?
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132374
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 12:57pm | IP Logged | 2
|
post reply
|
|
I like it!Most of us are indoctrinated when we’re very young. Reason isn’t fully part of our skill set. So we accept all kinds of fairy tales at face value. I’ve made the comparison of Jesus and Santa. Magical figures we’re taught about by the same authorities, assuring us both are real. But there comes a time when we are expected to abandon our belief in one of these beings—the one we’ve actually met. If all organized religions were subject to the same scrutiny as Santa Claus we’d likely be rid of them very quickly. But, of course, giving up Santa doesn’t carry the fear of horrifying punishment that religion instills in us.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Scott Wagahoff Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 10 October 2019 Location: United States Posts: 150
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 1:31pm | IP Logged | 3
|
post reply
|
|
"Be good or you'll be drowned in a snowbank by elves for eternity!"
I almost got in trouble at work once when by sheer luck I had been nearby when someone needed something throughout the day and they said "Wow, you're everywhere!". I responded without thinking "kinda like Jesus and Santa!". Fortunately they found it funny.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132374
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 2:35pm | IP Logged | 4
|
post reply
|
|
I recently watched a Jimmy Carr video in which he noted that Christians believe their salvation lies with a benevolent zombie. Literal minded as I sometimes am, I rejected this hypothesis. Zombies, properly, are animated (by magic) corpses, incapable of independent actions. Mindless puppets, basically. Jesus, on the other hand, rose from the dead with all of his faculties intact and his flesh uncorrupted. This after a ceremony in which he compelled his followers to eat his flesh and drink his blood.* Jesus is a vampire. ____________ *Literally. In fact, the literal nature of this is central to the faith.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Koroush Ghazi Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 October 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 1653
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 3:04pm | IP Logged | 5
|
post reply
|
|
I think it’s mean-spirited to mock the faithful. Remember, these are people who, without a moment’s hesitation, are willing to selflessly send out thoughtless prayers to anyone in trouble.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132374
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 3:08pm | IP Logged | 6
|
post reply
|
|
Never have understood prayer. If God is PERFECT, and his Plan is PERFECT, everything that happens is PERFECT.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Rebecca Jansen Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 February 2018 Location: Canada Posts: 4562
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 4:26pm | IP Logged | 7
|
post reply
|
|
Side-stepping the son; the father has at least seemed an absentee one, especially at critical moments... like genocides. Thinking about that is what really knocked the whole thing down for me. Still, I can find churches very beautiful and have admiration for some people who say they do believe. Acting on faith in the best sense is positive in my experience even if the supposed inspiration is absent to me, perhaps even more admirable if the actor in faith has serious doubts. I am very skeptical about altruism, probably since reading Rand. I suppose she might say the person acting on faith does it because selfishly it makes them feel good about themself? I'll take more of it either way, but in the quiet, not praying in public, manner.
Edited by Rebecca Jansen on 23 March 2024 at 4:27pm
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
| www
e-mail
|
|
Craig Earl Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 13 July 2019 Location: United Kingdom Posts: 1259
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 6:04pm | IP Logged | 8
|
post reply
|
|
Never have understood prayer. If God is PERFECT, and his Plan is PERFECT, everything that happens is PERFECT
-------------
Always had a problem with 'PERFECT'.
As a kid, I was always told that 'practice makes perfect.'
At the same time as being told 'nobody's perfect.'
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
John Wickett Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 12 July 2016 Location: United States Posts: 813
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 8:24pm | IP Logged | 9
|
post reply
|
|
"If God is PERFECT, and his Plan is PERFECT, everything that happens is PERFECT."
I don't think that follows. If there is a God, and he allows imperfect beings (us) to exercise free will, then a lot of things that happen will not be perfect; especially if perfect = good.
Isn't the purpose of Jesus to overcome our imperfections? A believer would argue that God's plan is perfect because he knew we would make mistakes, and that's why the plan included a savior.
To me, that is at least logical. I've never understood Christians who believe that Adam and Eve were supposed to remain in the Garden of Eden forever. If sin wasn't part of God's plan, then wasn't the plan defeated when they were cast out?...in which case, Jesus would be the backup plan?
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Koroush Ghazi Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 25 October 2009 Location: Australia Posts: 1653
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 9:50pm | IP Logged | 10
|
post reply
|
|
John Wickett wrote:
Isn't the purpose of Jesus to overcome our imperfections? |
|
|
Nope. He, and the convoluted mess of the “Holy Trinity” were invented to allow the clergy to peddle a religion and a God that were designed specifically by and for Jews to a broader audience.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
e-mail
|
|
John Byrne
Grumpy Old Guy
Joined: 11 May 2005 Posts: 132374
|
Posted: 23 March 2024 at 10:50pm | IP Logged | 11
|
post reply
|
|
If there is a God, and he allows imperfect beings (us) to exercise free will, then a lot of things that happen will not be perfect; especially if perfect = good.••• Again, God = perfect. God’s Plan = perfect. Anything we do = part of Plan.
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|
Byron Graham Byrne Robotics Member
Joined: 19 September 2004 Location: United States Posts: 928
|
Posted: 24 March 2024 at 3:20am | IP Logged | 12
|
post reply
|
|
Sometimes when people learn that I'm an atheist, they ask what drove me to make that choice. Their assumption is that I started out as a believer. I never did believe. But lately, when they ask why I'm an atheist, I say "This is the way God made me."
|
Back to Top |
profile
| search
|
|