30 replies to this topic

[Professor T]

and then, on 06 October 2012 - 11:45 PM, said:

Being told about a way to live that is for a person's benefit isn't the same as being forced into anything.  It's simply a choice that has to be made or rejected.  But the instructions (I've always thought) come as a package deal.

Quite contradictory..

Being told about a way to live.. yes, is not being forced..

It's simply a choice that has to be made or rejected... correct.. We are the masters of these choices..

But the instructions (I've always thought) come as a package deal.. wrong imo...
If one chooses to live by a certain scripture or policical offiliation or anything at all as far as belief goes, it is up to that idividual to find is own way towards that goal, and not a set of instructions.. Life, religion, politics, ways of being, these are fluid concepts that change and transform from generation to generation and as such a written set of instuctions serves only to dam and obstruct the flow.. instructions on how to live, in any way or form, are counter productive.. Sure there are aspects of it that should we written in stone, but it's up to an idividual to choose to accept these aspects.. But should not accept instruction..

Edited by Professor T, 07 October 2012 - 08:43 PM.

[Yamato]

Br Cornelius, on 06 October 2012 - 05:54 AM, said:

Though you make perfectly good points, to deny the malign influence of religious fanatics is disingenuous. People like "and then" would not be rabid zionists without religious fanaticism. Iran has a strong influence of apocalyptic fanaticism at the highest levels of Government.  To deny the religious influence within the Taliban and Hamas is to deny reality. These people maybe bolstered by short sighted foreign interventions - but their innate brutality to others not of their faith is entirely derived from the religious aspects of their beliefs.

The overwhelmingly negative aspect to all this is that these people do not see the death of millions as anything but inevitable and something to look forward to. That is a dangerous addition to an already dangerous demographic.

Br Cornelius

Religion doesn't drag its unwilling government kicking and screaming to war.  It's government that uses religion as an excuse to raise the ire of the people so they're willing to accept war to solve problems.

The world wouldn't cease being greedy, evil, corrupt, violent, terrorist, or self-interested at someone else's expense if God is dead.   God doesn't provide real reasons to be any of these things; it's just a dirty excuse people use to kill one another for the real reasons people kill each other - land, resources, and power.