SPCEO1 wrote: Everyone believes in religion, even you. On the contniuum of religious belief, you go from no belief to full belief and everything in between. So, to say you do not believe in religion is, itself, a religious belief. Unfortunately, there is no getting around religious belief - we all have our religious beliefs, it is just a matter of what those beliefs actually are. And don't let your religious belief of not needing a religious belief to explain God allow you an easy out in this most crucial question for all people. It could well be a tragic mistake with eternal consequences and I really hope that will not be the case for you.
If you have not already done so, or even if you have, I recommend giving consideration to the claims Jesus made about himself as being sent to die for our sins and give us eternal life. On that very large spectrum of religious belief, there is an unfortunately sizable assortment of beliefs about Jesus and Christianity, but try not to get too hung up on that. You may be familiar with the story of the two criminals who were crucufied along with Jesus. One expressed his faith in Jesus noting he was deserving of his fate for his crimes, but Jesus was undeserving of this same punishment as he dying for as a sacrifice for everyone's sins over all of time, not any of his own making. This criminal had no religious beliefs other than that, no deep understanding of theological doctrines and not even anyunderstanding of the continuum of religious beliefs we all find ourtselves on, and yet Jesus told him he was going to heaven for his faith. So, while I respect the many efforts made over the centuries to come up with doctrines and catechisms to explain the Christian faith, it really can be kept as simple as the faith of the one criminal who died that day on a cross with Jesus and ended up that day in heaven for eternity simply for having faith that Jesus was who he said he was. I hope to see you in eternity! And the other good news is we probably will not be talking about TH when we see each other there as there will be so many other much more important issues to talk about!
scarlet1967 wrote: Not a heavy smoker but I do smoke cigarettes and I know what they do to my body, I used to be asked how come although I advise my patients to stop smoking I smoke myself and my sarcastic response was well dentistry is a profession not a religion(I want to readdress my previous comment although I don't believe in religions I would like to think I do believe in god just don't need religions to justify my belief).
The point is people know what unhealthy habits do to them yet they carry on as just the knowledge of it is not stopping them and that's the reality, you can try to enforce your "recommendations" ( based on an article written in 2019) but they won't change their lifestyle unless they are READY. The change has to come from our own willingness, again I want this trial to be successful and I am sure the company will try to standardize the participants habits I am not just sure how successfully they can do that.