Hello all,
I'm a French Canadian who likes talking about religious and ethical issues. I have got a master degree in theology, though I cannot say I belong to any Church or endorse any specific Christian creed. Actually, I'm a bit skeptical of religious claims sometimes. It is not theology which has made me doubt, it is more likely biology. I enjoy reading about evolution and creationism, and evolutionary psychology too. I enjoy some literature too.
I used to hang out in an apologetics forum but now it is abandoned, left only to broken spammers.
I hope we can have interesting and civil discussions here.
Hey there! Impressive, a degree in theology. I bet you have a lot of valuable perspective to lend to the forum. :)
Greetings and welcome.
Indeed we have some interesting conversations, but most are rather mundane and many simply nonsensical. But civil? Hell yes we are civil...er......somewhat..
Welcome!
Good to get a different perspective. :-D
Salut! Je suppose que vous parliez le français? Moi, je ne parle pas très bien français... mais je fais un effort [cependant je n'étudie plus de français, alors c'est un très petit effort...] :)
Je présume que vous soyez théiste? Ou est-ce que c'est faux?
Quote from: "Krampus"Hello all,
I'm a French Canadian who likes talking about religious and ethical issues. I have got a master degree in theology, though I cannot say I belong to any Church or endorse any specific Christian creed. Actually, I'm a bit skeptical of religious claims sometimes. It is not theology which has made me doubt, it is more likely biology. I enjoy reading about evolution and creationism, and evolutionary psychology too. I enjoy some literature too.
I used to hang out in an apologetics forum but now it is abandoned, left only to broken spammers.
I hope we can have interesting and civil discussions here.
As long as you don't interject any creationist bullshit we may have good discussions.
Hello,
Thanks for your greetings.
What are the common beliefs of the members around?
I hope I can bring something to this forum.
I have some knowledge about religion, especially Christianity, but I am far from a theology encyclopedia. For instance I have had some courses about the Bible, but this is not my area of specialisation, so there are many questions I just cannot answer. I have some views about the Bible, but I am no match for a real scholar.
Quote from: "Skaði"Salut! Je suppose que vous parliez le français? Moi, je ne parle pas très bien français... mais je fais un effort [cependant je n'étudie plus de français, alors c'est un très petit effort...] :)
Je présume que vous soyez théiste? Ou est-ce que c'est faux?
Your level is not so bad, though some of the grammar is wrong.
I think I have some God belief. I believe that someone created the world, but it is hard to hold that that someone is not indifferent to specific human concerns. It is also hard to believe that our species was the goal of evolution or even that intelligent life of any kind was bound to emerge (despite the anthropic design argument). One would have to believe that God knows everything and used an apparently random and aimless process to make us evolve. It is not impossible, but it strains our credulity. Did God deliberately fling a meteorite onto the Earth to kill the dinosaurs and allow mammals to take over and evolve into humans? Now, there is a range of views in theologians and believing scientists on how evolution can be reconciled with religion but so far I've found them of little help.
There is a book that has more than others shaken my faith:
http://www.amazon.com/Darwin-God-Meanin ... aning+life (http://www.amazon.com/Darwin-God-Meaning-Life-Evolutionary/dp/0521762782/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1375060015&sr=1-1&keywords=darwin+god+meaning+life)
Salut!
Christian Theology then I guess?
Quote from: "Krampus"What are the common beliefs of the members around?
Atheism. :P
That's not actually a belief, though. I suppose secular humanism is the biggie, along with scientific skepticism. Obviously, I can't speak for everyone, and we argue about practically everything (even stuff that you'd think would only have one side, unfortunately) so your guess is as good as mine.
QuoteI have some knowledge about religion, especially Christianity, but I am far from a theology encyclopedia. For instance I have had some courses about the Bible, but this is not my area of specialisation, so there are many questions I just cannot answer. I have some views about the Bible, but I am no match for a real scholar.
Modesty. Such a rarity here, especially from the theists. =D>
Welcome aboard.
Quote from: "Krampus"Did God deliberately fling a meteorite onto the Earth to kill the dinosaurs and allow mammals to take over and evolve into humans?
If one believe in a God and believes there's some sort of "divine plan", then the answer would have to be yes. Which raises the question as to exactly the point of the plan and the need to go about it in such a convoluted and needlessly brutal way.
But I'm an atheist, so I'm just going to go with answer d, stuff happens. ELE, radiation, ELE, radiation. The pendulum swings.
Quote from: "Shiranu"Salut!
Christian Theology then I guess?
Yes, indeed. My teachers were Catholics with a liberal bent. But some of the students were Protestants.
Welcome aboard Krampus! Out of all the different religions, which is the correct one? Solitary
Welcome to the forums. Interesting to see where this goes :)
Quote from: "Solitary"Welcome aboard Krampus! Out of all the different religions, which is the correct one? Solitary
Hi,
Of all the world religions, I do think that Christianity is the one that makes most sense. Still, Deism and Atheism are possibly even more rational. Let's see the evidence.
And now for the kicker: where and how were you raised?
Quote from: "Plu"And now for the kicker: where and how were you raised?
I was raised a Catholic though my mother was not really practicing and had little knowledge of theology, and my father had his own beliefs (more akin to New Age).
So... I followed catechesis at school but it hardly left any lasting impression on me. In fact, I had very little understanding of Christianity until the age of 22. At home, we very seldom talked about religion and God. In my teenage years, I was far more interested in sex than in religion.
Now, however, for some reason, I've become very interested in religious and ethical stuff. So I've studied religion and theology at university.
Quote from: "Krampus"Of all the world religions, I do think that Christianity is the one that makes most sense. Still, Deism and Atheism are possibly even more rational. Let's see the evidence.
Indeed, let's see the evidence. Except for people's say-so (which shockingly, tends to support whatever they currently believe), there's really not that much to go on.
As far as world religions go, Christianity isn't that great. If I had to list them all by order of rationality, it'd probably be near the bottom, just slightly above Scientology and Mormonism. As if the whole God thing weren't a big enough bone of contention, there's belief in a miracles, afterlife, trinity, virgin birth, God-human, and self-sacrifice to oneself. It's the sort of thing that Muslims can make fun of as overly superstitious.
Quote from: "Krampus"I hope we can have interesting and civil discussions here.
Good luck, kid.
Bienvenue sur le forum ! Maintenant je ne suis plus le seul Francophone. (Translation for non-French speakers : Welcome to the forum ! Now I'm the lone Francophone anymore ).
Welcome, Krampus!
Freethinker might be a good description of most of our contributors.
Quote from: "viocjit"Bienvenue sur le forum ! Maintenant je ne suis plus le seul Francophone. (Translation for non-French speakers : Welcome to the forum ! Now I'm the lone Francophone anymore ).
Tiens, il y a un Français ici. :P
Il y a quelques libres-penseurs français qui sont intéressants, comme Comte-Sponville ou Albert Jacquard, mais pour ce qui est de la subtilité de l'argumentation, les philosophes analytiques sont pas mal en avance.
Quote from: "the_antithesis"Quote from: "Krampus"I hope we can have interesting and civil discussions here.
Good luck, kid.
I'm a fan of Grumpy Cat, too. :rolleyes:
Quote from: "Krampus"Quote from: "Solitary"Welcome aboard Krampus! Out of all the different religions, which is the correct one? Solitary
Hi,
Of all the world religions, I do think that Christianity is the one that makes most sense. Still, Deism and Atheism are possibly even more rational. Let's see the evidence.
I think the original teachings of Buddha make the most sense. Solitary
Quote from: "Solitary"Quote from: "Krampus"Quote from: "Solitary"Welcome aboard Krampus! Out of all the different religions, which is the correct one? Solitary
Hi,
Of all the world religions, I do think that Christianity is the one that makes most sense. Still, Deism and Atheism are possibly even more rational. Let's see the evidence.
I think the original teachings of Buddha make the most sense. Solitary
Well... the truth of the matter is that it took many centuries to write down the buddhist sutras so there is little we can know about the historical Buddha.
But the problem I see with Buddhism is that its goal is Nirvana, which is a state of lonely, autistic peacefulness. I'd say humans are made to relate to other people, not to seek an autistic liberation from the world.
Another problem is that Christianity, despite the appearances, has been this-worldly, so it has brought forth the right conditions for science and technology to emerge in Western Europe. Buddhism, however, is other-worldly, so it has done little to address the real causes of suffering (parasites, gene defects, brain dysfunctions, social inequalities, etc.) Instead, it has taught that somehow the real cause of suffering is desire, which is only a small part of the truth. Besides, to have material desires is a normal part of our human condition. We need some self-restraint, to be sure, but there is nothing wrong having some worldly goals.
Welcome to the forum, Krampus! 8-)
Quote from: "Krampus"I'm a fan of Grumpy Cat, too. :rolleyes:
Who?
Quote from: "the_antithesis"Quote from: "Krampus"I'm a fan of Grumpy Cat, too. :rolleyes:
Who?
The cat on your avatar. What's his name? I know him by "Grumpy Cat".
There's a cat on my avatar?
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