Shaky Basis for Beliefs

by donkey 5 Replies latest jw friends

  • donkey
    donkey

    I am constantly amazed at believers. They are impossible to argue/reason with as their basis for their positions is not founded on logic but on desire and emotion.

    For instance, I was having lunch with a colleague and the subject of Human Cloning came up. We spoke specifically of the South Korean scientists who have now cloned human embryos for the purpose of stem cell extraction. He said he was dead set against this. Of course I asked him: ?Why??

    His response: ?Because it is abortion?.

    I asked him: ?J*** you are religious and I know you believe that those who are saved go to heaven. But what happens to babies who are aborted ? since they have not had a chance to accept Jesus and become saved??

    ?Why they go to heaven of course?, he responded.

    ?Well then if that is true then by aborting them we are ensuring that they never have a chance to reject God and thus end up in hell?, I countered. ?Why is that an issue? If I could be guaranteed of going to heaven I would take the guarantee?.

    By this time his demeanor had changed considerably and muttered something like: ?we can?t play God?, which I considered an admission of defeat in the short debate. We changed the subject and enjoyed the rest of our meal.

    This is just one case in point, though. I am constantly amazed at what people base their lives on and the systems they use to control their lives (even being willing to die for these illogical systems). Others tell me that we cannot use human logic to understand or explain these issues since they have to do with God. I reject that argument because I am a human. If God created me as a human then my human instincts and human intellects are the tools he has bestowed me with. I have never seen any claims of God asking us to be anything other than human ? have you?

  • Blueblades
    Blueblades

    Hi Jack! Along with this discussion,what are your thought on Mel Gibbson's movie "The Passion of Christ".My take is that it is based on a belief system founded on what is written in the Bible that the Catholic Church Canonized.

    Unless there is historical proof that lines up with Mel's movie then it is just that,another movie about a man who many believe was / is God according to some book as a basis for that belief system.I would appreciate very much your thinking on this controversial movie that some are claiming is anti-semitic.

    Blueblades

  • ColdRedRain
    ColdRedRain

    My basis for the belief that stem cell research is wrong is because it encourages eugenics and can lead to the dehumanizing of perfectly healthy embryoes for monatary gain.

  • BluesBrother
    BluesBrother

    I take it that your stem cell discussion was a "For instance" , rather than the main point.

    Why do humans stick to beliefs despite evidence to the contrary? .. I dont know, but is this not true of humankind in general, not just religious ones?

    In the field of philosophy, politics, even science , belief patterns have their diehard adherants despite continued developing knowkedge. Maybe it is a question of human psychology , or pride, rather than just fundamental Christianity .

  • worldlygirl
    worldlygirl

    Many people's beliefs are ingrained over time and never questioned. I asked a friend one time how she could possible be against capital punishment, but pro-abortion? How could she reconcile the desire to protect the guilty and not the innocent? She admitted she had never thought of it that way.

    I'm not trying to say I was in agreement or disagreement with her.... My point is that sometimes people's beliefs are just based on emotion and can't really be reconciled.

  • JamesThomas

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