Eastern Religions more Science-Friendly

Mirror of three "Immoral Minority" posts by Gryphen

• Eastern religions more science friendly then western religions.

“Most people in Hindu and Buddhist countries,” Dr. Silver says, “have a root tradition in which there is no single creator God. Instead, there may be no gods or many gods, and there is no master plan for the universe. Instead, spirits are eternal, and individual virtue — karma — determines what happens to your spirit in your next life. With some exceptions, this view generally allows the acceptance of both embryo research to support life and genetically modified crops.”

By contrast, in the Judeo-Christian tradition, God is the master creator who gives out new souls to each individual human being and gives humans “dominion” over soul-less plants and animals. To traditional Christians who consider an embryo to be a human being with a soul, it is wrong for scientists to use cloning to create human embryos or to destroy embryos in the course of research.

I cannot help but wonder how much further along we would be in fighting birth defects, eradicating disease, and increasing our understanding of the universe we would be if science was not constantly bumping into certain unfortunate superstitions.

The brutal truth is that Christianity has been acting like an anchor struggling to hold back scientific progress for hundreds of years. They live in constant terror that someday science will reveal that their faith is based on a lie, and they spend an inordinate amount of time trying to slow down that eventuality.

• Pat Robertson identifies a new threat to Christianity. Yoga.

Wednesday's "700 Club" featured a question about the Christian view of yoga. A concerned viewer asked, "Does it really have its origins in evil?" Pat Robertson gave the verdict: Yes! According to Pat, stretching is fine, but by repeating common yoga mantras, you are actually praying to Hindu gods Vishnu and Krishna and you're not even aware of it!

I love how Christians always frame their arguments in terms of "good and evil," with Christianity always representing "good" and everything else on the side of "evil." So books about boy wizards are "evil."

Meditation is "evil."
Yoga is "evil."
Science is "evil."
Critical thinking is "evil."

You know what is "evil"? Close minded people, that's where "evil" really dwells. And the people who listen to them are "stupid."

• Richard Roberts says God told him to resign, Benny Hinn quickly turns his cell phone off.

Richard Roberts told students at Oral Roberts University Wednesday that he did not want to resign as president of the scandal-plagued evangelical school, but he did so because God insisted.

• Who is Benny Hinn?

God told him on Thanksgiving that he should resign the next day, Roberts told students in the university's chapel."

Every ounce of my flesh said 'no'" to the idea, Roberts said, but he prayed over the decision with his wife and his father, Oral Roberts, and decided to step down.

Roberts said he wanted to "strike out" against the people who were persecuting him, and considered counter-suing, but "the Lord said, 'don't do that,'" he said.

Apparently Roberts has frequent conversations with God. And surprisingly God may have a problem with ethics.Roberts has previously said that God told him to deny the allegations. The week the lawsuit was filed, Richard Roberts said that God told him:

"We live in a litigious society. Anyone can get mad and file a lawsuit against another person whether they have a legitimate case or not. This lawsuit...is about intimidation, blackmail, and extortion."

And what we learn from the above statement is that God has no trouble encouraging his people to lie, but that makes total sense as it is also clear that God is a lawyer. And that is further reinforced by the fact that God made the following plea deal.

On Wednesday, Roberts said God told him he would "do something supernatural for the university," if he stepped down from the job he held at the 5,700-student school since 1993.

Something supernatural huh. I am going to guess rain of toads. Or maybe the earth will open up and swallow the whole damn school. Now that would almost make me a believer!