Why be good?

[Randy Carson]

Some of my siblings have cried out of fear that they weren't saved the right way and that they were going to hell.

Then would it be correct to say you aren't Catholic?

It IS unfortunate that people have attempted to used their own private judgment rather than following the shepherd of the flock established by Jesus - the Pope.

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Then why are you wasting time on us unreachable, willfully blind, those-who-actually-know-there's-a-god crowd of heathens?

Perhaps because I don't believe you are any of those things.

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Were you abused as a child?

Yes.

I'm sorry to hear that. Who do you blame for that?

Man...my parents never threatened me with "horrible threats of hell". Instead, they explained why God had sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross so that none who believe in Him might perish but have everlasting life.

Why are you assuming that your particular religious upbringing is the only form of religious upbringing? Or that the fact that your parents didn't see fit to either tell you about the "fiery lake of burning sulfur" written about in the bible, or allow you to read those passages in the bible, for that matter, means those passages don't exist?

I assumed nothing of the sort. I'm guessing your parents were members of some sort of fundamentalist group. Care to share which?

What kind of a warped caricature do you envision when you think of a group of Christians getting together on a Sunday morning for services? Are people there out of fear, out of obedience, or out of love? 

You should talk to my wife sometime: raised by a devoutly christian family, she grew up believing in literal demons that sometimes stalked the earth, from the fire and brimstone hell that I mentioned earlier. Now, I'm not saying that's every christian family's experience, but by the same token, I expect you not to assert that it's nobody's experience either.

There are demons who "stalk the earth"; what's more important is that every believer should know that "He who is in us is greater than he who is in the world."

No. And this is why most of what is argued in this forum fails miserably. Science can say nothing about God.

You still haven't justified this assertion, you're just using it as a means to keep god safe from falsifiability. That might make you feel better, but I'm not obligated to accept it until you've justified it.

What is the subject matter, the "stuff", about which science may speak?

Because God is immaterial, and science deals only with the physical, material world.

Why? Because you said so?

Give me an example of something non-material, non-physical that is studied by science.

Because there is a huge difference between the two (and deep down, you know it). But hey, this forum exists for the entertainment of its members...not their enlightenment. I get that now.

Don't presume to tell me what I know, Randy.

You do have a point there.

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Were you abused as a child? Man...my parents never threatened me with "horrible threats of hell". Instead, they explained why God had sent his Son Jesus to die on the cross so that none who believe in Him might perish but have everlasting life.

What kind of a warped caricature do you envision when you think of a group of Christians getting together on a Sunday morning for services? Are people there out of fear, out of obedience, or out of love?  

Lol. Your naetivity is almost adorable. My parents often threatened me with horrible threats of hell among other more immediate and terriifying things. I don't need to envision a warped caricature of Sunday morning services. I can't tell you why the others went but I had no choice. If was warped for sure but those are real memories. You must be completely blind to scoff at the idea of such things. 

Losty-

I was thinking of the adults who are there by choice, but yeah, kids have to go because their parents make them, usually. 

It would help me understand your experience if I knew which denomination your parents were part of...care to share that?

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Because God is immaterial, and science deals only with the physical, material world.

How can an immaterial being exist in a material world?

And more to the point, how can you, or any other human (including the ones who wrote the Bible) know anything about the immaterial?

Well, in one sense, God is outside of space and time, Parker, so He doesn't exist "in" a material world. OTOH, God became incarnate and took on our flesh, so there's that.

But we know of God in a number of ways including:

1. Reason. We can look at the created universe and discern a designer.
2. We have the natural law of God written upon our hearts which causes us to consider its source.
3. God can reveal Himself to us in various ways - individually and corporately.