To much time off.

I hate when it is to wet to work and figure at times others that don't even know me do also. When I am not working I spend a lot of time online usually making comments at other blogs. Since I am not the most educated person on any subject, I figure some just avoid my comments. I don't mind that because I am mainly making the comments to help me guide myself to a reasonable line of thinking.

I saw a comment by an atheist today that made me start thinking about what it means to convert others. People will make comments claiming they aren't trying to convert others but isn't converting others the main reason we discuss differences we have. I know sometimes these discussions go no where, while others times it leads to compromise. People may not think they are trying to convert people but isn't that what we are all trying to do from time to time. Yes there are times that we aren't really pushing what we believe on others like we are trying to convert them. If you are trying to get someone to change their view, even when it is just an opinion it is still a form of converting.

I am still working on the questions of morals and I feel people need to quit thinking all of this is new. People though out history have been having this discussion. Why do people change their morals? It varies for everyone but figure most change due to pressure from others. Some of the pressure can come from their religion, friends, family, and major events in their life.

Religion will force views that can go against what society sees as morally right or wrong. It doesn't happen this way often since the majority of society has a religious belief. Religion also causes there to be a wall between those with opposing religions. It has been known to create those walls between family and friends. I see any religion that places itself before family and friends as a weakness. If the only way you can maintain a belief in a religion is to put a wall between yourself and others then you are hiding from life.

Friends are one of the biggest influence for most peoples morals after they hit around 14 or 15. Families will still have an influence but many times the friends will use that as a means of showing how the family is holding them back. Friends, like any other influence, can be positive or negative. Most people call it peer pressure but it is still part of morals building.

Families are the first major influence for morals yet many times it can be in conflict with friends and society. How does family influence the morals? I see it mainly in their actions and what they allow their children to do. Since tv has become a big part of family life, what they view will also have some influence. Of course there is plenty of negative influence to go around but as long as the family insures that they know it isn't always the same in real life.

Major events can completely change not just the morals but the way people will live.

Should we judge a group by a small number of the members?

There are many times that people will say in comments on the other blogs I follow that this or that person wasn't a true christian. I think that we can base a lot of what we think of the whole group by this small number. I'm not talking about the ones that use the group they are in to hide their immoral activities but on the ones saying who is and isn't true to the group. What they show me is that to them, they must do everything they can to paint a picture of what christianity should be not what it is. Most of the christians I know only apply their beliefs when it is to their advantage or their groups advantage. One of the ways I point this out is to ask them if other forms of christianity are true christians. A few will say yes but most say that their form of christianity is the only true form of it. I then bring up if that is true then the numbers they claim to support their view that the USA is a christian nation are wrong. If you remove all the people they claim aren't true christians you end up with less then 23% of americans are actually christian. By their logic they should be saying we are a nation based on something other then christian beliefs. The 23% is because that is about what the catholic numbers are. When you break it down by denomination you find most are under 10%.

My early morning visitor

I had this early morning visitor and have found a good home for him. I figure he was washed out of his home due to all the rain we have gotten lately. If you listen you can hear him over the tv and the dog I was holding back from messing with it.

I have been talking about morals lately and I wonder if this is one of those morals. If I had seen this raccoon in the wild by himself I doubt I would have went to the effort to find him a home. Since it came to my door I feel I should do what I can to give him a chance to live on. It probably helps that he is young and I would probably do the same thing for most baby animals.

I have a cat that came to me in about the same way. He showed up on my window sill early one morning and have taken care of him since. That is where I got his name of Winsill.

Morals

It hit me the other day while commenting on another blog that the morals of man weren't given to him as most christians claim. If you read the story in Genesis and believe it is the truth then you have to believe that we only have morals because our ancestors stole them. If this is true then all that people claim about their god must mean nothing. It means that man was able to go against the will of god and that their god didn't have the power to end their lives as he claimed.

When Eve took the bite of the fruit, did she immediately acquire the knowledge of good and evil? If she did, does that mean she was doing good or evil getting Adam to eat of it? I see this as an example of how little people think about what they believe when it comes to religion. Like most stories I have heard from the bible, upon looking into them they fall apart. I see this as the main reason religion says not to examine it. I have never looked into the muslim religion heavily and am not planning to but figure that if you look into it closely it also will fall apart. I could be wrong about all of this and am willing to examine anything presented.

I see people always claiming different things about where and how we got morals. When you examine the different ways people claim we get our morals it can be very confusing. Myself I believe our morals aren't set in stone and change as society and individuals change. Christians claim that morals are an absolute and they never change. If this is true then most of the people of the world don't live by good morals. Many of what were good morals in the bible are now considered morally wrong. If they are absolutes as claimed then they should still be morally good now. Some of the things I see as morally good then but not now, slavery, child brides, forms of hate and others. Yes all of these are still ok in parts of the world but for the most part they are seen as morally wrong now.