Quote:
Originally Posted by Traveler
Again I wish I had more time to converse with you. There is both false faith and false religion just like there are false assumptions in science. For example are dinosaurs warm blooded or cold blooded. Today most scientists will agree that they are warm blooded – 50 years ago most agreed that they were cold blooded.
The problem is that many tend to have faith in “expert” opinion. Few of us have the time and resources to “check out” or validate everything that is being said. Since you are a scientist you will understand the following – I think. It is a template for understanding how G-d deals with man.
- G-d will not do for man what man is capable of doing for himself.
- G-d will do for man what man is not capable of doing for himself.
- G-d will not do for man that which does not benefit man in the long (eternal) term.
- G-d will do for man that which will benefit man in the long (eternal) term.
- G-d will not do anything for man with out the concurrence of that man.
If you consider the LDS concept that man is the offspring of G-d and that we are undergoing advanced training for define status some thing about life can make sense. For example, we are having a temporary experience. However: The experience is real (not pretend) the opportunities are real (not pretend). The consequences are real (not pretend).
As far as becoming enlightened – I have not found a better “path” to travel than what is offered in the LDS “faith”. If I could find something better; I would accept it in a heart beat.
If you have found better opportunity to participate in enlightening activities please point me. To be involved in community, serve in calling, experience love and compassion service. Consider the missionary program, you earn your own money and pay for your service. Welfare where all fast and offer what they save to the poor – and all regardless of what they have can participate with the same expectations and commitment to service – rich or poor. To take upon covenants – again all can help one another without attending special seminaries, or colleges to obtain degrees. One serving is not considered greater than another or deserving of greater reward. I could go on but I will ask you if you know of a better way to enlighten a society?
The Traveler
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Scientific theories are assumptions that change with evidence. A widely accepted idea can be revised or even thrown out all together depending on what is observed, as you pointed out with your dinosaur example. But I think that faith is entirely different than scientific theory and can't be compared. Are your religious beliefs really as easily changed as your scientific ones?
Yes, I think that your church does a lot of good and it's build on soundly moral concepts, which is why I'm investigating it in the first place. However, I've also experienced intolerance and bigotry from many religions, including yours. You can say that these people are not acting in accordance with all your churches teachings, but if you're going to look at the good that a church has inspired, you must also look at the bad that it has inspired whether it was intentional or not.
As an atheist moving to Utah, I've faced a bit of intolerance. Most people are polite on the surface, some genuinely mean it, but others immediately assume that I am an immoral heathen simply because I'm not a member and treat me with disdain. I've met a lot of jerks and immoral people and in my experience, what religion they claim to be has nothing to do with it. Judging someone entirely by their stated religion not only seems wrong to me, but seems to go against their own religious philosophy.
I would also like to state that all of those good things you mention don't require religion. I enjoy helping other people, I don't do it because I expect to be rewarded in the afterlife, I do it because it is the right thing to do. In my experience, the religious people who do the most good, don't do it for their religion or the perceived rewards, they do it because they are inherently good people and would have done it anyway.