Today's Daily Devotional

[fluffy]

.... but the truth of the matter is you both can't be right.

Bingo. And in the absence of a definitive truth what then? What do you say to the atheist who proclaims that he knows for a fact that there is no God? Or the Christian who holds that God does exist because the Bible says so?

[cliffy1]

Why is it strange? There are no absolute truths. The existence of god is just a personal belief and has no evidence whatsoever, so how can it be true? You may believe it is true, but to the next guy it is just your opinion.

Whether or not someone believes or disbelieves something to be true does not absolve the fact that truth is absolute. You might say God exists and Johnnytwoshoes might say she doesn't, but the truth of the matter is you both can't be right.

Why not? Did you even watch the video clip?

[Glacier]

I don't usually watch videos, but just to make you happy I just watched that one.
I call it quack science though. But hey, believe what you want.

What do you say to the atheist who proclaims that he knows for a fact that there is no God? Or the Christian who holds that God does exist because the Bible says so?

To the atheist, I would say, "if there is not god, how did the Universe and time begin?" To the Christian, I would say, "how do you know the Bible is a reliable source of information?" There's nothing wrong with question each other's beliefs, as far as I can tell.

[cliffy1]

I don't usually watch videos, but just to make you happy I just watched that one.
I call it quack science though. But hey, believe what you want.

Many of those interview are quantum physicists. Hardly quack science but still very much theoretical. The thing about quantum science is that it is closing the gap between science and spirituality (but maybe not religion) by verifying what mystics have been saying since time immemorial.

[unclemarty]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1xYLUYqz3WE&feature=related[/youtube]

[fluffy]

To the atheist, I would say, "if there is not god, how did the Universe and time begin?" To the Christian, I would say, "how do you know the Bible is a reliable source of information?" There's nothing wrong with question each other's beliefs, as far as I can tell.

Exactly, as we should not be shy of questioning our own beliefs when the information we base them on is called into question.

Personally, I find it a little tiresome when discussions such as this, which can serve well to help us fine tune our own beliefs, are reduced to an I'm-right-and-you're-not argument when the only real truth of the matter is that there is insufficient solid evidence to support either end of the belief scale. We have to go with what works for us personally, but at the same time respect the right of others to do the same for themselves, free of judgement and criticism in areas where the jury is still out.

[unclemarty]

another from John Michael Talbot - from when he became a monk

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Km2MbSXlVE&feature=related[/youtube]

[cliffy1]

[unclemarty]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8ppaRmdtCU&feature=related[/youtube]

[cliffy1]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=endscreen&NR=1&v=rB3wEYMT-QE

[unclemarty]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m1Be0qJw9ZE&feature=related[/youtube]

[Sneaksuit]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C0TfXUb6 ... plpp_video

[unclemarty]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5-6gwssX0Y&NR=1&feature=endscreen[/youtube]

[cliffy1]

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvGiYFOx5T4&feature=related[/youtube]

[Glacier]

Then I turned myself to consider wisdom and madness and folly;
For what can the man do who succeeds the king?— Only what he has already done.

Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As light excels darkness.

The wise man’s eyes are in his head, But the fool walks in darkness.
Yet I myself perceived
That the same event happens to them all.

So I said in my heart,
“As it happens to the fool,
It also happens to me,
And why was I then more wise?”
Then I said in my heart,
“This also is vanity.”

For there is no more remembrance of the wise than of the fool forever,
Since all that now is will be forgotten in the days to come.
And how does a wise man die?
As the fool!

Therefore I hated life because the work that was done under the sun was distressing to me, for all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

Then I hated all my labor in which I had toiled under the sun, because I must leave it to the man who will come after me. And who knows whether he will be wise or a fool? Yet he will rule over all my labor in which I toiled and in which I have shown myself wise under the sun. This also is vanity.

Therefore I turned my heart and despaired of all the labor in which I had toiled under the sun. For there is a man whose labor is with wisdom, knowledge, and skill; yet he must leave his heritage to a man who has not labored for it. This also is vanity and a great evil. For what has man for all his labor, and for the striving of his heart with which he has toiled under the sun? For all his days are sorrowful, and his work burdensome; even in the night his heart takes no rest. This also is vanity.