Sitting here thinking about religion in general, and what they all have in common. Off the top of my head, it seems they all have a supreme leader, one special prophet or messiah, a book of rules or ordinaces.......
What else do they all have in common? Just something that's mulling around in my mind..........
Chad
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"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
They all also have some sort of reward and punishment system. The one thing about Christianity is this; in all other beliefs, the practitioner is always striving to reach the diety. In Christianity, the Diety gave His life for the practitioner. In other words, religion is man's attempt to get to a god. Christianity is God's attempt to get to man. Nothing else compares to that!
Blessings.....Pastorjim
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Mere religion is just hanging around the cross.......True Christianity is getting on the cross.
In other words, religion is man's attempt to get to a god. Christianity is God's attempt to get to man. Nothing else compares to that!
How often do we christians, (as we call ourselves) revert back to the ways of paganism with our rituals and customs? Relying upon our deeds, works, lifestyle, ect. as a passport to Gods Spiritual Kingdom.
Is it how often we pray?, How much we fast?, How many scriptures we commit to memory? How much we give unto the poor?, ect.,that satisfies God? Or is God simply looking for one who has faith in what he has revealed unto the believer?
Where else must one become as a little child in order to find entrance into the blessings promised? Little children are not workers, just believers and followers.
This went off in a direction I didn't expect. Honestly I had an alterior motive, but didn't want to divulge it because I wanted unbiased opinions.
I've often said--and I firmly believe--that belief in the theory of evolution is just another type of religion. It's simple.
It has a "god"--"science".
It has amajor prophet/messiah--Darwin.
That prophet/messiah deliverd the "truth" to his followers--"The Origin of the Species".
Although there's different sects with some differences in beliefs, they all agree that evolution is real.
They all believe in something that takes a tremendous amount of faith to accept.
What they believe cannot be replicated or proven by real science.
I'm sure there's other similarities, but you get my drift.
Chad
__________________
"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
Where else must one become as a little child in order to find entrance into the blessings promised? Little children are not workers, just believers and followers.
Snooky,I've just got to tell you, I can't get that quote out of my mind. It's as if it, the quote, completely sums up our relationship to the Heavenly Father. Yes, I know there are times, just like an earthly father, he disiplines us. I know there are times, through the Holy Spirit, He speaks encouragment, correction, direction, and love. All we have to do, just like little children, is keep depending on Him, keep believing His word, and keep following after Him. Thank you for that word, it literally pierced my heart.
Blessings.....Pastorjim
__________________
Mere religion is just hanging around the cross.......True Christianity is getting on the cross.
This went off in a direction I didn't expect. Honestly I had an alterior motive, but didn't want to divulge it because I wanted unbiased opinions.
I've often said--and I firmly believe--that belief in the theory of evolution is just another type of religion. It's simple.
It has a "god"--"science".
It has amajor prophet/messiah--Darwin.
That prophet/messiah deliverd the "truth" to his followers--"The Origin of the Species".
Although there's different sects with some differences in beliefs, they all agree that evolution is real.
They all believe in something that takes a tremendous amount of faith to accept.
What they believe cannot be replicated or proven by real science.
I'm sure there's other similarities, but you get my drift.
Chad
Chad, you're repeated rants about evolution as a religion or sort of amusing. But let's, for the sake of argument, adopt your viewpoint and analyze it in what little depth we have the facility for here.
First of all, in terms of analysis as a religion, the "religion" would be science not evolution. Evolution would be one of the dogmas of the religion of science along with other dogmas like the theory of relativity, the laws of motion, the law of gravity, etc. Then Darwin would not be the messiah, but just one of the theologians developing the dogma. His development of the dogma was extremely useful, but not really complete and not error free either. The theory of evolution, in fact, predates Darwin.
As everyone knows, Darwin did not set out to develop the dogma of evolution, but to disprove it. But like Thomas, the disciple with doubts, he allowed himself to be convinced by the proofs he encountered. There was another man, Wallace, who was planning to publish at about the same time as Darwin, but Darwin beat him to it. (He was aware of Wallace and his work, by the way. He rushed to get published ahead of Wallace.)
So Darwin's thesis got the ball rollling, but there have been any number of theologians who have followed him and made great contributions to the development of the evolution dogma. (The title of the book, by the way is "The Origin of Species," not "the Origin of (the) Species.)
Although some are unwilling to admit it, there is actually a huge amount of research to support the dogma of evolution, much more in fact than exists to support the theory of relativity. Whenit comes to studying relativity, researchers still have to keep cognizant of the fact that, although it is more or less accepted, that one cannot exceed the speed of light, it's not exactly a fact.
When it comes to evolution, we're not sure of the role played by mutations. (We discussed Steven Jay Gould in another thread when I had to answer someone trying to imply that he, Gould, didn't support evolution by quoting Gould out of context.)
Okay, so now we come to the queston of a Supreme Being. Well what really differentiates science from other religions is that there is no requirement of belief in one. Well, you can if you like. I do, for example. But doing science doesn't require bringing in a Supreme Being anymore than analyzing how a refrigerator works. That's right, it's sort of mundane when you come right down to it.
Now as I've said, I believe in God. I'm a confirmed Catholic. I believe that God was there when the universe, the earth and all was created, and that He has been here all along. As I stated in the other thread, He knows that some of the stories in the Bible, written 3,000 plus years ago by people who thought the earth was flat are not true. So it doesn't worry me that I don't believe them either. How do I, Stephanie, know they aren't true? Because the evidence is turned up everyday showing how it really came about.
Now no harm is done by people who believe those stories, unless people who might be drawn to Christ are turned away when they are told they have to believe them to come to the faith. That's sad.
May The Sheep Be With You
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Proud parents of our own "Daddy's Little Girls"
I heard Jesus He drank wine and I bet we'd get along just fine.
This went off in a direction I didn't expect. Honestly I had an alterior motive, but didn't want to divulge it because I wanted unbiased opinions.
I've often said--and I firmly believe--that belief in the theory of evolution is just another type of religion. It's simple.
It has a "god"--"science".
It has amajor prophet/messiah--Darwin.
That prophet/messiah deliverd the "truth" to his followers--"The Origin of the Species".
Although there's different sects with some differences in beliefs, they all agree that evolution is real.
They all believe in something that takes a tremendous amount of faith to accept.
What they believe cannot be replicated or proven by real science.
I'm sure there's other similarities, but you get my drift.
Chad
Are you confining your definition of the theory of evolution strictly to biology and the evolution of new species or are you also taking the young Earth creationist view that not only are the biologists wrong but that geologists are wrong about the age of the Earth and validity of radio-isotope dating? In addition do you believe that astronomers are wrong about the Big Bang theory and the age and evolution of the Universe? Creationists have branched out recently and are claiming that practically everything we have learned about the Earth and the Cosmos in the past 200 years is wrong. This is despite the fact that geologists and astronomers have long since proven the Earth and the Universe are billions of years old, not a mere 6,000 years of age. Scientists base their theories on evidence and All of the evidence points to an Earth and Universe that is billions of years old. There is no religious belief involved in this conclusion, it is simply the logical deduction from an objective examination of the evidence.
This is despite the fact that geologists and astronomers have long since proven the Earth and the Universe are billions of years old, not a mere 6,000 years of age.
Lamaitre
IMHO I don't think any creationalist has ever said that the earth is 6000 yrs. old..They have said that man is 6013 Now old the earth was before that is not quite clear..
Now no harm is done by people who believe those stories, unless people who might be drawn to Christ are turned away when they are told they have to believe them to come to the faith. That's sad.
To me, it's sad when people think they can make up the rules as they go, and get a false sense of security by doing such. It's really sad when they lead others astray with feel good, I'm smarter than the Bible nonsense.
I ask again--if I were to denounce every part of the Bible that cannot be proven or replicated via "science", yet at the same time proclaim to be a devout Christian, would you believe that? Is that possible?
Chad
__________________
"We can have no '50-50' allegiance in this country. Either a man is an American and nothing else, or he is not an American at all."-- Theodore Roosevelt
A wise man's heart is at his right hand; but a fool's heart at his left. Ecclesiasties 10:2
The last four letters in American..........I Can
The last four letters in Republican........I Can
The last four letters in Democrats.........Rats
A Common Thread
May The Sheep Be With You
