(July 1, 2018 at 4:59 am)Mathilda Wrote:(June 24, 2018 at 9:37 pm)Haipule Wrote: Can't God(cause) and nature(effect) be just one thing!
Why bring God into it? Why not ask whether nature is just cause and effect?
(June 25, 2018 at 2:17 am)Haipule Wrote: At this late date, we do not understand God nor the things He made for us. I, personally, am attempting to understand God in everything He made so that I can understand His power in the all things.
Why assume that your gods exists?
Religions are big businesses so a lot of people have vested interests in keeping their favorite deities front and center. And just because someone pushes his favorite deity all the time it doesn't actually mean that he believes in it. Most of the time it could be an economic interest.Suppose the person makes and sells religious clothes, books, knickknacks, furniture, designs and builds churxh buildings, etc. Or maybe it's the clergy who wants to keep the deity alive so that they can live a life of comfort without having to get a real job.
In the past when the country was under Jim Crow religious Christians were hardcore racists because they had major financial stakes in keeping things segregated. For instance, since peope tend to attend local churches if the neighborhood became integrated the new people would displace the local church' s customer base so the church would see a big drop off in revenue. Consequently the ministers, bankers, and businessmen would put pressure on the politicians to keep things segregated. But once it became apparent that the US would have to change that model to compete with the commies Jim Crow was kicked to the curb. As a consequence, church attendance has declined because the customer base is more diluted. It's become economically unfeasible to retain the traditional local churches as they once existed.
That has given rise to a few megachurches which tend to preach a generic prosperity feel-good message. They have become theme parks and enabled the con men who run them to buy $65 million private jets.
Fewer and fewer people actually believe in the Christian "God" as people once did. That's one reason the Catholic church is helping to import illegal aliens. It needs more customers to maintain its churches.
