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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 2:11 pm
KnockEmOutt Wrote:Mind you it was mostly when he was younger and during a period of severe illness
Was his life on the line? It may very well have been a coping mechanism where he believes he has proof that life carries on after death to comfort him from the fact that his life might end.
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 3:46 pm
(August 1, 2012 at 2:11 pm)Faith No More Wrote: KnockEmOutt Wrote:Mind you it was mostly when he was younger and during a period of severe illness
Was his life on the line? It may very well have been a coping mechanism where he believes he has proof that life carries on after death to comfort him from the fact that his life might end.
Yeah I think it was some kind of hepatitis mechanism. I don't think he was always this religious though. He only converted to Christianity when I was around 14.
You really believe in a man who has helped to save the world twice, with the power to change his physical appearance? An alien who travels though time and space-- in a police box?!? ![[Image: TARDIS.gif]](https://images.weserv.nl/?url=www.smileyvault.com%2Falbums%2Fuserpics%2F11195%2FTARDIS.gif)
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 3:55 pm
Our brain can do strange things when it grapples with the fact that it will cease to exist. My uneducated guess would be that his talking to the dead was one of these strange things.
Was his conversion around the same time as his illness?
Even if the open windows of science at first make us shiver after the cozy indoor warmth of traditional humanizing myths, in the end the fresh air brings vigor, and the great spaces have a splendor of their own - Bertrand Russell
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 3:59 pm
(This post was last modified: August 1, 2012 at 4:02 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
(August 1, 2012 at 3:46 pm)KnockEmOuttt Wrote: Yeah I think it was some kind of hepatitis mechanism. I don't think he was always this religious though. He only converted to Christianity when I was around 14.
Perhaps you drove him to religion...lol. Probably should have picked up drinking instead, safer.
(rambles off to peddle whiskey as the cure for AA addictions)
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 4:09 pm
(August 1, 2012 at 3:55 pm)Faith No More Wrote: Our brain can do strange things when it grapples with the fact that it will cease to exist. My uneducated guess would be that his talking to the dead was one of these strange things.
Was his conversion around the same time as his illness?
No, it was like 40 years after his illness. But he makes it sound like the has been somewhat reoccurring. That's why I think it's so fucking weird. Perhaps he has "the gift"?
(August 1, 2012 at 3:59 pm)Rhythm Wrote: Perhaps you drove him to religion...lol. Probably should have picked up drinking instead, safer.
(rambles off to peddle whiskey as the cure for AA addictions)
He basically indoctrinated himself. When I was in the church confirmation program he was often there to help set things up (because only the men were allowed to move tables and things, since you know, women are incapable or something.) Apparently he started believing what was being said. Also, I was made to be his baptismal sponsor...and what a good godfather am I (hehehe).
Whiskey is the cure for everything.
You really believe in a man who has helped to save the world twice, with the power to change his physical appearance? An alien who travels though time and space-- in a police box?!?
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 8:21 pm
(August 1, 2012 at 4:09 pm)KnockEmOuttt Wrote: Whiskey is the cure for everything.
And the cause as well.
The question I have is this: in what meaningful way is a perceived divine experience distinguishable from psychosis?
The answer is left as an exercise for the reader.
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 8:23 pm
(This post was last modified: August 1, 2012 at 8:25 pm by Oldandeasilyconfused.)
Quote:So are you suggesting mental illness as a cause for divine experiences?
Also hallucinogens and delerium tremens.
How else does one explain say Joan D'Arc and the author(s) of the Book Of Revelations? She was nuts,they were on acid or had ergot poisoning.
People talk to God,it's called 'praying'. God talks back we give them anti psychotic medication. 
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 8:23 pm
Does he think he can speak in tongues too?
Because if so I think he might just be deluding himself in general.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die."
- Abdul Alhazred.
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 8:47 pm
I don't really understand any of his reasoning really. I'm trying to not bring up religion anymore around him. Of course now he's got to bring it up every time I enter the room. Tonight he called Dawkins and Hitchens the Bishops of atheism, which he is convinced is a religion. 
You really believe in a man who has helped to save the world twice, with the power to change his physical appearance? An alien who travels though time and space-- in a police box?!?
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RE: Experiencing the Divine
August 1, 2012 at 8:54 pm
(This post was last modified: August 1, 2012 at 8:57 pm by Reforged.)
(August 1, 2012 at 8:47 pm)KnockEmOuttt Wrote: I don't really understand any of his reasoning really. I'm trying to not bring up religion anymore around him. Of course now he's got to bring it up every time I enter the room. Tonight he called Dawkins and Hitchens the Bishops of atheism, which he is convinced is a religion.
Don't get me started. I've been "debating" with the forums special needs pupil about whether Atheism is a religious position.
I say "debating" in inverted commas because his retorts are about as relevant and informative as if he had just posted a youtube video of himself engaging in interpretive dance and written
"pwned  " underneath.
"That is not dead which can eternal lie and with strange aeons even death may die."
- Abdul Alhazred.
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