There can be a choice between religion and science, but honestly, there does not have to be. We will find both believers and non believers among the ranks of scientists. If you told a believing scientist that he has to choose between the two, he'd look at you cockeyed. We can make a choice, but making a choice between the two is not a must.
How do you keep your hopes up while in this doomed existence?
by sabastious 107 Replies latest jw friends
-
-
FlyingHighNow
Hey, James, an educated guess is not a lucky guess. An educated guess can also be termed a hypothesis.
the earth being enveloped in a world destroying solar flare or a space rock coming and ending life as we know it.
That is from the OP. He asks for words of comfort.
-
Apognophos
We have a saying in our family passed on to each child when they're young: "Don't worry about it, you could be dead by tomorrow."
-
FlyingHighNow
We have a saying in our family passed on to each child when they're young: "Don't worry about it, you could be dead by tomorrow."
That is some dark humor.
-
Apognophos
It's not humor! That's how kids are raised on my mother's side of the family. I found it comforting, personally. Why worry about what tomorrow will bring?
-
tec
Sab, I'm sorry that I never joined this thread until now.
You said this:
Just because we cannot fathom a way out of the scenario NOW doesn't mean that we won't have a solution when it comes upon us.
That is one of my answers to your thread title.
Hope, always hope, and work toward doing good to all.
Point your son (and yourself) to the good things people are doing; in science, in the world, to one another. Show him these things. He is far more likely to focus upon the positive instead of the the negative if he sees that it is there.
Peace,
tammy
-
sabastious
Sab get's angry at science for revealing things that he doesn't want to focus on.
I feel I must address this. I don't get angry at science for revealing the hard truths and I laud it for it's process of discovery. Really, the problem lies in our financial and political systems. That is what's being exposed here, we have to find a way to mitigate sensationalism. For example the media loves to report pit bull bites because there is a demand for confirming a bias within society that pit bulls are dangerous. Even if the dog isn't a put bull they will report it as one just to make the information more "sellable." When, in fact, pit bulls only have a 3% larger chance of bitting you than a Golden Retriever and this is not because pit bulls are naturally aggressive, but because they are more often than not owned by someone who trains them to be aggressive. They also have special needs and if they are neglected they can get ornery which is an owner problem, not a breed problem. There is this false stigma about them within society. My wife and I wanted to get one and so we did, but we chose to hide this information from my wife's parents. Because we knew we wouldn't hear the end of it if we offered the information and they had to chance to "talk us out of it." So, there is a perfect example of the demand for confirmation bias about pit bulls being dangerous. We got ours at a shelter where he was about to be put down. We got to save a life and we ended up getting the perfect family dog out of it. But, if we listened to "society" then my dog would be dead and we would have a chiwawa that was never in danger in the first place.
The point is that our society wants to sensationalize facts so that they are more juicy including scientific facts. For some reason people don't want to hear about the world getting better, they want to hear about the doom and gloom that they can't control. Maybe so they can complain? So, I don't get angry just because science churns out a negative fact, it's when those facts are used to draw embelished negative conclusions because of some agenda, including the anti-God one that grinds my gears.
-Sab
-
sabastious
Why worry about what tomorrow will bring?
Because you have a say in things.
-Sab
-
sabastious
That is one of my answers to your thread title.
Hope, always hope, and work toward doing good to all.
Point your son (and yourself) to the good things people are doing; in science, in the world, to one another. Show him these things. He is far more likely to focus upon the positive instead of the the negative if he sees that it is there.
Yeah a "we'll cross that bridge when we come to it" approach is very positive and reasonable. There is no reason to count out any scenarios, mantras like, "anything is possible" seem like good messages to bring to children. If I could add to the lyric: "Don't worry, be happy, anything is possible."
-Sab
-
Apognophos
I'm not sure I agree with your basic premise that science or science reporting focuses on the negative; certainly they focus on the sensational, as you just said (that lowering-IQ story was extremely dubious, by the way). Glancing over this science blog, most of the stories seem positive to me. Do you feel otherwise?
Why worry about what tomorrow will bring?
Because you have a say in things.
Do we, really? I can't do anything about the long-term problems we face: the Sun burning off all liquid water from Earth in a billion years; the Sun cooling and engulfing the Earth in maybe 5 billion years; the universe undergoing heat-death in possibly a googol years. Nor can I do anything about the probable extinction of half the world's species by 2100. Perhaps I could become a scientist and try to contribute one iota to one piece of the puzzle. Even then, I won't be alive to see whether we're able to do anything about these problems in the far future. It's equally likely that I could go into entertainment and make a science-fiction show that inspires a scientist to work on a certain problem and have just as positive an effect as if I went into science. Or I could become a business executive; some executives work for Big Pharma, which means they are supporting the development of new medicines while also making big money!
In other words, it's impossible to say what effect I can have on the world and whether anything I try to do will succeed or anything I try to fail at will be successful instead. Therefore, why worry? My only concerns are contributing more to society than I take, and enjoying each day as it comes.