A few things about God (or gods) and religion[s]:
First of all, it is a shame that many people cannot speak openly about these subjects. Whether you do or do not believe in either one or both, I think that all of us should be able to talk openly about them without getting too bent out of shape. And we can all agree to disagree, right?
Agreed.
Secondly, some people feel hurt about life and meaning and may blame God or a lack of Godliness for the terrible things that exist in our human and world history. Point taken. But there is still room for discussion.
Thirdly, like a fairly smart co-worker said a month or so ago, the "root of most killing/violence is because of religion". I countered that notion and mentioned how was religion involved in Stalin, Hitler or Mao of last century? Those gentlemen (hardly) were more a-religious than anything, I emphasized.
True or not? And who was worse than any of them in the 20th century?
We had a rather public discourse regarding this, where I felt I made my point strongly, but in private I did admit to him that past centuries were more religiously involved in violence.
But, do we truly accuse and condemn organized religion for our ills?
Or could it be other things? Surely there are religious pretenses for fighting in places like Iraq, Syria and Sudan and South Sudan. And yet there other factors at play that seem to indicate that certain play exploit religion and ethnicity for their own aims.
No matter what faith we espouse or declaim, I think it unfortunate that people use the blanket statement that religion is the biggest source of murder, evil, or death.
And do we blame the Divine for all our human existential misery?
That is another story. Worthy of discussion.
For another day then.
Blog it. EMC.
Oh, yes, a more doctrinal point that I wanted to discuss...
Is God one? One in three? Three in One? Many? None?
Traditional Christianity posits that there is One God (much like Judaism and Islam), but that He was made Incarnate and the Holy Spirit together makes it a Trinitarian concept.
But there are so-called non-Trinitarians that believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate entities but One in purpose.
I am one of those.
Monotheist? Not in the traditional sense.
Blog on. EMC
First of all, it is a shame that many people cannot speak openly about these subjects. Whether you do or do not believe in either one or both, I think that all of us should be able to talk openly about them without getting too bent out of shape. And we can all agree to disagree, right?
Agreed.
Secondly, some people feel hurt about life and meaning and may blame God or a lack of Godliness for the terrible things that exist in our human and world history. Point taken. But there is still room for discussion.
Thirdly, like a fairly smart co-worker said a month or so ago, the "root of most killing/violence is because of religion". I countered that notion and mentioned how was religion involved in Stalin, Hitler or Mao of last century? Those gentlemen (hardly) were more a-religious than anything, I emphasized.
True or not? And who was worse than any of them in the 20th century?
We had a rather public discourse regarding this, where I felt I made my point strongly, but in private I did admit to him that past centuries were more religiously involved in violence.
But, do we truly accuse and condemn organized religion for our ills?
Or could it be other things? Surely there are religious pretenses for fighting in places like Iraq, Syria and Sudan and South Sudan. And yet there other factors at play that seem to indicate that certain play exploit religion and ethnicity for their own aims.
No matter what faith we espouse or declaim, I think it unfortunate that people use the blanket statement that religion is the biggest source of murder, evil, or death.
And do we blame the Divine for all our human existential misery?
That is another story. Worthy of discussion.
For another day then.
Blog it. EMC.
Oh, yes, a more doctrinal point that I wanted to discuss...
Is God one? One in three? Three in One? Many? None?
Traditional Christianity posits that there is One God (much like Judaism and Islam), but that He was made Incarnate and the Holy Spirit together makes it a Trinitarian concept.
But there are so-called non-Trinitarians that believe that God the Father, Jesus Christ the Son, and the Holy Ghost are separate entities but One in purpose.
I am one of those.
Monotheist? Not in the traditional sense.
Blog on. EMC
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