God is a huge part of my life, for me to prove that to myself seems contradictory. Thos Aquinas set out his 5 reasons, others have other arguments but none of this changes my life or relationship with God or people - that relationship exists, it changes and grows with time.
Christianity teaches that faith heals but do we fully understand what faith is?
We see this in trading - Mark Douglas talked about trading in the zone, he recounted a trader who seemed to ‘know’ exactly when/where price would change - yet what is the zone?
I’ve encountered faith in reverse - a former colleague often used the phrase ‘knowing my luck’ - sure enough he often encountered misfortune.
Same thing with fear - faith in reverse.
Anyways a baptist minister yesterday suggested that it is a bad thing to force religion and she’s right - my attitude to life is live and let live.
Now off to work - sun shining, new day, new week, onward & upward.
I will take this as a win, you may not see it but I am always searching for common ground with those I may have disagreements with. The Sound of Freedom and the reaction of left wing media is something I felt we could all agree on
@Dennis3450 I don’t need to search for the common ground… It’s always been there…You see it as a disagreement… I see it as just opposing sides of a high bandwidth debate…
There’s No win or Lose…
You should know by now we have always been politically aligned, and I have always promoted your SWA thread every opportunity I get… And will continue to do so…
I don’t have your faith and the forgiveness it allows… I just don’t take ruckus discussions to heart…
This…Godless society operates in an extremely efficient manner at least in its higher levels of leadership…It follows a perfectly mapped out strategy. It holds almost complete sway in international organizations, in financial circles, in the field of mass communications; press, cinema, radio and television.
Pedro Arrupe 1907-1991 - his wiki page speaks of Lourdes, France and it’s superstition.
Back 20 years I met a young lady in Lourdes, she knew I didn’t recognize her - it was because of the lack of hair and eyebrows but then I remembered her smile and voice.
“They tell me it’s in my lungs now” still smiling, “I’m not giving up”.
Some weeks later the surgeon, refusing to operate, said directly “your are terminal” - she told how she reacted - “no I’m not” - she got her surgery and still very much alive.
The pastor this morning commented “how do we get this free gift of faith?” - he answered his question simply - “ask and you will receive”.
If this was a book from any other religion would this be a problem, is the Problem GOD or the people.
Denmark tightens border control after Koran burnings
Denmark is tightening border controls to boost domestic security and prevent unwanted individuals from entering the country after recent Koran burnings, the government said, following a similar decision by Sweden this week.
Authorities fear revenge attacks after anti-Islam activists in Denmark and Sweden burned and damaged several copies of the Muslim holy book in recent months, inciting outrage in the Muslim world and demands that governments ban such acts.
“Authorities have today concluded that it is necessary at this time to increase the focus on who is entering Denmark, in order to respond to the specific and current threats,” the Danish justice ministry said in a statement late on Thursday.
Passengers arriving at Copenhagen Airport, even from within Europe’s free-movement Schengen area, will face greater scrutiny in the form of random checks, police said.
I like the question you asked. Ok, let’s say we still should prove that there’s a God or not and also if he is good or evil. But for now, we can see that people exist, and they have an effect, and it is not a good one most of the time.
I don’t think people are evil as understood in religious terms. They are not literally working to fulfil the wishes of an evil deity. They’re either motivated by strong selfish drivers and are less inhibited about securing these objectives, or they have some kind of mental illness.
Of course, they’re no less dangerous if I’m right.
Yes it is… And understandably most Christians and non-Christians are curious about the vast wealth amassed by the Roman Catholic Church over the centuries. Currently, the Vatican is worth $ 4.0 trillion. With these kinds of figures, it is only logical to wonder… How did the Catholic Church get so rich?
Millions live in abject poverty throughout the modern world… Yet the Vatican and the business of religion have managed to remain untaxed throughout the centuries…
Any wonder creation myths all need some kind of devil…
Doesn’t always holds true, their are evilness that has nothing to do with money, What goes on in general society also goes on in the church and with religious organizations
This is a dangerous mind-set. It is more than slightly anti-capitalist. Which undermines the most incredible global prgoress that humanity has made since trading goods and commodities began.
It also reinforces the social pressure to avoid and distrust personal wealth. Which strengthens the social/moral pressure to reduce personal wealth. And some of the most efficient organisations at receiving monetary donations are organised religions, so the attitude also strengthens their wealth accumulation.
I hope you don’t believe that socialist governance and wealthy religious bodies are mankind’s best future.
I do think some religions are indeed rather greedy.
For example, here in England we have the Church of England, an organisation that has a net worth of more the £10 billion. But despite this obscene net worth they expect local people to fund improvements and to look after there buildings for nothing in return. My village church that holds 2 services (sometimes just 1) a month is consistently bothering the villagers to pay for things for the church, the latest was a new weathercock on the roof. Approx 90% of the villagers do not attend church and most who we socialise with have never step foot in the church, so why should we be the ones paying for the church. Especially when the church already has enough money to do these improvements themselves.
My mother in law is a parish counsellor in a village in Cheshire and she said the church had the audacity to ask for money to install a new roof, and that was a month after the church had just built a brand new vicarage for the vicar to live in.
So lets put this into perspective. Richard Branson is worth £2.8 billion, the Church of England is worth £10 billion. If Richard Branson asked his local community to pay to for a new roof for his house I don’t think they would be overly impressed, so why does the church think they can do this???
I,m labelled a capitalist mainly because I’m in business - some wld say for the purpose of attaining capital.
Yet others label me, as falstaff once said, “leftish” - mainly because I see ppl as ppl and not a means to gather money for me.
Then do I like money? - of course I do, I like not being in a place where many thousands if not millions of ppl are - without money.
Do religious organisations seek selfishly to accrue money? - I’d say absolutely, in fact there are many organisations in the money acquisition business, even so called charities - but thankfully there are also many organisations and ppl who see money for what it is - a tool to live life with.
It’s hard to answer this question because you can answer it from multiple POVs. Some may say that humans are not evil and they’re just humans and what they do it’s in their nature and we just consider them evil.
Only a few months after many in this thread ignorantly tried to claim religion was the savoir of mankind… Here we are… Closing in on 10,000 deaths in the latest Middle Eastern clash over different versions of GOD…
We are rapidly heading for ten’s of thousands of more deaths and thousands more injured and maimed by another catastrophic religious war?’
The Palestinian Flag has started to remind me of the Swastika especially when the media show men waving it out of a car whilst driving around Sydney shouting ‘kill the Jews’ … Now we are starting to see it across the globe…
I’m not saying all Palestinians and Muslims are Nazis, but there’s a bullying vocal amount of extremists screaming for the destruction of Israel which means the death of Jews, Gays, Trans, Christians and anyone who doesn’t adhere to there fanatical and delusional beliefs…
Sounds like the 1930’s… Not all Germans were Nazis either, but the popularity of waving the Palestinian flag which shows solidarity with an intolerant Islamic state governed by Sharia Law is growing and growing… Dangerous times ahead…
