Do you see any benefits to religious faith?

[Arkilogue]

The "usable ore" has nothing to do with being in the Bible. If something in the Bible comports with reality, it does so on its own merit, not because it is in the Bible.  

And the fact that there are some things in the Bible that do comport with reality, does not in any way add any evidence that any other particular thing also does.  

And you know what the mindset of the Bible authors was?

Yes, but the phone book does not make claims as being inspired by the creator of the universe, with the added claims of accepting the contents or be punished for eternity.

Yes and I've found the same basic ores to work with in other "spiritual" books from other cultures. They are also naturally occurring but you have to dig on your own for those. People probably won't believe you when you tell then what you found but that's also not required, and not really the point of the endeavor (until much later).

I did mention coprolite yes?

I do by the words they use, how they describe their use and how they use them.

I'm not required to assert the same premise to find my own useful information in the conglomerate data set that is the bible and come to my own conclusions.

And quite to the point of "eternal punishment". that is a grievously erroneous mistranslation. In the Greek it's "kolasin aionion" which means "corrective chastisement (the root meaning, to prune a tree for better growth) for an age" which is a very long time with a definite beginning and end.


This is why I don't take populist and modern interpretations with these things. They are wrong in several KEY areas and often fatal to the original idea.

This is why I bring up "faith" so much and so vehemently. The current usage/meaning is in diametric/fatal opposition to it's original intention and trajectory of spiritual growth. It's like this: We are all a seed of potential growth covered in a protective shell, this is our ego and we paint the inside of this shell with all our beliefs/paradigms/world views, etc. The new meaning of "faith" says to paint the right picture and make that shell hard! Don't let anything else in!

The original meaning was to soften and let in the water. Yes you will lose your protection and grow quite beyond it's confines, yes all your cherished paintings will dissolve, but it will awaken you beyond your ability to do so for yourself and your full growth potential can be realized. That is the rebirth by water.



Even if you want to say the "faith authoring experience" they describe was a psychotic break, or ergot poisoning or hallucination brought on by sensory deprivation....the same functional definition of "faith" holds as they used it. The experience was not self generated, not produced out of one's own thoughts, it was an outside influence that persuaded them that something was so. And that something is usually described some kind of transcendental "God/heaven" experience that is way beyond one's normal everyday experience.

[ApeNotKillApe]

Even if you want to say the "faith authoring experience" they describe was a psychotic break, or ergot poisoning or hallucination brought on by sensory deprivation....the same functional definition of "faith" holds as they used it.  The experience was not self generated, not produced out of one's own thoughts, it was an outside influence that persuaded them that something was so. And that something is usually described some kind of transcendental "God/heaven" experience that is way beyond one's normal everyday experience.

Typically a deity of the subject's religion or the religion most prominent in their lives. Curious.

[Jehanne]

The follow-up question is this: Is it better to live as if the fundamental concepts of religion are true or false, irrespective of whether they actually are true or false?

Thoughts?

It's a drug, a mental fantasy as opposed to a chemical one.

[Arkilogue]

Even if you want to say the "faith authoring experience" they describe was a psychotic break, or ergot poisoning or hallucination brought on by sensory deprivation....the same functional definition of "faith" holds as they used it.  The experience was not self generated, not produced out of one's own thoughts, it was an outside influence that persuaded them that something was so. And that something is usually described some kind of transcendental "God/heaven" experience that is way beyond one's normal everyday experience.

Typically the deity of the subject's religion or the religion most prominent in their lives.

Communication is easier received from familiar forms.

Who can withstand a formless God of light so bright it shines through one's body, a mind so omnipresent that it looks at you from both within yourself and from all around, and a voice that comes from everywhere at once?

God "hides" from us a reason. The universe is like a house and we, like light bulbs, are self contained and illuminated with a regular amount of current we can handle. We are shielded/hid from the natural occurrence of electricity which takes the form of a lighting bolt that no light bulb can withstand the full power of and remain intact.

[Cyberman]

[ApeNotKillApe]

Typically the deity of the subject's religion or the religion most prominent in their lives.

Communication is easier received from familiar forms.

Who can withstand a formless God of light so bright it shines through one's body, a mind so omnipresent that it looks at you from both within yourself and from all around, and a voice that comes from everywhere at once?

God "hides" from us a reason. The universe is like a house and we, like light bulbs, are self contained and illuminated with a regular amount of current we can handle.  We are shielded/hid from the natural occurrence of electricity which takes the form of a lighting bolt that no light bulb can withstand the full power of and remain intact.

Woo, sir. Woo.

Is God literally light? Does it exist on the electromagnetic spectrum? Does God have a speed limit of 186,000 miles per second? Or are you parroting metaphors generated by sapient creatures that have evolved to depend on light?

[Arkilogue]

[Cyberman]

I prefer



or


but I fail to see how any of this is relevant. Are you sure you posted in the correct section?

[ApeNotKillApe]

[Arkilogue]

Communication is easier received from familiar forms.

Who can withstand a formless God of light so bright it shines through one's body, a mind so omnipresent that it looks at you from both within yourself and from all around, and a voice that comes from everywhere at once?

God "hides" from us a reason. The universe is like a house and we, like light bulbs, are self contained and illuminated with a regular amount of current we can handle.  We are shielded/hid from the natural occurrence of electricity which takes the form of a lighting bolt that no light bulb can withstand the full power of and remain intact.

Woo, sir. Woo.

Is God literally light? Does it exist on the electromagnetic spectrum? Does God have a speed limit of 186,000 miles per second? Or are you parroting metaphors generated by sapient creatures that have evolved to depend on light?

It's allegorical of course, the "light" is consciousness. But creation of the circumstances required for EM radiation to propagate was created by God. EM propagation is not possible through absolute solid matter (quark matter aka quagma). Space must be created inside in a very specific manner to support electromagnetic phenomena.

Light is also helpful to illustrate the relationship of God to the universe: Before the creation of space is like unified white light, the creation of space is like the prismation of light, the forces and material inside are like the spread out colors. They would be the "Elohim" expressive plurality of the originally unfed God.

The infinite unified God state of absolute being still exists outside the finite, mostly empty space universe.

---

but I fail to see how any of this is relevant. Are you sure you posted in the correct section?

You began the jpg train, I simply hoped aboard. Are you unsatisfied with your trajectory?