I have been a Christian man all my life. I grew up in and still attend a small church in North East Mississippi. In fact, it is the oldest church in the entire North East section of the state as it was built as early as 1819, housing both black and white members. We're what people will often refer to us as "old baptists", but the more technical term would be "primitive baptist". We go to church for an hour of solid nonstop preaching on Sunday plus about 10 or so minutes of singing using no instruments or high tech equipment of any kind. We go to church first and foremost to hear the word of God and believe that a lot of the modern amenities of the larger churches distracts people from why they go in the first place. I, by no means, consider myself an authority on the Bible, and I can't quote many scriptures, if any at all. I do, however, find that most people who can never grasp the true meaning of what the scriptures are saying, and thus it does someone no good to memorize something in which they do not understand. I do not devote my time to memorizing verses, but instead understanding and interpreting them as they are read to me.
It's good that religious beliefs don't interfere with your relationship. I know that relationships, romantic or otherwise, can be seriously damaged by religious beliefs.
I would say as well that Irish's case is more the exception than the rule. Religion is just one of those things that people feel most passionate about, one way or the other. Some people can put aside their feelings, and some come off as rather unaccepting. A difference in religion is a pretty big wedge which is driven into many marriages. I know I'm probably not one to share my life with someone who doesn't believe the same as me and thus at this point in my life I don't believe I ever will.
Uncompromised free will sounds dangerous and impossible to me. I mean, none of us can have uncompromised free will, religion or no religion. That's if I understand the term correctly though.
It is my belief that God knows exactly where you're going to go in your life, but he also knows that your life could have been made better or worse by certain choices. In a sense, even though God already knows what you're going to go in life, you're still responsible for the actions that got you there. For example, God does not cause you to flunk out of high school and spend the rest of your life working at a construction job. Had you held up your end of the stick and worked hard, it is my belief that God will see to it that you succeed in life. Of course, as all religious people know, the Lord does work in mysterious ways and sometimes all efforts seem to go unanswered. however, even in the bible it speaks of men being thrust into hardship and through it all they kept their faith and found happiness in the end. I believe as long as one shares a strong faith in God that they will receive some measure of happiness in their life regardless of how big or how small.
Believing in science is also a humble way of admitting there are greater things at work, is it not? Perhaps even on an even bigger scale. The fact that we are in a impossibly alone in an impossibly vast, uncaring universe that will one day obliterate any sign that we every existed seems - to me at least - far more humbling than admitting that there's some kind of God. And as for a source of stability, I'll have to go back to my earlier argument that God and religion are invented to combat fear and unpleasant feelings It just seems... wrong to me. Like a delusion almost.
I think the major difference in is the fact that science is made up of theories and laws developed by man, therefore a man who places his beliefs in science tends to believe that he had a hand in discovering the mysteries of the universe. I think science is right on the money when it comes to some things, but I do not believe science should be considered the be all and end all of how the world works. Man, by his very nature is a flawed creation, and it is my belief that a flawed creation may only create another flawed creation. I view science as simply just another religion, with the major difference being that believers in science tend to worship their own kind before worshiping a higher power.
In theory, there really isn't anything wrong at all with worshiping a higher power. Some religions are radical and hazardous to the world, but Christianity and it's close cousins are not taught to blow up people who don't believe like them. The Bible teaches to ignore the problems of the world and focus on their relationship with God. Some people don't do that, and I consider that wrong as it's not up to us to determine whether or not someone believes in God. We should be more concerned with what we are doing and making sure we're living our lives the way we should, though in truth, we're all equally guilty of sin and all undeserving of a better life after this one. Few churches preach this way, but mine does. We simply believe that one's actions aren't enough to get him or her into Heaven, and who goes and who stays is a decision left up to God as we are all guilty of sin. That, my friend, is more humbling than anything. To think that we are not responsible for our own spiritual well being is a scary thought, but it is also a thought founded with a great deal of common sense. After all, are we really so naive to believe that God is powerless to determine who goes to Heaven and who is sent into Hell?
Those who choose not to follow a religion of any kind can be very nice people, although most I've met are not. There is always a slight hint, a twinge, if you will, of arrogance. That is the arrogance that they believe they are in control of their live and are living things the way they want to live them. Most of those people say they're happy with who they are. Mankind is not perfect, and thus we should never be happy with who we are. To say that is like saying that they believe they are perfect, which they most certainly are not. They simply don't have any moral perfection to strive for.
I believe that the desire to not believe in a God comes from a natural dislike for being told what to do. As early as childhood, all of mankind has disputed with authority in being told what to do. Believing in God is no different, only while national laws and parental control are visible, God is not and thus people who don't like to be told what to do tend to ignore him. They choose to excuse a lot of their bad behavior simply by writing things off as a difference of opinion, yet another tactic used by children to try and get away with misbehavior.
Let me say though that Christians, primarily those that believe their particular sect is the only ones getting into Heaven, are also arrogant, as are those who believe it's their responsibility to "save" nonbelievers from "hell fire and brimstone". It's those who get under the skin of the Atheist community and set a bad tone for the rest of us.
Also, let me say that the existence of God does not deny the vastness of the universe. There is a passage in the Bible, and forgive me for not being up to speed on the exact sections, but it states that the Lord has other worlds in which he watches over. Now this could be interpreted in several different ways. One could think of it as being many different dimensions, a topic covered in science, life on foreign planets, a topic also covered in science, or perhaps the Bible is just referring to Heaven. Even if that enter passage was taken out, God never once denies the existence of any other creations than what he placed here on earth, nor does he deny in any shape or form the vastness of the universe.
I emboldened the bit that I thought most important. You would think an all-powerful God would get things perfect, wouldn't you? I mean, things have been updated by God after God first apparently dictated them. It seems quite clumsy to me. And if you're a fan of a "it changes with the times" argument, then surely an all-knowing being could have found a perfect balance to begin with?
And again, properly enforced law would be just as effective as sins (most of which don't seem to be particularly deadly).
God did get things perfect. In the book of Genesis, he created Adam and the rest of the world as completely flawless entities. However, he made it clear to Adam what he could and couldn't do. Adam, however, choose to disobey God, and that is when he began to make life harder for them. Man brought sin into the world by his own actions.
Also, as mentioned earlier, our laws coincide well with the commandments written in the Bible. Most every country has laws that copy from the original ten commandments and this is simply because they are such an excellent moral guide to what is considered right and wrong. Yes, breaking the law results in sufficient punishment from the authorities of this world, but for believers in God, there is an additional weight that breaking such a law carries. There is also punishment from a devine power to fear.
But perfection is subject to opinion, is it not? People could be struggling to attain the completely wrong thing or - more likely - something which does not even exist.
All the more reason to believe that their is a god out there. Without any kind of guide to show us what we should and should not be doing, we're left all alone in the world without really knowing how we should or shouldn't behave. Perfection is indeed a subjective term, at least to a nonbeliever, although without a moral guide I would venture to say that no one can truly say anything is right or that anything is wrong. There are certain things in life that our society has determined is wrong, but to a nonbeliever, there's nothing besides a law, made up by more opinionated people, stating that they can't do something. Thus the only reason they don't do it is out of fear of getting in trouble with the law. The only reason some people don't kill is because they are afraid of jail, not because they know it is morally wrong. The only defense any nonbeliever can give me to what makes murder wrong is the fact that it just is. Well, I'm sorry, but that's a direct contradiction to the way most agnostics and atheists believe. For atheists especially, there has to be a reason for everything. There has to be direct, hard proof that something is wrong. They have to be able to see it with their own eyes. They have to touch it. They simply cannot have faith in mere written words. Though, as I just proved, man has to have faith in order to exist as cleanly and purely as he can in this world. The Bible is just a moral tool telling the people of the world what is right and what is wrong, just like the laws that govern our fair nation, and the plethora of nations around the world. The more man chooses to deviate from that word, and the more man choses to trust in his own flawed design then the farther we will fall.
Nothing to me is more evident of the existence of God than by just looking at our society today compared to our society as early as 50-60 years ago. In the 1940s and 1950s, moral values were strong, families attended church on a regular basis, and the influence of God was strong all throughout America. As time went on, the influence of God began to get smaller and smaller, and now no one knows how to act because our society as a whole is not looking at the world through a single unified vision of right and wrong, as we once were. Many years ago, families gathered together in the family room of the house and shared stories, played games, and enjoyed many warm moments. These days most families are to concerned with their computer, with their television, with their video game systems, and with themselves.
Families today are far more concerned with the amenities of the world than those given to us by God. Just look at television these days. One can't sit down and watch the television for more than a half our without seeing at least one morally questionable add, program, or action on television. We have late night porn adds, sexual stimulant commercials, constant swearing, and great portions of blood and violence filling our TV screens and our minds these days. I almost miss the days of feel good TV like Lone Ranger, I Love Lucy, Happy Days, The Jeffersons, etc.
Television these days wants to be as real as possible. Television produces want to try and bring the workings of the world on over to the TV screen. Television was never meant to be a reflection of our sad reality, but instead it was meant to be an escape from it. Television was meant to be one thing that families could use each and every night to escape from the horrors and hassles of the world, at least for a few minutes, just to relax and feel good about themselves. Was television a little overprotective in the past? Yes I'd say it was. I don't think it's hard to deny that television produces of today all try to take things to a much greater extreme than it needs to be. The whole point of all this is that the decline of such programming parallels the decline of morals in our society today. I could carry the argument over to anything from marriage life, to music, to school behavior, to clothing, and even to parenting.
Sure, a difference in religion has divided people in the past and continues to today, but having no religion and no true sense of right and wrong will only serve to divide people even more. As a world without a unified vision of peace and purity is a world of chaos.
In the end, do not think of this as preaching, yet merely an explanation of how we believe what we do and why. Should atheists change their ways? Yes, I believe they all should, yet I'm also not dumb enough to believe that through my own actions, any of them will. I believe that they are wrong, but I'm not going to condemn a single one of them to any kind of Hell. That's not my place to do so, and truth be told no one except God knows where anyone in this world is going to go after they die.
The concept of a higher power is nigh impossible for a nonbeliever to grasp just by listening to the explanations of man. It takes the Lord himself to open the eyes of his people. It's nothing that anyone can ask to happen. It just happens, and when it does they'll be able to understand. Until then, nothing will ever help them understand how we believe.
