Armands-
Because Bible was written for people that lived 2000 years ago and it says "You can't do that and that!" etc. In those days, people were tought to obey the higher authority, there was no democracy etc.
The Bible was actually written at various times. It is not a single book but several books.
Also, Democracy is not a new concept but existed in the Ancient World. Plato discusses it in his “Republic” and Aristotle also talked extensively about it.
The idea that the people had a voice is actually quiet old.
Now we are living in a time where we can and we always should question the authority
No we aren’t. Always questioning Authority is daft, as sometimes the Authority over us has our best interesting mind. Other times its simply not proper to. I’m not saying be a mindless Drone but, the opposite extreme would make social cohesion impossible. We should question those over us only if given cause to. Or if they act improperly, or if we think their course of action will lead to some ill. But always? What if the Authority simply said they have decided to make the official workday for public offices 9-5 instead of the previous 8-4?
Don’t be daft.
so using Bible and stating that "You can't murder because Jesus said so" doesn't work. Bible can tell us all about the eternal life etc. but we cannot know if there is such a thing and if there is- if only people whose sins are not heavy get there?
You haven’t read the Bible have you? It doesn’t say “You can’t murder because God says to” and is a lot more complex in most of its books than this.
Humans are not killers or sinners by definition.
Actually yes Humans are. By the way sinning is just doing anything morally wrong, and none of us are perfect.
There are just some sick people out there and those who have been made sinners because of their social status, bad influence and no education and love during the childhood years.
I know you’ve never read his work but your quoting Rousseau. He said that Society is what creates bad behaviour. His ideas influenced the thinkers of the French Enlightenment and later the entire premise of Socialism, and then Marx. His theory was that if society provided equally for all what they needed then there would be no more crime and no more Hatred. But he was proven wrong, and we often do evil things to promote our own self interest. Selfishness is a huge part of Humanity. He was wrong also because some people are born Psychopathic. Others become such out of their own designs. Heck there have been Criminals who grew up in loving homes to rich parents.
So this theory was wrong.
If we want to teach people morals, we should make sure that they are loved and understood by their parents. The parents are the one who should show the positive example because they are the ones that children admire, not some fairytale-like story about Christ or God.
So you go form “How do we know that the afterlife exists” to making a pronouncement of fact that Christ and God are Fairy Tales?
And given that your repeating 18th and 19th Century assumptions about Human Nature that can easily be discredited by visiting the website for Psychology Today, do you really think that your comments are themselves wise?
If Christ is so important to morals, why there is less crime and better morals in non-Christian countries??? Japan and India, for example.
There isn’t. This is a Myth. The idea comes from slanted crime stats form the US, which fails to look at regional differences. Heck the South and North are radically different Culturally.
Plus, Most Crime Committed in America is done in the larger cities, and often involves Gangs. Do you think the local Gang Banger is an earnest Churchgoer who prays and reads his Bible daily before Trash talkin’ his Hoes and then gunnin’ down his rivals? As Murder is the only real Crime the US is bigger at other than Grand Theft, lets consider something: the US murder rate is on a sharp decline , as opposed to Europe’s. And Murder is the only actual Crime the US excels in over other Nations. Other crimes are as common in Japan and India as in the States, such as Insurance Fraud, Bank Fraud, theft, loitering, ect…
There is also the fact that Japan is a highly controlled society that is largely Homogenised, unlike America. Besides, Japan is not an Atheistic Nation but usually sees its majority practice either Shinto or Buddhism. Factoring in his means that the US Crime Rate is actually not that high. Violent Crime rests in Cultural history of America, combined with availability of gins, and the sheer amount of Wealth given to Americans, as well as the Freedom to move about freely.
Are you honestly that Naive?
reply
share
lupus2012
14 years ago
Take your social cohesion and shove it up your ass. Don't capitalize Myth, it doesn't deserve that kind of reverence. And no one cares what some French dude did or didn't do... that's no excuse for ignoring the needs of others.
You have committed the sin of being a jerk-ass. REPENT@!!
----------------------------------------
Amen. And all that cal.
reply
share
bransrubar
12 years ago
We need to teach morals with the foundation of Jesus because that is the only way people will be saved. What does it benifit a person to be a perfect saint only to go to Hell because they still have an impure and sinful spirit? Every sin, no matter what it is, is an act of evil that seperates us from the perfect God of justice. But He is a God of love as well and gave us a way out. Jesus was our blameless substitute but we must accept His gift of salvation. At that time we are given a new heart; one that wants to be with God rather than the sinners heart which, at it's core, rejects Him.
reply
share
rusher-5
12 years ago
Actually I haven't read much of Rousseau but I know that this idea comes from him, so I am not trying to tell it's my own...
I never said that Christ or God are fairytales. I'm myself agnostic, not atheist. What is fairytales are the so called Bible (yeah i know it was not written 2000 years ago, I was generalizing and talking mainly about the New Testament some parts of which were written long after Jesus was already gone from earth) which contains a lot of ancient tales and myths from countries around Israel... that had exixted long before the Jewish exodus from Egypt
About sinning? What is this "morally wrong". In Jesus times "morally wrong" was probably not beating your woman if she didn't obey you or denied sex. In Ancient Greece sex with minors was morally accepted. In some other parts of the world cannibalism was socially and morally accepted. Times change and our perceptions of what's "morally wrong" change too... Even if we take Bible as an example, Jesus himself contradicts a lot of what's written in the Old Testament, doesn't he?
Returning to Rousseau, yeah some people are just born psychos but Bible won't turn them into completely different people. Bible is only effective on people who believe what's written inside the book and the morals won't become more effective if you repeat the name "Jesus" 100 times in front of atheist crowd... They'll probably take it even less seriously as when there was no mention of Jesus as then it won't sound like preaching. Like this movie, I bet a lot of people would take it more seriously if it wasn't clear that the movie is just Christian propaganda. It certainly has something to say about our times, the only problem is it says that about as successfully as Nazi film tries to convince us that Jews are untermenshen or a Soviet film says us that wealthy people are evil. It's propaganda.
And to say that Rousseau was wrong is completely stupid as he might've not be completely right but in countries where a lot of attention is directed towards social and economic problems, more "socialist" countries, so to say, there's less heavy crime too. Take for example Sweden or Norway that have one of the smallest numbers of homicides committed. And I wouldn't say these are deeply religious countries, they are protestant with a high number of atheists. It's still true around the world- the better quality of life, the less heavy crime you have...
reply
share