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I thought you were trying to score a couple extra blessings =)
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on December 22, 2006 at 8:02 AM
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Not necessarily, Success.
God did give us a brain, and I'm sure He expects us to use it. So much of religion is manipulative - to use an example I'm familiar with, think of the evangelistic services held at many churches. The pastor has just preached a sermon begging the congregation to accept Christ. The organist starts playing softly - songs with lyrics declaring us sinners, and proclaiming the mercy of God. After the sermon, the pastor stands at the front, waiting patiently to accept the thundering hordes of converts accepting Christ. He has even thoughtfully put facial tissues at the front - on what used to be called an altar rail in some churches - because he expects penitent sinners to cry their eyes out, having been manipulated into repentance. Nobody gets to go home until someone has walked the aisle. If nobody does, too bad; people stay there as long as it takes.
posted by
kidnykid
on December 22, 2006 at 6:53 AM
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Ben, you're sucking up to me with all this talk of personal responsibility,
aren't you? =)
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on December 21, 2006 at 6:07 PM
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Seriously, Success...
Faith is not an absolute necessity, for a moral life. I feel it necessary for other things, but it is not necessary to lead a moral life. I feel that God gave us brains and we had best use them to find out about how things really work. By the way, I have faith because I choose to, not because someone has manipulated me in a religious service.
posted by
kidnykid
on December 21, 2006 at 3:30 PM
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Ben, how can you say that?
When a third of the population is waiting for the Son to return. Do you have to have faith or not?
posted by
SuccessWarrior
on December 21, 2006 at 3:04 PM
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You know, you don't need faith to know that the Sun will return
We have the advantage of extensive astronomical knowledge. Ancients developed all these light-related rituals because they really thought the Sun had left them permanently, and they were begging the Sun to come back.
posted by
kidnykid
on December 21, 2006 at 1:01 PM
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