by Bob Butler » Sun Oct 29, 2023 6:59 pm
Bob Butler wrote: ↑Sat Oct 28, 2023 3:48 pm
One interesting thing in recent posts. You have a poll showing most Americans believe in or favor a lot of traditional religious aspects. And yet, most are willing to vote for abortions. Do people believe they can go to heaven after they had an abortion? The logic of it would of course vary, but would be interesting.
The interesting thing is the combination of opposing polls. One says most Americans believe in many aspects of the supernatural, including God and Heaven. The other says most Americans believe abortions should be safe and available. In a lot of examples they add rare.
Before addressing this contradiction, let me say that I’m not the right person to say how a religious person thinks. My relationship with God ended up being decided through quantum physics and parapsychology. These might be more determined by Principia Mathematica than the Bible. This is not how most people would resolve it, not how most people think.
Among religious people, some believe in a loving forgiving God. Others believe in harsh judgement, that He will torture people through eternity for disobeying His laws. This difference in how one believes God acts would be part of it. Those that believe in a loving forgiving God might be more apt to have an abortion. Those who believe in a wrathful commanding God might choose otherwise. As a single male agnostic, there is not much more I can say about it.
I can’t also forget the two contradictory instincts. One is to love one’s neighbor, to help a friend out. The other is to hate, oppress and kill one who is different. This might tie in with the above paragraph. Religious believers, especially Christians, tend to love thy neighbor. Others might hate, oppress and kill the different. If one follows God’s example, how you perceive God is important.
In my youth, the Catholic nuns occasionally preached that judgement is God’s. It is not man’s place to stand in judgement over his fellow man. Let God handle judgement. It would seem not all follow that principle.
For me, there are two aspects of thought, embodied in Principia Mathematica and the Bible. As an engineer, Principia has primacy of place. One who doesn’t follow the principles outlined there can find himself in big trouble. Yet, moral questions often cannot be answered through experiment and observation. I grew up with preaching of the nuns. I have kept the most basic moral principles from my youth. Most important is ‘love thy neighbor’. I suspect the others could be derived from that one statement.
What is not called for is controlling, harassing, hating and killing one’s neighbor.
My balancing thought is that one should emphasize love, and minimize judgement and control. I should add, don’t plan a near future vacation in Gaza. A lesser variation would be avoiding the slum sections of cities. Love may have something going for it, but you can’t forget prudence.
Is that what you are looking for?
[quote="Bob Butler" post_id=83662 time=1698522490 user_id=3010]One interesting thing in recent posts. You have a poll showing most Americans believe in or favor a lot of traditional religious aspects. And yet, most are willing to vote for abortions. Do people believe they can go to heaven after they had an abortion? The logic of it would of course vary, but would be interesting.
[/quote]
The interesting thing is the combination of opposing polls. One says most Americans believe in many aspects of the supernatural, including God and Heaven. The other says most Americans believe abortions should be safe and available. In a lot of examples they add rare.
Before addressing this contradiction, let me say that I’m not the right person to say how a religious person thinks. My relationship with God ended up being decided through quantum physics and parapsychology. These might be more determined by Principia Mathematica than the Bible. This is not how most people would resolve it, not how most people think.
Among religious people, some believe in a loving forgiving God. Others believe in harsh judgement, that He will torture people through eternity for disobeying His laws. This difference in how one believes God acts would be part of it. Those that believe in a loving forgiving God might be more apt to have an abortion. Those who believe in a wrathful commanding God might choose otherwise. As a single male agnostic, there is not much more I can say about it.
I can’t also forget the two contradictory instincts. One is to love one’s neighbor, to help a friend out. The other is to hate, oppress and kill one who is different. This might tie in with the above paragraph. Religious believers, especially Christians, tend to love thy neighbor. Others might hate, oppress and kill the different. If one follows God’s example, how you perceive God is important.
In my youth, the Catholic nuns occasionally preached that judgement is God’s. It is not man’s place to stand in judgement over his fellow man. Let God handle judgement. It would seem not all follow that principle.
For me, there are two aspects of thought, embodied in Principia Mathematica and the Bible. As an engineer, Principia has primacy of place. One who doesn’t follow the principles outlined there can find himself in big trouble. Yet, moral questions often cannot be answered through experiment and observation. I grew up with preaching of the nuns. I have kept the most basic moral principles from my youth. Most important is ‘love thy neighbor’. I suspect the others could be derived from that one statement.
What is not called for is controlling, harassing, hating and killing one’s neighbor.
My balancing thought is that one should emphasize love, and minimize judgement and control. I should add, don’t plan a near future vacation in Gaza. A lesser variation would be avoiding the slum sections of cities. Love may have something going for it, but you can’t forget prudence.
Is that what you are looking for?