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You’re the one that brought God into the discussion

You’re picking on me for so little. I am a Christian but most of the time I try to pass unnoticed as far as my believes are concerned. In forums like this people get offended easily when you side with Christians and Christian doctrine, especially when you start to debate and take a defensive stand. So I like to keep my believes to myself. Learning programming is the main reason why I’m here.

>But I can understand if you don’t want to discuss something you can’t explain

I come from the Eastern Europe but I understand the arguments of the modern Western Christian Apologetics ( like the Bible being a valid historical document by today’s standards etc. ). I don’t agree with everything they say though. Like for example I don’t believe that the existence of God can be scientifically proven. At the end of the day God is a matter of faith not science. IMO there is really not that much to debate. Pardon me for not wanting to spend too much time over it

@Calin I guess you are Christian because your parents raised (indoctrinated) you that way. If you were born in let's say Pakistan you would probably be Muslim. If you were born in some bush in Papua New Guinea you would probably have some animism belief. Etc. etc. It makes more sense to believe nothing…

m_waddams said:
It makes more sense to believe nothing…

Well, religious people are at least honest about ‘not knowing’.
Modern people of the information age don't adopt belief from an ancient book, but truth and correctness as dictated from social media, mega corps marketing, or interpretation of science if all else fails. But they are unaware about how little they know, and how much is still belief.

Not sure what's better or worse, and if there is a difference at all.

m_waddams: I guess you are Christian because your parents raised you that way

that is the Western model for how people come to faith. In the Soviet Union the official doctrine was evolutionism. Most people had no idea about religion. Soviet Union was a lot like modern China, a place where the state decides what people should believe and almost everyone finds it as normal.

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Calin said:
Soviet Union was a lot like modern China, a place where the state decides what people should believe and almost everyone finds it as normal.

I have considered to add governments to my list of influencers, but then didn't. Because they are just mega corps with enough authority to legalize crime.

fleabay said:
I'm guessing you meant “are the least honest” because religious people will go out of their way to inform you on how everything came about, how everything is, and how everything will come to pass.

They inform me about their belief, but they don't force me to adopt it. They say my doubt is weak or bad, but they don't impose a false proof on their message. It remains a matter of belief, which is honest.

Though, i don't know much religious people at all, tbh. They are quite rare here. The priest maybe? Idk how much of his doctrine is actual belief, or just daily work. I also don't know how much his personal belief diverges from the ancient book written by men in detail.

However, the right side behind ‘religious’ of your quote applies to pretty much any group selling a promise, attempting to turn followers into personal advantage. Jensen selling 2000$ raytracing as the future of gaming, Zuck selling legless motion sickness as the place anyone wants to live in, Musk smoking pot while colonizing Mars, Govs printing money at the cost of future generations which is now us, etc…

It does not matter which group we follow or reject. We have to think for ourselves anyway, because no leader knows a safe way forward. Truth is just a temporary context a majority agrees upon as long as it works.

In this sense i no longer think religion is something old fashioned, eventually causing more conflicts than it helps anything. No, we don't religion for that. Anything works for that purpose, just as well.
Ideally, people can choose their religion freely, and in terms of the necessary tolerance, choosing no religion does not differ from choosing one.

fleabay said:
Then shouldn't one be thankful of health problems instead of thankful not to have them?

Sometimes we are:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Post-traumatic_growth​

Everyone has something that they struggle with, be it a formal condition or diagnosis. The “normal” people just hide their issues well.

God deals us all a hand, how we play it is all on our own.

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fleabay: you misquoted me

sorry if I did.