This may be the one thing that makes me more upset at religious folk than anything else.

I am a huge fan of science. Even when I was a member I was constantly reading books from Carl Sagan, Paul Davies, Alan Lightman, and Brian Greene. These are the type of people that truly devoted their lives to truth, in my opinion; the scientists.

So when science make a huge leap forward, or even a small one come to think of it, the members that I would talk to would always say, "See, God inspired him to do that."

Let me get this straight. Your god never has to produce any type of results or evidence. At the same time, science is again and again proving itself as the engine that drives progress and god gets to come in and take credit for it?

I wonder why the artificial heart was developed by Jarvik, or the polio was cured by Jenner. It seems a bit strange does it not, that god only inspires those that spend their lives devoted to education and study. If inspiration comes from god, you'd think that the 19 year old clerk at the 7-11 would come up with the cure for cancer. But my money is still on the oncologists.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2011 09:52AM by omen.

Yep, heard that a lot. Not just science, but I heard it so much for political leaders too.

The allusion was often said in a smug tone like it was a secret that god had only let the mormon's in on--that he was pulling all the strings. It's like the mormon's are keeping up appearances for God--since he's not doing such a good job himself.

What good is being a Mormons if the gentiles get all the cool ideas? What good is priesthood power?

I've also heard it told that Lucifer is the one revealing scientific discoveries and new technologies that "lulls zion into carnal security" or some nonsense like that.

If the quaker lifestyle is good enough for the inhabitants of the moon then it should be good enough for the inhabitants of earth!

What is it exactly?

Or don't I want to know?!

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Good catch, davidbappleton. I'm into medical history so I would have had to say that if you didn't. Facts have to be specific and accurate, faith can be more fluid. :)

helemon said: "Questioning doctrines is considered evil and dangerous."

I experienced this in many churches of the more fundamentalist type, including Mormonism. It's the quickest way I've found to lose your mind, squelching questions and overlooking inconsistencies.

One of the most freeing things for me was to go ahead and ask questions anyway. Wanting to be informed and needing things to make sense aren't "evil". As for being "dangerous", certainly for the church/es, questions can be dangerous if it leads to their flock heading for the doors. But I've always thought that if one's faith flounders in the face of questions and answers so be it. That is a better outcome, in my view, at least for me, than if one's beliefs are held together only by blinkering oneself, as in if you don't see, hear or think of alternate views then maybe your faith will hold up. My brain won't let me do that to myself, mostly. Some things are definitely on the shelf but I'm aware of deliberately tucking them away and letting the dust settle over them. I couldn't do that as a lifestyle though or in perpetuity. Some day the dustcloths must be wielded!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/29/2011 05:22PM by Nightingale.

Questioning doctrines is considered evil and dangerous. Questioning how the world works is questioning the will of God! The only way to fix things is to ask God to do it.

Jenner was smallpox inoculations. Salk was polio.

That's what I typed....um....god changed it to test your faith.. ;)

Circular reasoning, deceptive apologetics, faith-promoting lies. Guess they're still of use, eh?