It shouldn’t, but it does. The many centuries of discouraging science in favor of theism has certainly reduced human progress and the quality of human life. Religion affects many levels of society and even has its own words on our money and coins. Try being an atheist politician, the bigotry against the non-religious is rife.
Or perhaps seeking ways to see how it can have less of an influence.
Or perhaps that I might meet someone like you who might be here because they have significant doubts about their religious beliefs and are looking for someone to help them make sense of religious chaos.
I assume you are joking, right? Please quote your source.
So it is God who you consider the bully then?
No, you only speak on behalf of your beliefs. So far you have been unable to show that they are true.
So anything good you might say is not of your free will but comes from God, but everything else you say, which must be bad then, are your own words. This implies you have relinquished all your ability and free will to say anything good in your own name. That seems very sad.
Thanks for the suggestion and in kind I suggest you try to understand the scientific method and how truth is really determined. Here is a good link to get you started –
And here is an explanation to the flaws of Pascal’s Wager.
Catholicism is the doctrin of the Church, the
Were're confessing directly to God and the priest is just listening.
We do have proof. Charity and praying
Those are human actions they do not constitute proof for the existence of a god.
Other people. We know they exist. But charity is of little value. The best way to help others is to show them how to fend for themselves so that charity becomes unnecessary. Calling on an imaginary god and hoping he will solve the problems of the world is a waste of time when you could be taking direct action and doing it yourself.
Isn’t the ultimate act of selfishness praying to a god for salvation in the hope that you will achieve eternal life? Isn't the entire Christian ethic essentially selfish? Don't you do good to others becuase you expect to be rewarded in heaven?
And gives us death in the form of cancer, disease, and pain. Where is the love from such gifts?
Well not a mathematical proof but there is joy that
Helping others and showing them to fend for themselves
Eternal life with our creator. Love is not selfish and so we
LOL, perhaps we should discuss what is meant by irrational good. But really, enjoyment of life, and many enjoy helping others, is independent of whether a god exists or not. Wanting to do good is no indication of the existence of a god.
I think we could be splitting hairs here but charity is usually considered an act of giving and not of education.
Agreed.
Faith has nothing to do with the problem. It is purely a matter of ignorance.
Is a reward for following his rules, i.e. doing good.
Then why love? What is the motivation for giving love if you don’t receive something in return? Giving love is a pleasurable experience. People give love because it makes them feel good, i.e. they receive the reward of pleasure.
Doesn’t that prove my point, you do good because you expect to be rewarded by receiving the love of a supreme being?
You believe that mankind somehow evolved into a creature
If you only love because you will get something back
I don't see this really as a reward though. Our creator loves
There has been proof. 70,000 saw the miracle of fatima.
No, the other way round. We know that mankind evolved from simpler life. What we don’t know is all the steps that were involved.
Much of which is through ignorance which is slowly being displaced by the knowledge being generated by science. And much is through our lack of intelligence which we need to increase through genetic and/or technological enhancements.
You are confusing conscious recognition with emotional recognition. You love because you are genetically disposed to love. Your neuronal patterns and hormonal systems predispose you to engage in love. This evolved mechanism increases the chances for species survival.
Then you need to explain hell and why the alleged creator will kill you or torment you in hell if you do not do good. Most of the history of Christianity was about the fear of hell as a reason to believe. The emphasis on love is a relatively recent innovation.
Not quite. 70,000 were present and expected to see something, and some actually claimed there was an event, but what would you expect if you stared at the sun directly for any length of time. At best you have an unexplained phenomenon. More probably you have a set of optical illusions interpreted as a miracle by a number of devout Catholics fully expecting to see something. But there are just as many if not more claims that the event was a UFO.
Praying of any kind is anti-Christian. I mean, God has a divine plan, yet you think you have the right to ask him to make amendments as and when it suits you?
I don't really see good persay in intelligence.
It would not be suprising that those who do not
But they have no choice just as you don’t. If you are Christian then your desire is to achieve eternal life with God. What you call selflessness and true love are just some of the rules you must follow to achieve what you have been promised.
So the architect and creator of everything can’t find something? Do you realize how idiotic that statement is?
Yes you can since he designed you, allegedly. How you think and what you think is a direct result of his design.
But if you don’t then you will go to hell. A very loving god indeed. As the bible says – the only way to God is through your belief and acceptance of Jesus as your savior.
No not really. Hell is the result if you don’t accept Jesus as your savior and genuinely ask for forgiveness. Hell is the result for truly selfless and very loving people who simply do not recognize Jesus as a savior.
So does this mean that no one is charitable unless they believe in God? You know that can’t be true and I’ll give you a list if you like. But clearly it doesn’t require a belief in God for people to be charitable or good.
Then mankind is just a bunch of puppets. If you remove our ability to choose between good and bad then being human is pointless.
I've found that most of the non-catholic sites are so non-catholic that it's extremely biased. The people did not expected a sign
This is the image on the tilda. The woman clothed
She has been appeared numerous times before