What is happening to US society?

[Modelworks]

Aren't you rejecting the idea of a personal philosophy that provides a moral standard? An atheist may not believe that he'll go to hell for his actions, but his moral compass can still tell him it's the wrong thing to do.

I do believe there are people that have high morals and use those morals to live a good life. I don't think they are the majority though. A lot of the laws that people break they break even knowing it to be wrong because the punishment is something they can accept. Punishment is determined by man and so the repercussions of the crime can change with what the majority want. With religion they had something greater than man that couldn't be overruled.

 

[umbrella39]

If you just want to discuss the incidents themselves, no. If you want to draw broad conclusions about American society based on such incidents, yes.

This...

 

[Modelworks]

If only we could return to those halcyon day of religious devotion when there was no crime nor injustice...

There was always crime and injustice. You cannot say though that people married and divorced as much 50 years ago as they do now. Or that the abortion rate was as high or that people murdered or stole with as much disregard for who it would impact. 50 years ago stealing from an elderly person was seen as something only the lowest of people would do, now kids do it and brag about it.

 

[HeXen]

It probably just seems like it is more now than in that past because today we are constantly bombarded with this type of news. In the past you may have never even heard of this happening unless you lived in the town it happened and was in the local paper.

this.
brutal crimes has always been here. if anything its gone down a lot.

 

[sandorski]

Changed yes, but not by a lot because no matter how much someone may want to change something they can't , the written word says what it says and it can't be added to or taken away . You can change the interpretation but you can't add to something like the King James version of the bible without it becoming something else. The biggest change for religion came about when bibles were printed for the masses because now anyone could read the bible and no longer did people have to rely on a priest to be the interpreter. The church hated the idea because now they couldn't make the words say what they wanted because any man could verify what was written.

Wut? You need to learn some history about the Bible. It has been changed a lot.

 

[Nemesis 1]

The Lord of Host has moved his hand against you .

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-ZJ2qzsNbac&feature=related

 

[WHAMPOM]

Elderly man beaten to death outside walmart

Woman robs home where a murder was commited - Is life that hopeless that people have to rob the dead?

Woman get shopping cart dropped on her head by 12 year old kids - Holy crap, kids dropping shopping carts from 4 stories up, and laughing about it as they are arrested.

What is going on with the US that we have this kind of violence towards other people?

I know things are bad, but come on. Its like society is inching its way back to the stone age.

Rarity equals newsworthy. Crime is still on the down-swing, election promises to reduce crime come true without any effort by the elected official.

 

[Rainsford]

I do believe there are people that have high morals and use those morals to live a good life. I don't think they are the majority though. A lot of the laws that people break they break even knowing it to be wrong because the punishment is something they can accept. Punishment is determined by man and so the repercussions of the crime can change with what the majority want. With religion they had something greater than man that couldn't be overruled.

But what is really the difference between strong belief in a moral code and a strong belief in a religious code? The motivation via religious consequence you suggest is only as strong as the individual belief in the certainty of that religious consequence. If someone's religious belief can be strong enough for religion to motivate them, then can't their belief in an internal moral code be equally as strong?

 

[wuliheron]

And those rates only became high when the people living in those areas moved away from their religion and started embracing the do what I want regardless of who it hurts mentality. To the people believing in religion at the time they had something to lose , they believed their souls could be damned for eternity. The concept that God was watching what they did put a kind of fear into them that regulated their actions. To the people that lived without religion the only threat to their actions is what another man decides for punishment, worst being death. With religion not even death could save you from having to answer for your deeds.

Bullshit. Show me the evidence or you might as well blow it out your ass.

The majority of the thriving democracies in the world today are overwhelmingly secular and have far fewer problems then the US which is overwhelmingly religious and always has been. Religion has failed to provide on its promises, the government has failed to provide on their promises, and the corporations have failed to provide on their promises so the rats are abandoning ship as fast as they can. You don't need to be a weatherman to know which way the wind blows.

 

[Modelworks]

Wut? You need to learn some history about the Bible. It has been changed a lot.

The content hasn't changed in over 1500 years, pretty good run for something that you claim has changed a lot.

 

[ShawnD1]

The content hasn't changed in over 1500 years, pretty good run for something that you claim has changed a lot.

http://www.av1611.org/biblecom.html
"The following table lists 300 verses that have been changed in the seven most popular versions." ....

Many of the problems are caused by the way language changes with time and expressions are not common between languages. Old versions contain a lot of common expressions and things that don't have any modern meaning. Suppose I wrote "it cost an arm and a leg" in a book. What I mean in English is that it seems unreasonably expensive. Someone might translate this to Italian meaning you literally need to give an arm and a leg for something. Other problems are things like "he is my right hand man" and "that was idea was out of left field" then someone interprets that as meaning right = godly or good and left = bad but what it really means is right = common and left = less common.

Translating thousand year old documents is incredibly hard and we need to keep translating them because the old translations don't make any friggin sense. Try reading the king james bible. It's written in 1600s English and it's just as bad as trying to read Italian or French or some other language I don't know.

 

[Modelworks]

But what is really the difference between strong belief in a moral code and a strong belief in a religious code? The motivation via religious consequence you suggest is only as strong as the individual belief in the certainty of that religious consequence. If someone's religious belief can be strong enough for religion to motivate them, then can't their belief in an internal moral code be equally as strong?

The source of the moral code is the main difference. One is controlled more by what the masses choose to value while the other has the benefit of being 'written in stone' and not allowed to be altered just because the masses don't want to follow it. People can choose to behave based on what they strongly believe in but humans are creatures of risk vs reward and even the strongest belief in doing the right thing solely because it is the right thing to do will always be clouded by that human nature. Religion gave those that are morally strong even more conviction when making the decision to do what is right because along with their own internal morals they also had the re-assurance that there was a creator or God greater than humanity that also approved of their actions.

There are many times throughout history where a king or powerful ruler wanted to do something like slaughter innocent people and the religion of the time stepped in to prevent it. Without religion when a ruler wanted to do something morally wrong there would have been nobody higher than the king that could stop the act from being carried out.

 

[Modelworks]

Translating thousand year old documents is incredibly hard and we need to keep translating them because the old translations don't make any friggin sense. Try reading the king james bible. It's written in 1600s English and it's just as bad as trying to read Italian or French or some other language I don't know.

You are talking about translations. The original text has not changed since it was compiled.

When I said original text, I mean the Greek text.

 

[Modelworks]

Bullshit. Show me the evidence or you might as well blow it out your ass.

Show me evidence to the contrary.

 

[Nemesis 1]

The content hasn't changed in over 1500 years, pretty good run for something that you claim has changed a lot.

Complete nonesense. Read jerusalem bible . than read and compare to king james . Your ignorance is abundant, Than we have the ethiopian bible which is the least changed of all bibles and still contains the book of enoch. Why was this done?One word euphenism.

I will give 2 examples that have changed the world in its manner because the full truth was hidden which left tthe door open for dark forces to play.

1) judea a part of southern palestine that was ruled by ROME.
This is not nor every will be israel its 1 tribe of 12. I posted the solomon movie here last week If you didn't watch it thats your loose . Judea survived as the lamp with the flickering light. Find out why the other tribes left Isreal(Judea) after solomons death and UNDERSTAND IT in its true form . Watch the dam-n movie. its pretty accurate. Judea today. NOW is called israel it is for jews=juda(ROME) not the other tribes.

Mormon
This book is based on the 2 lost tribes of israel of the americas . One tribe made slaves of the other . The slave tribe fled to north america the evil tribe built the cities of ancient times threw the broken backs of the slave tribe . But just as in the bible God sent a tempest and the slave tribe left and went to N america= Moses exudus . Enter Spain ( ROME). We almost completed genecid on the Good indians and nearly wiped them off the face of the earth . Today the evil tribe who are catholics(ROME) flow over our boarders like the wind chaffing wheat in the field = ROME Your ignorance of what is truth is amazing . I am not suppose to tell you these things as this time has past. Stay out of topics you know nothing about as you do NOT carry GOD in your heart. ROME is strong in you.

 

[CallMeJoe]

...Your ignorance of what is truth is amazing...

Oh, the irony of this sentence...

 

[CallMeJoe]

You are talking about translations. The original text has not changed since it was compiled.
When I said original text, I mean the Greek text.

You dislike the Aramaic originals? Which of the various ancient Canons do you consider authoritative?

 

[Nemesis 1]

You are talking about translations. The original text has not changed since it was compiled.

When I said original text, I mean the Greek text.

Good lord man . Who are Romans if not greeks . and to use greek as the base for scripture is sinfull. Look at greece today as the Lord of host moves it hand against these people.

 

[Nemesis 1]

Oh, the irony of this sentence...

I look at your avatar and can say without doubt you have an IQ of less than 120.

 

[CallMeJoe]

I look at your avatar and can say without doubt you have an IQ of less than 120.

By that measure, my IQ has just shifted to >160!

 

[Jaskalas]

Violent crime is actually down in the U.S., declining steadily for about 20 years. If you google around looking for them, you can find 3 heinous incidents at any given time.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_the_United_States

Those charts seem to stop when our depression hit back in 2008. No one should doubt that crime is on the rise with poverty. Still, the premise of the OP is with great fault of its own. This is one of those 'kids these days' threads.

 

[Nemesis 1]

By that measure, my IQ has just shifted to >160!

You really are ignorant the man who couldn't lie . Illuminaty design to give illusion and not to illuminate. The living word did say . Whose picture is on a coin . The reply was Ceasar. The living word did say Give to ceasar that which is ceasars but give to God that which is Gods . Whose picture is on the dollar bill . which is a graven image . The other symbols on the dollar. Were they come from ? By changing your Avatar to that your IQ just slipted 40 points . The father of the federal government indeed . You can worship USA if you want . I live here by the hand of God and do not worship the USA . My state is of greater importance to me than the USA gooberment, and that not real high on my list of things to hold up high .

 

[CallMeJoe]

You really are ignorant...The father of the federal government indeed...

Ignorance?
When, pray tell, did Joseph Haydn father the federal government?

 

[Nemesis 1]

Sorry I miss took that for george . With those english wigs they all look alike to me .

 

[Nemesis 1]

I will give you back points for that, But because he is wigged I cann't add points