(February 26, 2019 at 9:32 am)tackattack Wrote: top 3 things they would like to explain to Christians. It can be top three reasons God doesn't exist. It can be top three reasons the Bible is wrong. The top three reasons Religion is bad for society. etc. ad nauseum.
I like this question. It invites understanding through common ground.
1. We are naturally evolved beings, not the design of a god. This matters to our self-esteem and self-actualization because we cannot take charge of ourselves, our future, the future of our species if we do not recognize our innate nature. We are not born bad, needing a higher power to teach us the difference between right and wrong. It makes me very sad that some people go through life carrying the guilt of a sin they never committed, that they are all tainted by actions and designs of a higher power who blames them for being imperfect and sinful. I have children (as I believe you do) and they are born with a moral sense from which they build moral values. It is terrible to make people believe they are prone to do bad unless some higher power can set rules enforced by punishment and reward. far better to understand we have a moral sense, develop values accordingly, and do right because it is right to do so, not out of fear or hope of reward.
2. Be fearless and honest in your quest for truth and apply systems of logic, analysis, proof equally despite a desire to prove what you wish to be, or hope to be true. Do not shy away from contradictions or questions that make you uncomfortable. t is belief despite evidence.
3. Please do not twist logic to justify terrible things done in the name of religion in order to defend religious beliefs. The Christian Bible is full of atrocious laws - stoning women, killing homosexuals, owning slaves...don't claim it's God's law yet dance around the problematic parts, trying to explain them away by re-interpreting what you claim is God's word, or saying while God is unchanging, somehow those laws have changed. You can't claim a book as the unarguable basis of your religion, of God's laws, then pick and choose or change meanings as parts of the book are shown over time to be contradictory, unsupported, cruel, entirely not in keeping with what we have learned since it was written.
(I have more!
