They do know the difference between right and wrong, but more often it is more difficult, or rather less convenient to ones self, to do the right thing than it is to do the easy thing. Why else was, say, Hitler, so successful? The Germans had a tough time after WW1 and he offered his people an easy blame for their plight and enough of them did nothing when it came to the persecution of the Jews in particular, Gypsies, homosexuals and the mentally infirm. Only a very few did the right thing when millions of others either looked the other way or worse still, joined in because it was convenient and easy to do so. Edmund Burke is attributed as saying "all that is necessary for the prevarication of evil is for good men to do nothing". This is an absolute truth. My Dad used to tell me: "do the right thing and everything will be alright". Not always true, alas, but it is the way I try to live my life. There is no need for a God (though I have faith) nor religious doctrine to live such a way. Deep down, we all know that whether we'll admit to it or not.
I am not sure about Hitler. I know there are a lot of people out there who are messed up and genuinely have no idea about good or evil. Plus everyone has different ideas on what is right or wrong anyway. Only one standard of morality can be absolute, and it has to come from a Higher Power otherwise it is human opinion versus human opinion.
And given that there are apparently quite a few Higher Powers, their opinions of which is the correct 'morality standard' differ too. Which leaves the human race with a bit of a quandry - do we recognise this and simply carry on squabbling in the vain hope that one group prevails?; do we recognise this and decide to create a series of 'one religion' countries and let people make their choice of where to live?; or do we recognise that it is all bunkum, do away with religion and get on with the business of living? Perhaps someone could organise a poll
What sets Christianity aside from those religions is this that firstly, Christianity is the only faith that claims that we can have a personal relationship with God (funny that), it is the only faith where Salvation is not earned but given freely and it is the only faith where Heaven is promised for believers whilst other faith's do not know. My personal experiences have shown that there are a lot of questions for each faith, but I can answer any of them for Christianity but other faiths will really struggle. For example, the Koran states that Adam was 90 feet tall and that Moses was a sister of Mary, mother of Jesus, despite them being 1000 years apart. But I think for those not a part of a faith, it is something you should investigate and find out for yourself. You have been given your own minds for a reason
I will probably get battered for this but I struggle to believe it is something people are born with. All scientific evidence points to it being partly led by incidences in the persons life or just simply one of those temptations that some people encounter at some point in their life. The APA only removed it from their list of psychiatric diseases because of political pressure, not because of any findings. On whether it is a sin or not, I believe the Bible..and the Bible makes it very clear that it is a sin. But it doesn't matter what the sin is, if someone is a serial cheater, a serial murderer or a homosexual, they should always be treated with love. Jesus loved sinners, He said He came specifically for them and we should not look down or judge anyone because of their life choices, that is God's business not ours.
Sorry, i have to disagree with you. Jewish people have a relationship with God, being the Children of Israel and the Chosen People...and Jewish people don't believe in hell, so there's only one place we go, and that's heaven. Promised for every Jew, believer or non believer.
It is well documented that David and Jonathan had the first single sex relationship. The bible is full of hypocracies, this is just one of them. Interesting that you lump homosexuality with being a serial cheater and a murderer. Goodness, i really wasn't going to get into this discussion, but when you state that homosexuality is a sin, i'm sunk! lol
This is where a large proportion of religion is flawed. In this case, you are following a book - the Bible - which was written some 2000 years ago. Obviously, as time progresses, our understanding of things betters. But why doesn't this happen with religion? Why doesn't it adapt and grow, as civilisation grows? I can't work out how homosexuality can be considered a problem. It is silly. You may be a huge fan of Lady GaGa. I, as it happens, loathe her and can't work out how people can like her "music". That doesn't mean I will class you as a "sinner". You're not going to "miss out on heaven" because I don't agree with your feelings and opinions. This is what is great about the world. Everyone likes different things. Why can't this be embraced by religion? Have you actually asked a "real" homosexual about their "condition"? (Probably not, as you wouldn't want to associate yourself with someone so ill.) It isn't something that someone decides one day. It isn't as if you suddenly think, "Oooh, I am really tempted by Steve today. I think I will have homosexual relations". It is how they were made. Dare I say it, how God made them. But, anyway, who cares?! "They" aren't exactly making it difficult for me to live. So what's the problem? I suppose, religion is much like football. You support a club, and desperately try to prove how your club is better than another.
Hitler was a total psychopath and that means he knew what he was doing. He was also enigmatic and charismatic - you only have to watch his speeches to see that so it is not difficult to understand why many followed him. It does not excuse those who did nothing about him at the time. What started off as a bit of a cult mushroomed into something far more dangerous and ultimately genocidal. The British and French governments post WW1 instigated it - it was waiting to happen because of the way Germany was punished. Plus of course there had to be a reaction to Marxism. Will carry on discussing later work to be done.... sigh!
So - no rules, except: Rule no 1 - no ****ters. you have completely undermined your assertion that Christianity is not about rules. If you take the bible as a guide, it is obviously all about rules, and interpretation of them. Don't kid yourself it's not.
I think you are incorrect on a number of fronts here MJW - if you observe the animal world closely you will find that same sex "relationships" are very common - so it is "natural". It was only made a "sin" by the writers or the old testament - and as H mentioned the "love" of David and Jonathan is viewed benignly. Where you get your assertion about the APA is anyone's guess - you would struggle nowadays to find any qualified psychiatrist without a "religious" bias to suggest it is a "disease" - that is laughable. If I remember my Bible it is in Leviticus that it is condemned - but look what else is condemned there. The Old Testament cannot be used reliably as a guide to sin and punishment (or do you still accept stoning? - Jesus clearly did not).
BBW said I suppose, religion is much like football. You support a club, and desperately try to prove how your club is better than another. Except we accept that there are many clubs better than us , yet are happy to be hornets, I dont see any religion operating in a similar way
Hello again, no jokes this time. But I think if there is a God anywhere that we can only presume one thing about him/her namely that from the amount of languages, beliefs, cultures and life forms on this planet he obviously loves variety, in which case so must we, which involves accepting all faiths as pointers in the same direction. For me Christianity, Islam and Judaism all fall into the same group is as much as they are all monotheistic (ie. believe in only one God and address him as male), concieve of him in human form (ie. God made man in his own image) - maybe it was the other way around and we concieve of God in our own image. They all believe in a Heaven and a Hell and separate the World accordingly into forces of light and of darkness - thus being able to create fear from which only the priests, mullahs or imams can save us. I honestly think that they must be the best businessmen in the World. For thousands of years they have been selling us something which none of us has seen ! Having said this I do believe in God, or rather Godliness which is rather a different thing. For me the big failing of these 3 religions is that they all preach the subordination of nature to man - as if the whole World and all the animals in it belonged to us - and the indirect influence of this strand of thinking has done nothing positive for our environment whatsoever. Maybe a reason why they have little to say on themes like global warming now. For me the Shamanistic, or nature based faiths like for example those of the native American Indians have more resonance - in their faiths for example no land could be bought or sold - how can you possess a living organism? was their logical question. Having said all of this I was brought up in a Christian tradition (Quaker) and still pray from time to time, like for example when Watford have a big match coming up !
Semi right cologne (hello by the way ) but Judaism doesn't believe in good and evil, light and darkness, heaven and hell. We just have to starve for one day a year and then all bad bits are forgiven and we start all over again. Kinda cool really lol. And my Rabbi has, for a long time, been bringing global warming into his sermons, as well as world peace, and understanding of others. He's a big noise on the local interfaith group, consisting of Jews, Muslims and Christians. Most religions, i think you'll find, if they are willing to keep 'up to date' with the world, are making strides to modernise, and to be more inclusive and understanding of the world and of others.
Well H - if you are correct you can certainly strike out Judaism as a sensible belief coz even I know that when the sun goes down here it is dark and in the morning on the 3 days a year when it is not raining it is light - case proved Judaism dismissed - next please lol
Cologne brings up a good point about the three religions (Judaism, Christianity, and Islam) being similar. As stated before I don't personally believe in a God(s) but is with a somewhat wry amusement that you can view people from all three of these religions show such a lack of insight to their own religion. When you track it back to its origins all three essentially believe in the same God, I like to view them as sibling religions that, like siblings, are constantly vying with each other for their fathers attention. Maybe one day they will see their similarities and not their differences... Just another perspective to consider.
