reasonvemotion wrote: The great principles of God's law are expressed in the Ten Commandments, encapsulating love, will, and purposes concerning human conduct and relationships and are binding upon all people in every age, it develops character and results in a sense of well-being. Bible passages: Matthew 22:36-40: Matthew 5:17-20. Psalm 40:7 8. However, we see what we want to see, we listen to who we want to listen to.
That is pre-christian thinking. Christian thinking is about love... Love for your God and love for your God's creations. And I think that this religion of love is best expressed by the Nun St Therese and her book 'The Little Way' which provides practical, everyday anecdotes on how to live with love and through love, to know the holiness of existence.
Rev=Rev. John F. Russell, O.Carm. wrote:St. Therese translated "the little way" in terms of a commitment to the tasks and to the people we meet in our everyday lives. She took her assignments in the convent of Lisieux as ways of manifesting her love for God and for others. She worked as a sacristan by taking care of the altar and the chapel; she served in the refectory and in the laundry room; she wrote plays for the entertainment of the community. Above all, she tried to show a love for all the nuns in the community. She played no favorites; she gave of herself even to the difficult members. Her life sounds so routine and ordinary, but it was steeped in a loving commitment that knew no breakdown. It is called a little way precisely by being simple, direct, yet calling for amazing fortitude and commitment.
In living out her life of faith she sensed that everything that she was able to accomplish came from a generous love of God in her life. She was convinced that at the end of her life she would go to God with empty hands. Why? Because all was accomplished in union with God.
Catholics and other Christians have been attracted to St. Thereses style. Her little way seems to put holiness of life within the reach of ordinary people. Live out your days with confidence in Gods love for you. Recognize that each day is a gift in which your life can make a difference by the way you choose to live it. Put hope in a future in which god will be all and love will consume your spirit. Choose life, not the darkness of pettiness and greed. St. Therese knew the difference love makes by allowing love to be the statement she made each day of her life.
Society of the Little Flower
The Little Way of St Thérèse of Lisieux
Dare I say it.... Christians and Christianity has lost its 'Little Way' and forgotten the words and deeds of Christ as examples to which they should strive.
"More and more, the strongest atheist voices are talking about nonbelief less as an end in itself, but as part of a larger conversation about social justice. It could hardly be any other way: atheism is growing not only in numbers, but in diversity. When Dawkins, and Hitchens were at their most prominent, a frequent (and credible) criticism was that the faces of atheism were all white, male and affluent. To make the same claim now is to deliberately ignore some of the most vital atheist and skeptic voices that have emerged in the last 10 years.
Greta Christina, the author of Coming Out Atheist describes the changes in organized atheism: “[T]he movement has become much more diverse — not just in the obvious ways of gender, race, and so on, but simply in terms of how many viewpoints are coming to the table. The sheer number of people who are seen in some way as leaders… has gone up significantly…. And the increasing diversity in gender, race, class, and so on are important. We have a long way to go in this regard, but we’re doing much, much better than we were. And that’s showing up in our leadership. It’s absurd to see Dawkins, and Hitchens as representing all organized atheism — it always was a little absurd, but it’s seriously absurd now.” Article in Salon.
There are Atheist of many kinds and Anti-theists. As an Atheist, I do not identify as an Anti-theist. For me, I am in the purist sense of the word, without theism. And to be without theism is not an end in itself, nor has it ever been and nor should it ever be. To declare that a person is without theism necessarily entails a re-evaluation of the oldest of moral questions; What is the good life and how can I achieve same? For me, the answers are not found in Theism, rather they are found in philosophy and more personally in Epicurus and his rather compelling thoughts on Hedonism, which is, in its purist sense the idea that we should act in this world to reduce suffering and increase contentment. I live this creed to the best of my ability and in the main has resulted in, for me at least, a good life.
Theist on the other hand have many rules to which they must follow in order to achieve the good life. Theism comes as a complete set of rules and it is the culmination of those rules to which the good life will follow. The difficult here is that many theist don't even know what those rules are, let alone follow those rules, preferring instead to hold a belief in god as if that is all there is to it... and it is not.
Christianity simplified Theism by giving to Christians a simple rule not unlike Hedonism... but they do their utmost to avoid that simple rule, the rule of love, preferring to complicate matters. As a result... the beauty of Christianity becomes a rather ugly thing and Christians are no longer recognizable as Christians... looking rather like Materialistic, greedy, self-centred heathens.
I am confident that you can expect the trend of declining religiosity to continue for many years to come, he said.
I agree. But sadly, I also acknowledge that not everyone is able to make for themselves their own moral life. People... better understood as sheeple prefer to follow the leader and where there is no lead to follow, the sheeple will fall into a complex, difficult and rather amoral life. Just look now at your reference to the movement within Atheism towards Justice based ethics, with is firmly based upon individual rights. Well that's all fine and well, but without the will to honor those rights with their complimentary duties/ obligations... there are no rights except for those who can afford to access the law to exact those rights. More detrimental still is that those rights must be enshrined in law... and the more laws created, the less free the society becomes.
