Hey FrGamble!

Quote: SOOPOO

Bob... I'd call that a direct personal insult. Try and tone it down a little.

I agree, thanks.

Quote:

How about asking it this way...... "FrG, how do you justify your cushy life.... no food worries.... no shelter worries.... when there are so many around you that are suffering, and you have the direct ability to help out..... no cable TV..... donate to food bank. no eating out..... donate to homeless shelter....
Lowest cost used car.... donate to battered woman's shelter....... Extra space in your home..... invite a few homeless to stay with you.....

I answer these same questions easily for myself.... I help in small ways, but am selfish enough not to give up my lifestyle to fully help others......
Is that your answer as well?

As I mentioned earlier loving radically doesn't mean turning your house into a homeless shelter. Simple things done with great love are very powerful.

I justify my life by constantly asking God and examining my conscience if I could or should do more. I'm not perfect and I too have too much selfishness to give up certain things. Maybe I should stop eating out or watching movies? I pray about that a lot. However, I do want to point out that my life isn't cushy by any stretch of the imagination. I live in two rooms in a house I share with two other priests. I have committed my life to celibacy to be radically available for anyone at anytime. My life revolves around serving those who are in spiritual need and those who are struggling with material needs and those who are physically or mentally ill. I donate a huge portion of the small amount of money I make to all of the causes you mentioned and more. I am part of the largest charitable organization on the face of the earth. I could go on but it is not I think what this discussion is about.

Bob recently compared starving people, children, and everyone to cockroaches. To live as Jesus did means seeing human beings as precious and loving them in ways that require sacrifice. I do my very best to do that. I think me having a Netflix account or going out to dinner doesn't mean that I am living a selfish cushy life? Am I wrong about that?

Quote: aceofspades

Why would it be offensive to me? I'm an atheist

I was posting it for discussion and to see what FrGamble thought

My favorite line is:

"Think about it. If atheism is true, and it’s not, then scientific endeavors, logic, ethics, and all arguments are meaningless. We can make sense of these truths because atheists are tragically wrong."

Quote: FrGamble

My favorite line is:

"Think about it. If atheism is true, and it’s not, then scientific endeavors, logic, ethics, and all arguments are meaningless."

The statement makes no sense. It's ridiculous
gobblygoop. Things only make sense if there's
a god? NOTHING makes sense if there's a god.

Quote: FrGamble

Bob recently compared starving people, children, and everyone to cockroaches.

In the scheme of things in the
uncaring equal universe, they
are no different. It's only our
huge egos that make us think
we have to be special. We're
not, not how many time you
say it and wish it was true.

Quote: FrGamble

I think me having a Netflix account or going out to dinner doesn't mean that I am living a selfish cushy life? Am I wrong about that?

Thanks for your thoughtful answer.

If you have to ask that question, you already know the answer. You have that $10, and have a choice to donate it to the hungry, or get Neflix for yourself. It is really that simple.

I'm not saying you are not more generous than 99% of the people on the planet. You probably are. I'm just saying I think it is hypocritical to assert you are living your life like Christ would want you to. You are not willing to accept the pain or even just discomfort he would accept. What would Christ do with that $10?

I have checked all reliable evidence and Christ did not have a Netflix account.... (I'm allowed to put in a joke here and there...!)

Quote: SOOPOO

If you have to ask that question, you already know the answer. You have that $10, and have a choice to donate it to the hungry, or get Neflix for yourself. It is really that simple.

My brother in law is a Baptist
minister with a church in
Canada. He lives the life of
Riley. New truck, thousands
in camera equip so he can
bird watch, takes expensive
vacay's, has all the services
like cable, Nflix, Prime, Hulu.
Eats out at least one meal
7 days a week. Works, if
you call it work, less than 20
hours a week. And will throw
scripture at you like he
invented it. He makes me sick.

Quote: FrGamble

My favorite line is:

"Think about it. If atheism is true, and it’s not, then scientific endeavors, logic, ethics, and all arguments are meaningless. We can make sense of these truths because atheists are tragically wrong."

Padre - how does that sentence make any sense at all?

How does the non-existence of God make science, logic and ethics meaningless??? Doesn't that give those pursuits more meaning as we seek the scientific basis for the universe?

What am I missing?

Quote: aceofspades

Padre - how does that sentence make any sense at all?

How does the non-existence of God make science, logic and ethics meaningless??? Doesn't that give those pursuits more meaning as we seek the scientific basis for the universe?

What am I missing?

God makes the universe intelligible and able to be studied. With order and laws we can know for sure that, for example, something cannot come from nothing. Imagine if every time you are doing an experiment you had to worry about some matter or some other substance popping into existence and ruining your hard work. Believing that the universe has order and is governed by laws gives us the confidence to study it and the hope that it makes sense. It is inspires us to learn about the amazing creation around us knowing that it isn't some cosmic accident impossibly springing out of nothingness.

This has impacts for logic as well. Contrary to what some might believe you cannot make your own reality. There are unbroken rules that govern not only the universe but our thinking as well. A cannot equal not-A, and many such other principles. These are fundamental principles that are sure to guide us even without having to test them. It is like a metaphysical truth.

Ethics is of course directly impacted by if we believe in God or not. Do we make up our own rules for what is good or bad? Is what is good for me bad for you? Are their any universal objective truths to live by? With God there are and we cannot change them. They are like the laws of the universe or the laws of logic. We cannot create them or change them. We can't vote to make something unethical ethical all of the sudden, it is not majority rules. If you allow someone to say there is no God and I can create whatever ethical laws I want then the whole thing falls apart.

This is how important God is. You can live next door to somebody for 20 years and see them everyday, even speak to them casually. And not have one single clue if they are a Christian or an atheist. They live in the same kind of house you do, driving a nice car like you do, wear nice clothes and seem like a great person. Unless they tell you, or you see some kind of religious artifact on their person, you'll never know if they were a god believer or an atheist.

God doesn't matter because God doesn't exist. Life is so much simpler when you realize the truth.

“Imagining that you are deep and complex, but others are simple, is one of the primary signs of malignant selfishness.”

Stefan Molyneux