10450 - | | |   10468 - Reply from scholar (us) - 2009-06-15
| To David, this of course implies that the person thinking about it believes that there is such a thing as a sin and that the same things are considered sins as you believe.
For Sophie, I guess it is a person's own unique situation that determines what they believe, and this choice should be theirs and they should be required to live and die with the choice they have made. This is the practical answer.
A more philosophical answer and something that I personally believe is that everyone believes in something that is essentially a God. In my opinion this is what makes me believe that it (He, etc) exists. You may be skeptical, but I will try to explain.
Many scientists say they are atheists and that religion exists only to scare the ignorant into submission. However it is the same person that has complete faith that the entire universe is perfectly ordered and they spend their entire life trying to understand this order (note that this is essentially what a monk does within religious realms). This may not be a true religion, but it is a faith in something larger than oneself.
This is only one example, but I think it illustrates my point well.
I will leave you with a couple more quotes...I hope you enjoy.
"For the belief in a single truth is the root cause for all evil in the world."
- Max Born
"I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forego their use."
- Galileo Galilei
"Let no one enter here who does not have faith."
- Inscription over the door on Max Planck's Laboratory |
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