Friday, January 17, 2014

1 Nephi 19

(January 17, 2014)
It seems astonishing that we would worship a Man who acted so opposite to the human condition if we were truly a materialistic world.  That is one question I haven’t heard really well-answered by those who are atheists.  If religion isn’t real, then why are so many people willing to act contrary to their material instincts?  And why are those who act contrary in that way happier than those who don’t (in general)?  And why, when selecting a deity to worship (presuming, as materialists do, that deity-selection is an attempt to meet mental and emotional needs), do they select one who offers such constraints on behavior rather than a permissive deity?

I do not see happenstance resulting in the worship of an exalted Man who allowed Himself to be scourged, crucified, and requires us to do the same.  No, I see instead a world where the proper experiment is never performed by those who claim the mantle of science – exercise faith, act according to your belief, and see the result of that faith and those actions.  Religion is not a non-disprovable hypothesis, but it is not subject to being disproved by any method other than that explicitly established (and reiterated in Alma 32).

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