"All religious belief distills down to faith in utterly unprovable stories." (page 3)

tec

Flipper, some have the law (of love) written on their hearts. Where it should be written. If you have that, then great. I mean that sincerely. I am happy that your method is working for you, too. Do I wish that you also knew Christ, and the peace and comfort that flows from Him? Of course I do. I would by lying if I said otherwise. But even if you don't know Him, He might know you... because of what is written on your heart. (I realize that this means something to me, and not so much to you) But in either case, it is not for me to judge, nor would I be qualified to do. I am glad you have happiness, and love in your life, and I respect that as well.

Peace,

Tammy

Crisis of Conscience

Franklin, I agree with Flipper about watching Religulous.

I admit that a lot of editing obviously was done to make the documentary fit into an alloted time and so you don't know the complete context of what a person said, but you get the idea. I enjoyed and have seen it quite a few times.

Due to that as well other things I have seen/read/thought about, I have come to the conclusion.................Faith defies logic. With faith, things don't have to make sense. Believing something's real or that it happened is enough.

My 2 cents.

CoC

still thinking

You could be right sizemik...I can admire what people do, or the way they say things. But it doesn't mean I idolise them...maybe latching onto the idea of God gives us a type of strength that we can't find on our own...or maybe it's just that God IS....and we know this in our bones.

When I was a teenager...(an angry confused one)...I was very anti religion...anti establishment...anti a lot of things. Pro peoples rights, pro equalilty for all, I went on marches, I protested, and I thought I did it because I was an idividual...I was wrong.

I was still being led by other people who were anti religion...anti establishment...anti a lot of things. Pro peoples rights, pro equalilty for all...etc...I still looked up to these people/bands/leaders....and now that I look back, I put them on a pedistal.

I think I look at the world slightly differently now...I can still be all those things...but I think it is for different reasons now. I follow no person (I don't think )...the most ironic thing for me is that I have come full circle...from getting tangled up with JW religion...I am back to being anti religion....lol...I think my next step is probably apathetic towards religion...I can feel that a bit already...and I become incensed by injustice and cruelty...but on a different level...because now I actually grieve when I see it.

Belief in God though is a completely different issue for me...that has never changed. It's like its a part of ME...Maybe as flipper points out...it is because I don't have enough faith/trust in myself...could be ...but I just don't feel like it is. I have moments in my life where I genuinely feel that God was looking after me when I couldn't look after myself. And I cannot discredit that.

tec

Belief in God though is a completely different issue for me...that has never changed. It's like its a part of ME

Me as well.

shamus100

** yawns **

Soon the bible literalists will have this place torn apart. Rinse, repeat.

Carry on.

LV101

tec --- appreciate your posts, as usual - love to you!

still thinking --- tec summed it up, "Me as well."

shamus100

Just off the top of my head: Religious was a sensationalistic movie - read movie - to entertain audiences. They edit each and every part and make it funny so they can make money off of it. If it fails to be funny (you see, marketed as a comedy) then it does not get released.

It's a business venture, in reality. Not a serious documentary.

Personally, I thought that it was positively awful, speaking from an agnostic standpoint. Unbalanced, sensationalistic nonsense. Find the lowest common denominator, make a movie out of it, globally label, voila! A hollywood hit. Not rocket science at all, and certainly not original.

shamus100

And just to add to my turd sandwich...

Let's not forget Mr. Moore's film Bowling for Columbine, with the grande finale where he corners Charleton Heston (a very old kind man) because he's the president of the NRA and broadcasts it on his movie. A person with no class, bullshit journalism, much like six screens of the watchtower.

sizemik

Belief in God though is a completely different issue for me...that has never changed. It's like its a part of ME...

The concept has always been an intrinsic part of me also . . . from as young as I can remember. When I try to divorce myself from it entirely . . . the feeling is not pleasant . . . like a lonliness. The problem I have is connected to your previous puzzling question . . . the need to idolize. I wonder if that is simply motivated to stave off a lonliness.

It's not so much that I don't trust myself . . . it's more a case of recognising that I have as much potential to fool myself, as any other human who has fooled me in the past. I want to overcome that intrinsic lonliness . . . and then see if the God thing is still present.

Qcmbr

Tec - while I admire your tenacity I struggle to take seriously your position as a non- religious follower of your version of Christ. You cannot claim, seriously, all the mystical elements of religion and simply because you aren't affiliated with a church and so have your own internal set of rules rather than a published creed that you aren't religious. You cannot play for both sides pretending to be sensible, rational and logical - unlike those you designate as 'religious' - and then in the next breathe use Christian language to describe the same position ; there is an invisible magic being who runs the world. Your position is hypocritical and weaker for it.

If a god really manifest themself to a single person and then not to others , imparted special comfort and privilege to one and not to another, helped a sole being feel ecstasy / divine joy but ignored the daily abuse of the crying toddler next door, such a being , such a Christ would be a pathetic being, one culpable of favouritism, immorality and horrendous evil. The concept of such a being makes my conscious self squirm in revulsion.

imo. Have a good day fellow genetic buds!

"All religious belief distills down to faith in utterly unprovable stories."

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