Isn't design, the way that many people seem to refer to it, a function of a deity, which, in turn, makes it about religion?
Isn’t religion the worshiping of a God? That’s not necessarily the same as believing that evolution and design can coexist. Hell, there’s like 20 different religions I think. So that’s a whole other topic. one has to have just as much faith in evolution (which is an outdated theory) as faith in a Deity. anyways I’d rather talk about the shoulder impingement with you than this. Good day sir
Fred I did. (as Ph1h pointed out) I also spent some time explaining that a true Christian means having a loving heart, compassion, caring for everyone, without hatred or malice (plus a lot more). It takes a long time of hard work to nurture this. A person with a good heart cares for all of God's creation (you can't have goodness in one part of your heart and evil in the other). It is important to understand that salvation - which requires believing in Jesus and flowing His teachings - should not be mixed with the Old testament. All of this I explained in the preamble. -new wine on old wineskins. As you didn't recognize that I did answer your question implies that you didn't read what I posted - which is fine.
For others who are reading this thread, those who may be atheists, Jews, of Islam etc you have a chance to read the 4 gospels and the Letter of James. If you take the opportunity, you may find that you resonate with some things you read there. (see preamble for free online bible sources) It is only for me to point to the greatest gift the world has ever been given (pearl beyond price) it is up to you to accept it. Some will, some will not "My sheep know my voice and follow me"
First entertain the maxim that this is hell. It includes humanity and animals, humanity being a kind of animal. The question is where did we come from, what are we doing, and what is our destiny. We come from a Self which i prefer to call Christ, somehow become non-self-selves, and our destiny is to return to the Self, which some call "heaven" but i just call it the Self. Heaven is "within" the Self so-to-speak. It is not a grand space surrounding a separate self within it. There isn't much choice to be had in hell, except the choice to exodus, leave, overcome, and/or cease and desist. Humans can make this choice given enough time, some millions of years. I presume animals can too. If neither can make that choice in their current form, there is probably a form they can change into that can make that choice. I surmise humans and animals are equally damned, and so, probably are equally qualified to exit the situation. Probably the most difficult form to be in, to make this choice, is a bodily form. So perhaps it is easier to make the choice between bodily appearances, which would be the main benefit of standard scenario death. In the return to the Self, no body ever arrives as anything that appears in hell. Nor is there any return for anything in hell that supports the status quo cycle of bodies round and round. This especially includes ego, especially human ego. So there won't be much of anything left to return that anyone currently recognizes, or believes, or thinks is understood. The concept of soul is misunderstood. There is really only one soul, the Self. There appear to be pseudo souls which fragment into hierarchy of power and appearance. One human might have a soul group, with "higher selves" higher up in that hierarchy. But ultimately, there is no such thing as a higher self because there is also no such thing as a lower self. There is ultimately no hierarchy. So higher selves do not ultimately return, as if they were a distinct "soul", to the Self, of which there is only One. That is, there is only one Self that is involved with all the various appearances of humans, aliens, fish, insect, and animals in the material worlds. Perhaps it is the higher selves which are in the best position to make the choice i mentioned before, so trying to follow their guidance might help. I wouldn't say that demons were "cast down" into hell. What we experience, on this strange journey, are circumstances which eventually produce what we would call demons. That is, if you spend enough time in these fish-out-of-water circumstances, you will go absolutely insane with anger and resentment and will wish to measure out vengeance. This is a demon manufacturing factory. It starts with small offenses, things that bother us, and adds up till we nearly explode. Egos take there ignorance, prejudice and resentment with them even after standard death, and it just grows in magnitude. In theory, we all start out as angels with good intentions. As anger and hatred build, so does hatred derangement syndrome where one's thinking/perception really narrows down till we are all die-hard, entrenched bigots. So, the natural progression is from bigot to demon, so-to-speak. So there is this concept maybe called the Great Work, or might be called Universal Salvation, but could also be called the At One-ment which reunifies the fragments that make up hell. So it's not as if some will make the choice to exodus hell and some will elect to stay. No, the reunification is the complete emptying of hell of all that occupies it. This is mainly accomplished by withdrawing faith that has been invested in hells so-called "reality". In which case hell just disappears back to the void of nothingness from which imagination had drudged it up in the first place. It has no real foundation. It disappears from perception, which is a faith based mechanism, in which case knowledge re-appears as the Self. It could also be called the Resurrection as hell is technically a sleeping and/or dead Christ. While hell appears animated, that does not mean it is actually, really alive.