Religion's Effect on society

Xris, climbing a mountain is hard, getting a degree is hard, it does not say anything about being impossible.

So do you honestly believe it's possible to pass a camel through the eye of needle? Not my words Parro.

Yes it is possible, just hard to do.

Yes it is possible, just hard to do.

I would like to see you try.

Yes it is possible, just hard to do.

I would like to see you try.

It would be a challenge. But not impossible.

I see it more as societies effect on imagination...attributing in religion and bearing fruit eventually in the form of science. I believe we should give science it's rightful place, above religion, but below mysticism. That which drives science.

Yes it is possible, just hard to do.

I would like to see you try.

It would be a challenge. But not impossible.

Please elaborate? Would it be through playing with semantics, an illusion, being silly, or a camel as we understand a camel, and a needle as we understand a needle?

Or are you simply trying to demonstrate "religion's effect on society"?

Hi all.

Regarding the rich man and the eye of the needle, the way I heard it explained was that the eye of the needle is a reference to a small door at the side of the gate, which was narrow in order to make it easily defensible, and would make it hard for a rich person and his entourage to get in or out of the city after the gate was closed. So the saying indicates that it is more difficult but not impossible, but the rich man would have be the same as a poor man in the use of this entrance.

Regards, John.

But the rich man would be fatter because he has all that baggage. Treasure in Heaven does not occupy space, as it is simple redistribution.

If it is true, then why are there rich christians?

Also, rich is an opinion.

But rich is not an opinion. Rich is a differential founded upon facts. Rich is material possessions and money.

There are rich Christians because Christianity means different things to different people. Even the Pope and the Archbishop of Canterbury cannot force free modern people to believe or do what they dont want to .Christianity for all its failings and indeterminacies does in this day and age pertain to the more free and more democratic countries, and so it seems that there are a lot of rooms in the Christian God's house. However it it can usually be well argued that Jesus himself was a proto-socialist

What fundamentalist who would maintains the bible is the word of god would also give away their wealth? How many right wing god fearing christian would obey the command, "Thou shall not kill"? Clogs pointed out how the camel has become a gate way into a certain village.Even killing becomes watered down to murder and does not indicate capital punishment as against gods will. When difficult scriptures oppose societies or the individuals moral responsibility they are either ignored or reinterpreted to find the easy way. As Belinda points out the true christian and the true socialist are not very different.

Do you think your loyalty to your religion, or your country is more important?

Loyalty is for persons not ideas such as ' America' or 'God'. Loyalty to ideas is idolatry. I would ditch socialism if I thought it was not good for persons.

Do you think your loyalty to your religion, or your country is more important?

Why can't they be complimentary?

I believe that you need something to congregate people, like a common philosophy or religion, in order to start a society. However, if a country is greatly influenced by a religion, would a fear of god(s) slow progress? I believe the answer is yes. Anyone who is atleast a little religious will do things based on their beliefs. If god told Adam and Eve not to seek knowledge, should we do the same and burn books?

OP: I agree that in order to form a society people need to band together to accomplish anything worthwhile. Building cities and whatnot requires more than one person! I do not think that a fear of god(s) would slow progress. Adam's sons Cain and Abel raised crops and animals in order to make sacrifices to God and if they had not done that they wouldn't of had anything to eat. There are tons of religious things that churches (not just christian) do to further society. Monks, during the Middle Ages, wrote down copies of books that, if not for them, we wouldn't hold today. They did that in obedience to God, and we should respect them for it! Also, Nuns run orphanages in obedience to God.

Just to be clear, I'm not saying that God was telling the Monks and Nuns to do those things, they may have thought that was what God wanted them to do. Their justification was: "we are doing this out of obedience to God." Either way, we are better of because of those people. I think we can all agree on that