The Devil

Quote from: mikeman7918 on June 03, 2015, 10:02:23 PM

Quote from: Weatherwax on June 03, 2015, 04:29:07 AM

Fair enough. I don't mean to criticise your beliefs - you are entitled to believe in what you like. I am just interested in how you square your religious belief with a keen interest in science.

So you are actually legitately interested and not trying to disprove my beliefs and discredit me?  Great!  That's actually surprisingly rare.

I am able to remain interested in science mostly because saying "God did it" is not a very useful explenation even if it's true.  Just because someone else built your car doesn't mean that you won't be better off learning how it works, just how technology can't advance if you don't know how the universe works.  I agree with Einstein's philosophy, Einstein was a Christian and he believed that to know physics was to know the mind of God and that's one of the major things which motivated him to do his work.

I have no desire to disprove or discredit your beliefs. Why would I? If you have something that brings you comfort, then it's all good. Of course, when someones beliefs make a difference to me, as is the case with extremists, that's a different matter.

As far as science goes. I think you can be a scientist and believe in some kind of intelligence behind the universe in the widest sense. I don't think you can be a scientist if you interpret scripture literally, or don't accept evolution for example.

Then it's a good thing that I don't interpret scripture literally and deny evolution.

Then it's a good thing that I don't interpret scripture literally and deny evolution.

Yet you still believe in Noahs flood.

Quote from: mikeman7918 on June 04, 2015, 01:05:16 PM

Then it's a good thing that I don't interpret scripture literally and deny evolution.

Yet you still believe in Noahs flood.

Correction: I don't know what to believe about Noah's flood.

Quote from: FalseProphet on June 04, 2015, 09:59:51 AM

Einstein was not a Christian.

"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."
-Albert Einstein

So he was not a Christian, right?

Quote from: FalseProphet on June 04, 2015, 09:59:51 AM

Einstein was not a Christian.

"I want to know how God created this world. I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts; the rest are details."
-Albert Einstein

Using the word "god" does not make someone a christian. You realise there are other religions which also have god(s) right?

OK, Einstein was not Christian, but he was religious.  I was wrong, but my point still stands.

OK, Einstein was not Christian, but he was religious.  I was wrong, but my point still stands.

He didn't identify himself with any religion, so I don't see how you could call him religious. He stated he was agnostic, and used the word "god" to describe the fundamental laws of the universe, as in god is the very fabric of the universe. If that makes sense. There is a limit to scientific knowledge, and he used god to describe things beyond that limit. That's a long way from believing in the man in the sky.

Einstein was an ethnic Jew. He did, at the end of his life, acknowledge some vague concept of a Higher Power, but that in and of itself is a far cry from the Abrahamic G-d of the Jew, and comes nowhere near the concept of the Trinity of the traditional Christian, and certainly doesn't even begin to touch the unusual try-theistic nature of the Mormon idea of the trinitistic Gods.

Is the fallen angel Lucifer, Satan, Devil, a spirit?  Christians think it is. But is it really?

Lucifer is the Morning Star, a once-Angel that fell and turned against God. Satan is a servant of God, who administers many of God's tests, but who often goes too far and will, in the end times, be struck down. The Devil is a separate figure, the chosen ruler of Hell. The Devil has little to do with the lives of humans: only those that die in sin will meet him.
It is Satan and Lucifer that interfere with our lives.