Religion throwdown? In this thread? Was not expecting it, but okay.
Ghavrel Send a noteboard - 15/03/2011 06:33:32 AM
I dislike it when people from a particular point of view (e.g. here, you and religion) say something like "I only counted X" as a means of weakening a point. Well, you didn't count well. There are six that specifically mention God or Lord, so 100% more than what you counted. Additionally, there are many more that are referential in that respect. No big deal, but you could have at least counted them all and then said "I counted six".
It's only six if you infer that mentioning God in a sentence inextricably links everything in that sentence to God. I counted three who implied that God had caused the disaster. One of the ones that mentions "lord" does so specifically to bemoan the American response; it doesn't say that God caused anything.
So no, I counted just fine, thank you very much.
You'll note all I said was "the bad side of religion". In reality, I think this is all a little over dramatized; many of those people appear to be fourteen year old boys who probably don't even know if they believe in God or not, and probably won't spend more than two hours, combined, over the course of their lives, really considering the implications of divinity or of an empty universe. I don't think any intelligent religious person would have a perspective like this; I've just always found the idea of "divine retribution" to be oddly masochistic, as though there's some satisfaction derived from the punishment handed out for some long ago transgression (whether banging your secretary on your wife's birthday, or starting a war). Ian McEwan mentions something similar, when he talks about how odd it is for people to pray to God to save a family member's life, and then -- once they've died -- people pray to God to accept their family member into heaven. There's an odd dichotomy in religion, to me: God should forgive me for my sins; God should punish that other guy for his sins. I'm not saying this is the case among those people who are really well read and thoughtful about religion, just among the great mass of the world.
I'm not arguing any of this. I'm simply saying that you can replace every instance of "religion" with "atheism" and every instance of "divine retribution" with "poetic justice," and you'll have an equally valid statement. The drive for vengeance isn't exclusive to the religious by any means; they simply have a handy vehicle through which to personify their desires. I agree that it's a distasteful desire; my contention is that you're focusing on one way humans express this desire and ignoring the others.
The rest of the post is vague theology which, as you say, most people who spend time thinking about such things don't agree with. I agree with you that the beliefs of some people seem contradictory and odd; I don't really know what that has to do with anything, though.
"We feel safe when we read what we recognise, what does not challenge our way of thinking.... a steady acceptance of pre-arranged patterns leads to the inability to question what we are told."
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
~Camilla
Ghavrel is Ghavrel is Ghavrel
*MySmiley*
This message last edited by Ghavrel on 15/03/2011 at 06:36:08 AM
This makes me feel sick, and very angry.
12/03/2011 11:00:10 PM
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At first I thought it was just really dark humor, which I admittedly have a taste for.
12/03/2011 11:31:51 PM
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Re: At first I thought it was just really dark humor, which I admittedly have a taste for.
12/03/2011 11:51:36 PM
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this does as well, and it's also related to people's ignorance
13/03/2011 01:26:29 AM
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That video disturbed me enough that I tried to figure out why anyone would do that.
13/03/2011 05:39:20 AM
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I agree with you
13/03/2011 06:07:18 AM
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It's the hypocrisy of people who don't recognize their ancestors also moved here.
13/03/2011 06:21:41 AM
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except that they had a town supervisor and two congressmen, that's hardly uneducated
13/03/2011 06:55:49 AM
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Re: That video disturbed me enough that I tried to figure out why anyone would do that.
13/03/2011 06:59:22 AM
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I guess if you consider supporting suicide bombing as moderate then they nust be moderate
13/03/2011 05:16:10 PM
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I posted that I donated $10.. and was AMBUSHED by one of my fb friends.
13/03/2011 05:23:14 AM
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I have a "friend" who is always posting religious quotes...
13/03/2011 07:59:21 PM
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I have a friend who posted something like that after the Haiti Quake
14/03/2011 03:33:34 AM
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If God's that pissed off about Pearl Harbor (mind you 70 years is a long time for vengeance..)
13/03/2011 11:21:56 AM
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Re: Any society.
14/03/2011 02:48:03 AM
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Atheists don't ever have twisted senses of justice? I must know quite a few believers in denial.
14/03/2011 07:35:13 AM
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I think the point was that atheists don't tend to believe in divine retribution. *NM*
14/03/2011 08:22:00 AM
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This is true.
14/03/2011 05:50:11 PM
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Re: Counting
15/03/2011 01:26:37 AM
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Religion throwdown? In this thread? Was not expecting it, but okay.
15/03/2011 06:33:32 AM
- 841 Views