People - I /was/ a Christian

If it hadn't been off-topic, I was going to respond to this myself:

quote:

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Then I had an experience like the deepest love and an ocean of peace wash me of my sins. It was beautiful, and my eyes were opened for the first time.

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As we grow up, we realize that that "high" is easy enough to come by. There are a thousand things that produce that same "born again" feeling, from watching our children grow to learning something new for ourselves to simple things like a new flavour of ice cream.The feeling is a chemical reaction in the brain. It's the height of arrogance to pretend that we have feelings or "understanding" that others don't have.And that feeling is fleeting. In the long term, it's far more satisfying to do something about the ills of the world instead of waiting for some Flying Spook to do it for you.

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“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place” -- Joseph Goebbels
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So you don't believe in graduation? You didn't graduate from printing in block letters to writing in cursive? You didn't graduate from pencil to ink?Who's arrogant? The child who has mastered printing and thinks he has "the answer"? Or the adult who has mastered both printing and cursive and remembers his early steps?

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“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place” -- Joseph Goebbels
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That seems backwards to me. Isn't it supremely arrogant to trust yourself instead of comparing your "unction" with that of other humans?

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“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place” -- Joseph Goebbels
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There's the possibility of delusion.Mass delusions are possible too, but if you expose yourself to a wide range of outside opinions, you're less likely to succumb.

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“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place” -- Joseph Goebbels
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The trouble is that a lot of people who preach repentence at others don't know the first thing about the Bible. And a lot of people have stopped at the first thing, too.Some people stop learning. Some people keep on learning and stop being Christians.Some keep on learning and keep on being Christians - but they're few and far between.

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“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place” -- Joseph Goebbels
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It was the Great Infiltrator himself who wrote most of the epistles, often causing more confusion than he corrected. The people I was speaking of tend to be those who take Paul's words over Jesus'.But that's another topic. Jesus said, "By their works ye shall know them." That test isn't so easy to corrupt. He recruits creationists, homophobes, racists... in general, the ignorant, the hateful and the fearful. That's what I said. Those who do study the Bible usually see past the trite over-simplifications of the fundamentalist.

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“Faith moves mountains, but only knowledge moves them to the right place” -- Joseph Goebbels
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Help scientific research in your spare time. No cost. No obligation.
Join the World Community Grid with Team EvC