Overdue Answers.

[Theland]

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Society-and-Cul ture/Religion-and-Spirituality/Question450140. html

Sorry for the long delay but I'll try to answer the points raised the other week.

[Theland]

I am intrigued as to how you believe Jesus Christ is having a negative effect on your life Waldo.
Allah yes! But Jesus?

[WaldoMcFroog]

Jesus Christ has no effect on my life whatsoever because he is a fictional character.

Christians, on the other hand, as I have explained before do affect my life - and that of others to a greater degree. Much the same applies to other religions.

http://www.theanswerbank.co.uk/Society-and-Cul ture/Religion-and-Spirituality/Question405841- 2.html

I do love the way that you can clearly see why one religion is utter balls, but manage to convince yourself that somehow your own, equally ridiculous beliefs are true, by the way. Always makes me chuckle.

[WaldoMcFroog]

Incidentally, that thread that I've just posted there does suggest that Mani should be well aware that Jack is a woman. Not a great point to have made, but just thought I would anyway.

[mibn2cweus]

Theland, At the risk of great peril from entangled threads here's my overdue answer to the question raised above:

If knowledge was nothing more than the toss of a coin then the only �justification� for believing in the existence of �God� who/whatever rather than science would be the fear of �eternal damnation� and the hope of �eternal bliss�. Reality is neither swayed by nor does it conform to ones hopes and fears. Reality is what it is and can only be changed for the better by first understanding what it is and then learning what can be and should be done to make it better.

Science has evolved through time to become the method of choice for discovering and revealing the nature of reality as well as determining what within the limited confines of cause and effect is possible. The astonishing ability of science to present us with the alternatives that we are now so privileged to enjoy has not always been so apparent. It has taken centuries of trial and error and a continuing process of recording reconfirming and applying the lessons learned by those who took on this task before us to realise the benefits now available to us thanks to generation after generation of thoughtful and creative minds.

But science is not in itself the answer to those �fundamental questions� to which you elude. Science is but one branch in the tree of knowledge that blossoms from a core of understanding that is philosophy. Philosophy provides us with the blueprint for the missing manual that we must conceive assemble and collate for ourselves that instructs us in how to think and thereby how to live.

cont. . .

[mibn2cweus]

What lies at the root of any sound philosophy is the need to answer the most fundamental questions of all, questions, the answers to which, make all other answers possible. Among those primary questions are: What is knowledge? From whence does knowledge arise? Is certainty an illusion and if not then by what means does it correspond to reality and how do we achieve it? Until you answer such questions you are not able to fully utilize the power that knowledge has the potential to provide and the answers to questions such as how are you to live and make the most of life are captive to any charlatan who chooses to capitalise on your insecurity and uncertainty.

cont . . .

[mibn2cweus]

If you are unsatisfied and unfulfilled with the answers you are receiving this is why. You are either not asking the right questions or have given up trying to find the answers, perhaps because you were told the answers do not exist by those who are themselves afraid to know or because of the fear that was instilled in you by them, you chose to believe them. Perhaps your greatest fear is that in choosing to put your faith in faith and believe in the existence of �God�??? you have sold your heart mind and soul to the very devil you were running from. The self you have so woefully sacrificed on the alter of faith is the ghost that will haunt you on your death bed as you hope beyond reason for the unearned reward and promise of heaven that has deprived you of the meaning and appreciation for the value that could have and would have been your life if you had only known that it was possible and had worked to make it a reality. You have not turned your other cheek to your greatest enemy, you have embraced him and intentionally overturned the coin of reason from heads to tails choosing to have faith that he was your friend while your real friends mourn the loss of the one you have betrayed, yourself.

If there remains any echo of the reverberation of reason still whispering in the hollows of your mind it is not to late to reclaim your rightful place in reality and on this Earth. Insist on the truth that can only be found in reality and the truth will set you free from the toothless clawless clutches of your real enemy, faith.