How’s your moral compass

[Swinglowandslow]

I am always a bit bemused when those of no faith; those who dismiss as a fairy tale the two collections of books that comprise the Bible; and choose to lump all traditions and denominations together with no recognition that these can and do hold very different approaches to taking understanding from reading or hearing the Bible read - that those same people who think it’s a fairy tale, choose to advise me that if I want to call myself a Christian then I must believe every word and phrase as written.

Well the good news is that I don’t - and nobody requires me to.

As I have commented before, when I read or listen to a Bible reading I ‘listen for the word of God’…I am not listening to it. For me that is a very big difference.

H, if I sent you to Tescos to buy some cherries, I'm sure you would come back with the best of them. ??

 

[Hobbit]

My reply to that statement is always when was it created?
The bible suggests around 6,000 years ago.
Scientists of course disagree.
And if the scientists are right, then god was wrong again.
Not to mention the sun going round the earth.
And if god created light on the first day and the sun on the 4th day, how did that work?
And when did he create the dinosaurs?
And was Noah really 900 years old? And if so, how many offspring did he have?
There are just too many mistakes.



I'm sure there are many good moral people all over the world who do good and help others but you don't need religion to do good.

The bible is a human construct. The bible suggests 6,000 years, not god. Can’t blame god for that one. There’s many mistakes made by man, including most of the bible, especially the Old Testament. Isn’t it strange that way back in the mists of time a “bible” was constructed which travelled the world in a time when global comms didn’t exist. Bit of a miracle really.

I’m a believer, in something, but I don’t believe in any of the OT and only some of the New.

In the main, I’m not fussed in arguing the toss on fairy tales and sky fairies, as non-believers describe things -their choice. Genuinely not fussed. I don’t believe non-believers are wrong but, equally, I don’t believe they’re right. I, genuinely, don’t care either way about their beliefs - their choice.

I’m very comfortable with my beliefs. I don’t have to justify them, nor debate them- I’m happy. Whatever anyone else’s beliefs are, their choice, and good luck to them. And they might even be right. I’m doing no harm with my beliefs, and they’re doing no harm with theirs. Live and let live.

 

[SocketRocket]

You are mixing the concepts of Atheism (actively not believing) and Agnosticism (believing that we can't tell).
It's a 'language' thing. If someone states, truly, that they don't 'believe in <anything/nothing in particular>' then it's their belief that's a/the fact,not the subject/topic of their belief. They could still be wrong.
Of course, faith is something that cannot be 'proven wrong' because if attempted, the final, end of argument, statement will alway be along the lines of 'but/well, I have faith...'!

No I'm not.

My comment you quoted was to a particular comment that was contradictory and not relating a theory on Atheism or Agnosticism.

 

[PhilTheFragger]

I have faith that between them, Socket, Foxy and Hogie can suck the bejesus out of any thread they choose.

??

 

[SocketRocket]

Now this is my main problem which stops me from being religious.
If the bible is the word of god, you have to follow it all and I can't do that.
If you follow the new testament, how can you ignore the old, you either follow the whole bible or none of it. And if you get your morals from the OT, there's some nasty stuff in there, lots of stoning going on. Is it moral to own someone as a slave and beat them?
It seems to me there's a lot of cherry picking going on, keep the 10 commandments but forget the stoning and the killing.
Who am I to decide which bits of gods word is 'wrong'

If you really want to understand those things then you have to study the new testament and understand how it explains that Christ was put on the earth to repeal much of the old testament and how he turned against those that upheld it. The old testament explains the way people needed to live in those turbulent times, the New testament explains a new way. It also makes it clear that people don't go to heaven and never will. That is all part of the missleading stories perpetrated by the main stream religions to frighten people.
Or you can dismiss it as gobbledygook, it's entirely up to the individual.

 

[SocketRocket]

I have faith that between them, Socket, Foxy and Hogie can suck the bejesus out of any thread they choose.

??

It's a discussion, a debate. Also why just us three, others have been making their views quite strongly.

 

[Deleted member 15344]

I have faith that between them, Socket, Foxy and Hogie can suck the bejesus out of any thread they choose.

??

hallelujah - praise be to golfing gods ?

 

[SwingsitlikeHogan]

H, if I sent you to Tescos to buy some cherries, I'm sure you would come back with the best of them. ??

As much as I might like to accept the task and that I'd thoroughly enjoy doing it, I know that I wouldn't be the best person to choose the best cherries and that my wife would, I would therefore delegate the task...And so even though I'd miss out on the pleasure of choosing them, I'd have the longer term pleasure of eating the best

 

[Swinglowandslow]

. It also makes it clear that people don't go to heaven and never will. T

Even I, as an unbeliever, understand enough about Christianity to know that one of its cornerstones is that those who believe in Christ as the son of God will go to heaven.
"Those that believe in me will never die "
"No one goes to the Father except through me"
Etc

Perhaps you could explain what does happen when you die, if Christianity is the Truth.?
Where, if not heaven?

 

[Rooter]

Where, if not heaven?

I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.

I like the poem, you never die if people don't forget you.

 

[SocketRocket]

Even I, as an unbeliever, understand enough about Christianity to know that one of its cornerstones is that those who believe in Christ as the son of God will go to heaven.
"Those that believe in me will never die "
"No one goes to the Father except through me"
Etc

Perhaps you could explain what does happen when you die, if Christianity is the Truth.?
Where, if not heaven?

Those quotes don't suggest people will go to heaven. The scriptures do explain that when we die we are returned to dust. They also explain how the end of days will come about followed by a resurrection where a number of people will be given immortality on earth, not heaven.

Im not trying to preach to people but there's a great deal of untruths perpetrated by the mainstream churches relating to the messages in the Bible's scriptures.

I won't comment further here but if you really have those questions you are at your free will to study the subject further or not.

 

[Swinglowandslow]

Those quotes don't suggest people will go to heaven. The scriptures do explain that when we die we are returned to dust. They also explain how the end of days will come about followed by a resurrection where a number of people will be given immortality on earth, not heaven.

Im not trying to preach to people but there's a great deal of untruths perpetrated by the mainstream churches relating to the messages in the Bible's scriptures.

I won't comment further here but if you really have those questions you are at your free will to study the subject further or not.

Well, this will be my last comment on heaven subject, but I cannot understand how you (and others) believe in the immortality of this planet, when Astro physics tells us that the Sun will expand towards the end of its life and the nearer planets, including Earth, will be consumed.
Prediction, not proven fact I know, but it's based on more fact than a collection of ancient scripts.?

 

[Hobbit]

Well, this will be my last comment on heaven subject, but I cannot understand how you (and others) believe in the immortality of this planet, when Astro physics tells us that the Sun will expand towards the end of its life and the nearer planets, including Earth, will be consumed.
Prediction, not proven fact I know, but it's based on more fact than a collection of ancient scripts.?

Science also told us Vesuvius would erupt again, years ago, but it didn’t happen. Science can be fallible too.

 

[Swinglowandslow]

I am the thousand winds that blow
I am the diamond glints in snow
I am the sunlight on ripened grain,
I am the gentle, autumn rain.
As you awake with morning’s hush,
I am the swift, up-flinging rush
Of quiet birds in circling flight,
I am the day transcending night.

I like the poem, you never die if people don't forget you.

This is what I believe as the best explanation
With apologies to Erin Hanson.

I’m here to share a secret; I am not who I’ve always been, The world that lies outstretched before me, Is not the only one I’ve seen,
I’ve travelled on the tails of comets, I’ve burned up in the hearts of stars, I’ve been spat out of supernovas, That left me scattered near and far,
I have dined in distant galaxies, and watched the planets spin, and I've danced for a lifetime upon Saturn's dusty rings
I’ve been here for long enough, To learn what makes the willow weep, I’ve sung celestial lullabies, That sent the moon to sleep, I’ve been both the flowing water, And the stone that blocks it’s way, I’ve been frozen, I’ve been molten, And I’ll be again someday,
Though I’ve been a billion things, This is the first one that laughed and cried, I’m pieces of the universe, who lived as human for a while.

 

[Foxholer]

Science also told us Vesuvius would erupt again, years ago, but it didn’t happen. Science can be fallible too.

Well, it did in 1944 and 'all the signs' are that it will erupt again in the future. It's still active and highly monitored but there's no accurate way to predict WHEN though, except very near the event. Volcanic activity is a much longer term phenomenon than human lifetime!
https://theromanguy.com/italy-trave...erupt-again-mount-vesuvius-facts-and-history/

 

[Hobbit]

If we’re quoting poetry, one of my favourites, Oyzimandias;

”My name is Ozymandias, king of kings, look on my works, ye mighty, and despair.”
Nothing besides remains.

When we’re gone, we’re gone. Doesn’t matter how ‘big’ we are, Nothing is left apart from a few memories and maybe some gold lettering on an honours board.

 

[BiMGuy]

Science also told us Vesuvius would erupt again, years ago, but it didn’t happen. Science can be fallible too.

Science does get things wrong. You can pick and choose examples to build a case to discredit science. We once thought the earth was flat etc etc……

However. No one has ever provided a single shred of evidence as to the existence of any one of the thousands of gods people have worshipped since the idea of a god was first concocted. Or for that matter that there is an afterlife.

 

[Robster59]

Sorry, I thought this was a moral compass thread? It seems to have moved on to being a religious one.

 

[Foxholer]

Sorry, I thought this was a moral compass thread? It seems to have moved on to being a religious one.

Inevitable really. 'Back in the day' they were intrinsically linked!

 

[Robster59]

Inevitable really. 'Back in the day' they were intrinsically linked!

But they don't have to be. It's only inevitable because people pull it that way. I am not religious at all, but I have a moral compass. I don't need religion to tell me what are the right and wrong things to do.