Drifting wrote:Kevin, I know it is very hard for Mormons to accept that there are far more people out there living Christlike lives without the influence of Christain religion than those with it. But it is a fact. The fornicating, drug taker who volunteers down the homeless shelter three nights a week is in better standing with God than most Mormons doing the funny handshakes down the temple once or twice a month.
I never said I don't think "there are more people out there living Christlike lives without the influence of Christain religion than those with it." I asked a very simple question. Why should conscientious people live a Christlike life?
If you follow my posts with Sockpuppet the tree represented either God or your conscience accepting moral truths.
Milkwut, do you have an answer to the original question I asked? Are you aware of a conscientious alternative to Mormonism?
Theism - the existence of God. I accept Christianity. Both are conscientious alternatives to Mormonism.
my regards, mikwut
All communication relies, to a noticeable extent on evoking knowledge that we cannot tell, all our knowledge of mental processes, like feelings or conscious intellectual activities, is based on a knowledge which we cannot tell. -Michael Polanyi
"Why are you afraid, have you still no faith?" Mark 4:40
Well, I asked if anyone knew a conscientious alternative to the LDS Church, and pretty much the only response I've gotten is that one should try to do good to those one comes in contact with, perhaps especially to do good to one's family. I asked if one has an obligation to more than just that, if one has a conscientious obligation to future generations of humanity, and nobody appears to want to touch that.
So where's the cut-off? We should love our children but we owe nothing to our grandchildren? Or do we make the cut-off after the grandchildren, and before the great-grandchildren? When does our conscientious obligation end?
Okay, I think I see the problem with the Christ-like life thing. Jesus said a lot of things that just resonated with everyone. Love your enemy. Who can argue with that? Give special attention to children. Yeah, we can all get behind that. Don't ever divorce your spouse. Oh, and if two other people do get divorced, whatever you do don't marry one of them.
See, Jesus said some controversial things too, along with all the obviously enlightened stuff. So, since Jesus said we shouldn't marry someone who is divorced, is the conscientious thing to do to marry someone who is divorced or isn't it?
mikwut wrote:Theism - the existence of God. I accept Christianity. Both are conscientious alternatives to Mormonism.
I began this thread with the suspicion that any real conscientious alternative to Mormonism would have to involve a deity of some form, so I'm not going to dispute your assertion that theism is important. Although I would be very interested in anybody's comprehensive answer to my question that didn't involve the existence of God.
But why would anyone conclude that Christianity is a conscientious alternative to Mormonism?
KevinSim wrote:I began this thread with the suspicion that any real conscientious alternative to Mormonism would have to involve a deity of some form, so I'm not going to dispute your assertion that theism is important. Although I would be very interested in anybody's comprehensive answer to my question that didn't involve the existence of God.
MrStakhanovite wrote:A robust and thoughtful atheism, buttressed with an understanding in history, philosophy, the social and natural sciences.