Religion: pros & cons pt1 (Religion)

by David Turell , Friday, October 24, 2014, 22:06 (3681 days ago) @ dhw

dhw: As a matter of interest, perhaps David could tell us roughly what percentage of his patients died from blood transfusions by comparison with those whose lives were saved.-> 
> DAVID: We hold life as sacred, but we hold that Jehovah's sovereignty, love, mercy, and justice is worth more than our own lives. It's called faith. I know you respect faith, but your answers over the course of this discussion make me wonder if you really understand it. So I pose a question. Do you have faith, and if so, in what?\-This qoute is Tony's
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> I can understand people being willing to die for their beliefs, and I do respect such faith, except when it impinges on the life, health, wellbeing or happiness of others, e.g. fundamentalist suicide bombers who combine martyrdom and murder for the sake of their religious cause. (You have said that God will judge people by their motives. If he welcomes them to paradise, so be it.) My arguments are meant as a critique not of faith but of dogmatism. Perhaps I have a built-in resistance to any claim that X is the truth and everyone else is wrong. (Hence my antipathy to militant atheism.) You ask if I have faith in anything. It's a difficult question, and I've had to think hard about it. The only answer I have come up with is so corny that I hesitate to put it in writing, but I will, because it's what I feel: I have faith in the power of human love and laughter.