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RE: Question from my friend about existence of God
November 2, 2015 at 5:31 pm
(This post was last modified: November 2, 2015 at 5:35 pm by Simon Moon.)
(November 1, 2015 at 3:34 pm)timbangu Wrote: Hi all I'm new to forums in general but I needed help looking for an answer to a question my friend posed on the existence of God.
His point is people/humans are selfish and don't think of others without a inspiration from a higher being.
I agreed somewhat and said "yes they are selfish but people help others all the time without inspiration from higher beings"
He responded with "Not anyone like ghandi, jesus, or cesar chavez, you can't find a person that gave up everything without the inspiration of a higher being."
I responded with "so your telling me there are no medical students that have gave up what they could have had to just help people in a third world country?"
To that he responded with "Not one that lives poorly and does his service"
I felt like I could find an example of this but I haven't had much luck because I would assume people like this don't want to be found anyway or known.
He says the guy that the Buddhist who burned himself alive doesn't count because "Buddhist's believe in something in more than human(the buddha) which falls into the category of higher being or higher influence or the teachings of higher beings."
Tl;dr friend doesn't believe someone can give up everything to help others without inspiration from a higher being or influence. Need an example. Can't think of one or find one.
See if this guy fits your requirements.
Norman Borlaug - sometimes called "the man who saved a billion lives".
Norman Borlaug. Norman Ernest Borlaug (March 25, 1914 – September 12, 2009) was an American biologist, humanitarian and Nobel laureate who has been called "the father of the Green Revolution", "agriculture's greatest spokesperson" and "The Man Who Saved A Billion Lives".
While he may have not given up everything, for a great part of his career, he lived in some of the worst conditions in Africa, Pakistan, Asia and other countries.
Won the Nobel in 1970.
Won the The Public Welfare Medal in 2002. The Public Welfare Medal is awarded by the U.S. National Academy of Sciences "in recognition of distinguished contributions in the application of science to the public welfare." It is the most prestigious honor conferred by the Academy.
Among many other awards and medals.
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.
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RE: Question from my friend about existence of God
November 3, 2015 at 2:38 am
I dunno... while I don't agree with much of what MysticKnight says, in general, I appreciate that he doesn't automatically write us all off as bad people, and is willing to acknowledge that many of us are inherently good, despite our godlessness. Whatever other points he makes, that indicates a fundamental decency on his part that we should take a moment to be thankful for, I think. So...
Thanks, MK!
A Christian told me: if you were saved you cant lose your salvation. you're sealed with the Holy Ghost
I replied: Can I refuse? Because I find the entire concept of vicarious blood sacrifice atonement to be morally abhorrent, the concept of holding flawed creatures permanently accountable for social misbehaviors and thought crimes to be morally abhorrent, and the concept of calling something "free" when it comes with the strings of subjugation and obedience perhaps the most morally abhorrent of all... and that's without even going into the history of justifying genocide, slavery, rape, misogyny, religious intolerance, and suppression of free speech which has been attributed by your own scriptures to your deity. I want a refund. I would burn happily rather than serve the monster you profess to love.