Right, under the axiom that human existence is an incredible blessing. Which I believe to be true.

But it is only an incredible blessing if you do as much as you can to make it better, and not worse.

Thankfulness is a virtue that can only be attained by the combination of many virtues.

I think that's true, as far as I can tell.

Coding is fun until your code doesn't compile properly

Part of being able to see life as a blessing though, would be to know the truth about where we came from and where we are going. At least going off the assumption that the God is the source of Truth, Beauty, and Love.

It helps us to know who we are

The closer we understand who god is, the more we can love ourselves

Unfortunately that's many churches in this age. All talk

Well, and then you get to the question of "What is Truth?"
Scientists have one truth, and religion has another, but as far as I can see, the truth that matters is the truth that works for you when you act it out in the world.

Like, for instance, take the Boy Who Cried Wolf? Is that story true?
We have no idea if there was actually a child who sat and pulled pranks on his family by repeatedly crying wolf. But what happens when we start lying to people repeatedly? Does it do you any good to act as if that story is made up? So on the one hand, a Historian can sit and say "Well, the Boy Who Cried Wolf is Questionable, we don't know if that ever happened." But as far as I can tell, the story is true, at least in any way that really matters.

So as far as I'm concerned, it is much better to act in a way that suggests that a benevolent creator deity made us with certain purpose in mind, because if you take the scientific approach and begin acting as if we're made of stardust with no real purpose, then life becomes miserable pretty quickly.

Right... those who identify with evolution (whether theistic or atheistic) have a certain lack of virtue that is noticeable. Where as those who believe in fiat creation have those virtues. For example as a catholic who grew up in the mainstream church, there is a hollowness in everything they say (not all of course), but there is a traditional sect within the church EDIT: that does believe in fiat creation, that has all the character and strength that I had not seen before. It was like a second conversion.

That's beautiful to see.

Well, the last part, the bit about the Catholic sect you joined. There are Catholics here where I live who manage to live out what they believe, and it's just an incredible thing to witness on a day-to-day basis.

And then there are also the Catholics I know who have gone and joined in BLM rallies -.-

@Jenjen are you male or female, by chance?

Thank you for not assuming my gender. I am a woman

😉 <:ScreamingLiberal:720120350947541065>

Hehe. Well, and the reason I ask is because males and females tend to have different motives that drive us. You've probably noticed me harping a lot on action, and that's a very masculine thing to do as far as I can tell.

But just because I am so very action oriented (the way many males tend to be) doesn't mean your observations don't hold just as much truth. It's just that they may hold *more* truth for women than they do men. Which is a very interesting thing to think about.

As a Catholic, it’s strange to see other Catholics be back and forth with what they believe and issues

Like abortion and such

It's been a sad thing to see them eroding as much as they have been, no doubt.

It seems as if we’ve grown soft, if we spent a fraction of a time you guys read the Bible, there would be less issues

This is a very interesting comment to me. As I am married, I have to “translate” these motives within me to my husband, and I think there is sometimes a disconnect, because he doesn’t see a problem where I might. And I can’t articulate what is the matter. So he is stuck thinking “she isn’t happy” “what am I doing wrong”

I really love the male/female phenomenon

There’s just think dark cloud of ambiguity. I think it’s the smoke of Satan

It’s seems true

Male wants to see where is the proof. And women sort of see... the pattern that leads to the proof I guess. My mind is an enigma

https://tenor.com/view/spongebob-mind-enigma-spilled-milk-gif-14172730

When I went to private school, literally all we learned was God is God and that was it. I barely learned any books or what they were about

So yeah

Yeah, I hear you both.

The male is affirmed by being *worthy*, the female is affirmed by being *beautiful*.

Mr fusion, at least your in the truth now. But yes I think of all the wasted years.

Well my parents were closer than most, so I learned more at a younger age

Well, and the lack of philosophy taught has really undermined kids all over the christian sphere. Like, you can't tell an Atheist "This is what the Bible says" because their beginning assumption is that the bible is a bunch of bunk anyways, so why should they care what it says?

I don’t think most Atheist come to Private Catholic School, but that’s true. Atheists are for public school

Like, we really put ourselves in a bad place when we collectively believed that we didn't need to make a philosophical argument against the secularists taking over the Public Education system.

They don’t come in atheist, but they do leave atheist!

Truth

Well, and it's important to note that kids are going to have a rebellious stage. At some point, they *will* leave the nest, at some point they will stray from the rules taught to them. But the important thing they need to learn is how to watch.

If you can teach them to be cognizant and to observe what's happening in their lives, then they will learn. They will see "Ok, when I act in such a way, things really start going off the rails pretty fast."

And not all rebellion is bad, most of it comes from unexplored philosophical questions that teenagers tend to have. And you can't just hand them the answer, they need to experience the answers for themselves.