americathegreat1492 said:
I believe that there is more than one kind of truth. One kind of truth is truth about the natural world or truth about the nature of what is. This is the kind of truth science can shed light on. Another kind of truth is how you should act or be in that world. This truth is something science cannot fully answer. Based on my study, I find the mythological, big picture, of Christianity to be the pinnacle of this second kind of truth (Note: I am using the definition of myth that religious scholars use and not using it to demean religion). I have also had multiple direct experiences with the presence of Jesus Christ. In none of my study and in none of my experiences do I find it compelling to use a literalist view of the Bible or of the teachings in it. I do feel compelled to attend church because of the shared mythology and focus on how life should be lived. Where do I fit into your world? Or do I?
I have pondered on this very thing myself. It seems that there is universal truth that once humanity decided to sin, that the being of humans was doomed for eternity for the whole universe to witness. Because of sin, we have illness, and pestilence, wars, destruction, evil, and death.
The light that we were supposed to experience was gone from the day eve ate the forbidden fruit.
Outside of the Lord and what he tells us and what humans believe to be true, sin led to evil. There would be evil in the universe apart from the Lord. You can choose to believe there is no God, yet what exactly would exist apart from God himself?
The sins we commit are like a mark that we wear that for some reason turns everything in the universe, {including ourselves/mother nature,) meant to be good, enjoyable, pleasurable, attractive, producing of light, producing of warmth, producing of sweet smells, and harmonious sounds, and beautiful images, and love, and good, and righteousness, and peace and terrifyingly sensational experiences all boil down to hollowness and darkness, and disease, and weeping and the transformation of everything good into some counterfeit, fools-gold, sabotaged, watered down, monkey-wrenched, ratcheted, man-made abomination.
Man can only dream of what could have been if we didn't yield to the temptation of sin and chose obedience for eternity.(assuming to never sin was a given ability)
That whatever exists to be in the universe is absolute good or absolute evil or a lifeless entity (ie. dirt)