I doubt that any normal human being could keep a straight face throughout the listing of their sins!
What is your religion / faith?
- Thread starter Bon
- Start date
I doubt that any normal human being could keep a straight face throughout the listing of their sins!
The catholic church has recently discounted purgatory as a belief, claiming that it was oudated theology.
when did they say the bible was from again, it seems they are being quite hypocritical there
Thought i'd chuck this into the melting pot
Heres a few blokes that dabbled in science and still had time to communicate with big G,whatever they conceived the "great score keeper" to be.
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) Astronomer and mathematician
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627) First dude to devise scientific inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Mathematician and astronomer
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Astronomer
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Mathmetician
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Early physicist,mathmetician,mechanical engineer and chemist
Robert Boyle (1791-1867) Chemist and physicist
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) Revolutionised physics with his work on electromagnetism and electricity.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) Made breakthroughs to pave the way to the mathematical foundation for genetics.
William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907) Physicist who amongst other things estimated that the earth was 500 million years old,dodgy estimate but longer than 7 days,he didnt understand enough about radiogenic heating at the time.
Max Planck (1858-1947) Of the Plancks constant fame.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Well,you dont have to be Einstein to know who he is.
Heres a few blokes that dabbled in science and still had time to communicate with big G,whatever they conceived the "great score keeper" to be.
Nicholas Copernicus (1473-1543) Astronomer and mathematician
Sir Francis Bacon (1561-1627) First dude to devise scientific inquiry based on experimentation and inductive reasoning.
Johannes Kepler (1571-1630) Mathematician and astronomer
Galileo Galilei (1564-1642) Astronomer
Rene Descartes (1596-1650) Mathmetician
Isaac Newton (1642-1727) Early physicist,mathmetician,mechanical engineer and chemist
Robert Boyle (1791-1867) Chemist and physicist
Michael Faraday (1791-1867) Revolutionised physics with his work on electromagnetism and electricity.
Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) Made breakthroughs to pave the way to the mathematical foundation for genetics.
William Thomson Kelvin (1824-1907) Physicist who amongst other things estimated that the earth was 500 million years old,dodgy estimate but longer than 7 days,he didnt understand enough about radiogenic heating at the time.
Max Planck (1858-1947) Of the Plancks constant fame.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) Well,you dont have to be Einstein to know who he is.
In all fairness buddy many of those chaps lived in an era when to not be the local religion was reason enough for a lynching.
That is a factor true,i'm not contesting that,but it would be relatively safe to say that very few if any would have been coerced to practice,it was a social norm as you quite rightly say.People knew nothing different and were born to it,it was the binding fabric of society for along period.
i think the point i was trying to make was that if scientists (or "natural philosophers" as they were known as in Gallileos time ) of this calibre were able to reconcile religious worldviews with their chosen scientific endeavours and pursue their goals to success and beyond,then it kind of suggests that the two angles (science and faith/religion) are not irreconcilable as some have suggested.
I've seen alot of stuff posted about religion as a form of social control,
In a European context there is pile after pile after pile of documented instances where power systems have been influenced by the preisthood to the point of becoming an almost blatant theocracy,where religious ideals were twisted and used to suppress peoples,subjugate nations and even Kings and queens for several hundred years. Colonial Britain used that method more than once for sure.
The church and state were as one from the Byzantine period up until very recently in some parts of the world,and therefore politics and religion became one,a very shadowy,dangerous and volatile happenstance that gave rise to many a dark period in history.
But whether this is a function of religious beleifs or politics disguised as religious beleifs is debatable.
i think the point i was trying to make was that if scientists (or "natural philosophers" as they were known as in Gallileos time ) of this calibre were able to reconcile religious worldviews with their chosen scientific endeavours and pursue their goals to success and beyond,then it kind of suggests that the two angles (science and faith/religion) are not irreconcilable as some have suggested.
I've seen alot of stuff posted about religion as a form of social control,
In a European context there is pile after pile after pile of documented instances where power systems have been influenced by the preisthood to the point of becoming an almost blatant theocracy,where religious ideals were twisted and used to suppress peoples,subjugate nations and even Kings and queens for several hundred years. Colonial Britain used that method more than once for sure.
The church and state were as one from the Byzantine period up until very recently in some parts of the world,and therefore politics and religion became one,a very shadowy,dangerous and volatile happenstance that gave rise to many a dark period in history.
But whether this is a function of religious beleifs or politics disguised as religious beleifs is debatable.
I guess I am pretty Karmic belief wise. It's nice to be nice.
If I can do a good deed for someone or not, usually I will in the hope that good things will come to me. In a local McDonalds car park (the same one where I saved the life of a Diabetic who worked there), a woman parked the front of her Audi on the kerb, in the space next to mine. I heard it, went to help...put the bumper back on. She was sh!tting bricks about what her husband would say, because two side grills were fooked and weren't gonna go back in. She thanked me and went inside. I found the nearest Audi dealer, got the part number and price and took the details in so she could go get them.
I think the Karma idea, is how it all started really. People used to Idolise simple things that brought them what they needed, be it the Sun, the rain etc, because these things brought life and without them, the people would suffer. So it is only natural, to think of ways to please these things that have so much power..."lets offer the Sun this Sheep as a gift of thanks and hopefully, we will have a good crop".
Makes sense to me, made sense to them.
It all goes well, until some smart Alec, not happy with his lot in life, decides that he can probably do well off of this turn of events and so Faith becomes Religion and it all goes to pot.
Tom Hank's character in Saving Private Ryan, gives a little speech after they take that first machine gun nest. He lets the German survivor go and they all bitch at him about how saving Ryan, is a bad idea.
He says something like "...if doing this one thing, earns me the right to go home to my family, then it is worth doing..."
Nobody knows their future (AFAIK) and to many, this is a scary prospect.
They either accept this and go about their life, hopefully doing the best they can and having faith in their tangible actions, or they become religious and put their future in the hands of the intangible.
My eldest daughter had to do a little project on "How the universe began" and she had to state 3 ideas about it. She was totally sucking at it, so I had to get involved.
Obviously, Creationism was one, Big Bang was the other and we also included the one about the Hindu creation myth (Vishnu and the Cobra etc).
I put some pics in...one was a pic of Prof Stephen Hawking and another of "God" (I also wrote "God", in inverted commas every time!) and in a small box I wrote the following.
You may notice that the picture of Steven Hawking (probably the worlds most intelligent man and top Physicist) is an ACTUAL picture of him, whereas the picture of “God” is simply an artist’s impression. Nobody has yet taken a picture of “God”, for some reason.
I don't make a point of mocking someone's faith. My children are not Christened, because I believe it to be their choice and also, because I will not go into a Church and promise to do things such as "bring the child up in the Christian faith" and so on, because I wouldn't and I don't go to Church, so that would be mocking the beliefs of Christians, in their own Church. Also the reason why I refused to be a God Parent to my best mates child (also a non Church goer). Incidentally, regarding that mate. They had to get confirmed etc, so that SHE could get married in a Church and when they got married, I stood at the front with them, knowing full well that she was pregnant.
So who is more at fault? Me, who lives as best he can and lets people believe what they want, and respects their belief enough to refuse my best mates request, or the couple who don't go to Church, getting confirmed, getting married while she was (secretly) pregnant, then promising to bring the child up as Christian, when we know full well that they won't, just because it is the done thing and or to please her Mother?
If I can do a good deed for someone or not, usually I will in the hope that good things will come to me. In a local McDonalds car park (the same one where I saved the life of a Diabetic who worked there), a woman parked the front of her Audi on the kerb, in the space next to mine. I heard it, went to help...put the bumper back on. She was sh!tting bricks about what her husband would say, because two side grills were fooked and weren't gonna go back in. She thanked me and went inside. I found the nearest Audi dealer, got the part number and price and took the details in so she could go get them.
I think the Karma idea, is how it all started really. People used to Idolise simple things that brought them what they needed, be it the Sun, the rain etc, because these things brought life and without them, the people would suffer. So it is only natural, to think of ways to please these things that have so much power..."lets offer the Sun this Sheep as a gift of thanks and hopefully, we will have a good crop".
Makes sense to me, made sense to them.
It all goes well, until some smart Alec, not happy with his lot in life, decides that he can probably do well off of this turn of events and so Faith becomes Religion and it all goes to pot.
Tom Hank's character in Saving Private Ryan, gives a little speech after they take that first machine gun nest. He lets the German survivor go and they all bitch at him about how saving Ryan, is a bad idea.
He says something like "...if doing this one thing, earns me the right to go home to my family, then it is worth doing..."
Nobody knows their future (AFAIK) and to many, this is a scary prospect.
They either accept this and go about their life, hopefully doing the best they can and having faith in their tangible actions, or they become religious and put their future in the hands of the intangible.
My eldest daughter had to do a little project on "How the universe began" and she had to state 3 ideas about it. She was totally sucking at it, so I had to get involved.
Obviously, Creationism was one, Big Bang was the other and we also included the one about the Hindu creation myth (Vishnu and the Cobra etc).
I put some pics in...one was a pic of Prof Stephen Hawking and another of "God" (I also wrote "God", in inverted commas every time!) and in a small box I wrote the following.
You may notice that the picture of Steven Hawking (probably the worlds most intelligent man and top Physicist) is an ACTUAL picture of him, whereas the picture of “God” is simply an artist’s impression. Nobody has yet taken a picture of “God”, for some reason.
I don't make a point of mocking someone's faith. My children are not Christened, because I believe it to be their choice and also, because I will not go into a Church and promise to do things such as "bring the child up in the Christian faith" and so on, because I wouldn't and I don't go to Church, so that would be mocking the beliefs of Christians, in their own Church. Also the reason why I refused to be a God Parent to my best mates child (also a non Church goer). Incidentally, regarding that mate. They had to get confirmed etc, so that SHE could get married in a Church and when they got married, I stood at the front with them, knowing full well that she was pregnant.
So who is more at fault? Me, who lives as best he can and lets people believe what they want, and respects their belief enough to refuse my best mates request, or the couple who don't go to Church, getting confirmed, getting married while she was (secretly) pregnant, then promising to bring the child up as Christian, when we know full well that they won't, just because it is the done thing and or to please her Mother?