Yeah, the thing about old books written from a perspective that came many years after the events is that everything starts out by the writer's interpretation of the events. Then it's up to the interpretation of the religious figures spreading the literature. Then it's up to the interpretation of those preaching it. Then it's up to the individual perspective to sort it all out.
That is an issue then. how can book tell the word of god if everyone is going to see it different. It's not like it's a movie,it's life. I'd also assume that the word of god would be beyond interpenetration. To avoid confusion and the whatnot.
Ah Sorry, you misunderstood, but that was due to my rushed post. I meant that we have no physical proof that God exists, because God is not Physical, which is why most of Religion is based on Faith. As for the encounters and the things I've seen, I will understand if you don't believe me or disagree with me. THere are a few things, not just what I've seen, but things my family members have experienced and told me about too. Ok things I've encountered mainly happened at mass gatherings like Easter Camps, because like the Bible says when more than two people are in one place worshipping, God is there. This sort of thing has happened a few times, at Easter Camp we have these late night praise and worship sessions and normally after the Speaker has finished preaching and the message is sinking in, we have worship sessions, and during these sessions people, and when I say people I mean 90% of the congregation would all of a sudden fall onto the floor without reason and warning and some would cry, others would laugh, some would get up and sit down in a chair quietly and the ones who were not affected would carry the laughing ones outside to the mess hall speak with them. I was with one the one year it happened. Now before I continue, there is this code that has been developed many years ago, I think it was more recently, but I'm not sure. it is a colour code that most Christians have heard of or know that people use for when people become incapacitated with visions and laughter, which, like I said usually happens at mass Gatherings. Certain colours mean certain things, like sin is Black, healing is pink, red is love etc. and one of these people was encountering just that, he was on the floor laughing, and when we asked him if he could see anything, he'd occasionally regain control and say a colour or a picture he sees. We believed God has entered him and done something to his soul. If I remember correctly he saw a few colours which in order meant he went through a purging of sin, love, forgiveness, royalty and a final vision of a Rainbow Crown. I can;t remember it's meaning, this was 2 years ago. Another significant thing that happened, which happened to my cousin, was she had always had a problem where one leg didn't grow out as long as the other, and this was causing her lots of pain and trouble with her spine due to the imbalance. So one day her family members went to church and prayed over her, and she felt this sensation in her leg and back, afterwards they checked her leg and it had grown the few centimetres it was short and her problems had gone. Those are just two of the things, I'm tired of typing now , if you still want to hear about the others you are welcome to ask. I believe all this is done as a result of God. Accept it don't accept it, call me crazy, agree with me, disagree with me, I really don't mind, these are my personal beliefs. About the thing where if I were raised into a different religion. Most probably I would not believe these things were because of God, or I would believe they were a result of the God I was worshipping at the time. But this is how I was raised and this is how I turned out, so, this is how things are happening and this is what I believe. I hope I answered your question. ^^
I gotta say, that first example sounds horrendously creepy. >_> Like something you'd see in a horror movie or game.
I am Roman Catholic. Growing up, I never really thought it was that relevant or important outside just going to Mass and praying. But thanks to Christian Formation and people in my life, I now know just how relevant Catholicism really is. When I was about 9 or 10, I began to realize just how much the Church was ridiculed and misunderstood by others concerning its teachings, history, etc. At some points I doubted whether Catholicism is true or whether God exists, but time and again, I always overcome those doubts. Since then, I have been learning more about the Church and have delved into the world of apologetics (which, in this case, does not mean apologizing). I now know more about the Catholic Church than most Catholics care to know and continue to learn more. I get upset sometimes when people say things like "Catholics worship statues," "Catholics worship Mary," "The Pope is the Antichrist,""The Church hates science," "Priests molest children," and other mumbo-jumbo like that. Not only are those things false (or, in the case of the latter one, true, but not to the extent that many make it out to be) but they can be proven so by the Bible, church history, and common sense. As late Archbishop Fulton Sheen has said, "There are not over a hundred people who hate the Catholic Church, but there are millions who hate what they wrongly believe to be the Catholic Church." I'm not forcing you to do this, but I invite you to delve into some research and see for yourself what the Church really teaches and what really happened in history. Here are some links to get started: www.catholic.com (Catholic Answers) www.newadvent.org (Catholic Encyclopedia) http://www.vatican.va/archive/ENG0015/_INDEX.HTM (Catechism of the Catholic Church) If you have any questions about anything here, you can send me a private message and I will try to answer it. Again, I'm not converting anyone here, I just want to end these silly accusations about the Church from misinformed people.
I have only ever had three primary problems with religion. The first is in my own choice and opinion. If I am to choose a religion, how must I go about it? Those raised in a religion often avoid this, but think: what makes a religion so much more worth of following when I could be wrong and that other religion could be the one true religion? And if they are all correct, how can I choose when their texts (and in some cases, casual beliefs) contradict each other? This is the more practical reason why I am nonreligious. The second is in the philosophy of each individual religion. As a student of philosophy who reveres scientific thought, I cannot in good conscience ignore the facile offenses of a holy text such as, say the Bible. I don't mean to pick on Christians, but I find that when you endorse a belief system that is not grounded in reason, you create a premise for believing in further unreasonable things. Think about that. Being human, we all want our whole belief systems to be reconciled and fit together nicely; this is rationalization. I can believe in a few select hidden meanings of one religion and not follow it; when a person says to me that what their God really wants is for people to love each other, I say, that's great, but do you remember the part where his book says that women are property? There may be an overlap between my ethics and the ethics of a religion, but that in no way necessitates my following that religion. I don't believe you get to pick and choose which parts of your religion you follow once you put on that general label, so why not ignore the label, ignore the religion and be yourself, with your own independent beliefs? Which brings me to my last point. My father always used to say that he was amazed at the strength his own father drew from religion and spirituality. I hae heard the same said by many others. Well, I am not spiritual and rely only on my own personal convictions for strength. If you think you draw strength from your religion, think again; you put that strength into your religion. It is your own power and always has been. It is not that I dislike religion, I only see it as unnecessary. If another person wishes to be religious, that is their affair.
Good lord, this thread is being used again. I'm so tired of posting my opinion over again in this thread that I'm just not gonna bother. I'll give a quick break down of my beliefs. I'm Christian, I love science, I believe in both. Done! Plus I put up with enough teasing at school from my atheist friends about my religion as it is so I've grown quite a distaste about discussing it anywhere now. I guess I'm just here to read everyone else's opinions cause those are way more interesting.
Because science does not prove or disprove a God, in fact the two barely ever mix. And that is how it should be. The only place one might find Science and religion mixing is in cosmology. Here's an interesting article if you want to read something good. http://www.big-bang-theory.com/
'nother bump yay. Kinda quit being religious after a realized. "This would only make sense to some peasant trapped in the desert seeing mirages."
As a student of philosophy and an adorer of science both, I would have enjoyed that article more if some of the things it said weren't just plain false, such as: "People need to be aware that there is a range of models that could explain the observation... For instance, I can construct you a spherically symmetrical model of the universe with Earth at its center, and you can only disagree with it on philosophical grounds." False. The red-shift of the other galaxies we see is proportional that that of Earth, which was the original evidence and inspiration for the Big Bang Theory. By observing this red-shift, we can see the direction of the center of the universe, and it is not here. I don't know why educated people continue to insist that there are so many equally plausible theories because "all the popular theory has is a philosophi9cal difference." That just isn't true. Daniel Boorstin (a historian of science) once said, "The great obstacle to discovering the shape of the Earth, the continents and the oceans was not ignorance but the illusion of knowledge. Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments and contradictory witnesses." Superstitions and random, baseless, ignorant assertions are what hold cosmology back from being as scientific as it should be. That first quote with which I disagree came from George F. R. Ellis, who is a Platonist. I am not surprised I disagree with him; David Hume is one of my favorite philosophers and I think Plato was full of crap.
Well, Aristotle, Epictetus, Socrates and Marcus Aurelius said things that are still considered valid, even if they were wrong about some things due to what was considered common sense and common knowledge in their time. Aristotle, for instance, was wrong about the Earth being the center of the universe and being surrounded by four layers of the "four elements" (earth/water/fire/air) but he was a pretty fair biologist and was right about a number of other things.
