Blaming religion for man's ills just don't [sic] work. Man created religion - man works on differences. Us and them - religion is just one aspect. If religion didn't exist, man would create something else to create a difference. ..
But that would have to be acknowledged as Man's invention and therefore fallible, not created by an omnipotent God and therefore infallible and immutable.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Wow - what a deep and meaningful conversation everyone is having. When I was little if I thought about anything that I couldn't understand (where do we come from, why are we here etc) I thought I'd just ask God when I died and all would be revealed. Then I grew up a bit and thought - when I die it just won't matter because it is all concerned with being alive on this planet at this point in space and time. Then I grew up a bit more and realised that I will simply just die.
If you find what the big bang was, then you'd need to explain the thing before that. And then the thing before that. And then the thing before that. And then... The G_d paradox just in a different guise. Newton paraphrased it with one of the meanings of his 'standing on the shoulders of giants' - he then became part of the giant that someone else would stand on...and that person becomes part of the giant that someone else will stand on and that person.... How can it ever end? Like cause and effect (which everything appears to be) - how can you ever have an effect without a cause and vice versa? Makes my brain ache.
Don't you thjnk that's the way science is being perceived? The whole point of science is that it must change and the results be refined more and more. But at the moment, what science knows (or thinks it knows) now is being treated as if immutable. I bang on vastly toooo much.
I haven't seen the Jovos for some time. The last time I got questioned on the doorstep about my religious beliefs, I told them that I believed Religion was dreamt up by the rich and powerful to keep the poor and uneducated in line. They never came back. Living in a country where most of the laws are based on the 10 basic commandments, I feel they are a good basis for living a life. I don't have any need whatsoever for a church telling me what to do with myself or my money, on the unproven basis of me going to hell if I don't.
But at the moment, what science knows (or thinks it knows) now is being treated as if immutable.
This is because most people don't understand how science works. Science says 'we have found interesting data that shows a possible link between X and Y and it suggests this is an area worthy of further study' and the Daily Mail publishes a headline saying 'X causes Y (probably because of immigrants)'. After a while people start to doubt the science rather than ignoring the headlines.
Some religious groups say we shouldn't teach evolution in schools because evolution is just a theory but they fail to understand that the 200 year old theory is still being thoroughly tested and good evidence to support and expand on it has been found. They would rather teach their own very narrow world view with nonsensical rules that were plucked from thin air 2000 or more years ago and mistranslated through several languages until it makes even less sense. I still get annoyed about how much time we wasted in school on religious education.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
The brother of a friend is/was a missionary. I couldn't spend any time around him without wanting to send him to meet his God long before his time! To him, anybody who didn't have the same beliefs as him was deluded. I had a very different view on who the deluded one was.
Whatever you think about JWs they have been persecuted beaten, put in concentration camps, some have spent years in solitary confinement, some are in prison for not doing army service in their country, Eritrea has held some for 26 years. 70 years ago Russia sent them to Siberia. Now they are again banned in Russia as being extremist and again imprisoned for having a Bible, singing their songs or meeting. They have a website https://www.jw.org/en/ which is pretty impressive as it has stuff in almost 1000 languages. So like or loathe your choice but interestingly the first page on the site asks 'Is their a cure for predjudice?'
Whenever the Jehovah’s Witnesses came to our house, my dad always used to engage them in a good hour’s debate on the doorstep.
I once asked him why he did it, as he was not a religious person at all.
He said that the longer he kept them engaged talking to him he was sparing the rest of the neighbours the bother of having to answer the door to them. 😁
We had a neighbour who did likewise. His record was three hours.
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Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
Gardening in Central Norfolk on improved gritty moraine over chalk ... free-draining.
70 years ago Russia sent them to Siberia. Now they are again banned in Russia as being extremist and again imprisoned for having a Bible, singing their songs or meeting.
They have a website https://www.jw.org/en/ which is pretty impressive as it has stuff in almost 1000 languages.
So like or loathe your choice but interestingly the first page on the site asks 'Is their a cure for predjudice?'
We had a neighbour who did likewise. His record was three hours.