RE: Religion in an expanding society
May 16, 2011 at 10:59 am
(This post was last modified: May 16, 2011 at 11:02 am by Nimzo.)
(May 16, 2011 at 8:30 am)frankiej Wrote: The more society seems to expand, the more religions seem to compromise on scripture and cherry pick. This is also the case for scientific advances. For instance, it used to be accepted and taught in Christianity that the Earth is the centre of the cosmos. Now we know it is not. Christians now have the cheek of arguing the cosmological argument for existence of a God.The cosmological argument has been batted about in various formulations since Plato and Aristotle, and has nothing to do with the location of the Earth in the universe. There is no Christian position on what that location is in any case, though the Catholic Church was somewhat attached to the geocentric model in the mediaeval period (keep in mind that Copernicus himself was a Catholic cleric) due to the enormous influence of Greek astronomy.
Quote:Evolution is now widely accepted in the educated Theistic community, and is seen as the tool that God used to create Mankind.St. Augustine accepted an old-earth "allegorical" view of Genesis 1 as early as the 4th century - it is not a new phenomenon.
Quote:Furthermore, females are now being accepted into the main ranks of some churches. I see this has only come about due to the equality that exists in society today so I ask one question: Will homosexuals soon be accepted by religion?Women have roles in ministry even in the New Testament. With regards to the homosexuality issue, the debate is about what Scripture's view of homosexuality is (made more difficult by the fact that there is no concept of "sexuality" in the Hebrew or Greek Scriptures). Some denominations already accept homosexual ministers, but not because they ignore what Scripture teaches about it.
Quote:I ask this because I have become aware of a theme occurring. The more science and society advance religion seems to just discard scripture to fit into the world today. I find this contradiction of people’s faith almost hilarious and I suppose perhaps even pathetic.The theme that is occurring is the tension between different interpretations of relevant texts and scientific advancement, with some views being consistent with scientific discoveries and others not. There have been different interpretations of all of the issues you mentioned long before scientific facts which contradict some of those views were established.
The more tolerant religion becomes the more parts of its doctrine is rejected