The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Religion

Having an interest in religion I have written several essays on religion. I hope that you will enjoy these thoughts, or a least they will provoke your own thoughts on these subjects.

• Religiosity (Updated Nov 2023) - My thoughts and beliefs on religion and spirituality.
• God's Forgiveness (Jun 2020) - When you meet your maker, he will know all that you have said and done, and what was in your heart, and judge you accordingly and forgive you as appropriate. The truth of God’s forgiveness is in two tales from the Bible; 1) The New Testament Tale of Saul of Tarsus, and 2) The Old Testament Tale of David and Bathsheba as examined in this article.
• How Christianity Transformed the World (Nov 2023) - Wars, Oppression, Slavery, Injustice, Degradation, Thefts, Murders, Rapes, Disease, Poverty, Destruction, and other harsh living conditions were the lot of the common man throughout history. With the advent and establishment of Christianity this all began to change. This article examines why this only occurred in the establishment of Christendom in Europe and North America.
• The Fellowship of God and Humans (Jun 2024) - My thoughts on a new religion which i have extracted the wisdom of the world’s religions and the secularists, but ignoring or discarding the gobbledygook that is all too common in religions, and the blather of secularists. The purpose of this new religion to help a person achieve a core belief in God, a person’s duties and responsibilities to God, how a person should properly exercise their free will, and how a person can live a moral, ethical, and virtuous life.
• The Ten Commandments (Jun 2020) - The Ten Commandments are a solid basis for living a moral and ethical life. However, there is much misinterpretation and misunderstanding of these commandments. Misinterpretations often due to the numerous translation faults and the different meanings of the words throughout history. To help clear up these misinterpretations, I have rewritten them in modern English and provided my pithy comments on these rewrites.
• The True Miracles of Exodus (Nov 2018) - A scientific explanation of the Biblical Exodus miracles and what are the true miracles of Exodus.
• Science versus Religion (Updated Nov 2023) - I am a firm believer that science is the best way of explaining the physical properties and physical laws of the universe. I also am a firm believer that God created our universe and established its physical properties and physical laws And I see no conflict between the views of Science and Religion.This article explains why I believe this to be true.

References:

The Berean Standard Bible

The Berean Bible Society was founded over seventy-five years ago for the sole purpose of helping believers understand and enjoy the Word of God. Their Organization holds without apology all the fundamentals of the Christian faith and is evangelical; that is, they believe that salvation is by grace through faith alone on the basis of the shed blood of Christ. They also emphasize the importance of proclaiming the whole counsel of God in light of the Pauline revelation. Insofar as Paul is the apostle of the Gentiles, it is their firm conviction that in his epistles alone have the doctrine, position, walk, and destiny for the Church, the Body of Christ, during the dispensation of Grace.

The Berean Standard Bible is a completely new English translation of the Holy Bible, effective for public reading, study, memorization, and evangelism. Inspired by the words in the Book of Acts, and based on the best available manuscripts and sources, each word is connected back to the Greek or Hebrew text to produce a transparent text that can be studied for its root meanings.

The Berean Study Bible represents a single tier of the Berean Bible. This printing contains the full Berean Bible text, footnotes, section headings, and cross-references. It is not what is considered a traditional study Bible, as it includes only the text, cross-references, and footnotes. Additional components, including translation tables, lexicons, outlines, and summaries, are free online at their website, “Bible Hub”, which features topical, Greek and Hebrew study tools, plus concordances, commentaries, dictionaries, sermons, devotionals, and in a variety of apps and software.

I have found that the Berean Standard Bible is a good and understandable modern translation of the Bible. Previous translations of the Bible are often unreadable or misunderstood by the modern public mind. Many of these previous translations of the Bible were also influenced by incomplete or incorrect biblical scholarship and sometimes by political, economic, or sociological considerations of the times and environment in which they were translated. The Berean Standard Bible attempts to correct these problems based on modern biblical scholarship and not be influenced by political, economic, or sociological considerations.

Consequently, in my future Chirps and Articles, I will utilize and quote from the Berean Standard Bible and the Bible Hub when I reference the Bible.

12 Major World Religions: The Beliefs, Rituals, and Traditions of Humanity's Most Influential Faiths by Jason Boyett

For billions of people, having a religious belief system provides purpose in life. For some, religion serves as a guide for moral behavior. Today's world is one in which our understanding of world religions is both understatedly important, as well as increasingly complex.

After many years exploring the foundations of various world religions, Jason Boyett has written this comprehensive, easy-to-understand exploration of the twelve major world religions through a meticulous, yet unbiased lens. 12 Major World Religions offers an impartial look at where each of these belief systems intersects, how they differ, and why some have been—or are currently—misunderstood.

A Personal Note

You may be wondering about my qualifications to pontificate on these subjects. I believe that I am qualified because I am a thinking human being. I utilize my knowledge and experience in life, as well as researching both the facts and opinions of others, including those with whom I may disagree. I then apply my reasoning and logical skills to reach an opinion. And it is just my opinion which I readily admit. I am also willing to admit that I may be wrong, and if I discover that I am wrong I am just as readily willing to change my opinion. Therefore, check-back every so often to determine if I have changed my opinion which can be determine by the date of the article.

The incandescent light bulb has often been described as a heat source that provides some light, given that a light bulb generates more heat than it does light. In today's public debates we often find the proponents of an issue providing a lot of heat and only a little light. These observations are meant to provide illumination (light) and not argumentation (heat).

Opponents in today's society often utilize the dialog and debate methodology of Demonize, Denigrate, and Disparage their opponent when discussing issues, policies, and personages. To demonize, denigrate, or disparage the messenger to avoid consideration of the message is not acceptable if the message has supporting evidence.

The only acceptable method of public discourse is disagreement - to be of different opinions. If you are in disagreement with someone you should be cognizant that people of good character can and often disagree with each other. The method of their disagreement is very important to achieve civil discourse. There are two ways you can disagree with someone; by criticizing their opinions or beliefs or critiquing their opinions or beliefs.

• Criticism - Disapproval expressed by pointing out faults or shortcomings.
• Critique - A serious examination and judgment of something.

Most people, and most commentators have forgotten the difference between Criticism and Critique. This has led to the hyper-partisanship in today's society. In a civil society critiquing a viewpoint or policy position should be encouraged. This will often allow for a fuller consideration of the issues, and perhaps a better viewpoint or policy position without invoking hyper-partisanship. We can expect that partisanship will often occur, as people of good character can and often disagree with each other. Criticizing a viewpoint or policy position will often lead to hostility, rancor, and enmity, which results in the breakdown of civil discourse and hyper-partisanship. It is fine to criticize someone for their bad or destructive behavior, but it is best to critique them for their opinions or words. We would all do better if we remember to critique someone, rather than criticize someone.

I would ask anyone who disagrees with what I have written here to please keep this disagreement civil. I am open to critique and will sometimes take criticism. I will always ignore demonization, denigration, and disparagement, or point out the vacuous nature or the character flaws of those that wish to silence the messenger rather than deal with the message.

Please remember that if you disagree with the messenger it is not acceptable to kill the messenger. You may kill the messenger, but the message will remain.

If you have any comments, concerns, critiques, or suggestions I can be reached at mwd@profitpages.com. I will review reasoned and intellectual correspondence, and it is possible that I can change my mind, or at least update the contents of these articles. This is why these articles are dated. Whenever I make a change to these articles they will be re-dated. So check back and see if any articles have been updated (or perhaps I shall add articles).