If you had read any Nietzsche and from your post you evidently haven't, then you would say there is simply no right or wrong period. From your perspective as an atheist, it baffles me that on the one hand you claim there is no God and on the other you claim that most of the Christians you met are basically good, civilized human beings and after reading a number of your posts, you do believe that there are things that are right and wrong in this world. You should have said that the Christians you met are people who are dancing to their DNA and what appears to be good and civilized behavior is just what results when atoms move this way or that and there is no rhyme or reason to it. That would have been more believable. If you asked Nietzsche, he would tell you point blank, "how can you rationally justify any commitment to timeless values whatsoever without implicitly invoking God?" Because Nietzsche would tell you, that you cannot. Nietzsche was smart enough to realize that if humanity evolved from a mud puddle several hundreds of millions of years ago, due to a cosmic accident a few billion years earlier, that you will not and cannot, get morality of any form, out of that equation. Period. As Richard Dawkins said, "At its bottom, the universe we live in is exactly the type of universe to expect if there is no God. There is no right or wrong, no good or evil. No hope. And no justice. All there is, is blind pitiless, purposeless indifference."edwardmurphy wrote:Thankfully, most of the Christians I've met are basically good, civilized human beings, and would likely continue to be so even without Biblical carrots and sticks to keep them in line.
It saddens me that you do not take the Christian perspective more seriously and for the life of me, I wonder why you actually post here on this site, unless it is simply to stir up strife due to the inadequacies you feel as a moral human being who denies the source of that morality and you want to project your pathology into the thinking processes of the members of this forum, so that maybe they might become as nihilistic as you because as a sociopath, that gives you pleasure?edwardmurphy wrote:It saddens me that you think so poorly of them. Are you perhaps projecting your own pathology onto the rest of Christendom?
Ed, anyone who has briefly studied the basics of first century Christianity should quickly come to the conclusion as to how and why Christianity even took hold as a belief system in the first place because the Christians did everything backwards and essentially wrong in order for it to be successful. It should have disappeared from history within 10 days after it began if it were not true. And unlike Islam, Christianity was not spread with the sword at its inception and Christians were not forced to convert or die. I hope you rexamine the evidence.
From my perspective, I would rather lead my life being kind to others, loving and worshipping Jesus Christ and then fade into blackness and die then lead my life doing whatever the hell I wanted and then die, wake from death and stand before Christ. I would not wish the latter on anyone, including you. However, it seems you evidently want to learn about Christ that way. I will pray for you.
Here is a link. I hope you read through it thoroughly. Start at factor #1: Who Would Buy One Crucified?
The Impossible Faith: A Defense of the Resurrection. 17 Examples Where Christians Did The Wrong Thing In Order For Christianity to Become a Successful Belief System
http://www.tektonics.org/lp/nowayjose.php
). With that money you can do anything. Including keeping the "rebellion" occupied, distracted, manipulated, partly or fully controlled, finance controlled opposition, spread hatred left and right through mass media,....