Okay, this normally isn't a place where I discuss religion or politics, but it seems I have to. Well, not that I have to, but I want to.
This was shown to me by StumbleUpon and I read it. See, it was amusing. Not something that makes me believe in God, or believe in science any less (as there are many flaws in relationship to science in it), but it was amusing. Less amusing were the comments. I can accept that people believe in God, even if I don't, and I won't say that science disproves God, but I don't personally believe and I am annoyed when other people take religion and claim theirs is the only way.
Christianity: The largest religion in the world, with Islam in second. Not all Christians are crazy, but unfortunately, the crazies are the ones who are the loudest. In anything, that is the case. The crazy people speak the loudest and are heard the most. So, while the group as a whole isn't crazy (and probably the majority isn't), you still think of it as such, because those few people ruin it for everyone. Most people think other people's religions are wrong, and sometimes, crazy. I've often seen this view of Christianity:
The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
When told like that, Christianity sounds crazy. Still, I often don't see it like that. Christians (from now on, Christans refers to the crazies) feel the Bible is right and that it is the only way things happened. Why, because God said so. The Earth was created some 6000 years ago, and everything in the Bible is true and the word of God. They say other people's beliefs are crazy and wrong. There was no evolution, there was God. The way I look at Christianity, often, is as a form of Mythology that is current. The Greeks seemed to believe in Zeus, the Romans in Jupiter, the Aztecs in Quetzalcoatl, etc. All of those are believed in as Mythology today, right? What makes Christianity different? Seriously? Because it is right? Where is the proof that Christianity is right and Norse Mythology is wrong? You don't need proof, only faith? Why can't someone else have faith in Deadpool as opposed to God? If you can answer me, by all means, do so. I'd love to hear someone explain why their religion is right and everyone else's is wrong, without just saying their God/gods exist whereas the others don't.
Now, this isn't as bad as most of the things I have seen, but it still is pretty bad at some points. One thing is the student's interpretation of evolution. He says nobody has seen evolution, so it is an opinion. Well, no. People have witnessed microevolution, for things like bacteria evolving and becoming immune to antibiotics (one of the problems with antibiotics, as the ones that survive are stronger, and just keep making stronger versions), and we have evidence that suggests that evolution also takes place on a much grander scale. With all the evidence we have, the most likely theory (scientific theory) is that things have evolved. The birds in the Galapagos, as observed by Darwin, were similar, but had slight differences in their beaks that allowed them to be successful at eating in the particular environment they were in (longer beaks, or curved beaks, or bigger beaks). Also, humans didn't evolve from monkeys. Both had a common ancestor.
I have seen many things where Christians say their beliefs are the only beliefs that count, and that everyone else is wrong. Those piss me off. Anything where someone stated that their beliefs are more important than someone's and that somebody's opinion is wrong would piss me off. The most common place I see it, though is in religion, and unfortunately, in Christianity.
Again, not all Christians have the beliefs that some of the crazies have and most actually don't care. Unfortunately, as I said, the ones I see are the crazies, and I don't know what to do about them.
Monday, November 24, 2008
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3 comments:
I have seen evolution in action.
We bought a six-toed cat. By the time we left the neighborhood, there were twenty of them roaming the streets.
Case closed.
Pi,
I happen to be a Christian and agree with you on some points regarding the fact that some so-called "Christians" are nuts and go extremely overboard. There are some things however I don't agree with you on. Evolution for one. Evolution is still called "The Theory of Evolution" for a reason. It has never been proven and as such is an opinion, just as many view religion. As you said microevolution has allowed adaptation of a species to their surroundings for it's survival. This is different from evolution. Evolution holds that man evolved ultimately from a one-celled organism. Kind of difficult to prove and thus must be accepted on faith, just like religion.
That aside, I fully believe Christianity is the only way. Why is what you asked in your blog post. It's too complicated for one response but let me try to give you a little scientific insight.
The Bible, a collection of writings written over thousands of years by many different authors, describes the world as being hung on nothing. Popular mythological belief had the earth on the back of a turtle or being held up by Atlas. Again popular belief said that the world was flat and you could sail right off the edge. Did you realize the Bible describes the world as being round? These are just 2 examples of the Bible teachings predating the scientific proof.
Other cases such as the story of Jericho. The Bible describes the seige of Jericho and how the walls of the city fell. One would think that a seige of a city would result in the walls being pushed inward, yet after a recent excavation of the city it was found that indeed the city walls had fallen outward and in fact is what allowed the Israelites to invade the city just as the Bible describes. Yet more scientific proof of the veracity of the Bible.
In the book of Acts it is said that we can see the invisible qualities of God from creation. Look around at the trees, feel the wind in your hair, the natural laws of this world work in harmony with each other. Order does not come from chaos. Order comes from design.
Take a VS deck for instance. With the myriad possibilities of cards available to use, it is virtually impossible to just toss any 60 cards together from a playset of every card available and expect the deck to be viable. Yet allow the top VS player in the world access to those same cards and you have a functional masterpiece.
Also, on a final note, true Christians do not force they're belief system on others, they lovingly try to show them what they believe to be true. I hope I spurred some ideas in your mind regarding Christianity. I would leave you with John 3:16. For God so loved the world that he sent his only begotten son, that whosever believes in him shall have everlasting life.
If you have any questions, I would be more than happy to try to answer them. My e-mail address is unclechawie@yahoo.com
Evolution is called the Theory of Evolution because it is a SCIENTIFIC theory. A scientific theory is different from a theory. A scientific theory takes evidence from how we can see the world works and creates a hypothesis based off of that. We can see microevolution and can see that the most likely explanation for how we came to be here is from evolving from one-celled organisms. What about gravitational theory? I personally don't think that there is gravity, but merely gremlins who are invisible and pull us down. We can't feel them or sense them in any way, but they are there and they are what makes "gravity" work. Prove me wrong about gremlins. Go ahead. Well, your explanation makes as much sense as my gremlin hypothesis. Can you prove that gremlins aren't pulling you down? With the best evidence we have, it doesn't seem to be that way, but hey, gravity is only a theory.
So the Earth was also created some 6000 years ago? What about dinosaurs? How do you explain the bones found in the Earth? Because if you want to say the Bible is fact, then you have to say all of the Bible is fact. There is a lot of evidence that suggests that the universe was created billions of years ago, and that Earth was created about 4-5 billion years ago. The Bible doesn't say that, so obviously it's wrong. Or, if you want to say parts of it have to be left open to interpretation (the creation story took place over billions of years, and was different from actual days), then you have to accept that all mythologies aren't actually real, but merely interpretations of how the world is.
Have you seen someone turned into a pillar of salt? Do you believe people can turn into pillars of salt by looking at towns being destroyed? If so, I've got a bridge in Brooklyn I'd like to sell you.
I know that not all Christians try to convert people, and said that. The most vocal ones do. Still, I am sad that people believe in something and believe that everybody must believe in that same thing without proof.
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