(June 7, 2017 at 12:55 pm)alpha male Wrote:(June 7, 2017 at 11:21 am)Lutrinae Wrote: An individual who does good for the sake of doing good is more reasonable than someone who can only seem to do good with a belief in god.
Why? What's reasonable about doing good for the sake of doing good?
Because it is demonstrable that doing good is rational, and has outcomes that can rationally be proven to improve societies.
Let's put it this way.
2 families separately take their 8 year old sons to a nice restaurant.
Both sons act up and disturb other diners.
The parents of one of the 8 year olds threaten their son with punishment if he doesn't behave, and promise to reward him if he behaves.
The parents of the other 8 yo explain to their son, that his behavior is disturbing the other diners, and ask him how he would feel if people disturbed him, by acting like he was acting, while he was trying to watch a movie or playing video games.
Now, imagine that these boys were taken out by a friend's parents, which boy would most likely behave? The one that no longer has the punishment/reward incentive because his parents aren't there? Or the one that understand his poor behavior effects other people, in the same way other's poor behavior would effect him?
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
