growing up Christian Options

[eunie03]

I've lived a pretty dogmatic life. I haven't known much else. I started talking to a friend who's a philosophy major, and he up and tells me he thinks we just disappear after this. We have no soul, no spirit. We just live and die, and decompose. Like we never existed.

It's kind of pointless then. To live a Christian life.

I've been trying to get away from it since the end of high school. Christianity, I mean. But no matter how hard I try, it's so hard for me to believe that this is it. That there's no heaven or hell. Then I think about all the years I've wasted going to church and essentially just talking to the ceiling in my room.

It's just as easy for me to doubt it all.

Anyway, the point of my topic. If you've grown up in a church, you've probably noticed how much stronger the fire is in the newborn Christian. Growing up with it... it just makes everything mundane and routine. Have you ever denounced Christianity, just so you can have that newborn fire? Do you think it's a sin? To want to experience the world and gain some sort of insight before blindly following the faith?

[dahoonpride]

i really don't wanna sound arrogant or offensive, but if i have a trace of it, plz understand...i'm just trying to figure some stuff out.

if you so believe that there is no god, that there's nothing after life, and that science explains everything. plz explain to me then how you were created, why you even bother with morality (cuz you won't be judged about your wrong), and how u think the world was created with scientific explanations. how the world EVOLVED from absolute nothing. it's kinda hard to belive that NOTHING...just turned into something all of a sudden. doesn't matter how many billions year back. it was still NOTHING.

[*mipadi*]

i really don't wanna sound arrogant or offensive, but if i have a trace of it, plz understand...i'm just trying to figure some stuff out.

if you so believe that there is no god, that there's nothing after life, and that science explains everything.  plz explain to me then how you were created, why you even bother with morality (cuz you won't be judged about your wrong), and how u think the world was created with scientific explanations.  how the world EVOLVED from absolute nothing.  it's kinda hard to belive that NOTHING...just turned into something all of a sudden.  doesn't matter how many billions year back.  it was still NOTHING.

Well, to be honest, I'm not clear on the issue of the origin of the universe--this is knowledge I have not researched in-depth. I think it's somewhat explainable if time is defined as a function of the expansion of the universe. Since the universe is constantly expanding to a point, then contracting back into nothingness, this would mean that time is not linear, but rather cyclical in nature--there is no beginning or end. Aside from the initial creation of a certain amount of matter, however, the scientific theories about the creation of the universe do largely make a lot of sense. If you want to argue that nothing was turned into something, of course, then from a religious standpoint, one could argue: how did God come into being in the first place?

In terms of morality, I don't think of morals and ethics as something that is based completely on religion. I think that inherent in human nature one can find some basic moral principles. Why do I live morally? Why don't I go out and kill people when they anger me, or steal, or cheat, or lie excessively? Because I believe in being nice to people and leading as good a life as possible--not because I will be rewarded for it, but because it is simply the right thing to do. How moral is it, I ask, to live morally just because you expect a reward for it?

Of course, the more I read about intelligent design, the more I do buy into it; however, I think it only makes sense if one accepts that the Creator is not necessarily a kind, benevolent deity, but also (maybe even simultaneously) a malevolent one. He would have to be, in my mind; why else would he allow such destruction to occur? If I create something that I love, I normally try to avoid destroying my creation; however, if I am ambivalent about a creation, I'm not terribly concerned about what happens to it. I imagine a god could feel quite the same way; of course, that leaves the problem that, for the most part, God is ambivalent towards earth and the people on it, which is more unsettling than settling, to say the least.

[dahoonpride]

Well, to be honest, I'm not clear on the issue of the origin of the universe--this is knowledge I have not researched in-depth. I think it's somewhat explainable if time is defined as a function of the expansion of the universe. Since the universe is constantly expanding to a point, then contracting back into nothingness, this would mean that time is not linear, but rather cyclical in nature--there is no beginning or end. Aside from the initial creation of a certain amount of matter, however, the scientific theories about the creation of the universe do largely make a lot of sense. If you want to argue that nothing was turned into something, of course, then from a religious standpoint, one could argue: how did God come into being in the first place?

In terms of morality, I don't think of morals and ethics as something that is based completely on religion. I think that inherent in human nature one can find some basic moral principles. Why do I live morally? Why don't I go out and kill people when they anger me, or steal, or cheat, or lie excessively? Because I believe in being nice to people and leading as good a life as possible--not because I will be rewarded for it, but because it is simply the right thing to do. How moral is it, I ask, to live morally just because you expect a reward for it?

Of course, the more I read about intelligent design, the more I do buy into it; however, I think it only makes sense if one accepts that the Creator is not necessarily a kind, benevolent deity, but also (maybe even simultaneously) a malevolent one. He would have to be, in my mind; why else would he allow such destruction to occur? If I create something that I love, I normally try to avoid destroying my creation; however, if I am ambivalent about a creation, I'm not terribly concerned about what happens to it. I imagine a god could feel quite the same way; of course, that leaves the problem that, for the most part, God is ambivalent towards earth and the people on it, which is more unsettling than settling, to say the least.

i'll say again...although creation also lacks to prove how god came to being in the first place from nothing....to me, it sounds a lot more convincing that a existing all powerful, eternal God/Being created this wonderfuly complex and beautiful world out of nothing. Rather than absolutely Nothing...turned into Something just because there was a big bang explosion from chemicular particles that were actually nothing which were mutating into something. that might sound a little confusing but you get the idea.

and about morals.... one doesn't always act morally to get a reward. they do it cuz they know it's the right thing to do.. like what you said. the belief of creationism might lead us to believe that there might be rewards for our morality, for an example, heaven. every human being has a desire. is the desire to want to go to heaven after death so immoral? God doesn't say we go to heaven by our good acts. God says we go to heaven if we believe in him and the fact that jesus died for our sins. true christians who act morally do it cuz they won't to glorify god...not to go to heaven...cuz they know they're already going to heaven. and of course there's many corrupted chrsitians in the world. pastors are no exceptions. but there are so many numerous christians who truly believe in God and in his ways.

in my opinion (which u guys my completely disagree with) i firmly believe that a design must have a desiger, a creation must have a creator, and moral guidelines must have been set by a moral being.