The Nehor wrote:Everything you have sited those was never at the core of the belief system. Suppose you had a time machine and could go back and show these people that the Earth was round, draw a diagram of the Solar System and explain it, pull out a microscope and show the cause of disease, and disprove the worldwide flood....do you think they would throw out their belief system? I don't. I know I didn't when further study shot down some religious explanations I have had for things.
In response to your question...some would. I think that many people, with a scientific understanding of how their world works, would discard magical thinking. Many would continue to adhere to irrational beliefs. I'm an example of the former.
The incorrect idea that the sun revolved around the earth was definitely a core belief of Catholicism. The earth was god's major creation, the centerpiece of genesis. Refer to the story of Gallileo to understand the severity of misunderstanding this doctrine. The worldwide flood myth is still an important doctrine to many Christians today. They teach it to their children as history. The important point isn't whether these things are core beliefs, it's that these things were supposedly revealed by god to his prophets and important enough to record in the biblical record. Weren't these prophets in communication with an all-knowing god? Couldn't that god have corrected their erroneous beliefs about their world? What does that say about god? How many more of your religious explanations can withstand being "shot down" by further study?
The Nehor wrote:Everything you have sited those was never at the core of the belief system. Suppose you had a time machine and could go back and show these people that the Earth was round, draw a diagram of the Solar System and explain it, pull out a microscope and show the cause of disease, and disprove the worldwide flood....do you think they would throw out their belief system? I don't. I know I didn't when further study shot down some religious explanations I have had for things.
In response to your question...some would. I think that many people, with a scientific understanding of how their world works, would discard magical thinking. Many would continue to adhere to irrational beliefs. I'm an example of the former.
The incorrect idea that the sun revolved around the earth was definitely a core belief of Catholicism. The earth was god's major creation, the centerpiece of genesis. Refer to the story of Gallileo to understand the severity of misunderstanding this doctrine. The worldwide flood myth is still an important doctrine to many Christians today. They teach it to their children as history. The important point isn't whether these things are core beliefs, it's that these things were supposedly revealed by god to his prophets and important enough to record in the biblical record. Weren't these prophets in communication with an all-knowing god? Couldn't that god have corrected their erroneous beliefs about their world? What does that say about god? How many more of your religious explanations can withstand being "shot down" by further study?
I consider the Catholic Church to be an organization descended from apostate churches. There are enough Christian apocryphal texts that I believe that at least some of the early Christians did not believe in an earth-centered Universe. They took the sciences and made them doctrine. I have no defense for them.
The worldwide flood is odd as the Bible doesn't attest to it. Noah sent birds out to find land. This implies that he did not know himself if the flood was worldwide. The tradition has caught on and is not entrenched. Eventually I hope it will be rooted out.
To assume that God revealed all these mistakes is to assume that God wrote the Bible (or any of our other texts). When I describe what God did in my life I also include explanations and reasoning that he DID NOT tell me to put the story in context. Is it too much to assume that Prophets did the same? For example someone witnessing a miraculous healing could ascribe it to 'God balancing their humours'. Assuming it was a miraculous healing the description makes it no less miraculous because the observer was wrong.
In my observation God rarely reveals truths about the physical universe through his prophets. He reveals them through people who study them. There are exceptions....a few Prophets who have made statements (Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph) but they are the exceptions, not the rule. God has certainly never used this method of teaching physics to me.
Last edited by Guest on Tue May 22, 2007 4:23 pm, edited 1 time in total.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
Coggins7 wrote:You have now been consigned, with Fort, Coffee, and a few of the other teenagers here, to my pernament mental trash folder.
RIP
Whats wrong coggy? get your panties out of a bunch and fire google up and respond chickensh*t.
Mercury, do you have anger issues?
Kinda.
Do you have unhealthy submissive issues?
I don't know, don't think so. I'm gonna go with Liz on this one.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
The Nehor wrote:I consider the Catholic Church to be an organization descended from apostate churches. There are enough Christian apocryphal texts that I believe that at least some of the early Christians did not believe in an earth-centered Universe. They took the sciences and made them doctrine. I have no defense for them.
The worldwide flood is odd as the Bible doesn't attest to it. Noah sent birds out to find land. This implies that he did not know himself if the flood was worldwide. The tradition has caught on and is not entrenched. Eventually I hope it will be rooted out.
To assume that God revealed all these mistakes is to assume that God wrote the Bible (or any of our other texts). When I describe what God did in my life I also include explanations and reasoning that he DID NOT tell me to put the story in context. Is it too much to assume that Prophets did the same? For example someone witnessing a miraculous healing could ascribe it to 'God balancing their humours'. Assuming it was a miraculous healing the description makes it no less miraculous because the observer was wrong.
In my observation God rarely reveals truths about the physical universe through his prophets. He reveals them through people who study them. There are exceptions....a few Prophets who have made statements (Enoch, Abraham, Moses, and Joseph) but they are the exceptions, not the rule. God has certainly never used this method of teaching physics to me.
I used to rationalize my beliefs the same way. It just got to a point where I couldn't do it anymore. Whatever works.
Coggins7 wrote:You have now been consigned, with Fort, Coffee, and a few of the other teenagers here, to my pernament mental trash folder.
RIP
Whats wrong coggy? get your panties out of a bunch and fire google up and respond chickensh*t.
Mercury, do you have anger issues?
Kinda.
Do you have unhealthy submissive issues?
I don't know, don't think so. I'm gonna go with Liz on this one.
Haha!!!
The irony is seeping out of this one
The irony was entirely intentional. Your theory has holes in it though. One of my last gf's pet names for me was 'Master'.
"Surely he knows that DCP, The Nehor, Lamanite, and other key apologists..." -Scratch clarifying my status in apologetics "I admit it; I'm a petty, petty man." -Some Schmo
Mister Scratch wrote:I think it's worth pointing out that the Church also sometimes teaches that dinosaur bones are some kind of cosmic "trick" intended to test our faith.
Really? I have never heard such a thing. Any sources for this?
