Figuring Out Religion

[ns3]

I don't believe in any religion, and yet I would say that I have a strong sense of morality.  I actually agree with the second sentence you wrote above, but training young people in the ways of proper morality does not necessarily have to involve religion.  This is a false dichotomy.

Sorry, it just really bothers me that so many religious people imply that all morality stems from religion.  I do agree with you that a lot of non-religious people needlessly attack and criticize religion in a disrespectful, over-the-top way.  Even though I'm an atheist, I acknowledge that many good things have been done as a result of religion.  I also believe freedom of religion is one of the most important human rights in modern civilization.

My thoughts exactly.  Conflating religion with morality is delusional.  Especially when the Catholic Church is the largest protectorate of pedophilia the world has ever known.  Morality has been decreasing systemically, including in religion.  Eventually, some enterprising social entrepreneur will take advantage of the vacuum and rectify the situation.

I have always thought that religion stems from morality and not the other way around and I believe the Bible even says so.....

For when the Gentiles, who have not the law, do by nature the things contained in the law, these, having not the law, are a law unto themselves:

Substitute "religion" for the "the law" and you have the Bible saying that religion is not the source of morality.

[Kshartle]

My thoughts exactly.  Conflating religion with morality is delusional.  Especially when the Catholic Church is the largest protectorate of pedophilia the world has ever known.  Morality has been decreasing systemically, including in religion.  Eventually, some enterprising social entrepreneur will take advantage of the vacuum and rectify the situation.

Here here.

Morality based on a man in the sky that nobody ever sees or hears from but just beleives exists (95% of the time because their parents did) is a complete delusion.

Religious morality serves the purpose of the rulers. It's moral to obey them because God put them in charge. It's immoral for you to steal which assists in wealth creation but of course the Church and the state are the exceptions who just mooch. Same with murder. It's very naughty for you but not for God. He gets to drown people, throw them in a lake of fire, kill the firstborn of a county, send armies, boils, plagues, torture, everything. His Church and the rulers he's picked out for you get the same pass.

It's such contradicting hypocriscy I can't believe anyone supports it past the age of 30. That's when I freed myself of the thought pattern of guilt and subserviance and contradiction. I freed myself to learn real morality. Many get this long before i did. I'm a slow learner.

[Xan]

Here here.

That's "Hear, hear".

Morality based on a man in the sky that nobody ever sees or hears from but just beleives exists (95% of the time because their parents did) is a complete delusion.

So then we have your morality, based on.....  um.....  Your own beliefs on what's right and wrong, which you claim to be 100% objective but have yet to back that up.  Also, you've never seen nor heard logic, either.  It's an abstraction.

I'm a slow learner.

Agreed.

[moda0306]

It's interesting watching a very devout Christian and an atheist anarcho-capitalist debate morality, and completely strattle my opinion on the matter.  Normally, I'd be MUCH more inclined to agree with the person using logic than scripture, but Xan is a lot more humble about the simple universal applicability of his faith, which he's willing to admit is subjective to him, than Kshartle is about his "air tight logic" that we have yet to even see.  No offense K... and maybe it's just cuz Xan butters me up by agreeing with my statist/commie positions when I know that must be really difficult for him .

I neither think morality can be proven nor does it necessarily stem from a God (even if we do have a creator... I have a belief that morality transcends his "will").

Because in the end, I think it's my hard-to-articulate "faith" in the intrinsic-value of a human-being and their happiness (with some inclusion of animal life, and future human civilizations), and the ability to apply logic to the unprovable "ought" premises that combine Kantian & Utilitarian ethics, that provide me with my moral compass.

Now that doesn't mean my logic is air-tight deduction as much as either an unsound but valid deductive argument, or an inductive case for a certain action or role of government.

But I'm glad to admit when my logic either contains unproven premises, or is inductive in nature.

[Mountaineer]

It's interesting watching a very devout Christian and an atheist anarcho-capitalist debate morality, and completely strattle my opinion on the matter.  Normally, I'd be MUCH more inclined to agree with the person using logic than scripture, but Xan is a lot more humble about the simple universal applicability of his faith, which he's willing to admit is subjective to him, than Kshartle is about his "air tight logic" that we have yet to even see.  No offense K... and maybe it's just cuz Xan butters me up by agreeing with my statist/commie positions when I know that must be really difficult for him .

I neither think morality can be proven nor does it necessarily stem from a God (even if we do have a creator... I have a belief that morality transcends his "will").

Because in the end, I think it's my hard-to-articulate "faith" in the intrinsic-value of a human-being and their happiness (with some inclusion of animal life, and future human civilizations), and the ability to apply logic to the unprovable "ought" premises that combine Kantian & Utilitarian ethics, that provide me with my moral compass.

Now that doesn't mean my logic is air-tight deduction as much as either an unsound but valid deductive argument, or an inductive case for a certain action or role of government.

But I'm glad to admit when my logic either contains unproven premises, or is inductive in nature.

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

... Mountaineer

[Pointedstick]

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

Can't speak for moda, but I have thought of those things. But I'm afraid I can come up with a compelling evolutionary argument too, including one that casts religion-enabling faith itself as an evolutionary adaptation to stave off depression among the humans who are, to our knowledge, unique among earth-dwelling animals in that we have brains big enough to ask questions that are unanswerable.

[Xan]

Well put, Mountaineer.  And for anybody who's curious about Maundy Thursday, perhaps particularly those who aren't liturgical, there's an excellent post about what it is and why (and you might just consider going to services tonight):

http://pastelder.blogspot.com/2014/04/m ... -2014.html

[moda0306]

It's interesting watching a very devout Christian and an atheist anarcho-capitalist debate morality, and completely strattle my opinion on the matter.  Normally, I'd be MUCH more inclined to agree with the person using logic than scripture, but Xan is a lot more humble about the simple universal applicability of his faith, which he's willing to admit is subjective to him, than Kshartle is about his "air tight logic" that we have yet to even see.  No offense K... and maybe it's just cuz Xan butters me up by agreeing with my statist/commie positions when I know that must be really difficult for him .

I neither think morality can be proven nor does it necessarily stem from a God (even if we do have a creator... I have a belief that morality transcends his "will").

Because in the end, I think it's my hard-to-articulate "faith" in the intrinsic-value of a human-being and their happiness (with some inclusion of animal life, and future human civilizations), and the ability to apply logic to the unprovable "ought" premises that combine Kantian & Utilitarian ethics, that provide me with my moral compass.

Now that doesn't mean my logic is air-tight deduction as much as either an unsound but valid deductive argument, or an inductive case for a certain action or role of government.

But I'm glad to admit when my logic either contains unproven premises, or is inductive in nature.

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

... Mountaineer

Mountaineer,

Of course I've considered that... But some people's moral compass leads them to justify things like murder, slavery, etc.  So it seems to me God has equipped us with very differing internal compasses that we can't necessarily rely on without some logic.

Further, if he equipped us with something that measures and values the intrinsic value of not only our happiness, but that of others, then the question is does HIS WILL conflict with that, and if it does, who wins?

It does not logically conclude that because we have that compass, that God created us, or that IF he created us (whether or not he saw fit to give us a moral compass) that HIS WILL is morally correct.

For instance, if God were to create a child, then subject that child to eternal damnation and suffering because it is "his will," I strongly believe that that act is immoral, in spite of his opinion.  I think playing games like that with conscious entities that feel pain, fear, and hopelessness is pretty cruel and disgusting.  I don't ascribe to the fact that morality logically follows his will as a result of our creation.

Obviously, the mechanism which allows me to feel that way is a creation of God, so in a way, "God created morality."  However, saying that he CREATED morality as a concept, and that behaving by HIS WILL (assuming we can even establish what that is) is necessarily moral, are two VERY different things.

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

Can't speak for moda, but I have thought of those things. But I'm afraid I can come up with a compelling evolutionary argument too, including one that casts religion-enabling faith itself as an evolutionary adaptation to stave off depression among the humans who are, to our knowledge, unique among earth-dwelling animals in that we have brains big enough to ask questions that are unanswerable.

Very well put.

This is why I say that to a non-believer, Faith is just a feeling.  My faith that a behavior may be "moral" or "immoral" is just another feeling I have in my gut that I can't fully explain with logic.  The best way it can be explained is a "general feeling that conscious life, and the happiness of it, is intrinsically valuable, and our behaviors should try to respect that value in others."

I don't blame people for amending that for a belief in some higher power.

What I DON'T get, is the bridge between a general feeling of faith, and all the details that seem to be cherry-picked arbitrarily regarding evidence of what this "higher power" wants us to do.

Personally, I think when someone combines their own very loose moral compass (which most religious people have/had even before they discovered religion) with the will to have meaningful, positive human interaction, connects those gut feelings to various unprovable events in history, and, more importantly, a group of people that one may like and trust to discuss them with.  I think that faith in general morality has a tendency to stir itself up into various different areas of motivation (group-think, liking, consistency... all those subconscious areas of human motivation) to create the illusion of this much grander Faith that goes into so many more details about the existence of God and what he wants from us.

I know that sounds condescending, but just realize that whenever I witness logic not driving decisions, I try to dig into what actually is, and all I have is my own loose "faith" in morality, as well as psychological observations about what motivates people subconsciously.  I hope my "analysis" doesn't offend.

[Mountaineer]

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

Can't speak for moda, but I have thought of those things. But I'm afraid I can come up with a compelling evolutionary argument too, including one that casts religion-enabling faith itself as an evolutionary adaptation to stave off depression among the humans who are, to our knowledge, unique among earth-dwelling animals in that we have brains big enough to ask questions that are unanswerable.

Have you considered we may have a big enough God to give us those big brains that can ponder the unanswerable and realize there is something bigger than ourselves that created us and the universe?  If we could not do that pondering, we would likely never be aware there is a God that is bigger than us - we might be just another critter fending for ourselves.  Just another unanswerable question. 

... Mountaineer

[moda0306]

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

Can't speak for moda, but I have thought of those things. But I'm afraid I can come up with a compelling evolutionary argument too, including one that casts religion-enabling faith itself as an evolutionary adaptation to stave off depression among the humans who are, to our knowledge, unique among earth-dwelling animals in that we have brains big enough to ask questions that are unanswerable.

Have you considered we may have a big enough God to give us those big brains that can ponder the unanswerable and realize there is something bigger than ourselves that created us and the universe?  If we could not do that pondering, we would likely never be aware there is a God that is bigger than us - we might be just another critter fending for ourselves.  Just another unanswerable question. 

... Mountaineer

Totally!  There's a lot of big questions that are unanswerable.

All we can do is either shrug and go about our day, try to figure them out (in spite of them seeming unanswerable) using empirical evidence, or trust one of the multitudes of religions out there that tells us that they've figured out the unanswerable and we should accept them as the truth... or at least try to.

Unfortunately (please don't take this offensively), we have a lot of people pointing out that there are unanswerable questions, followed by trying to sell us on the fact that they DO have a hell of a lot of the answers.

[Xan]

Just because there are a lot of them doesn't mean that some aren't right.

The ultimate unprovability of the Big Questions leads me to conclude that either the universe is pointless (we discussed Nietzsche here recently), or that we must expect revelation from outside the universe.  I would suggest that if you don't believe the former, you should look for the latter.

[Pointedstick]

Just because there are a lot of them doesn't mean that some aren't right.

The ultimate unprovability of the Big Questions leads me to conclude that either the universe is pointless (we discussed Nietzsche here recently), or that we must expect revelation from outside the universe.  I would suggest that if you don't believe the former, you should look for the latter.

My own personal conclusion is that the universe is pointless, but realizing this is terribly depressing, so each human must, in order to avoid succumbing to depression, avoid realizing this by never asking the relevant questions or subscribing to a faith that argues against it.

[Mountaineer]

It's interesting watching a very devout Christian and an atheist anarcho-capitalist debate morality, and completely strattle my opinion on the matter.  Normally, I'd be MUCH more inclined to agree with the person using logic than scripture, but Xan is a lot more humble about the simple universal applicability of his faith, which he's willing to admit is subjective to him, than Kshartle is about his "air tight logic" that we have yet to even see.  No offense K... and maybe it's just cuz Xan butters me up by agreeing with my statist/commie positions when I know that must be really difficult for him .

I neither think morality can be proven nor does it necessarily stem from a God (even if we do have a creator... I have a belief that morality transcends his "will").

Because in the end, I think it's my hard-to-articulate "faith" in the intrinsic-value of a human-being and their happiness (with some inclusion of animal life, and future human civilizations), and the ability to apply logic to the unprovable "ought" premises that combine Kantian & Utilitarian ethics, that provide me with my moral compass.

Now that doesn't mean my logic is air-tight deduction as much as either an unsound but valid deductive argument, or an inductive case for a certain action or role of government.

But I'm glad to admit when my logic either contains unproven premises, or is inductive in nature.

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

... Mountaineer

Mountaineer,

Of course I've considered that... But some people's moral compass leads them to justify things like murder, slavery, etc.  So it seems to me God has equipped us with very differing internal compasses that we can't necessarily rely on without some logic.

Further, if he equipped us with something that measures and values the intrinsic value of not only our happiness, but that of others, then the question is does HIS WILL conflict with that, and if it does, who wins?

It does not logically conclude that because we have that compass, that God created us, or that IF he created us (whether or not he saw fit to give us a moral compass) that HIS WILL is morally correct.

For instance, if God were to create a child, then subject that child to eternal damnation and suffering because it is "his will," I strongly believe that that act is immoral, in spite of his opinion.  I think playing games like that with conscious entities that feel pain, fear, and hopelessness is pretty cruel and disgusting.  I don't ascribe to the fact that morality logically follows his will as a result of our creation.

Obviously, the mechanism which allows me to feel that way is a creation of God, so in a way, "God created morality."  However, saying that he CREATED morality as a concept, and that behaving by HIS WILL (assuming we can even establish what that is) is necessarily moral, are two VERY different things.

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

Can't speak for moda, but I have thought of those things. But I'm afraid I can come up with a compelling evolutionary argument too, including one that casts religion-enabling faith itself as an evolutionary adaptation to stave off depression among the humans who are, to our knowledge, unique among earth-dwelling animals in that we have brains big enough to ask questions that are unanswerable.

Very well put.

This is why I say that to a non-believer, Faith is just a feeling.  My faith that a behavior may be "moral" or "immoral" is just another feeling I have in my gut that I can't fully explain with logic.  The best way it can be explained is a "general feeling that conscious life, and the happiness of it, is intrinsically valuable, and our behaviors should try to respect that value in others."

I don't blame people for amending that for a belief in some higher power.

What I DON'T get, is the bridge between a general feeling of faith, and all the details that seem to be cherry-picked arbitrarily regarding evidence of what this "higher power" wants us to do.

Personally, I think when someone combines their own very loose moral compass (which most religious people have/had even before they discovered religion) with the will to have meaningful, positive human interaction, connects those gut feelings to various unprovable events in history, and, more importantly, a group of people that one may like and trust to discuss them with.  I think that faith in general morality has a tendency to stir itself up into various different areas of motivation (group-think, liking, consistency... all those subconscious areas of human motivation) to create the illusion of this much grander Faith that goes into so many more details about the existence of God and what he wants from us.

I know that sounds condescending, but just realize that whenever I witness logic not driving decisions, I try to dig into what actually is, and all I have is my own loose "faith" in morality, as well as psychological observations about what motivates people subconsciously.  I hope my "analysis" doesn't offend.

Moda,

Your views are never offensive to me.  I am just the one who tries to explain God's Word in a manner that may someday connect with you.  So, I never (at least I don't think I do) take anything someone says about religion personally.  I view that you, via your comments and questions and analysis, are ultimately arguing with and/or trying to understand God, not me, and I'm sure that God is big enough to handle it.  As for logic, I'm with you 100% in the Civil or horizontal realm (remember the Lutheran two kingdoms teaching).  Where we part ways is in trying to understand more than God has revealed to us in his Word, i.e. trying to understand the mind of God (the vertical realm) by using logic - for me, I appreciate a God that is a really big God that I can never come to understand by logic on this side of my physical death; so in some sense, I guess you could say I'm using logic but not to understand the mind of God. 

I think, at least it was for me, a huge stumbling block for many, is all the terrible things that have been done in the name of Christianity and by Christians, all the terrible judgemental things that have been said by Christians, and the innate desire for humans to want to use feeling and moralism as a guide (a very bad guide in my opinion that leads to either pride or dispair ultimately) rather than what God's Word actually says and reveals to us.  Again, I'm only one servant trying in all humility (but failing miserably) to help you hear the Word - i.e. the ultimate truth.

... Mountaineer

[Ad Orientem]

Great and Holy Thursday: The chanting of the 12 Gospels...
http://youtu.be/ri5s-OBTQXc

[Mountaineer]

Bye now, I'm going to get ready for the Maundy Thursday church service now.  I'll play more later.  Be sure to read Xan's post on Maundy Thursday in the Religion thread.  Very interesting.

.... Mountaineer

[moda0306]

Just because there are a lot of them doesn't mean that some aren't right.

True.  But it does indicate that human-beings have a thing for trying to explain things that they can't understand with super-natural beings and concepts that they can't explain.

And they do this in amazing accordance with certain sub-conscious motivators that affect humans and non-humans alike.

[Xan]

My own personal conclusion is that the universe is pointless, but realizing this is terribly depressing, so each human must, in order to avoid succumbing to depression, avoid realizing this by never asking the relevant questions or subscribing to a faith that argues against it.

That's a pretty tough conclusion.  (Not to say that you're not right; I don't think you are, but I could be wrong.)  How do you live with it?

[Pointedstick]

My own personal conclusion is that the universe is pointless, but realizing this is terribly depressing, so each human must, in order to avoid succumbing to depression, avoid realizing this by never asking the relevant questions or subscribing to a faith that argues against it.

That's a pretty tough conclusion.  (Not to say that you're not right; I don't think you are, but I could be wrong.)  How do you live with it?

Sometimes with difficulty, I won't lie. In many ways I wish I was able to subscribe to a faith that challenged this conclusion, but I haven't found any that make enough sense to me not to irritate me in other ways.

[ns3]

My own personal conclusion is that the universe is pointless, but realizing this is terribly depressing, so each human must, in order to avoid succumbing to depression, avoid realizing this by never asking the relevant questions or subscribing to a faith that argues against it.

That's a pretty tough conclusion.  (Not to say that you're not right; I don't think you are, but I could be wrong.)  How do you live with it?

Sometimes with difficulty, I won't lie. In many ways I wish I was able to subscribe to a faith that challenged this conclusion, but I haven't found any that make enough sense to me not to irritate me in other ways.

An interesting read on religion as an antidote for the pointlessness of life is Tolstoy's Confession. After writing his great novels he reached the same conclusion as you and other great thinkers and became suicidal for a long period. You can read it for free here.....

http://www.kkoworld.com/kitablar/Lev_To ... im-eng.pdf

[Pointedstick]

[...] he reached the same conclusion as you and other great thinkers and became suicidal for a long period.

I'm getting the sense that there are other members here who understand where I'm coming from. How do you deal with this?

[MachineGhost]

Substitute "religion" for the "the law" and you have the Bible saying that religion is not the source of morality.

Well, that was certainly was the basis for our Founding Fathers!  Reason alone is the basis for morality; the problem is reason needs to be taught and I don't see anyone in our modern society currently in the position of teaching secular reason to promote widespread morality.  Everyone has a damn agenda, even secular humanists.

Everyone should watch The Tudors series (fair warning: it's EXTREMELY sexual and violent and NOT in a good way) and just marvel at the depraved inspirations for the founding of the good ol' USA.  I, for one, am glad we overcame that as a species because the alternative is unthinkable.

[MachineGhost]

Have you considered our subjective "built in" moral compass, appreciation of nature, happiness, knowing that humans have intrinsic value, desire to think of future generations, and the gift of logic just might come from ...... drum roll ...... drum roll ..... drum roll ..... God the Father, God the Son and God the Spirit?  Seems like a more appealing worldview than "faith" those things came from a puddle of slime. 

That's the problem.  You rely on that reasoning for an entire religious basis and there is no proof other than you personally believe it to be true, aka self-referential faith.  That just just doesn't work in a post-modern civilization of individual self-acting entities, which is why religion participation continues to decline.  Science is based on reproducible, verifiable observations.  Even if what you state is literally true, the trend of scientific progress is clearly against what cannot be objectively proven.  We're all slowly transforming into "post-modern humanists", whether we like it or not.

Really, there's no difference between "God", UFO, aliens, interdimensional entities, astral projection, etc..  Its all lumped together in unproven quack science, even though there is circumstantial evidence by methods other than the physically objective.  The vast majority of religious types, however, do not care one whit about any kind of evidence but have bought into a system of morality that they offload their self-responsibility onto.

[MachineGhost]

My own personal conclusion is that the universe is pointless, but realizing this is terribly depressing, so each human must, in order to avoid succumbing to depression, avoid realizing this by never asking the relevant questions or subscribing to a faith that argues against it.

Oh rubbish.  Life is not pointless or it wouldn't have come about nor would there be that annoying breeding motivation.  The universe is the ultimate breeding ground for all life forms.  Have you watched Europa Report yet?

[MachineGhost]

Some of my friends thought I was too negative, or maybe depressed, and I suppose they could have been partially correct.  After all, recognizing the reality that PS describes IS a bit depressing.  It doesn't have to be paralyzing, but it acts to inoculate one against the full enjoyment of activities or endeavors that others can throw themselves 100% into, seemingly oblivious to the crushing reality around them.

Its just self-induced, ignorant nihilism.  The enlightening answers you want are in the evolutionary and metaphysical direction.

I went a decade or so becoming increasingly and deeply negative about human beings acting so irrational, stupid, ignorant, retarded, bushwhacked, etc. and not 100% rational in living as the idealized Homo Erectus that they all should be and progressing towards.  It wasn't until I learned that irrationality is actually a rational response of evolutionarily-layed down neural hardwiring in the brain that I came out of it.

PS is probably just suffering from post-partum depression.  We give very little credence to our emotional states as deriving from physical non-homeostasis while it is occuring.

[Mountaineer]

What’s Good about Good Friday?

And he said, “Jesus, remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”? Luke 23:42

The altar paraments are black. The pastor foregoes his white surplice. The cross is draped in black cloth. Good Friday is a somber time of remembrance. Many visual reminders alert Christians and the rest of the world to the suffering of Christ. Why, then, do we call this day Good Friday? The answer is simple. Had it not been for the torture Christ endured, the bleeding flesh, the broken heart, the burden of sins yet uncommitted by millions yet to be born, our present lives would have no hope, no purpose. Our future would be empty. But because Christ bore humiliation and burdens for all humankind, our lives have new hope. Our souls are set free. We rejoice as did the thief on the cross beside our Lord, for we know our future is also with Him. Instead of the separation each sin creates, pulling us farther away from God, we now have the assurance through the death and resurrection of His Son that we will live forever. How good to have the assurance of heaven this day. In grateful humility, we thank and praise the humanity of Christ, who suffered on our behalf. Then we share this hope with others.

Lord, on this day of Your suffering, we thank You for carrying the burden of our sin. Amen.