God's will or free will? (page 5)

logical

Larc, you are

(Censored)

NEVER post to me again

larc

Other thoughts on religion.

Religion has had a pretty poor track record over time.

On the plus side, it has helped the poor down trodden over centuries keep a modicum of hope. On the negative side, it does nothing to lift them out of that poverty, since they look for pie in the sky some day. Furhtermore, religion has been used by despots to keep the poor drugged and in their place. I don't agree with Marx's philosophy, but I agree with his statement, "religion is the opiate of the people."

As a way to explaing the world, religion has less and less to offer while science has more. People don't believe that the god Thor throws thunder bolts from heaven any more. Modern metiorology (sp) offers a better explanation. Most people don't believe that the mentally ill are deonized, although their is a cultural lag among some of the fundies on this subject. There is very strong evidence that schizophrenia, for example, is a geneticly inherited brain desease.

As far as I am concerned, religion, at least in its organized form is the home to fear, superstition, hate, repression, murder of the infidel, and depression/self loathing among the believers. This is not a home I care to live in.

larc

Thoughts on the fundys,

I have read with great interest, the words of the fundies over the past several months here on the DB. It was an opportunity to see how their minds work. It seems that they believe that they, for the first time since Christ, have been able to unlock the keys of ambiguous scriptures. This has been a result of either God's holy spirit or their own keen intellect or a combination of both. Now, when their prophesy fails like all such have failed for 2,000 years, they have one of two choices. One, they can reinterprete the scriptures and change the dates, like the Witnesses have done or two, they can admit they are wrong like Miller, the founder of the Seventh Day Adventists did, although his organized religion continued to believe.

Also, the fundys seem to have a supreme arragance stemming from their self percieved perfect knowledge system. This is logically coupled with a distain for others who do not share their view. When asked a reasonable, logical question, they hurl insults thick and fast. Love and mercy is not in their vocabulary, at least not on this board. Awhile back I posted a large number of scriptural quotes. Not a single fundy responded to them, while a number in the nonfundy class expressed appreciation. As far as fundys go, "by their fruits you shall know them".

To the fundys, I have a suggestion: set up a good retirement plan.

larc

PS,

I forgot to mention in my last post, that the long list of scriptures that I posted had to do with the subject of love.

larc

Psychologists view of religion,

Psychologists functioning in their role as scientists, can not prove anything about God. However, they can and have studied the effects of different beliefs on the believers. At one extreme, those who believe that God is a vengeful killer and that people are worthless sinners have a high rate of suicide, depression, and other forms of both mental and physical illnesses that make their lives miserable and tend to shorten it. Those, at the other extreme, who believe that God is love and is a source of support and comfort through prayer have much happier well adjusted lives and live much longer. As a result of these beliefs, they tend to love themselves despite their own imperfections. They also, are less judgemental of others and demonstrate more love towards them as well. They tend to follow the advice of St. Augastine, "Hate the sin, but love the sinner."

ianao

hey larc:

Are you describing fundemantalists or millenialists? I thought "fundys" were the folks that were stuck in the gospels, and the "millenialists" were stuck in armegeddon.

larc

Ianao,

I was using the word fundy, to apply to those who believe that all of the Bible is true. You are right that some of these aren't into end of time predictions. I guess I should refer to the subset as "the sky is falling fundies."

ianao

Oh ok.

Sorry larc.

(Interesting info, BTW).

larc

TW,

Earlier on this thread, you asked me to more fully elaborate on my ideas. I wrote a considerable amount today, so, I am interested in some feedback on my several posts.

I wrote a lot today, and I thought I would run out of my 25 posts before I ran out of beer, and that would have been a real tragedy. :):):)

mommy

Larc!
You are drinking and posting? Mommy is shaking her head I have enjoyed your posts tremendously today though. The way you let the insults just roll off your back is incredible....is it the Budweiser or your personality? I hope to attain that without the influence of alcohol, but if I can't I will run down to the store and get a 6 pack...after the kids go to bed of course
Btw you actually have 50 posts you can use a day, just pop in under Zazu's name and put a disclaimer at the top that it is you so you can keep on typing
Lotsa love and keep up the good work!
wendy

God's will or free will?

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