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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 1, 2023 at 11:50 pm
(December 1, 2023 at 7:49 pm)Ahriman Wrote: (December 1, 2023 at 7:45 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: So let me get this straight.
If you want to believe in something, you can just turn that on and off.
Where did I say that?
Quote:There are natural consequences for not believing in God. There are consequences for believing in Him, too.
You implied that belief is a choice.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell 
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 12:09 am
(December 1, 2023 at 11:50 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: (December 1, 2023 at 7:49 pm)Ahriman Wrote: Where did I say that?
Quote:There are natural consequences for not believing in God. There are consequences for believing in Him, too.
You implied that belief is a choice.
Well it kind of is, and it kind of isn't. A person makes up his or her mind about God early on in life, and this is usually what they stick with for their whole life. However, it is possible to change course.
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 1:01 am
(December 2, 2023 at 12:09 am)Ahriman Wrote: (December 1, 2023 at 11:50 pm)Bucky Ball Wrote: You implied that belief is a choice.
Well it kind of is, and it kind of isn't. A person makes up his or her mind about God early on in life, and this is usually what they stick with for their whole life. However, it is possible to change course.
Kindly show us the data source for that.
Every religion is true one way or another. It is true when understood metaphorically. But when it gets stuck in its own metaphors, interpreting them as facts, then you are in trouble. - Joseph Campbell
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 2:36 am
(December 2, 2023 at 12:09 am)Ahriman Wrote: Well it kind of is, and it kind of isn't. A person makes up his or her mind about God early on in life, and this is usually what they stick with for their whole life. However, it is possible to change course.
I think you're right, but I don't want to suggest that this is a conscious, deliberate choice.
It's not like people write a list of pros and cons on a piece of paper and then do the sums.
People choose, most likely, based on all kinds of emotional and social causes. And then if they feel like they have to defend themselves they figure out the justifications afterwards. They'll come up with ex post facto reasons that sound good in argument. Whether all of these reasons are good ones or not is a separate question.
As the man said: "Reason is, and ought only to be the slave of the passions, and can never pretend to any other office than to serve and obey them."
https://sites.pitt.edu/~mthompso/reading...encing.pdf
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 5:20 am
(December 1, 2023 at 7:13 pm)Ahriman Wrote: (December 1, 2023 at 7:03 pm)h4ym4n Wrote: Hardening hearts is what people want?
In a way, it is. There are natural consequences for not believing in God. There are consequences for believing in Him, too. But I would say the former consequences are of a more severe nature than the latter.
I agree that the consequences for not believing in God are pretty severe. Chief among them is having to explain simple things to idiots.
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‘But it does me no injury for my neighbour to say there are twenty gods or no gods. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.’ - Thomas Jefferson
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 8:40 am
No matter how simple the explanation, the "mind" of the idiot, is even more so. Also, when their idiocy is challenged the coward rears it spineless, chicken hearted little head.
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 12:18 pm
It's hard to read whether statements like that natural consequences bit are just mistakes or a threat. Do they think that believing in gods does something, or that if we don't..god is going to do something to us? Sounds pleasant either way.
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: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 12:31 pm
(December 2, 2023 at 12:18 pm)The Grand Nudger Wrote: It's hard to read whether statements like that natural consequences bit are just mistakes or a threat. Do they think that believing in gods does something, or that if we don't..god is going to do something to us? Sounds pleasant either way.
I guess I could try explaining how this works, but I'm not going to. It would be like trying to teach Spanish to a cat.
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 12:42 pm
“If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” ~ Einstein
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RE: [split] Are Questions About God Important?
December 2, 2023 at 12:45 pm
(December 2, 2023 at 12:42 pm)Foxaèr Wrote: “If you can't explain it simply, you don't understand it well enough.” ~ Einstein
Well it's not a simple thing. And that's just one guy's opinion, not some universal truth.
"Imagination, life is your creation"
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