I would like to reply to the U.S. Air Force Colonel who said science has all the answers and there is “no God.” I know that you are a very intelligent man; you could not be an Air Force Colonel and not be smart. But before you destine everyone to hell, I would like to express the opinion of a person that would like everyone to believe God. Please notice I did not say believe in God. Satan believes in God and trembles. The God you would like everyone not to believe in said, “Let there be light,” and everything was made. And, believe it or not, there wasn’t a scientist around to give Him advice. Science can only theorize what they find.
Sir, I would like you to look outside yourself and “believe God.” It is going to take faith. It is looking outside yourself and believing there is a marvelous God who loves you. He loved you so much that He sent his son, Jesus Christ, to come down to the earth and die for the sins of the world — past, present, and future sins. I would like for you, sir, to have a relationship with God, not “get religion. There are two forces in the world — good, which is God, and evil, which is the other being who is trying to destroy all that he can that is of God.
Unfortunately, our country is turning away from God and we are becoming a nation whose God is money. I pray we will return to God.
Jack R. Darling
Apache Junction
sdjtaz posted at 5:25 pm on Tue, Dec 27, 2011.
What's the difference between religion and mythology? Only one, mythology is simply the study of old religions that no one practices anymore. Religion always has been Man's attempt to explain existence. Oftentimes, this is often mixed with a grab for money, power, and political gain.
Mr. Darling needs to study the history of the United States more thoroughly. The United States was set up as secular entity. The founding fathers ranged in belief from Christianity to Deism to Agnosticism and Atheism. In fact, for every statement one can find stating how important religion is, you can find at least one or two statements from these individuals stating the need to keep religion out of politics.
Religious belief in the US has always had an ebb and flow. Additionally, even when religious fervor was at it's highest, we were still beset by issues dividing the country. How else could we explain the turmoil surrounding the Civil War, our losses in the War of 1812, the periodic financial collapses that have occurred at regular intervals (American history is full of financial panics which caused chaos).
Rich posted at 11:07 am on Tue, Dec 27, 2011.
Actually, Leon, one of the "2" got the last laugh. The Goths were Arian Christians. I sort of like Ray Stevens' question: "Would Jesus wear a Rolex on His television show?" (Margaret Archer / Chet Atkins actually before someone here calls me on it.)
Leon Ceniceros posted at 10:30 am on Tue, Dec 27, 2011.
Do you know what the difference is between an Air Force Colonel and an Air Force General ???
The Air Force Colonel...."thinks"...he is God.
The Air Force General ...."knows"...he is God.
I worked at Western Airlines Pilot Scheduling for 10 years....Military pilots, especially "fighter" pilots all thought they were the....Messiah...with the huge egos to go along. They made Obama look like ...."Bubba Gump". When they "deigned" to shake hands with you...I always expected to see a "stigmata" in their palm....lol.
Religion is desperation, a need to believe that your lousy life is going to get better. Rich societies commercialize religion..poor ones need it. There are no "perfect" religions...that's why there are so many of them. Many people feel comfortable immersing themselves in a religion because it makes them feel safe..the "herd mentality". They feel that there is "safety in numbers"...not out there all alone facing Life. They don't have to make decisions...they are made for them. Rules as to what to eat, what to say, what to wear, grow a beard, cut your hair, rules for this..rules for that...all these rules are made for you so that "you" don't have to make a decision..you don't have to think for yourself....others are thinking for you.
Religion basicly is "politics" (groups of people making a collective decision). Christianity is the most "political" of all. A religion designed by a pagan Roman Emperor whose Empire was starting to come apart at the seams. The old concepts weren't working with all these different societies...so "Christianity" became the ne "glue" that held the Roman Empire together Christianity became the only "party" in town. It didn't last very long after Constantine croaked...then the Roman Catholic Church split off from the Orthodox Catholic Church....Popes and Patriachs all over the place....lol. The Bible was "cherry-picked" by a bunch of Bishops under orders of Emperor Constantine at the 1st Council of Nicea to choose what Constantine wanted in this "bible"or else the bishops voted = 300-2..guess what happened to the "2"- no votes = banishment from the Roman Empire).
Now everytime we flip to the History Channel...they have found yet another ...."Gospel according to Mary, Philip, Judas, etc".
Oh and Priests weren't "celibate" for the beginning of Christianity...it wasn't even discussed for hundreds of years. The big issue was circumcision of all things. The Middle East Christians wanted it and the Eastern and Roman and Turkish Christians didn't....what a hoot. What I have always wondered.......why does God talk to so many preachers (men and women, God is all for equal opportunity it seems) with Southern drawls. I was watching Midnight Mass at St. Peter's in Rome and here was these poor old Pope trying to life a diamond encrusted 18kt gold chalice that must have weighed a good 5 lbs (had to be a 1/2 Million dollars in big, fat diamonds alone)...over his head so that the congregation could see it and only was able to lift it shoulder high. Wasn't the first "chalice" really nothing but a clay cup...what's going on here...that 18kt "gee-gaw" is so far out in left field in reality. Well what can we say...it always was a "business" from the get-go...and in business...."bling is the thing".
Rich posted at 1:58 pm on Mon, Dec 26, 2011.
sockratties, I know, but I just think it's so elegant to attribute all I don't know and can't to 'God.' Sometimes it actually makes me feel I do know something.
sockratties posted at 1:19 pm on Mon, Dec 26, 2011.
Believers believe that everyone believes “in” something thus their perception is through this filter. The truth they choose to accept is shaped by the innate mechanism and experiences of their mind. All thoughts and expressions are metaphors of our own realities as reflections of an actual world that may or may not be seen in a similar way by others. If a person says an item is blue and another agrees, there is no way for either to know if both see the same color. They have both learned that what they see is blue, not if others see the same way.
Expounding on one's own beliefs as proof, no matter how rational the argument, is a futile exercise for a member of a species that may never accumulate enough knowledge to ponder such lofty concepts. Those who have found a belief system that satisfies their needs should be grateful. Call any belief system anything you want, but labels, names, classifications and values are only metaphors for thought, which in turn are metaphors for reality. None of them really exist, except in the mind.
Accuracy posted at 11:27 am on Mon, Dec 26, 2011.
Jack R. Darling wrote: “Unfortunately, our country is turning away from God and we are becoming a nation whose God is money. I pray we will return to God”.
The phrase "one nation under God," was first used in President Abraham Lincoln's Gettysburg address. And the House of Representatives (whom acknowledge that America was founded under God's principles) passed a bi-partisan resolution this year reaffirming “In God We Trust” as the official motto of the United States.
Dale Whiting posted at 2:53 am on Mon, Dec 26, 2011.
Paul may be a good source for understanging faith, and through faith, God. He wrote to the Hebrews in Chapter 11:
1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.
2 For by it the elders obtained a good report.
3 Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear.
4 By faith Abel offered unto God a more excellent sacrifice than Cain, by which he obtained witness that he was righteous, God testifying of his gifts: and by it he being dead yet speaketh.
5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
As Rich points out, we all have faith, faith in something. Those who lack faith in something are prone to commit suicide. Even faith in oneself is important.
But examining odds in a Creator and His creation is nonsense. Once something has happened its odds of happening are 100%!
So yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Clause, and yes, USAF Lt.C, there is a God.
onerebel posted at 11:11 pm on Sun, Dec 25, 2011.
I remember a science teacher I had that was a atheist talking about how according to science life began. He so proudly boasted how life beat astronomical odds to appear from nothing. He stated an approximate number like 1in 10 to the 174th power, he said Stanford Mathematicians said it would be like taking all the sand from all the dunes and beaches on earth putting it in one pile, mark one grain of sand, and you have one chance to pick that grain blindfolded. Now I ask, if I told you I had a investment that would make you richer then any man on earth with only 2 catches, one it will cost you half of everything you have to get in it, and two. 1 in 10 to the 174th power is the odds it will pay off. Would you invest with those type of odds ? If you would not invest half of your worldly possessions on those odds then why would you bet your eternity on then ? To believe life began against those odds, now that TRULY takes faith ! [wink]
Rich posted at 3:20 pm on Sun, Dec 25, 2011.
The one thing we can be relatively sure of is that every one believes in God. The Colonel simply defines his belief as 'science' which is as valid as any other definition. Aquinus had five, Leibnitz, and hence mathematics, define it as sufficient reason, with Spinoza, it was unity of essense (idea is idea). All of them, and several others have 'proven' these things exist. As science rests on a belief in the efficacy of sense impression and the constancy of natural law, it is a bit more based in belief than the rational ideas above, which generally only require a single axiom or postulate to rationally derive, while science requires two. None of them relates to a big friend in the sky, but in order to reason it becomes necessary to accept at least one of them. Of course you might observe that, had 'God' wanted us all to believe the same things, accept the same things, and follow the same rules, he sure wasted a whole lot of labor making us individuals.
truth posted at 2:50 pm on Sun, Dec 25, 2011.
There are many GODS, each time we pray to our God when we go forward to murder the ones we disagree with. My God says what i have will not be shared with anyone.