1) Do you believe in GOD? (regardless of which religion you believe in!)
2) Does your belief in GOD define who you are and your decision between "right" and "wrong"? If not, how and why do you make the decision to do the right thing?
- resident-guru
7 comments:
Surely it should define a person and their integrity.
Surprisingly, according to Le Petit Robert, Morality or Immorality are defined as "accordance with social norms" For these people morals are defined by society and not personal conviction. It would greatly help me if you would address this idea in your comments. I will be anxious to hear your comments and leave my own responses throughout the week.
- Neo Realist
Croire en un quelconque Dieu c'est penser que l'homme doit surveiller sa sonduite et ses comportements afin d'être le plus irréprochable possible.
Dans ce cas là, une personne qui croit en un Dieu va vivre dans la perpétuelle crainte d'être puni si jamais ses actions sont mauvaises et ne s'accordent pas aux valeurs morales de la société dans laquelle il vit. Ce serait croire que l'homme est aliéné et n'a aucune liberté dans ses actes et ses pensées.
Mais pour certaines personnes, croirent en l'existence d'un Dieu les rassurent sur les décisions qu'ils prennent dans la vie, car il se cachent ainsi derrière des normes morales et religieuses pour justifier leur choix.
Le problème principal est qu'une personne qui croit en un Dieu pense que certaines choses lui sont prédestinées et que rien n'est laissé au hasard.
Or, le but de l'homme dans la vie est de remplir ses responsabilités et d'assumer tous ses choix sans remords, et sans avoir à les justifier derrière des normes sociales ou valeurs religieuses.
En conclusion, croire en un Dieu pose le problème du CHOIX et de la RESPONSABILITE dans ses actes.
Il vaut donc mieux pour l'homme d'être libre de ses pensées et des ses décisions, et d'avoir ses propres convictions s'il veut rester LIBRE et RESPONSABLE.
In response to the recent anonymous comment... I believe in God and it is because I have made that choice that it brings God glory.
You said "vivre dans la perpétuelle crainte d'être puni" I say if we were to only believe out of fear it would not be a valid reason for believing in God. God wants to love us and to be loved by us.
You said "croirent en l'existence d'un Dieu les rassurent sur les décisions qu'ils prennent dans la vie" I don't understand, What choices are you talking about?
You said "Il vaut donc mieux pour l'homme d'être libre de ses pensées et des ses décisions" I say that God gives everyone the choice to choose and wants us to choose out of our love for Him not our fear of being punished.
So you may ask why choose Him? That's a question for another time.
aha! This has started quite an interesting debate. Why do we choose to do the right thing? Is it because I believe in God? And what is it to believe in God?
I refer to what neo-realist said in her last comment on the previous question: "Do you find it possible for you to accomplish altruistic actions with absolutely no ulterior motives that resemble selfish ambition?"
I guess the answer to this question to a believer in a GOD is no! In agreement with the French Anonymous comment, the ultimate choice to do the right thing is for the ultimate reward. I guess you can say that it is merely for GOD's love, but isn't this so important for the "afterlife"?
After all, according to the bible, the sinner who asks forgiveness will go to heaven ahead of the righteous person who does not believe!
Probably one of the biggest drawbacks for why I cannot bring myself to believe in a God!
- resident guru
I believe that the inevitable decision is that God does exist.
Life is too complex and fate too intelligent to be left to chance.
Anonymous has brought up an interesting point about destiny. perhaps this should be stowed away for a whole discussion of it's own, "Is life predestined" By the way, some believers say "yes," some say "no."
ANSWERING THE QUESTION AT HAND:
I believe that if someone believes in God they would consider what God's standard of measure is when they define their morals.
For example certain tribes have been known to eat humans and not feel remorse. But someone who believes in God needs to be able to accept the fact that perhaps not every social norm is acceptable according to God's standards. Perhaps there are social norms in our society that are not part of the perfect plan God foresees for us, if so, would we be willing to change our habits?
How does God define right from wrong? Jesus was once asked, which was the most important commandment. He answered, "LOVE God, LOVE people" Jesus is a man of love. He came to earth to demonstrate how to live a life of love. He loved everyone he ever met. He taught us how to make every life decision based on which is the loving choice. Some of his suggestions went against social norms. Some even went against current religious beliefs. If you don't believe me, check it out for yourself.
So in summary, a God who lOVES us and wants our lives to be the best they can be, comes to earth to give us a crash course on making LOVING choices. What's not to like about Jesus?
So I've been tossing around the idea of teaching a conference on LOVING WELL, do you think our Franglish audience would eventually be interested in that kind of thing? It would be open to anyone, but the LOVING WELL principles would, of course, be based on Jesus' teachings.
I am still yet to answer this question. Do I believe in god? NO! I don’t feel the need to believe in a god to behave in a proper way towards my fellow-man. I live by my own ethics and morals which are based on 33 years of perception of what is right and wrong.
Although I don’t believe in God, I do believe that God/religion plays a very important role in our community. The belief in God provides a purpose for life for many people. Plus it provides a sense of community. And of course the hope for an afterlife provides the motivation to those who need it to be good.
But ultimately, I see the concept of “God” as a man-made way of controlling the population. Its actually a brilliant concept as the guilt of going to hell and missing out on heaven is a non-violent way of forcing people to behave in a proper way to each other.
As for Jesus, it is clearly written in history that he existed. I do see him as clearly a brilliant man with profound ideals and a vision of a better world. But within the Bible, I do not find where he actually states that he is “the son of God”.
Furthermore, the Bible does not provide a transcript of his teachings from his mouth, but summarised from his apostles. Plus none of them are actually with him when he supposedly spoke to his “father”. Plus the majority is based on what his “spirit” told Saul (the apostle Paul) and others after his death!
His message was clear enough during his life without the need for spiritual intervention. Thus this just further suggests to me that the concept of God and religion is just a way of manipulating the population. Eg, that we should have “faith” in “our Lord” without question!
- Resident-Guru
Resident Guru, I would like to respond to your comment that "you cannot find within the Bible where Jesus actually says that He is the Son of God. Check out these words of Jesus, stating that He is the Son of God:
"And I assure you that the time is coming, in fact it is here, when the dead will hear my voice – the voice of the Son of God. And those who listen will live."
-John 5:25, The Bible
"Do you say of Him, whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, `You are blaspheming,' because I said, `I am the Son of God'?"
-John 10:36,The Bible
There are countless other passsages where people and even demons state/believe that Jesus is God's son. Even if you don't believe in the deity of Christ, but maintain that He was a brilliant, moral teacher, why would a moral man lie? C.S. Lewis wrote the "Liar, Lunatic, or Lord" concept. Either Jesus was lying, which means that He was immoral (evidence refutes that) he was insane(unlikely), or He was actually God the Son. If you believe and this is all false, you have nothing to lose in light of eternity. If you don't believe this truth, and Jesus is really God, you have everything to lose.
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