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An interesting question about belief -- God and Vaccines

Well, see, there's your problem --- "there's no point in generating ...|"

You, like most people, find it very, very difficult (well, impossible, actually) to suppose that there is no conscious purpose behind the creation of "us." That's one of those places that I left that path, because if I did once suppose there might be such a purpose, I then had to try to figure out what the purpose was for all the horrible, fearful ways in which we could die. If there was a purpose fo cattle (to feed us), then there had to be a purpose for cow-pox and mad cow disease.

When you start running into the endless contradictions that arise from presupposing a purpose to creation -- if you really, truly follow it through -- I cannot see how you can avoid all those contradictions.

I'm not anti-vax by any stretch of the imagination. I was vaccinated as a child, as were all of my children.

However, I am a vax-skeptic...And that has nothing to do with the science behind vaccinations. My skepticism is rooted in the too-cozy relationship between industry and gov't vis-a-vis vaccines (for example, Gardasil), as well as the blanket immunity granted to pharmaceutical companies who manufacture vaccines. The fact that one basically CANNOT sue a vaccine manufacturer for damages caused by vaccines should be troubling to anyone.
 

robocop (actually)

Well-Known Member
Premium Member
There is a distinct difference between "knowing" the Bible (quoting chapter, verse, etc.) and understanding the Bible.

For example...I can read ("know") a graduate-level textbook on Chemical Engineering...But I will understand precious little about it.

In a similar vein, an Atheist might be very familiar with scripture...But if they are still atheists, they do NOT understand it, at all.

In fact, they're choosing to not understand it.
It is not our duty to cast final judgement. We don't know what someone like Evangelical Humanist has gone through.
 

Heyo

Veteran Member
There is a distinct difference between "knowing" the Bible (quoting chapter, verse, etc.) and understanding the Bible.

For example...I can read ("know") a graduate-level textbook on Chemical Engineering...But I will understand precious little about it.

In a similar vein, an Atheist might be very familiar with scripture...But if they are still atheists, they do NOT understand it, at all.

In fact, they're choosing to not understand it.
Do you think that knowledge has to precede understanding?
 

halbhh

The wonder and awe of "all things".
There is a distinct difference between "knowing" the Bible (quoting chapter, verse, etc.) and understanding the Bible.

For example...I can read ("know") a graduate-level textbook on Chemical Engineering...But I will understand precious little about it.

In a similar vein, an Atheist might be very familiar with scripture...But if they are still atheists, they do NOT understand it, at all.

In fact, they're choosing to not understand it.
Very true. I try to think of ways to communicate this so it will not offend. To try to help someone that thinks they know about scripture (or even read it through) get a hint or chance to realize there is more there than they have realized, things they are missing (such as by using an agenda while they read and thus projecting onto the text instead of listening to it), and give them some way, if possible, to sense that reality that there is more there. Scripture is like a good poem in some ways, so that if a person can read it with a fresh openness, suddenly they will get so much more.
 
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