Dear Perry
You know nothing of me and yet you deem yourself able to judge that I am not good and am not moral. I wish now to have an open discussion with you putting aside your judgement of me......................and this comes from a girl who would move snails off the path to avoid their destruction by a human foot.
The problem I have with your views is that there is something unprincipled about asking people to adopt God/religion because it helps them to behave well and not because it is true. There is a distinction between sin and immorality. Sin is essentially a religious idea or in other words disobedience to God, it works on the basis of compliance rather than consent, a blind obedience rather than co-operating with an end that is understood and volunatirly accepted. Sin is not only committing what is forbidden by God, but refusing to what is commanded by God. For some reasoning people the problem lies is that history has shown that many of the claims made on the behalf of God have subsequently been rejected for moral reasons.
Moral reasoning is based on observed consequences,not on beliefs, superstitions or preferences. A wrong act is one that manifestly harms others or their interests, violates their rights or causes injustices. We do not require belief in God to recognise that it is not right to harm others. For some saying that an act is wrong because it is forbidden by God, is not enough unless we can also justify it on moral grounds..........for example some may say that God forbids masturbation you are having a religious discourse not one that is based on morals. For it to be a moral problem it needs to be proven that it is harmful.
The fact is that none are perfect. We could debate endlessly about how this design fault originated. The facts also are that there is neither CONCLUSIVE proof of evolution or the existence of God. We are therefore in the position where we have to choose how we live our lives. For you to say that someone is neither good nor moral based on your own choice of belief is judgenmental. You accuse me of judging others (whilst having no knowledge of me) and yet I strive not to judge others.................you accuse me of being a liar, or of having told lies and yet I strive to be completely honest with people..................you accuse me of stealing and yet I am the first person to point out to a cashier if they have undercharged me, so as to avoid trouble they may meet with their employer.................do I do these things as an act of obedience to a God....................the simple answer to that is, No.
I am not required to justify my actions to you on behalf of God....................if he exists he knows me and he knows my heart...........he knows my motivation...............and ultimately if he is exists he may judge me.
Do you think he requires you to judge others? Do you think your way of dealing with others draws them to your God or alienates them from him? Nothing you have said during these pages has given me any reason to be associated with the system of beliefs you follow and the God you serve. And yet if there was proof of a God who is loving and cares for humankind I would want to serve him. Your first thread here spoke of how you came to realise how true love acts, can you summarize to me how exactly 'true love' acts?
Fifi
