Religion

[formerly known as hf]

It is plausible that most world religions hint at many moral truths, unlikely that any of them hint at all such truths, and in any case they all come with a load of accreted baggage that may even do positive harm on occasion.

Agreed. I said the same myself, elsewhere here, some time ago. If I remeber rightly, I got a little singed afterwards.

[Talapus]

...Mormons have a no caffeine policy

I have never been able to figure out if you guys are allowed to consume chocolate. Chocolate has caffeine in it, but is this just something that is overlooked, do you eat special chocolate that has the caffeine somehow removed, or do you just not eat the stuff?

[Phalynx]

Well Moral relativism is all well and good, and very fashionalbe right now, but give it a few years and things will turn full circle soon enough....

The world will polarise soon I suspect - at which point large chunks of society will choose a world view through nexessity or have one enforced on them...

I tend to agree fully about western secularism, as almost a faith in itself, but because of an inherent foundation of relativism it will never be strong enough to stand up to other ideologies long term....IMHO

[Joshuamonkey]

We have chocolate like normal people. Chocolate doesn't have very much caffeine in it and I've heard that it is a different type of caffeine. We just mostly don't have mountion dew and coke type of things. (Though there is the caffeine free kind)

[Shibo77]

One and Two I think are possible choices out of many other possibilities, and I disagree with Three. True(1) is a human definition, for me, I believe that if something exists then it is true(1). I believe in simple extremities, I think therefore I am. Anything that exists in the universe is true(1), if it is false(0) then it wouldn't exist in the universe, else it would disrupt the universal equilibrium and the whole universe would collapse!

I disagree with number Three because if there is one truth that already exist on Earth, there are hundreds more still in existence. Assume there are 500 religions, then if you belong to 1 religion, then you have 1/500 chance of being correct(+1) but 499/500 chance of being incorrect and offending the other 499 religions(-1). This means that you have a much bigger chance of offending the true religion than being in the true religion(499:1), which is not so good...
If you do not belong to any single religion, then the chance of you being right is very possibly 0/500, unless incredibly you yourself is correct, and 0/500 of offending someone else by belonging to another religion. When you die, you simply die, not heaven nor hell, you would simply be called ignorant or neutral. Thus, I believe it is better to not belong to any religion (as an agnostic) in order not to offend anyone in this life or afterlife, than to take the 1/500 chance of being in the correct religion. Belong to a religion 1/500 of +1 but 499/500 of -1. Don't belong to a religion 0/500 of +1, 0/500 of -1, pure and simple 500/500 of 0. Simple logic.

[Dee]

[deadboy]

Well..... theres kind of a problem with your not belonging to a religion theory, you don't not offend any religion, you offend most of them, in fact all the same religions that you would offend by being part of a different religion to them, and that does not include every religion, some religions, such as christianity, arn't offended at all by other religions... or at least arn't now

[formerly known as hf]

some religions, such as christianity, arn't offended at all by other religions... or at least arn't now

Of all the religions currently in existence, Christianity probably has the least tolerance of other religions in the contemporary world.

I'm sure the last thing a Hindu or Buddhist would be is offended by the existence of belief in another religion. In fact, Christianity and Islam are almost the only religions to have ever had a really concerted, and occasionally violent, history of objecting to the religions of others.

[nitefyre]

some religions, such as christianity, arn't offended at all by other religions... or at least arn't now

Of all the religions currently in existence, Christianity probably has the least tolerance of other religions in the contemporary world.

I'm sure the last thing a Hindu or Buddhist would be is offended by the existence of belief in another religion. In fact, Christianity and Islam are almost the only religions to have ever had a really concerted, and occasionally violent, history of objecting to the religions of others.

For the amount of noise Christianity and Islam make, it's not surprising people completely forget about Hinduism and Buddhism.

[Joshuamonkey]

I know a bunch about Buddhism.

[Nalaris]

It's 'polygamy'.

I'm Mormon and I just polished off a slice of chocolate cake, so I sure hope there's not a no-chocolate...well, ther're not rules...guideline, I guess?

I find that people fearing to give up their freedom rather ironic because it's true. But I can't find one Mormon guideline (After all, God won't force us to be right at gunpoint. That was Lucifer's plan) that doesn't give you more freedom.

'Don't drink beer'. You probably think 'hey, that restricts my freedom, now I can't drink beer!' If you drink beer, you get addicted. You become weak. See the logic?

Anyway, number one must be true because there must be one governing truth or else there is chaos, with no truth. There cannot be 'truth' and 'belief', there can only be right and wrong. You don't even need to be religious to realize this, you just have to use common sense and quit trying to appease everyone.

Number 2, I think, again, that the ironic truth is people are afraid to give up their freedom. Or maybe their family, or their place in society, or their life of not-persecution. That's the only thing keeping people from a religion, when in truth the religion I believe in gives that back to you. The LDS church, particularly in Utah, is a society in and of itself and therefore your place in society can be held within it. It can come to be like a family and if you're lucky your families already LDS or converts.

Number 3, obviously LDS is going to be good for you if it improves your life on Earth and your life after Earth. Duh.

There's my stand on it. Nice to know there are other Mormons on this site.

About Christianity being extremely intolerant by comparison to others, that's true in general, but I've never seen a more tolerant religion than the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (the full and proper name for Mormonism). Ever.

[Joshuamonkey]

Yeah!!! I didn't expect to find another one. I guess Cantr is a good site for attracting Mormons? Don't plan on finding any others though.

I'm usually a good speller, guess I finally made a mistake.

Chocolate is definitely allowed. Hey, who celebrates Easter?

[formerly known as hf]

'Don't drink beer'. You probably think 'hey, that restricts my freedom, now I can't drink beer!' If you drink beer, you get addicted. You become weak. See the logic?

No, sorry. I drink beer, and I'm far from addicted. It's still giving up freedoms, the freedom to enjoy something potentially harmful, yes, but that's still a liberty.

There cannot be 'truth' and 'belief', there can only be right and wrong.

Yeah, there's right and wrong, but just as with truth, what is right and wrong is very very far from universal. i may do something that someone else deems to be wrong, for me it is right. Therefore, things can be both right and wrong, the same way they can be both true and false.

[Phalynx]

Yeah, there's right and wrong, but just as with truth, what is right and wrong is very very far from universal. i may do something that someone else deems to be wrong, for me it is right. Therefore, things can be both right and wrong, the same way they can be both true and false.

Which is where relativism falls on its ass... If I decide its right to abuduct small children and eat them alive (for example) it doesn't matter if I believe its right, it's not! There are some things which are universally wrong.... people may live in a time when evil things suddenly or gradually become socially acceptable (eg Germany and the Holocaust) during that time the majority can say something abhorent is OK, but its not....

I think God sets a standard of right and wrong, other people will have their own explanations, but somethings can never be right....

[Antichrist_Online]

Chocolate is definitely allowed. Hey, who celebrates Easter?

Actually, I would think most christians would be best not celebrating Easter. The chocolate egg/rabbit one that is, as the word itself and associated traditions link to a pagan fertillity festival at this time of year. (As does the may pole). It was a poor choice of words to associate thier ressurection after passover with a pagan holiday which coinsided with the astronomical clock. And yes I do celebrate Ester. (More accurate spelling).