Thank you for your post, Roland. It seems that you want people to focus on the Crist of faith and not too much on the historical Jesus who, after all, was a rebel that perhaps we would call him a terrorist today. On the contrary, the Crist of faith is a beautiful dream of love but just imaginary. We all are made of stardust and it seems …
Thank you for your post, Roland. It seems that you want people to focus on the Crist of faith and not too much on the historical Jesus who, after all, was a rebel that perhaps we would call him a terrorist today. On the contrary, the Crist of faith is a beautiful dream of love but just imaginary. We all are made of stardust and it seems to me (metaphorically) that we want to return to our origins, and so, we create religions that satisfy that desire. Unfortunately, we have to face reality and study history to evaluate the usefulness of those lofty dreams, and the result is IMHO that religion has impeded the moral advancement of mankind, hampered the progress of sciences and fomented continuous wars specially since the beginning of the Abrahamic faiths that introduce the element of intolerance that didn't exist in older religions. This is what I believe is the contribution of the peoples of faith, but there are glorious individual exceptions. We inherited the fire from the stars that is so beneficial but also extremely destructive. On the good side there are examples of virtuous persons like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and mother Theresa. The other side contains villains like the great inquisitor of Seville, Osama Bin Laden and our born again Cristian Richard the Lionheart that recently launched a crusade against Iraq.
All of these people were deeply religious but the difference in their actions was due to the way they understood their spirituality.
This is my understanding of good and evil. We all are made of the same stardust and keep the same fire. It is up to us to use that fire in a good way without any help from organized religion. I agree with Epicurus: "If God wants to abolish evil, but cannot, He is impotent. If He can, but doesn't want to, He is wicked."
Roland, we see the world from two different perspectives. You accepted the Axial Age legacy that "We live in this world but we are not from this world" and ,I feel very comfortable in this world. When our time comes to depart, you and the other good believers will die with the hope that you will be in heaven. When it is our turn, I and the other agnostics will die with the satisfaction of having enjoyed our lives to the full and following our conscience.
And you and I will end being a great soil fertilizer to contribute to the developing evolution of all creatures.
Thank you for your post, Roland. It seems that you want people to focus on the Crist of faith and not too much on the historical Jesus who, after all, was a rebel that perhaps we would call him a terrorist today. On the contrary, the Crist of faith is a beautiful dream of love but just imaginary. We all are made of stardust and it seems to me (metaphorically) that we want to return to our origins, and so, we create religions that satisfy that desire. Unfortunately, we have to face reality and study history to evaluate the usefulness of those lofty dreams, and the result is IMHO that religion has impeded the moral advancement of mankind, hampered the progress of sciences and fomented continuous wars specially since the beginning of the Abrahamic faiths that introduce the element of intolerance that didn't exist in older religions. This is what I believe is the contribution of the peoples of faith, but there are glorious individual exceptions. We inherited the fire from the stars that is so beneficial but also extremely destructive. On the good side there are examples of virtuous persons like Dr. Martin Luther King, Mahatma Gandhi, and mother Theresa. The other side contains villains like the great inquisitor of Seville, Osama Bin Laden and our born again Cristian Richard the Lionheart that recently launched a crusade against Iraq.
All of these people were deeply religious but the difference in their actions was due to the way they understood their spirituality.
This is my understanding of good and evil. We all are made of the same stardust and keep the same fire. It is up to us to use that fire in a good way without any help from organized religion. I agree with Epicurus: "If God wants to abolish evil, but cannot, He is impotent. If He can, but doesn't want to, He is wicked."
Roland, we see the world from two different perspectives. You accepted the Axial Age legacy that "We live in this world but we are not from this world" and ,I feel very comfortable in this world. When our time comes to depart, you and the other good believers will die with the hope that you will be in heaven. When it is our turn, I and the other agnostics will die with the satisfaction of having enjoyed our lives to the full and following our conscience.
And you and I will end being a great soil fertilizer to contribute to the developing evolution of all creatures.