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Originally Posted by SuperDinoYoshi
This is probably the most common complaint against religion. However, there are plenty of rules you follow which aren't "natural" by your definition. Animals naturally kill eachother over mates, territory, ect. yet you don't complain about it being illegal to murder. Animals steal from eachother, but you don't complain about robbery being illegal. Rules aren't there to put you down, God asks that you wait to have sex with the person you are going to marry because you will ultimatley live a better life and be closer to your wife and God because of it. While taking your example and comparing it to murder is extreme, the point stands, laws are there for a reason.
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We unlike any other animals have more developed brains that allow us to realize such values as those that can best sustain ourselves. Other animals without our evolved brain have caused their own extinction because of such ignorance. Laws are there because of intelligence.
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Various Christain religions have the capacity of personal interpretation of the bible, meaning you can hold scripture to mean whatever you feel it means. Such a practice is open to human curiosity. It also isn't a sin to question the truthfulness of scripture, at least in Catholicism. One of the very many purposes of priests is to answer the questions you have about the faith they believe in, not smack you with a bible until you agree.
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That is just false. To question whether a creator is provable, or whether miracles can be scientifically explained, or to question any other outlandish occurence in the bible, is heresy. I was a catholic. I know how that church operates. Until very recently they upheld the opinion that the planet earth was flat. Galileo was imprisoned because of it. Questioning Catholicism = sin and punishment.
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My knowledge of the Jewish faith is limited, however I do know that Catholicism and several other religions do adjust their message. For instance, Evolution was launched as proof against religion, but the catholic church, and many other churches, learned from and corrected their beliefs from this theory.
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Such things contradicted their religious text that they base their faith on. People have been oppressed by such opinions at the hands of the religious leaders. It took persons that questioned reality and studied known facts to produce these findings. No bible verses were used to prove it. The religious people only accepted it once it was proven through scientific observation. Some people of faith still do not accept it. Mike Huckaby, a presidential candidate claims that he does not believe to be true. His faith is that of those that refuse to accept that the bible does not truthfully explain reality. I was taught science courses by an outspoken baptist who also claimed that evolution was not real. Even today with evolution being a proven occurence, many religious followers still deny it to be true because the same book they base their unproven existence of the creator also denies real proven science.
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And to suggest that questioning the world only occurs in secular societies, I would ask that you look to Rome, a very religious society, which was THE source of questioning during its time. Do you know where the original understanding of genetics came from? A monastery.
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Genetics is not a controversial subject pertaining to the bible and present day science. The bible has no basic contradictions within it pertaining to genetics. This is because some of the occurrences of genetic traits are obvious to the human eye. Even basic observations made by prehistoric people legitimized genetics. It was obvious science.
Rome did not have the moral standards that most religions today have. It was one of the earliest religions used to explain the incomprehensible so naturally more thinking was involved. There was no bible or set text to legislate from.
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While its true that some of Christianity's liberalization came from bloodshed, I don't recall learning of any gruesome battles occurring during the Vatican II days. And I would also point out that liberalization in the secular world often consists of inhumane bloodshed as well. Consider the French Revolution.
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Pointing out bloodshed by secularists only points out something about human nature. We humans have justified terrible things wether we use hatred, contempt, greediness, or blind faith. When we have used faith as the basis, we believe it was justified regardless of atrocities and failures.
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The vast mysteries of the universe should only confirm our belief in the certainty of its Creator. I find it as difficult to understand a scientist who does not acknowledge the presence of a superior rationality behind the existence of the universe as it is to comprehend a theologian who would deny the advances of science.
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It is silly to require science to jump to such a conclusion. You are basically saying that since such a diety hasn't been disproven, it must exist. It is illogical to prove a negative. Just because we don't have all the answers yet, does not mean some unexplainable occurence has happened in the past.