Thieving Magpie

You misunderstand me, I said that 'Christians' may think that it is god-given, since all natural things are, supposedly.

This really has to do with what you put your faith in. You have put your faith in natural order and such, whereas some Christians may put their faith in both 'natural order' and 'creationism.' The two ideas do not necessarily contradict one another.

winstonjen

I see. You're right, I did misunderstand you. But the reason why I think their stance comes from the natural response of self-presevation is because they do not object to extending life unnaturally. Surely that is 'usurping' god's will as well.

Thieving Magpie

I think that one sect (is it Jehovah's Witnesses?) do not believing in extending life unnaturally.. in fact up here in Canada, there was a debate over whether a young kid had the right to refuse a medical procedure that could save his life just because his religion did not allow him to have it. He died, a painful year-or-so later.

Generally speaking however, it does rely somewhat on the individual. Some Christians are fine with stem cell research, cloning, euthanasia, and such. Some are not. The majority are not, I should say.

Christianity, at it's root, supports life, and not death. People, probably, as you believe, because of purely natural reasons, also want life, rather than death. It would make sense that it is okay for Christians to prolong their lives 'unnaturally' but not shorten them 'unnaturally' because Christianity is a celebration of life...

Though this does beg the question.. just what is 'unnatural'? Eating helps to prolong our lives by quite a bit. Is it 'unnatural?' Of course not. Stupid question, right? How about if we used our minds to find and create new, better, healthier food, in greater and more reliable abundance? Still natural? Okay, what if, by using our minds, we could devise other ways of prolonging our lives? Like maybe living with more sanitation? Or better shelter? Our minds are our own, and natural they are, so however we use them, is also natural. Is Chemo-therapy really that 'unnatural?' We are really just manipulating what we can in this physical world in order to live.. it is no different than eating an apple.

People do not like to die, and it is assumed that God does not usually want people to die (at least 'until their time has come') so it is perfectly normal that things are, as they are in the majority of Christian Church.

SecularFuture

wildernesse
Transhumanism is the greatest damn philosophy since Humanism!

And ya know what’s really funny? Some Christian Fundymentalists are against abortion, but they are for going to war! So – it’s okay to kill, or put in someone in danger, in one case, but it isn’t in the other?! I SMELL BULL!!

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Thank you.

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Grad Student Humanist,
Key word here: PERSONAL

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Thieving Magpie,
No. If there is no reason, logic, or evidence behind any of the God concepts, why should any of us consider them for anything? There is reason, logic, and evidence for macroevolution though.

What?

And this is why religion needs to be completely eradicated!

When you add up Christianity as a whole, it, essentially, adds up to a longing for an “eternal life” after a physical life. It is a big, manmade, pillow!

winstonjen

Thieving Magpie:

I see. So because everything is a product of nature, including us and everything we do, pretty much nothing is unnatural. However, some animals like lemmings and turtles in the Galapapos Islands commit suicide, so it seems that suicide can also be natural. Why the opposition to suicide? Is it because it is seen as a 'waste of life'? It can be, but in some cases it's the lesser of two 'evils'.

Walross

I saw a great quote once about the concept of "playing god". I wish I could remember it verbatim, or who said it, but to paraphrase, it was essentially: "I say we should play god at every opportunity. To fail to do so is to leave matters to chance."

In other words, if a deity exists, he doesn't give a rats ass about us, so we may as well usurp his authority and use it to our benefit. I wholehartedly agree.

Walross