There is no contradiction between being rational and feeling a sense of awe and wonder. It's not an either:or
Let your beliefs be commensurate with the evidence.
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
There is no contradiction between being rational and feeling a sense of awe and wonder. It's not an either:or
Let your beliefs be commensurate with the evidence.
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
For instance, say a parent tells a child what to believe and the child accepts the story.
We are not children.
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
The taking care of itself is choosing tho
No it isn't.
Be led by the evidence, don't choose. Get your preferences and biases out the way.
It's a difficult thing to do. None of us achieve it totally.
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
I think we choose our beliefs. It's the only real point I'm actually arguing instead of discussing.Choosing your beliefs makes no sense. Many ex-JWs - in fact many people in general - choose their beliefs.
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
God being the closest word to express that awe
So god is just a metaphor for the awesome sense of wonder.
Congratulations you're an atheist.
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
I define faith as an emotional belief in the mystery that is involved in experiencing life
Yes there are many things about life the universe and everything that we can't fully understand. But what do you mean by having "an emotional belief" in mysteries?
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
outside of extremes faith serves man very well..
How are you defining faith?
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
Does it even matter if something is true or false
Yes
When it comes to working with a book such as the Bible I wouldn't be able to work with any particular church without scriptural evidence
Why do you think it is worthwhile organising your beliefs around a collection of books written by ignorant Iron Age nomads and warlords with the ethics of ISIS?
"traumatic as the initial transition may be, it can lead to the development of a truly personal relationship with these two greatest friends [the father and the son] .
.. "whatever sense of 'belonging' that membership in some religious system may create, it can never compare with the power and beauty and strengthening benefit of the intimate personal relationship the scripture presents .
from reading joseph campbell i've come to understand that there are functions to religion or mythology.
the path of Atheism and agnosticism means figuring life out on your own.
No it means basing your beliefs on objective evidence.
Faith means pretending to know things for which there is insufficient evidence.
yesterday i made a visit to the museum in my city.
the top floor is the planetarium, which has a connecting room with a huge dome ceiling where they project lessons and lectures and you have a 360 view of the night sky etc.. this particular lecture explained about our galaxy, and how it's only one of billions in the universe.
and then we learned about each planet, some of their moons and the sun.
If it fails, boy will I have a red face!
We both know that isn't true. Mormons have a long history of casually replacing one failed doctrine for an equally risible one and carrying on as if nothing happened.