My friend Chris posted this homework assignment from his World Religions class on his blog, and suggested that I answer the questions myself on my own blog. So, I shall. First, the questions:
2. Do you believe there are "beings" or a "higher being" "greater" than humans? Briefly explain.
3. Where do you think the world comes from? Where do you believe humans come from?
4. Are humans inherently good or bad and why?
5. What do you think is eventually going to happen to the world?
6. What do you think happens to people after they die?
7. How should people behave and why? What should guide people's sense of how they "ought" to behave?
8. Describe your attitude towards those who believe differently than you do. If you consider yourself to belong to a particular religion, describe how that religion responds to individuals of other faiths. Do you have any friends or acquaintances of a different faith?
Now apparently for this assignment one could not cite any scripture as a basis for anything one believes. Now that will be hard considering the Bible is what my faith basically revolves around. Nonetheless I'll try.
1. I like to think of reality in the terms of the Matrix. No, really, I do a lot of the times. This is not all "real", in a sense. This is temporary. We are only on this earth a short time, and this earth is only shadow-pictures of what is to come in eternity. The only real things are our souls as people, because that is all that really transfers over. But I don't think you can prove something is real. Anything can be seen as evidence for or against something being real. What right have we to say that anything is or isn't real? Everyone is their own person and has an opinion. In the Matrix everything seems real, but it's just a computer. How do you know we all aren't just living in a computer? How do I know we are? It's the same kind of thing if you say, "Beauty is in the eye of the beholder." I mean, it is, but then it isn't, because how do you, as one "beholder", know that beauty is actually in the eye of the beholder? You don't. Essentially we have no right to assume that anything is real or isn't. My view is just an opinion and we may never know. As for truth, I remember there being some debate/argument/discussion about what absolute truth was on here probably back in May or something. I have finally come to the conclusion that there IS absolute truth, but only God knows it. We are imperfect humans who have opinions about right and wrong. Like with reality, we have no right to assume we know absolute truth. We may never know, or I may end up being right and we all die and go to heaven and are informed of absolute truth when we get there. Until then the best we can do is make educated guesses. Religious "truths", then, are what is considered "right" and "wrong" by a particular religion. Catholics (I think) believe that they have to go to mass every Sunday or it is a sin (if you are a Catholic, please do not be offended and do correct me if I am wrong). I think that most Christians will agree that if you don't go to Church every week then you will be fine. Going or not going to church is not a measure of your faith and it's not the only way to get closer to God (as a matter of fact sometimes it doesn't bring you closer at all....but then I can get into all this Martin Luther stuff which can be saved for another rant). I don't know much about what other major religions such as Buddhism or Islam think are right and wrong, but I am sure the "truths" of Buddhists and Muslims differ pretty significantly from that of Christianity, Judaism or Catholicism, because they have different books of life guidelines. Scientific truth is what can be proved by science to be true. Science has proven many things (macro evolution is not one of them), and when I see the proof, I believe it. And proof is the key word there. I need absolute proof. Now, you may wonder why I don't need absolute proof for Christianity. That is because there is no absolute proof to believe in anything. Even Atheism doesn't have absolute proof (*gasp!*). How can you prove there is not a God? How can you prove that you alone can govern your life? How can you fully trust in Science if Scientists don't know everything but consider many theories and hypotheses absolute truth? You can't. Atheists are as confident in their belief in non-belief as Christians are in their belief in God. But we cannot be sure that one is right because no human knows.
Wow, this is going to be long. Brace yourselves......or just get really comfy.
2. If any of you have read Mere Christianity by C. S. Lewis, you will now know what I would like to say on this question. Where do we get our universal ideas of morality and right and wrong? Those kinds of things don't just appear out of thin air. The Pagans in, say, the time Beowulf was told, had no god that they feared and worshipped and no Bible that they read every day. Yet they valued valor, honor, honesty, bravery, and loyalty, and detested wimpy-ness, betrayal, dishonor, stealing, lying, murder, et cetera. Atheists usually are really are good people (a lot of the time better than many Christians). But where did we get these values and standards that we always hold each other to but a lot of the time forget to hold ourselves to? Perhaps from some perfect entity who is above us all. Aside from that little thought, yes. I believe there is a perfect God who is above us all and made us all in his image. But that is my opinion.
3. The world was created by God and so were humans. There is no way we could have just happened because there was a big explosion in the sky, and it is impossible for us to have evolved from apes. Especially since apes are still around......how do you explain that? Oh, and I DON'T believe the world has been around for a billion years. What proof is there? Of course, I believe all of this mainly because I believe what the Bible tells me. But I also believe that science disproves macro evolution. Nobody wants to educate themselves and accept it, though. It's like some guy's avatar on a forum I was on said: "The Frog-prince: a fairytale for children. Evolution: a fairytale for grown-ups."
4. Humans are born selfish and self-centered. And we probably wouldn't have half that idea of morality talked about in question 2 unless we were selfish to see how everyone else's actions affected our personal well-being. And then we grow up and see that life is much more harmonious if we do to others what we would have them do to us, and to love our neighbor as ourselves. Yes, that is in the Bible, but it is the best way of phrasing what every person really believes anyways. You don't have to think about it when you see an old lady walking up to Wal-mart in front of you and you go and open the door for her. You don't think, "when I am old and frail, I would like some young man or woman to open the doors at Wal-mart for me." You just do it (hopefully not going home saying, "GOSH, I can't believe I opened that door for that stupid old lady today...what a waste of my time and energy!"). Still, humans are selfish and don't like to go out of their way. A lot of the times they do have to think to be nice to people. I know I do. Sure, being nice to my friends isn't hard, but I have to be conscious of my actions at home. I can blast my brothers a thousand times a day and not think twice about it. Sorry guys....... :(
5. How can I answer the question without the Bible? Well, I believe this world will end and we will have a new one that is better and will last forever, and we all live together in peace for eternity. There ya go.
6. They go to heaven. That sounds all goody-goody Christian-like, but as I am what you would call a "Christian", that is what I believe. So get over it. You are going to heaven and there is nothing you can do about it. ;)
7. Well, I kind of answered this question in 4 and 2. But regardless of what any book says, I think that people should behave in a way that we can live as harmoniously as possible. Considering that is not going to happen, I shall simply endeavor to improve upon myself and not worry about what other people do. But if I were to pick something to guide people to good behavior, I would probably just reference the King George and the Ducky Veggie Tales video where Jimmy and Jerry are trying to pretend they are Bob and Larry hosting. They play the film, "The English Man Who Went up a Hill and Came Down with All the Bananas." After the film they go to the computer Qwerty to ask him if he has a verse for them. Qwerty is turned off but they think he is broken, so one of them goes and gets a piece of cardboard and scrawls on it with a sharpie, "Don't be selfish!" Jimmy remarks, "Wow, that is a good one." I agree........but who keeps a computer on their kitchen counter anyways?
8. I don't really mind it when people behave or think differently from me. Sometimes it is interesting and weird, because I have not ever thought or behaved that way, obviously. Most of the time it isn't bad, so I don't let it bother me. But sometimes it bothers me when people are doing wrong things because I know they are bringing harm upon themselves or others. But just because someone is different doesn't mean I am going to criticize them (because it happens to me and I don't like it). And even if I do feel like I need to talk to them about something, I would do it in love and not in a negative, critical kind of way. Also the whole point of being a Christian is spreading the good news that Jesus loves us all so much that he went to hell for us and saved us from it so that when we die we all go to heaven and live with our father forever. I can't imagine why somebody would reject such a wonderful thing. But I'm a Libertarian. You can believe what you want to, and I can believe what I want to. I have some casual Catholic and Jewish friends, and a few agnostic/atheist friends, but most of my friends are some form of Christian or another. Personally I think the other religions are kind of empty compared to Christianity. Either you believe in nothing, or you believe in all these dos and don'ts and shoulds and shouldn'ts. Christianity is just filled with love and peace and all that other good hippie stuff.
So that is what I think, and I barely cited the Bible at all! *is proud of herself*
~Jessica
13 comments:
So... number 6. You don't believe in hell??
Very interesting answers. I'll be pondering them. :P
Okay, first, I'm going to apologize in advance for a really long comment. I am going to use the Bible as a reference because we can both agree on that being the completely truthful Word of God. Right?
1. You say that you require something to be proved absolutely by science (excepting Christianity) before you will believe it. The problem with this is the science cannot prove anything. You can get to the point of, "I'm 99.9% sure this is right," but it's still possible to disprove something like that. Take, for example, the former law of spontaneous generation, which was a "proven" scientific fact, and Louis Pasteur disproved. It was at the "99.9% sure this is true" point, but it was still disproven!
Why should you believe that science is absolutely true? Why should you believe that the laws of science are consistent?
2.
Being made in God's image did not give humans morality. Eating of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil did that. Take a look at the first couple chapters of Genesis.
3.
Nit picking: the Big Bang is NOT an explosion in the sky!
Also, I must say that your argument against Evolution is surprisingly poor. I agree that macroevoltion is wrong, but since you asked for an explanation, I shall oblige you.
According to Neodarwinism, change in species occurs because SOME (not ALL) members of the species carry a new trait (caused by a mutation during meiosis) and pass it on to their offspring. These changes in a FRACTION of the population build up to create new species. Therefore, the old species is still extant even while a new branch is created.
6!! I have to disagree with you there. Very, very strongly. I'm also going to argue about it. (a) You contradict yourself; you say that Christ died to save us from Hell, but then you say that everyone goes to Heaven. What is the point of Christ saving us from Hell if we're not going there anyway? And (b) the Bible states very specifically that people are saved from their sins ONLY if they accept Jesus as their Savior, and that the wages of sin is death. In context, that is Romans 6:23: "For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord." 'eternal life' is contrasted with 'death', showing that this is not physical death we speak of; this is spiritual death; not an ending of one's existance, but an eternal seperation from God. In other words, Hell. If you only think about one of my points, please think about this one, because it is the most important.
I don't have anything to say about 4, 5, & 7... yet...
Would it surprise anyone that I agree with Jos?
Yes, Chris, that does surprise me.
Okay, Jos. First of all I like that point about science and I am adopting it as my new opinion as you have enlightened me. :)
You're right about the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. That didn't even cross my mind. But I couldn't have used it anyways as it is from the Bible. :/ But since I believe the Bible.....yeah, you get the point.
I know you know much more about the big bang part of the big bang theory than I do. I just threw out "explosion in the sky" because it was the first thing that came to mind. Pardon my scientific incompetence. The same goes for my argument for evolution (I'm not much of a genius in those kinds of areas). I was also being lazy because the books that contained the evidence against macro evolution are in other areas of the house and I did not want to get up, find them, and locate some passages in the books to quote on here, as often information like that does not stick in my head like it should....thus the non-genius thing. Still, while your Neodarwin mutation explanation makes sense, I hardly think that is how humans came about.
Lizzie and Jos....I do believe in a Hell. Jesus talks about it a lot in the Gospels, and according to Peter, "...God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment." Looking back now I see I said that in a REALLY weird way and gave absolutely NO explanation! (my most sincere apologies.) However, it is our job here on earth to spread the gospel, and I am not going to judge everyone and say, "well, he's not a Christian, so he's going to hell," and "she is breaking thus-and-such commandment, so she is going to hell." It is not my job to judge at all! Therefore I am assuming that everyone is going to heaven. Jesus says in John 12:48- "There is a judge for the one who rejects me and does not accept my words; that very word which I spoke will condemn him at the last day." James 4:12- "There is only one Lawgiver and Judge, the one who is able to save and destroy. But you—who are you to judge your neighbor?" As believers we are supposed to go and proclaim the good news. Ephesians 1:13, 14- "And you were included in Christ when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation. Having believed, you were marked in him with a seal, the promised Holy Spirit, who is a deposit guaranteeing our inheritance until the redemption of those who are God's possession--to the praise of his glory." That is why Jesus told his disciples to go and spread the good news everywhere. We shouldn't tell them "if you don't believe then you are going to hell. And you are going to hell. By the way you are going to hell and I am going to heaven." We proclaim the good news that the Gentiles can inherit the Kingdom of God along with the Israelites and pray for the best!
Yes, you said #6 that in a REALLY weird way.
While it is not our job to judge people, assuming that everyone is going to Heaven is an incorrect assumption.
How you know I know more about the Big Bang than you know is a mystery to me. :D However, it was just as I said; nit-picking, nothing more.
Chris, what exactly do you agree with me on? -because if you agreed with me on all of that lot, especially #6, I would be very surprised.
actually, I think I agree with what you said for number 3.
"...how do you explain that?"
For clarification, I said that I disagreed with Evolution in #3. Most of that point could be considered playing "devil's advocate" (pardon the expression).
However, if you still agree with me after that clarification, yay you...
"I am not going to judge everyone and say, "well, he's not a Christian, so he's going to hell," and "she is breaking thus-and-such commandment, so she is going to hell." It is not my job to judge at all! Therefore I am assuming that everyone is going to heaven."
I understand what you mean, Jessica, by us not supposed to judge one anther, but the Bible does teach that if a person does not accept Jesus as their Savior - aka have their name written in the Book of Life, then they will not be able to be admitted into heaven.
"And I saw the dead, great and small, standing before the throne, and books were opened. Then another book was opened, which is the book of life. And the dead were judged by what was written in the books, according to what they had done. And the sea gave up the dead who were in it, Death and Hades gave up the dead who were in them, and they were judged, each one of them, according to what they had done. Then Death and Hades were thrown into the lake of fire. This is the second death, the lake of fire. And if anyone's name was not found written in the book of life, he was thrown into the lake of fire."
Rev 20:12-15
I know of more verses if you are interested.
Basically, my point is that everyone is not going to heaven - unfortunately. Assuming that I believed that everyone is going to heaven no matter what, then why do I need to share the gospel?
If I have interpreted what you were trying to communicate wrong, please tell me :)
Now if they only read my blog...
wow! that was long and deep! good job for being able to answer all those questions!
What came first? Adam and Eve or the dinosaurs?
Oh, I'd say the dinosaurs every time, and I think everyone can agree with me there. :D
Yurp. :P
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