De-Evolution | 40 comments (40 topical, 0 hidden)
Mystical (none / 0)
This point of view has not been presented to most Christians. In fact, the few I have run this theory by were very receptive. Off-handedly dismissing religion costs us votes unnecessarily.

I do not believe that God has his hand in everything that happens. Otherwise there would be no suffering, no pain, no sadness and no death. One of the great mysteries of faith is the importance of choice and our ability to chose beween right and wrong, good and bad.

Would we have grown as a people if God handed us everything?

I acknowledge that you could very well be right. But I choose to believe differently. Just because I believe in God doesn't mean that I have to disagree with science. It also doesn't mean that I assume that non-believers are evil

There is nothing wrong with a healthy respect for others, whether you "believe" or not

by LORD FOUL on 03/23/2008 03:17:49 PM EST

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Before I'm written off as an Atheist... (none / 0)
I must admit that I do not think that Atheism is necessarily correct either.  I see Einstein's universal thory of relativity as being the closest thing to "god" as we can possibly imagine.  It seems that there is this undying urge to give "god" a human-like intelligenc e, and this seems to convolute a lot of interpretations of what god is.  If "god" is a unifying force that keeps the universe together on it's smallest scale, then wouldn't that be all-powerful to an extent?  I just have a hard time linking any sort of human emotion to god...it is very egocentric of us to think that "god" is anything like a human...obviously there is that scripture about being made in "his" image, but there is also the time on Mt. Sinai that god appears in a cloud, because "the appearance is too brilliant for human understanding"...i understand the desire to link the creationism story and god to evolution, but at the same time, it still gives the false sense that "god" is the one driving evolution, and not nature.  Now, if you want to start describing "god" as all natural events...then you're not really christian anymore...and to say that god does not have a hand in suffering or death is to give god credit for all things good, and absolve it from all things we perceive as bad...this is a common practice among religions to shape "god" based on our understanding of good and bad.  this means that death is not good or bad, it simply is.  In our lives, it takes on positive and negative qualities, but in the big picture, you cannot have life without death, so death cannot possibly be bad.  I am not dismissing religion, in fact, I spent the earliest years of my life studying it RELIGIOUSLY...(unfortunatel y).  I have taken ideas from Christianity, Hinduism, Taoism, Islam, and integrated them into my values, however some things from each religion must be critically examined.  After these examinations, and comparisons with scientific research, it is hard not to sound dismissive of religion, but it is because of so much evidence to say that parts of these religions are wrong...(i.e. stoning someone to death for blasphemy)

by chrisandyasemin on 03/23/2008 05:14:01 PM EST

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A pantheist! A pantheist! (none / 0)

Another scientific pantheist!  RUN!!!

(The only reason that I don't dismiss religion is because it still has so many adherents.  But our species learns, and although their primitive beliefs have held back our progress for centuries, their ideology will not last forever.  As I said, people want to use logic.  I expect that one day there won't even be any scientific pantheists like me, and that also will be a good thing.  But wouldn't it be interesting to see what comes next?)

by EveningStarNM on 03/23/2008 05:28:39 PM EST

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what is a pantheist??? (none / 0)
I guess I am a naturalistic pantheist huh?  I wasn't even familiar with the term until today, but apparently they hold a very common viewpoint with me...amazingly enough though, I still think Taoism has the best fundamental inclusion of scientific properties into their belief structure.  A lot of the things that Taoists believe, like the Macrocosm vs. the microcosm, are untestable, yet we have experiences that will mimic these situations( i.e. hope to manifestation) 

by chrisandyasemin on 03/23/2008 08:23:48 PM EST

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De-Evolution | 40 comments (40 topical, 0 hidden)