Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

[burd]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Without Divine Retribution, what keeps people on the straight and narrow?

No heaven or hell means that you can live your life free of repercussions. If you can get away with it, you're good.

Belief in a Supreme Judge means that you have somebody watching over all that you do and you have to answer for it.

Of course, God has a sense of humor. If you're Willie Tulloch, you'd get the surprise of your life that after being an lifelong atheist, you get to meet the Fellow who gives you a pat on the back and bids you enter into the Kingdom you honestly denied.

If you're a liar, cheat, and a thief, you may get a different reception.

Is this a serious post? Taking it as serious makes me baffled.

Yeah--give that a voice or journalistic form, and it's Onion material. Joe's gotta be trolling the weed patch.

[Kepler]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Without Divine Retribution, what keeps people on the straight and narrow?

No heaven or hell means that you can live your life free of repercussions. If you can get away with it, you're good.

The entire point of morality is it's voluntary. We are radically free -- the full responsibility is on us. We are exactly as good as we decide to be. "Heaven" and "hell" are the world we make, right here on Earth, through our decisions.

I can sort of understand someone who invents a Divine Policeman to keep him in line. But I can't understand being proud of it. You are saying you don't have the personal strength to create and hold to your own ethical system.

Be better.

Human beings have brought something new into Nature: with us ethics and morals enter into reality. They are "arbitrary" in that they are a human invention; as far as we know they are not anywhere else in nature (though we've seen so little of the universe that's a tremendously egotistical thought).

Language, law, aesthetics, morality. All invented by humans. But yet all "real" at the very least in the Jamesian sense that "whatever works is real."

It's essential to hold some sort of cooperative, non-self-destructive morality yet the vast majority of people aren't able to conceive of this as an abstraction, so we invented religions to "bring it down to Earth." What else is the story of Jesus than taking a hifalutin abstraction (God) and making it tangible and physical so people can relate to it (His Son)?

And it works! Well, sort of. Believers still do awful things and justify them, and religious leaders are masterful at making excuses for themselves why they don't actually follow religious dictates, but for the most part religions all say the same thing and it's pretty positive:

1. The Golden Rule
2. Help the weak against the strong
3. There's more to life than self-interest

Is there anybody who can disagree on those 3 things? Yet none of them are in Nature. They came from human imagination and they've caught on which.... great!

[MissThundercat]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Are you High Church or Low Church? High Church is Catholic lite (with better music). Low Church is more Protestant (with better music).

My oldest son and his family belong to the Ordnariate parish in Baltimore. The pastor and his wife have 9 kids. 6 were born while he was Episcopalian. 3 since he swam the Tiber. They're great people. The parish is growing with many young families.

When I attend Mass up there, it reminds me of what Mass should have become after V2. Tallis, Byrd, Palestrina, de Victoria and the great Catholic composers prior to the 70s, sung by a choir with professional musicians.

Grace is High Church. We follow the liturgy and it changes with the time of year; right now, we're going through Pentecost.

[SJHovey]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Belief in a Supreme Judge means that you have somebody watching over all that you do and you have to answer for it.

Beware the Hand of the Almighty.

[unofan]

Without Divine Retribution, what keeps people on the straight and narrow?

Not being a *******?

If the only thing keeping you honest is a fear of hell, that says a whole lot about you.

[Kepler]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Some reading material for our sheltered theists.

[BassAle]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Not being a *******?

If the only thing keeping you honest is a fear of hell, that says a whole lot about you.

i'm not sure if Joe is serious or this is some attempt at trolling us. My gut says he's serious, but maybe I've fallen for the bait and he's really great at trolling?

[geezer]

1. The Golden Rule
2. Help the weak against the strong
3. There's more to life than self-interest

Is there anybody who can disagree on those 3 things?

President Trump isn’t following... can you put these in pictures featuring Brer Rabbit and a Tar Baby? And draw a picture of how big of a stack would be in it for him?

[St. Clown]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

Without Divine Retribution, what keeps people on the straight and narrow?

What a sad question to have to ask.

[MissThundercat]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

At least my morality doesn't tell me to bail on my current city. I'm going to stay and try to make my patch of grass a nicer place to live.

[Kepler]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

i'm not sure if Joe is serious or this is some attempt at trolling us. My gut says he's serious, but maybe I've fallen for the bait and he's really great at trolling?

Many people believe exactly what joe is saying. It put the wind up Kierkegaard so much it made him reject human reason. My Dad, by no means a man without intellectual resources, thought that life without a God would be a directionless waste of time for precisely the same reasons I feel that life without a God is the only possible demonstration of goodness and love.

It doesn't count if you're only doing it because somebody is watching you.

We invented God for joe. It keeps him behaving, so, good. For those who lack moral resources within by all means let's have a backstop to keep them from running a-muck.

[leswp1]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

I thought it was our other resident 'you have to be a believer and only Christians are good' person. I had to look twice.

[MissThundercat]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

I believe, yes. I haven't spouted "only Christians are good."

Truth is, I believe my actions will speak louder than anything I say.

[Kepler]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

I believe, yes. I haven't spouted "only Christians are good."

Truth is, I believe my actions will speak louder than anything I say.

We have a poster who has said that only believers can be moral. Also, Christians invented ethics which would come as a surprise to Aristotle and the entire East.

It's okay, he is insane.

[MissThundercat]

Re: Religion Thread: We Could Say a Prayer

When the Episcopalians found me, they introduced me to a God who wasn't going to kill me. ****, for the longest time, instead of political nonsense and being excluded for lack of income growing up, I just wanted to hear about a God who loved me and wanted the best for me.

I got that with the Episcopalians.