Another good argument against getting caught within a mile of a church.

Maybe for those whose only motivation for self-control is a supernatural being. Issue Vol. 12 No.3 of Skeptic magazine had an article dealing with this and it came to the conclusion that these studies should really deal with people with high religiousity vs. those with low religiousity, not high religiousity vs. no religion.
If anyone has ever actually read Hume, Shermer, Harris, Dawkins, etc., there are tons of arguments and reasons from Natural Moralism for being good, not just b/c ‘god(s) said too.’

Dr. McCullough, not a devotee, should have combined his psychological work with someone who understands the management aspect of the Bible as it gives a long term vision to pursue: To glorify God, build World Peace through Goodwill in people (Luke 2:14) under The Prince of Peace. This is the worldly aspect of the Bible even Christians tend to overlook, but nonetheless bring greater world peace by spreading the Good News. Christians spread the Gospel not only for eternal life, but to build Peace On Earth: Thy will be done, on earth as it is in heaven.
How can we bring greater World Peace? Spread more of mother Teresas, reverend Harvard Universities, Red Crosses, Salvation Armies, Father of Genetics monk Gregor Mendels, Benjamin Franklins who wrote his own devotional, and hospitals just as Christians have been doing. Christianity gave the world modern democracy just as the Bible said that liberty comes when His Spirit is in the society. Those benevolences grow as Christians grow in number and follow the Bible.
With every Christian reformations, peace and prosperity have grown as the strayed churches and Christians came back to the Bible.
The non-Christians borrowed much of its virtues from the Bible as ancient documents show. The closest to the Bible is Confucius teachings and yet it fails to create good democracy in China so far. I am looking forward to see democracy comes to China (Sinim, the land of the Chin or Sino people) as it is being Christianized and prophesied in Isa 49:12.

LoveAll
December 31, 2008 10:34 PM
“… Christianity gave the world modern democracy…”
If you look at history as a vacuum, sure it did!LOL
LoveAll, you have three glaring problems with that hypothesis.
Ethiopia is the oldest christian country in the world, would you wanna live there? Hell no.
The Byzantine Empire never developed anything remotely like a democracy.
And Czarist Russia, well, we all know what happened there…
You are making a correlation by mere coincidence. History is a SYNTHESIS. Christianity is but one part of the whole.
The mishmash of history that led to modern democracy also includes classical paganism, Greek philosophy, Celtic culture, English common law, Teutonic culture, German common law, etc.

sorry, above post is mine.

It would seem the Ten Commandments read and agreed with would be an asset to anyone and their control over their life. However, that isn’t always the case. I don’t think there is a Psychologist alive that could figure this out. But it’s fun trying.

In Galatian’s it is written, “Freedom is what we have. Christ has set us free.” One of the arguments that Paul writes about in this 5th Chapter of Galatians is the fact that, just because we get all this freedom from sin through Christ’s death does this mean we can do anything we want? Paul writes that there must be a proper use of the freedom that God gives us so that life doesn’t become a free for all with no controls. That God’s spirit is to guide us and our love for Christ because he died for us will motivate us to live a life that is pleasing to him. Paul in a number of letters in the New Testament uses the word, “try to please God” The word “try” meaning make the effort. Love is a great motivator. If we fall in love with someone it is amazing what we do for them. The same thing for God the creator. When a person loves God and trys to live a life that is pleasing to God they find good things happen. Sometimes bad things happen but they can be dealt with more effectively with God in one’s life. The total picture shows a person receives more benefits and is better off personally than if they weren’t motivated by faith in God.

To whom it may concern, I do agree that formal religion can be beneficial to many and I do have the utmost repect for all religion. However I have witnessed many people who recieve a distorted view of the religion. I say this due to many children that I have spoken with, when religion is pounded upon the child with fear the child rebels and walks away from the religion. I can elaborate on this more but please find me at Linkin.com so we can discuss this. I say this study need’s more studying. Let there be love and peace through out the lands after all Jesus said “Live and Let Live” Suzanne Ramirez

“Does Religion Promote Self-Control?”
Let’s see…
- Jimmy Swaggart.
- Ted Haggard.
- Jimmy Baker.
- Jerry Falwell.
- James Dobson.
I’m guessin’ – No.