Moving beyond Dawkins etc.

[Mudgely]

Forget it.

By the way, just to give you a hint that I do know what I am talking about in science and particularly in biochemistry,Talkorigins.org, a leading evolution website, has published an article of mine on the origin of life by natural causes. It should come up on the first page if you google for origin of life. Have fun reading it. At least then you can gain some real knowledge instead of your pseudo-scientific cr*p.

So, we’ve all been published, some on web pages, some in text books. Is this important to you?

 

[Mudgely]

Might you provide a list of where or how the Church can become more relevant today?

Thanks,
Ed

I don’t know how it can. As an observer, it seems to me that it needs to get real on such basic topics of human existence as sexuality. As long as something as basic to the human experience as masturbation is a sin, then the teaching in that regard will be laughed at and ignored, or the church itself will be. I guess the question of relevancy might be one of modernity. Tyco Brahe changed things. But i guess this was not apparent at tye time Change and growth of knowledge are more rapid than ever. Even the professed “scientist” responding to this thread is clueless even about the state of his or her own field regarding the nature of life.

How does a monstrous corporation like the catholic crunch which proposes at it ha enduring nswers, adapt and change fast enough, while maintaining credibility? We see the reactionists naively and falsely claim that church teachings don’t change. Obviously that is false. But where to from here?

 

[Sair]

Those who have **nothing **to offer use up their surplus energy in attempting to **destroy **the positive beliefs and values of others…

Uh-huh. That they do. And this works in both directions. There is a difference between destroying and challenging…

 

[John21652]

So, we’ve all been published, some on web pages, some in text books. Is this important to you?

And you Mudgely, are totally self published.

Now if it just wasn’t so impossible to find a peer to review your -] work /-] nonsense…

 

[DCNBILL]

How does a monstrous corporation like the catholic crunch which proposes at it ha enduring nswers, adapt and change fast enough, while maintaining credibility? We see the reactionists naively and falsely claim that church teachings don’t change. Obviously that is false. But where to from here?

oops.

 

[edwest2]

I don’t know how it can. As an observer, it seems to me that it needs to get real on such basic topics of human existence as sexuality. As long as something as basic to the human experience as masturbation is a sin, then the teaching in that regard will be laughed at and ignored, or the church itself will be. I guess the question of relevancy might be one of modernity. Tyco Brahe changed things. But i guess this was not apparent at tye time Change and growth of knowledge are more rapid than ever. Even the professed “scientist” responding to this thread is clueless even about the state of his or her own field regarding the nature of life.

How does a monstrous corporation like the catholic crunch which proposes at it ha enduring nswers, adapt and change fast enough, while maintaining credibility? We see the reactionists naively and falsely claim that church teachings don’t change. Obviously that is false. But where to from here?

I work in the media and study scientific advancements regularly. Disordered sexuality is at the core of the problems being face by Western civilization today.

We are still seeing the effects of the Sexual Revolution of the late 1960s. I have watched over the decades as most things have become oversexualized. Instead of following clear teaching and instead of exercising the kind of self-control that human beings are capable of, some rail against the Church.

When Pope Paul VI published Humanae Vitae in 1968, he knew about The Pill being added to other means of artificial birth control, but he reaffirmed constant Church teaching about Natural Family Planning and correctly predicted what would happen if his words were not heeded.

The Hippies, Radicals, and Women’s Libbers fought a sustained campaign to destroy the family, turn sex into casual sex or the more recent “it was just sex” like going to the bathroom.

I saw it in the 1970s when I was talking to a man about God. His wife, overhearing, came up to me with an angry tone in her voice and said, “Your religion teaches that my son can’t masturbate.” And this is harmful how?

And the latest trend: let’s just compare ourselves to animals.
Animals masturbate, right?
Engage in homosexual acts, right?

So how on earth can we call ourselves modern and educated when we compare ourselves to animals which as any educated and most uneducated people will tell you, operate by instinct? That sex between dogs, for example, occurs only when the female is in a certain condition.

All of the sexual sins mentioned in the Bible are still occurring today, with the only change being 24/7 global internet porn.

I’m watching the changes but there is and will continue to be, a remnant that follows clear Church teaching.

There is a mechanism for understanding passages in Scripture and on rare occasion, the interpretation may change but most, I think, are unaware of it.

From Saint Thomas Aquinas:

“I answer that, In discussing questions of this kind two rules are to observed, as Augustine teaches (Gen. ad lit. i, 18). The first is, to hold the truth of Scripture without wavering. The second is that since Holy Scripture can be explained in a multiplicity of senses, one should adhere to a particular explanation, only in such measure as to be ready to abandon it, if it be proved with certainty to be false; lest Holy Scripture be exposed to the ridicule of unbelievers, and obstacles be placed to their believing.”

The key words are “proved with certainty.”

Peace,
Ed

 

[tonyrey]

Those who have **nothing **

When the challenges are destroyed their superficial nature is exposed:

“Nothing shall come of nothing.” - King Lear

 

[David]

So, let’s discard the absurd disconnect. and get back to the original question. What can the Catholic Church do at this point to gain credibility, and to become relevant? Or is it content to continue to the dust bin of discontinued religions?

It will take some time due to the size of the edifice, but the trajectory is clear. Does anyone care? Should anyone care? There are plenty of religions to pick. If Walmart goes out of business, then there is always Target.

Does the particular religion matter, or it is just the human urge toward the spiritual?

The fact that you imply the the largest and oldest form of Christianity, is not credible nor relevant, shows that you do not know much, but like to show it off.

Your statements also prove your error, thinking all religions are the same.

The fact that you have made no attempt to understand the religion you are at war with, is sad.

You can have the last word

Peace
David

 

[tonyrey]

I work in the media and study scientific advancements regularly. Disordered sexuality is at the core of the problems being face by Western civilization today.

We are still seeing the effects of the Sexual Revolution of the late 1960s. I have watched over the decades as most things have become oversexualized. Instead of following clear teaching and instead of exercising the kind of self-control that human beings are capable of, some rail against the Church.

It is absurd to attribute the millions of abortions, teenage pregnancies, broken homes, one-parent families, children separated from a parent, ruined lives and lonely old people in the UK to anything other than the insane policy of sexual permissiveness coupled with the decline in moral values and religious belief.

 

[S.J]

de Botton is here attempting to reconcile the two story house concept that Francis Schaeffer eloquently describes.

Man lives in a two-story universe. On the first floor is the finite world without God. Life here is absurd and has no ultimate meaning. Eventually he will be dirt and his life is but a brief flicker of light when compared to the enormity of the universe. He will live die and probably suffer, all to no end. The best he can do is to distract himself.

The second floor has meaning, value, and purpose. Modern man lives on first floor because he believes there is no God. However, he cannot live happily in such an absurd world; therefore, he continually makes leaps of faith onto the second floor to affirm meaning, value, and purpose, even though he has no right to, since he does not believe in God. Modern man is totally inconsistent when he makes this leap, because these values cannot exist without God, and man in his lower story does not have God.

 

[Charlemagne_II]

Mudgely

The Church is probably dying, …

The enemies of the Church have been saying that and hoping that since the first century.

We’re still here to stay. Get used to it!