Survey Results from the beginning of the semester

From the survey results at the beginning of the semester, twenty-six students said that they believed that there is a supernatural existence. Twenty-five said that they believe they will exist after they die, and that they have an immaterial soul. However, only six people in the survey said that they thought there was a right and wrong absolute. I think this is interesting because I figured more people that believe in there being a supernatural power, a God, would also believe that this supernatural power has created them along with a guideline of how they should live. I feel like there being a right and wrong absolute is very connected with there also being immaterial souls and a God, and I'm just surprised that so many people don't believe that the supernatural power they believe in has a standard. If you are one of the people that feels this way, my question is why you don't think the two are connected. Does anyone have any comments on this topic?

Song Lyrics

These are the lyrics to a song called You Are Mine by the band Mute Math. Do you think that these lyrics speak truth about people, that we all really do have something that defines our lives? If you do think it's true, what is your prized possession/obsession? A sport? Your major? A particular person? A belief? etc.

Everyone has their obsession
consuming thoughts consuming time
they hold high their prized possession
it defines the meaning of their life

They're our objects of affection
that can mesmerize the soul
there is always one addiction
that just can not be controlled

You Are Mine

Free Will

Something interesting to me about the topic of free will is the comparison to robots. I feel like if humans did not have free will we would be just like robots because we are unable to make decisions for ourselves as everything is determined already. I definitely don't feel like a robot. If we were just like robots going through the motions, what would be controling us exactly. What would have already determined everything for us? Society? Science? God?
In Christian theology, there are two different opinions about how much control humans have over their lives pertaining to the Bible. These are Predestination and Free Will. Predestination suggests that God has already planned out our entire lives for us and everything that happens in them is working towards his good purposes. With Free Will, we have been given the ability to make choices which is what has enabled us to sin, make bad choices. Personally, I think that both apply to our lives regarding free will. I think that there is a God who made us and does have a plan for our lives, but that he wouldn't just make us his robots because if that's all we were, how could we truly love him. If we were merely robots, we would be forced to love him, which isn't really love. But with free will, we are able to choose God, and in so doing, choose God's plan for us. I don't know if that made sense to any of you, but I think it's a really interesting topic if you ever want to discuss it with me.

I don't really know what to talk about this week. Here is a random question. What do you all think about the big bang theory on how the world began? Do you believe in evolution, and why or why not? I'm just curious.

Something that I find really interesting about the world is that people from different societies have very different mindsets and views on beliefs. For six months, I was a missionary in Asia and I learned a lot about how differently the girls I became friends with there thought from me. The way that they have been brought up, the things that they have been taught in school, and their cultural history has helped them to accept a lot of opinions about the world that are completely different from how Americans think. In Asia, many people believe that they cannot believe something that is outside of their cultural norm. They view beliefs as part of culture and not as truths. For instance, many girls from asia have told me that Christianity is for people that live in the West and Buddhism is for people in the East. Many of them do not believe that the truth about the world in America is the same truth in Asia. To me, this is like saying that 2 + 2 = 4 in the western hemisphere, but not in the east. Clearly, in America we all believe that 2 + 2 = 4 everywhere. I feel like we do not connect our culture to beliefs as strongly as they do, and it's really interesting how differently we may think on certain subjects depending on where we're from. Do you think that their is one truth about the world that stands for everyone? Do you think that if there is a God, he is the same God in Asia as he is in America?

Are People Good or Bad?

Do you believe that people are naturally good, and that we sometimes do bad things? On the flip side, do you believe that we are naturally bad, and that we try to achieve good things?

This is an interesting question to me because I believe that people are naturally bad, and that their is no good in us unless we have God (aka Jesus) working in our lives. This comes from a Christian's understanding of the gospel, that we are all sinners. I feel like even when we all try to do good things such as help another person, we still have bad motives in it. For example, I might do a good deed for someone only to make myself appear like a kind person in other people's eyes. To me, that is not really doing a good deed because i'm only doing it for my own gain.

However, I think a lot of people would disagree with me and say that we are genuinely good, so I'd like to know why you believe one way or the other.

Purpose

I am curious to know what gives you purpose in your life. What drives each individual to want to get up every day? Do you live your life to find success in something, or to simply seek out happiness in some shape or form? Is your purpose about loving or helping other people? I would like to know how others define the importance of their life on earth. Do you feel like people must find something in life to make them significant? I feel like every human being seeks to have significance whether it be latching on to a hobby they really love, or trying to achieve something like fame and fortune. How do you think we can be significant people with a purpose?

A Question about the Survey Results

In the survey that we did for class, one question asked whether we thought that some occurrences happen because of the super-natural. Another question asked whether we thought that everything came from naturalistic causes. I thought it was interesting how people answered these two questions differently because thirteen people said that everything is a cause of nature, but only seven people in the class said that there are no super-natural explanations. I thought that the questions were asking about the same concept, but maybe people are seeing a bigger idea behind them than I am. Does anyone have any thoughts on how these two questions are different and why people would answer them differently?