by sabastious 363 Replies latest jw friends
To answer steve perry:
boredom
For megamind:
rephrasing your question, Why would an all-powerful god provide children with water, food .. or just parents that aren't dead when he takes them all away in a hurricane that wipes them all out? I don't know. I'd say the answer is that he's too busy doing card tricks for ex-JWs needing an answer to his existence. Because, you know, he's got to have his priorities straight.
Seriously for mindmelda - I read you. I dig your post and am more in agreement than you know. Just had a few too many white russians today. Really I should be posting on EE's infamous thread.
If you assume that everyone who merely recounts a personal story here loves to be challenged, you're merely projecting your love of debate and argument on others.
Believe it or not, a lot of people dislike debate and find it obnoxious that every comment they post is taken as a challenge to debate.
It may not suit the rational personality, but actually Rationalists, according to personality tests, comprise only about 8 to 12 % of the population. But, they are much more focused in number on internet forums, simply because of their innate love of endless debate and discussion about possibilities.
They tend to find it hard that others get emotional about debate, because they tend not to, but actually, most people do and when you challenge them, they WILL take it personally and they WILL at some point shut down and refuse to debate with you anymore.
Just a little psychology lesson about the differences in people.
Debate is a poor tactic for convincing a lot of people, the majority, actually, They take it as a form of emotional bullying and intellectual snobbery. Most people are not Rationalists, is why. Most people are Traditionalists and Experiencers, and they dislike debate for different reasons.
(The fourth type is Idealists, and they will discuss ideas, but not always for the same reason, to prove a theory right or wrong. Idealists are also a rarer personality type. As an Idealist myself, I dislike debate when it gets to what I think is a philosophical dead end or the emotional damage outweighs the possible benefit.)
Traditionalists dislike debate they think it's rude and/ or unnecessary to get to the bottom of things, and Experiencers because they find it boring, they like to find things out through, well... experiencing them, not discussion.
These are the people who might seem to be evasive and unintellectual to you, but guess what? A lot of people don't want to debate. You will seem like an asshole to them if you persist in debate when they're done with you when you think it's simply a matter of persisting with rational argument until they see the logic of your argument.
Get over the idea that most people are mainly driven by rationality or logic. They ARE NOT. Could it be that this is why atheists are a minority, albeit not as much of a one as they used to be? I admit that atheists tend to be the most logical people, but get over the idea that people are in religion for logical reasons. They AREN'T.
Also, it's pretty much a given that you're born with a basic personality profile. Converting a basic personality type may well be difficult, behavioral psychologists think you're pretty much born with a basic personality type.
There have even been studies done on how personality type contributes to a person being liberal or conservative politically, a good article about that in Psychology Today a while ago.
You may be an Atheist simply because it suits your personality type better than anything, but it might be extremely difficult or impossible for others to share a mindset with you they're simply not emotionally equipped to share. There has to be some reason religion has been around forever, right? It serves the needs of the majority in some fashion or it wouldn't exist.
Most people are Traditionalists and Experiencers,
Dumb and dumber :P~
Megamind: You had me at hello
And FYI - I don't really do well in all the "studies" you mentioned - but I'll be happy to take them if they're giving out free white russians for participating in the surveys.
I did so awesome on my LSATs and GMATs - does that that mean anything though - other than that I didn't make a very good JW since I used my mind so well????
anything? Nothing? you went to sleep already? darn. wanted to share some kahlua with you.
Sab, I'd like to back up and say I shouldn't even be suggesting what may or may not have caused your experience. I wasn't present and I'm not really educated in the laws of probability or Texas Holdem to add any intelligence to this discussion. I apologize for my dogmatic tone.
Before I drop off this thread, though, please check out this link to the Ghost in the Machine PDF when you get a chance. It's a short, seven-page psych paper based on actual events and, to me, is a must-read for the critical thinker like yourself. As it shows, even the sharpest inquiring mind can be stumped by strange, unexplained events.
I thought the story itself was incredibly interesting but the moral is priceless. In fact, if you regret reading it, I'll send you $5 for your time. (Now I feel like I'm selling you a food processor on late night TV.)
BTW, based on one of your earlier posts, you already know the moral ... but it's how well this account demonstrates it that makes it so awesome.
SBC, great read - but you're just a rationalist with your rationalist propoganda trying to rain on the parade of someone who had a supernatural experience. you poo poo head you -quit trying to ruin someone's communication with god.
Sure we are - is the earth flat or not? Does 2 + 2 = 4 or Does 2 + 2 = 5?
It equals 4 from our perspective. The laws of the universe are finite for us, but no one can prove that 2 + 2 always equals 4 since we cannot experience everything.
-Sab
No one said it wasn't purely subjective, but why does that make it invalid to the person experiencing it? We're not talking science here, we're talking about what someone felt. That might not be important to anyone but them, but so be it.
What funny is that I might be on the other side of the coin on this tread if I was just a replier and not the OP. I like you description here but I would make one change. To me, this is about science and how I felt.
-Sab
