>>Gordon Gekko said:
>>to put it bluntly,
>>WISHFUL THINKING.
GG, I could say the exact same thing about your thoughts, but I'm not going to go that route.
I will say that the world would be a much scarier place without religion. I shutter to think about the things I would have done in the past if I had not tried to live my life as a Christian the best I could. If I wasn't dead, I would be lying/stealing/cheating/etc everyone I could and who knows what else. The world is scary enough when I think about the number of people who don't believe in God and His Son Jesus and how they think they can live their lives like this if they want to.
Man-made laws (and the punishments received for breaking them) are great, but they cannot stop an unbeliever when their set my mind to something - in fact, I don't think any punishment on this earth is severe enough to stop an unbeliever from committing a crime when they really want to. I feel sorry for those that do not believe in hell and/or for those that think it is going to be one great big party. Our puny, little, earthly brains cannot imagine something like hell is going to be. Stop for a minute and think about the worst punishment a person could receive on earth and then magnify that by the largest number your mind can conceive and you will start to get some idea of how bad it could really be.
>>Someone said:
>>i am a man of reason. A man of science.
>>Not a foolish dreamer...
Guys, even the scientific community is coming around. 97% is a pretty high probability. And that is using the mathematical principles we currently have. In the future, as the mathematical field continues to improve, it will probably increase to 100% (which is where I'm currently at - eventually the scientific community will catch up). When the people who don't believe because they are waiting for scientific evidence/proof are told about this and they continue to refuse to believe, I have to think that there is another reason.
Like man-made laws, feigned ignorance and stubbornness are not defenses. One day, we will all stand before God and be held accountable.