The conclusion will mostly just be my personal reflections ... hadn't thought of connecting it to tlotl worshippers, but actually, now that you mention it ... there are implications....
The conclusion will mostly just be my personal reflections ... hadn't thought of connecting it to tlotl worshippers, but actually, now that you mention it ... there are implications....
This Faith of Christ thing is huge. I've been reflecting on it more and I wanted to share something with you. When I conducted my chaplain interview as a part of the religious accommodation process pertaining to the C19 vaccine mandate I had to do some hard reflection on my most deeply held beliefs about morality, spirituality, and purpose. There were a lot of questions that were pretty invasive, but I engaged with the process in good faith, and I actually enjoyed distilling it all down on paper. Without further adieu, a relevant section answering questions on the form given to me by my chaplain:
"I believe in good and evil. I believe all people have the capacity for both. I believe the only
way to ensure that I do not become an evil person is to act in accordance with my conscience. I believe to act against my conscience is to abandon my faith that I am a good and just human being. Further, I know taking such an action would degrade my conviction that my existence on this earth as a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and associate is necessary to avoid humanity’s darkest future contingencies. It is this conviction that I draw strength from when confronted with adversity. I have faith that if I can control my behavior such that my actions are consistent with my most deeply held convictions, then so can we all."
I think this exemplifies a faith of Christ that is resistant to the spiritual bankruptcy that accompanies faithless materialism. If all beliefs are just probabilities with error bars in an uncaring, indifferent universe, why should we have faith in anything? This isn't an easy question for an atheist to answer. Whether or not I've answered it to anyone else's satisfaction is unimportant. What is important is that I have the faith of Christ, and that I can leverage this technology in the service of achieving my purpose (cont'd chaplain questionnaire):
"I have found deep purpose in life in the pursuit of raising a family and helping others to recover from injuries and pursue optimal health and fitness. I believe that optimizing the health and fitness of others provides the bedrock they can stand on to their achievement of their own noble callings. The only tool I can rely upon to direct me towards achieving this purpose is my conscience. I believe I am responsible for each of the decisions I make. To be clear this means I am unable to excuse any of my behaviors by attributing them to the actions of others, even if those actions include coercion. This obviously includes all decisions related to health and wellbeing."
Thank you for distilling out the aspects of Christianity that resonate with me most strongly. It will be incredibly helpful communicating with my Christian brothers and sisters in the ongoing spiritual conflict.
The conclusion will mostly just be my personal reflections ... hadn't thought of connecting it to tlotl worshippers, but actually, now that you mention it ... there are implications....
This Faith of Christ thing is huge. I've been reflecting on it more and I wanted to share something with you. When I conducted my chaplain interview as a part of the religious accommodation process pertaining to the C19 vaccine mandate I had to do some hard reflection on my most deeply held beliefs about morality, spirituality, and purpose. There were a lot of questions that were pretty invasive, but I engaged with the process in good faith, and I actually enjoyed distilling it all down on paper. Without further adieu, a relevant section answering questions on the form given to me by my chaplain:
"I believe in good and evil. I believe all people have the capacity for both. I believe the only
way to ensure that I do not become an evil person is to act in accordance with my conscience. I believe to act against my conscience is to abandon my faith that I am a good and just human being. Further, I know taking such an action would degrade my conviction that my existence on this earth as a husband, father, son, brother, friend, and associate is necessary to avoid humanity’s darkest future contingencies. It is this conviction that I draw strength from when confronted with adversity. I have faith that if I can control my behavior such that my actions are consistent with my most deeply held convictions, then so can we all."
I think this exemplifies a faith of Christ that is resistant to the spiritual bankruptcy that accompanies faithless materialism. If all beliefs are just probabilities with error bars in an uncaring, indifferent universe, why should we have faith in anything? This isn't an easy question for an atheist to answer. Whether or not I've answered it to anyone else's satisfaction is unimportant. What is important is that I have the faith of Christ, and that I can leverage this technology in the service of achieving my purpose (cont'd chaplain questionnaire):
"I have found deep purpose in life in the pursuit of raising a family and helping others to recover from injuries and pursue optimal health and fitness. I believe that optimizing the health and fitness of others provides the bedrock they can stand on to their achievement of their own noble callings. The only tool I can rely upon to direct me towards achieving this purpose is my conscience. I believe I am responsible for each of the decisions I make. To be clear this means I am unable to excuse any of my behaviors by attributing them to the actions of others, even if those actions include coercion. This obviously includes all decisions related to health and wellbeing."
Thank you for distilling out the aspects of Christianity that resonate with me most strongly. It will be incredibly helpful communicating with my Christian brothers and sisters in the ongoing spiritual conflict.