#1) The
noders preceding me seem to have summed up the
logical faults or
absence of proof that I see in your node, but I think I should say that what you have written is not
groundless. The part where you say
"Are you sure God doesn't exist?" is a question that is well worth asking. I'm not going to offer any
proof that he doesn't exist, because I don't believe it can be proved either way. Humans have very
limited perception, ie. we can (directly or indirectly) observe the movement of
atoms and even
sub-atomic particles, but we have a very limited
knowledge about the force(s) causing this. Perhaps
God is there. I don't know. But the second half of
Reason #1 is what disturbs / offends me. Your
scare tactics are an insult to the average man's intelligence. I am not sure that God exists, but I am not willing to
conform myself to what the
bible says and
compromise my own values in order to be "safe" from the
wrath of God. I believe that a person should always act based on his beliefs, no matter what. Trying to believe something that I don't believe would be
hypocritical, and also
detrimental to life.
#2) This part ties in to
Reason #2. I think that I should solve
moral dilemmas myself, and not leave them up to a book. That is, I should act on
my own beliefs, not someone else's. I might ask the advice of a pastor, though I don't know any, only because I see them as an experienced and
learned person. Even then, I won't folllow it as an order, but take it as a suggestion. I often find that it is best to seek advice from one's
community, such as in
Quaker Meeting, and draw from one's experience in order to make decisions.
#3) How can you tell me what I do or do not know? This is the kind of bigotry that can turn people
away from religion. I do not care what religion gives me forgiveness; I'm not looking to buy
indulgences.
#4)
"If you believe in God, no problem." Religion and
philosophy should be here to guide us in determining the
answers to our questions or thinking about certain subjects. It should not a way to hide, like
cowards, from
questions of existence,
morality, or
what it means to be human.
#5) Your
scare tactics, again, aren't working.There does not
have to be an
afterlife; you are offering
opinion,
without proof, without any
evidence whatsoever. Also, see #3.
#6 - #9) Sigh.
no comment.
#10) I was raised as a
Quaker. Quakers believe that there is an
inner-light inside everyone, and that this is the source of our
spiritual guidance, our
emotions, etc. Many believe that this is God, or
God's voice, or what-have-you. Others, like me, do not. What I love about Quakerism, as a religion, is that they
leave this decision up to you.
I'd like to respond to this as a
writeup and tell you what
I think is right and wrong with it.
Right:
Footprints raises questions about
what we take for granted: "Are you sure God doesn't exist?", "Can you explain infinity?", "Creation theory does not conflict with the belief in natural selection", etc. I think that these are thing we should
speculate about, and we should not take the answers we've been given for
granted. In that respect, he makes a very good, and
well-intentioned, point.
Wrong:
Footprints tells us what we know and do not know. He tells us, that we "can't possibly believe that evolution theory completely," that "there
has to be an afterlife", and that we "know it's wrong" to watch movies. This kind of content in a node is
self-defeating. We have to remember that we are on a
website made for the sharing of
factual information, and sometimes for a
discussion on certain topics. It is time for us to treat each other as
equals and to respect the opinions and beliefs of others. It is best that we try to
understand the positions of others and when there are
disagreements, we should not assume that we are always right, in fact,
we should not make many assumptions at all. We should know that other people have
reasons for their beliefs, just as we have reasons for ours; we are all coming from radically
different backgrounds and
geographic areas, so
tolerance is the key. I'm sure that I've made mistakes to this effect, but I hope that I can change that. (Not to change what I've written, but to
keep this in mind as I continue noding.)