I'd like to "third" it...and I would posit that there are a lot more people of faith out there like Mary Jo, than the loud mouthed religious zealots like Phelps and his ilk.
For every loud mouthed religious zealot with an agenda, there are thousands, probably tens of thousands, of believers quietly leading a good life replete with faith. Thanks for the reminder MJ. (does anyone ever call you MJ, out of curiosity?) On Wed, Oct 28, 2009 at 8:06 AM, Michael Grant <[email protected]> wrote: > > I second that. Well said Scott. > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 11:47 PM, Scott Stroz <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > Mary Jo, > > > > I have to say, you seem more spiritual than most people I would call > > 'Bible Thumpers', yet the way you have portrayed yourself and > > eloquently stated your beliefs has been a breath of fresh air. We may > > not see eye to eye on whether or not God exists, but I sure do like > > the way you present your 'side', specifically at how you have kept > > your cool in the face of some of the questions being asked. > > > > If only more of our discussions on this list were this civil and > > enlightening. > > > > On Tue, Oct 27, 2009 at 10:54 PM, Mary Jo Sminkey > > <[email protected]> wrote: > > > > > >>I mean no offence by this, but I'm curious. How does evolving from a > > >>primordial ooze seem improbable yet a God creating it all, even > including > > a > > >>plan for evolution, seem somehow more probable? > > > > > > Well, I don't personally consider either more or less improbable than > the > > other, given no other factors. I do find the complexity of our universe > > inexplicable, but it's certainly not the sole basis for my own personal > > faith. Certainly there are attempts to measure the extremely high > > statistical unlikelihood of life as it is evolving randomly, given the > known > > age of the universe, and then people will get into arguments about > whether > > it's more logical to believe in something that has a trillion-to-1 chance > of > > occurring (or whatever they come up with, which of course is always > biased > > by their particular world-view) or whether there is some other > explanation > > for it, i.e a supernatural force at work whatever that may be. For some > it > > simply makes more logic for there to be something else than that > > trillion-to-one series of events happening. I would see either position > as a > > leap of faith....faith in a supernatural force, or faith that science is > > able to tell us everything there is to know. > > > > > > I do think most people, whether they are religious or not, really don't > > quite comprehend how amazing and unlikely our existence really is. > Evolution > > of complex species is FAR from the only highly improbable factor that > plays > > a part in our being here. That just is the one that people most commonly > see > > the inherent problems in fully explaining. > > > > > > > > > --- Mary Jo > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Want to reach the ColdFusion community with something they want? Let them know on the House of Fusion mailing lists Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:306626 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=89.70.5
