Considering how people use religion, sometimes you just need to have faith.
I was raised to believe faith should be a private affair. To me, it's a personal relationship with a higher power which improves and nurtures the person who experiences it. I don’t believe you have to attend church, declare a denominational preference, or support the church financially in order to have faith.…
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26 - Vern Halen
Well, Duane, you debate well. Many of your points are ones that no reasonable person would care to parry with you. However, as I mentioned, in post #21, I am using MY definitions, just as you have pointed out at the end of post #16 that you have used YOUR definitions. And yours may be what you understand to be the usual or normal definitions, but mine are normal by my own standards. So, we may never be able to finish this one up, but I'll try to make myself clear.
At random:
There certainly is something silly about ritual if one doesn't understand the symbolism behind it. But it can be very powerful if it helps one understand something about the nature of one's existence. I don't bow to a city, but I understand how it could be a very powerful sign of respect.
You said, "Lack of belief in something for which there is no basis for belief is fully consistent with my experience." Me too. But in my experience there's been plenty on which to base belief. Perhaps you would interpret the same experiences differently, but of course, that's the nature of our different opinions.
Belief in a higher power is, as you said, "tantamount to a denial that we are alone, and that we alone will decide what we do with our time on Earth. It is a shirking of responsibility." I disagree: it is an acknowledgement that we have a choice to share in the responsibilty or shirk it. There's always a choice. And yes, you can make the choice whether you believe in a higher power or not, but then both choices are equal - building the universe is equal to destroying it. And frankly, it takes more thought & energy to build than destroy.
Which brings me to entropy - then tendency for maximum randomness or lowest energy state - I've seen it defined both ways. Life itself and the basic organization of the universe is in opposition to this - what power works against it so hard? And the Big Bang, which I also accept - what was before that, and why did the Big Bang happen? Those are questions that science can't always answer convincingly.
Does God blog on the net? Like everywhere else in the world, God works through people - many Christian denominations refer to the church as the Body of Christ - Christ can want to do all the good He wants, but it only gets done if the Body does it. And that the social aspect of religion perhaps. Unfortunately, God isn't the only one that knows how work MSN. (I got a good joke about how "Jesus saves" that I myself will save for another time!)
How about miracles (don't think that was mentioned anywhere, but it fits in and this is my rant after all!)? I don't know about all that in the Bible - I wasn't there - it's not part of my experience. But as the Bible progresses, there seem to be fewer and less grandiose miracles. In fact, in the gospels, you often read Jesus saying to people, "YOUR faith has made you well (my capitals)." And in the modern world, with technolgy & medicines & surgeries & stuff, well, a lot of that is pretty miraculous. To me it's an example of people sharing in the wonders of creation. it's like, for instance, when you're younger, your parents are Godlike - they can fix anything. But you rely on them less and less, til you get to the point that you become the person that can fix anything - at least your own kids think so. And your own parents don't necessarily have to be dead, but they are less involved with your family. Maybe as a human family, we are expected nowadays to solve our own problems and make our own miracles. As for the "magic" arbitrary, goes against the laws of science miracles - I don't deny they can happen, but I don't know of any that have happened to me. Just the regular sort of things, like air conditioning and running water.
Well, I've got to start work now. Thanx for your time, Duane - get back to me if you want - I'm pretty reasonable about most things, but I just figure there's more here than we can know with our senses. And congrats - I think you just got my longest ever post out of me.
V.
27 - diana hartman
I am pleased to tell you this article is part of the Culture Editors' Picks of the Week.
Diana Hartman
Culture Editor
Melita Teale
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28 - Donnie Marler
Thanks, Diana & Melita.