Perhaps, This Is Interesting

If I am not misguided, you declared your religious views as, 'naturalism.'  If I am off beam, please, forgive me and, please, correct me.  And, if not a naturist, this might help you understand what a 'naturalist' believes.  Anyway it is, then people, enjoy the ride along with me.  I ask this of you with the desire to get to know more about you since we are family.  I don't know a whole lot about much of the younger family members as I have lived in Mexico for most of the last thirty years. 

 

As I see it, in my studies, I see this, naturist opinion as the belief that the only thing that exists in the Universe is physical, material matter, which denies the existence of anything spiritual.  No angels, no knowable life-force and certainly, no type of gods.  Is that right?  It is believed then, as I understand it, by 'naturalists,' that humans have no soul, no inner-self.  Thereby meaning, that all living beings are just a bunch of lifeless neurons, certain chemical compounds, and a huge cosmic mishap and the like.  Of course, then, under this category of credence, there could also be no Living, Purposeful Creator; as naturists just follow evolution as the creative force in the entire Universe.  Which, if I am not wrong, means that such human experiences like pain, pleasure, appreciation of beauty, art and music and a reality of one's own being, could not really be authentic.  These, and other, 'mystical-type' things, just become some form of physiological reaction, bringing one to find no reason to wonder about, really, anything.

Please, if I am wrong, let me know.  Being as I see it, the values of naturalism leads to several shortened ways of assessment about the world.  One of the most important concerns is the philosophy of telos, or purpose.  Does a kitchen knife have purpose?  Or, does the user of the knife have purpose?  What give us purpose or where does it come from, if it exists?  Naturism promotes the idea that humans are not used by higher powers for assorted and enigmatic reasons.  Therefore, lacking such agents or AGENT or direction or Director, we must decide our own purposes.  As you probably already know, the Christian view embraces the knowledge that the purpose of all things was given to them by a Higher Authority.  (Just like Hebrew National All-Beef Franks)  Since naturalism explains that there is no higher authority, no deity, divine or holy being, it therewith assume that Humankind, all of creation, and every individual thing in it has no aim or real objective in life.  (Which, to me, seems very dark, gloomy and totally depressing.  Nevertheless, a few out there do hold fast to this philosophy.)

Uncaused-evolution is what the majority of naturalists believe, though, not all.  Nevertheless, both sides support the idea of everything having no real purpose.  Yet, they can never really put in plain words how they actually arrived at that murky theory.  Naturalists, and most atheists, believe that the theory of evolution explains how all life on Earth began without the work of a supernatural element being involved.  Yet, most evolutionists try to place at least a small sense of purpose to our otherwise dead existence while many naturists don’t even bother to do that.  As an alternative to Mankind having an existential, sacred purpose, evolution proposes that it is only our genes which have a function and that this function is to simply propagate and multiply.  However, as I see it, this is not a genuine purpose.  If it was, then why worry about fidelity in marriage, getting married, having families and things of that nature?  The survival and spreading of our genes would be more important than any of these other, emotional and feeling-oriented types of restrictions.  Away with them all!  The rationale of this in material form is, the survival-of-the-fittest.  Which, of course, then become the number one element and teaching of evolution.  Everybody must get pregnant and have lots of babies.  The strongest of these will survive.  The others?  Who cares?

Naturalism, as I understand it, asserts that there is no soul, no intellect, and no identity, and I think it also teaches that there is no preference or choice.  Like the hurricane that is caused by the flutter of a butterfly's wings.  Every whim we have, every accomplishment we make, every word we say is determined by the dealings that came beforehand.  If we are controlled by our genes' drive to breed, then we are incapable of choosing any of our ideas, our view of the world, or our favorite color or flavor of candy.  This defeatist attitude becomes a hindrance in the sphere of moral principles.  If our actions are not controlled by our brains or souls, one must ask the questions, are lawbreakers answerable for their wrongdoing?  This line of thinking also reveals the two-facedness of evolutionists who spew wrath on Creationists; if previous measures establish our beliefs, how can Christians be blamed for believing in God?

It is pretty much spot on that our actions and beliefs are, for the most part, influenced by events we have been exposed to.  That's why our God encourages us to contemplate on His Word, Deuteronomy 11:18, “Fix these words of mine in your hearts and minds; tie them as symbols on your hands and bind them on your foreheads.”  Colossians 3:2 “Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things.”  The Bible also teaches that we have a distinct soul and spirit, Hebrews 4:12, “For the word of God is alive and active.  Sharper than any double-edged sword, it penetrates even to dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow; it judges the thoughts and attitudes of the heart,”  And, that Mankind has a specific purpose, Genesis 1:26-31,“Then God said, “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness. And let them have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over the livestock and over all the earth and over every creeping thing that creeps on the earth.  So God created man in his own image, in the image of God he created him; male and female he created them.  And God blessed them.  And God said to them, “Be fruitful and multiply and fill the earth and subdue it, and have dominion over the fish of the sea and over the birds of the heavens and over every living thing that moves on the earth.”  And God said, “Behold, I have given you every plant yielding seed that is on the face of all the earth, and every tree with seed in its fruit.  You shall have them for food.  And to every beast of the earth and to every bird of the heavens and to everything that creeps on the earth, everything that has the breath of life, I have given every green plant for food.”  And it was so.  And God saw everything that he had made, and behold, it was very good.  And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.”

In the end, someone once wrote to me in a letter, ‘naturalism is just another fancy way to deny the existence of God.’

So, if I made some grievous error along the way, please, take the time to let me know.  Thank you.