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Politics : Sharks in the Septic Tank -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (52554)	7/6/2002 7:22:46 PM
From: epicure	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 82486

There is a great deal of meaning to be found in life without God. I know this is hard for you to believe, perhaps impossible to believe. Perhaps the idea that people can have meaning without faith is an idea that cannot coexist with faith. If it is impossible for you to imagine, than your belief system has made you more limited than mine has made me. I can imagine the meaning you might find, without believing in the impulse for the meaning. When you consider the suicide bomber, the cult leader who kills his followers, the person who condemns other men to death and who can say it is "no big deal"- I have to wish they could think "THIS MIGHT BE IT", if only for a moment- of course they can't, (or maybe they do and go ahead anyway? Yikes, what an awful thought) that is what makes them so dangerous. No doubt. No hesitation. Not even when the world is full of people convinced of all sorts of things, and people who often do horrible things in the service of these wonderful noble beliefs. Because no matter what you believe, or how sure you are of your faith, there are other people equally convinced of "facts" which diametrically oppose your own. People have always been utterly convinced by all sorts of things.

To: J. C. Dithers who wrote (52554)	7/6/2002 7:54:04 PM
From: Lane3	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 82486

I would need some kind of inner belief system that would tell me, yes, it is a good thing for me to give this life up for another, there is a purpose to be served by that. I'll be gentle, J.C., since I understand how it feels not to be able to understand what's goin on inside some other people. Try as I may, I can't get my head around why anyone with a brain believes in God, so perhaps that's the same as your not being to "get" this. If you are giving up your life to, say, save New York or Washington from being blown up by a terrorist with an H-bomb, then that is your purpose. If I do it, then that is my purpose, too. Do you need more of a purpose than saving your beloved country from going into a tail spin? I don't. Seems to me our purposes are identical. Identical. Now, you get to go to heaven for it where you get beaucoup pats on the back and I don't. But, you know, I don't need kudos from God or any of the spirits in heaven to know that's the right thing to do. Hopefully, I would have the presence of mind to do it. While I was reading your earlier post, the news was on TV in the background. They were talking about an incident today where a small plane crashed and how the pilot apparently took steps to avoid crashing in a populated area. It's a common story. I don't know if this guy was a Christian or a Muslim or a humanist. I can't imagine it matters. Pilots are supposed to take steps to avoid killing people on the ground even if those steps reduce their own chance of survival. I would think that virtually every normal person would have that reaction. Now, if you and I are standing on a sidewalk and a drive-by shooting occurs, I'm not about to jump in front of your bullet. Nothing personal. I'm sure you understand. I wouldn't expect some Christian would do that for you, either. But, you and I have both had full lives already. Wouldn't we both risk our lives to save a schoolbus full of kids from the gunmen? Wouldn't we both have an "inner belief" that those kids deserve a life, too, while there's not all that much time left for us? Go ahead, tell me you don't get that.