I am glad you have peace in your heart and that you think about your faith. All these discussions have happened before, many of them done by people who have PhD in this stuff (I don't think either of us has one). For any argument offered by one side about the evil in the world, the creation, the benevolent god and his/her/its children etc. there's a rebuttle that Christian science has failed to address.
You didn't offered any logical explanations to the topics originally discussed and from my side, your arguments did sound preachy. You probably didn't mean it that way, but it definetely came out as such.
I think you're feeling personally attacked and I am sorry about that, it's about the concept and not you personally. Whatever belief system makes you a better and happier person is great, we all need one, but I would not admit that Christian theology has basis in science or logic.
Allright then. I will not ask you to look critically on your religious believes but please don't preach to others if you don't have a good argument to support it.
No,
I was not trying to point to make you look silly. What I was trying to do is to make you consider even a remote possibility to re-think the world around you and not fall into the comfortable "God loves me and I am special" dogma that has been beaten into most of the Western world since childhood. And don't be condosending-- I had lived in Christian community and had to take plenty Theology classes and got enough of "so sorry, you're great person but you're going to hell" looks. I have read the book you mentioned and many others as I was naive enough to consider that Christians around me were capabale of intelligent argument on the topic. Instead, I got "God exists and he loves me, I just know it. Otherwise, I would not feel special" And if you want some intelligent reading, I can suggest Richard Dawkins' "The Improbability of God" But something tells me that you're so wrapped up in your believes, that it's too scary to assume the possibilty that we might be alone, a possibility that belittles our self-worth, and to even imagine that the humankind might not be the "God's Image" and the best thing that happened to this world. I can hardly blame you-- all those generations of people who lived and killed in God's name must be right and the Bible must be faxed directly from Heaven and not selected by humans in 4th century (I will not insult your intelligence by pointing out the Wiki article on that).
Please explain why a benevolent god would let a sixteen year old die from a gang rape? So they could "experience and learn"? Sorry, this arguement doesn't stand even the most primitive questioning.
I hate to generalize, but unless you've lived in a country where the fear of being ritually killed for your nationality is real right now, this is all just theory. I am from Saint Petersburg, where State University is instituting a shuttle system for foreign students to be taken from classes to the dorms because they get beaten up or killed at least monthly by the skinheads.
Yes, there's right to assemble and talk why the whites/blacks/asians/etc are the best but how and where do yo draw a line if an organization does nothing other than provide means for extermination of a population segment? So, yeah 17-year-olds who did the stabbing go to jail but the ones who brainwash them remain free.
I obviously value the freedom of speech since I now live in US and not Russia but some things should be off limits.
I
So then the particular member of the group would go to jail but the rest of the organization would contunue on until every single participant is convicted?
Censorship is a slippery slope. I agree with the Neo-Nazism ban in Europe--oftentimes, it's the only weapon the authorities have in the fight against hate crimes. http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?sto ry=604279 However, in the same Russia, the entire mass-media is controlled by the government and independent news media tend to "mysteriously" go out of business.
Is your security more important than your freedom?
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I am glad you have peace in your heart and that you think about your faith. All these discussions have happened before, many of them done by people who have PhD in this stuff (I don't think either of us has one). For any argument offered by one side about the evil in the world, the creation, the benevolent god and his/her/its children etc. there's a rebuttle that Christian science has failed to address. You didn't offered any logical explanations to the topics originally discussed and from my side, your arguments did sound preachy. You probably didn't mean it that way, but it definetely came out as such. I think you're feeling personally attacked and I am sorry about that, it's about the concept and not you personally. Whatever belief system makes you a better and happier person is great, we all need one, but I would not admit that Christian theology has basis in science or logic.
Allright then. I will not ask you to look critically on your religious believes but please don't preach to others if you don't have a good argument to support it.
No, I was not trying to point to make you look silly. What I was trying to do is to make you consider even a remote possibility to re-think the world around you and not fall into the comfortable "God loves me and I am special" dogma that has been beaten into most of the Western world since childhood. And don't be condosending-- I had lived in Christian community and had to take plenty Theology classes and got enough of "so sorry, you're great person but you're going to hell" looks. I have read the book you mentioned and many others as I was naive enough to consider that Christians around me were capabale of intelligent argument on the topic. Instead, I got "God exists and he loves me, I just know it. Otherwise, I would not feel special" And if you want some intelligent reading, I can suggest Richard Dawkins' "The Improbability of God" But something tells me that you're so wrapped up in your believes, that it's too scary to assume the possibilty that we might be alone, a possibility that belittles our self-worth, and to even imagine that the humankind might not be the "God's Image" and the best thing that happened to this world. I can hardly blame you-- all those generations of people who lived and killed in God's name must be right and the Bible must be faxed directly from Heaven and not selected by humans in 4th century (I will not insult your intelligence by pointing out the Wiki article on that).
Please explain why a benevolent god would let a sixteen year old die from a gang rape? So they could "experience and learn"? Sorry, this arguement doesn't stand even the most primitive questioning.
I hate to generalize, but unless you've lived in a country where the fear of being ritually killed for your nationality is real right now, this is all just theory. I am from Saint Petersburg, where State University is instituting a shuttle system for foreign students to be taken from classes to the dorms because they get beaten up or killed at least monthly by the skinheads. Yes, there's right to assemble and talk why the whites/blacks/asians/etc are the best but how and where do yo draw a line if an organization does nothing other than provide means for extermination of a population segment? So, yeah 17-year-olds who did the stabbing go to jail but the ones who brainwash them remain free. I obviously value the freedom of speech since I now live in US and not Russia but some things should be off limits. I
So then the particular member of the group would go to jail but the rest of the organization would contunue on until every single participant is convicted?
Censorship is a slippery slope. I agree with the Neo-Nazism ban in Europe--oftentimes, it's the only weapon the authorities have in the fight against hate crimes. http://news.independent.co.uk/europe/story.jsp?sto ry=604279 However, in the same Russia, the entire mass-media is controlled by the government and independent news media tend to "mysteriously" go out of business.
Is your security more important than your freedom?