Posts by willmarite

19

If you were ‘God’, what would you do?

by JWchange in

this post is not meant to be blasphemous to non-atheists on this forum , just philosophical.

i refer to a god rather than the creator.

it;s 10,000 years in the future and you are a phd student with a brain the size of a planet, that has incredible technology at your fingertips to create life, similar to humans living today or better, intelligently and physically.

willmarite

If I were the creator first I'd enbed a little spark of my consciousness into each individualized consciousness so each person by effort and desire over time could fan that spark into a greater flame of consciousness.

Then I'd put the individualized consciounesses into a learning environment or schoolroom where they couldn't do any permanent harm to others. They could temporarily hurt others physically, emotionally etc. but this would last at most one school cycle. I would set the universe up so it acted like a mirror. For example, If someone thought angry thoughts at others that anger energy would eventually get reflected back to the person.

I would allow people to live how they wanted, do what they wanted, and create any type of society they wanted to create with the sole requirement that they experience the result of their thoughts and actions. I would know that using my power to eliminate suffering would defeat the whole purpose of there being a learning environment.

I would make it so the people would experience life from many different vantage points so they could learn the fastest. They would be born sometimes as men, women, rich, poor, of all different races, beliefs, physical abilities etc. At the end of each life cycle I would set up another school so they could look back on their physical life and seen how they could have done things better. It would probably be necessary to wipe their memory while they are in each different life so that it wouldn't interfere with the lessons they need to learn but who they are underneath as a person would remain even without the memory.

After these individuals continued learning and growing until they reached the same state of consciousness as myself they would be able to make their own universes.

37

The flat earth conspiracy!

by Truthexplorer in

ok. let me first start by saying i am not a flat earther.

i like most on here will have the same view most will have here about our planet.

in saying that however, i am incredibly gob smacked by the book written by eric dubay called 'the flat earth conspiracy'.

willmarite

An easy way to disprove Eric Dubay's claim is to see that the sun does not set in Antarctica's summer. This would not be possible in the flat earth model.

99

Golden Rule: Pure Garbage?

by willmarite in

on another thread a poster made the comment that the golden rule was garbage.

she said it was arrogant and made assumptions.. i didn't want to derail that thread so i started another wondering if this is a common thought about this belief on this forum.

i guess i naively thought the value of doing to others as you want them to do to you was generally accepted as positive.. i understand people have different opinions of jesus as a person but i don't want to get into that here.

willmarite

Thanks everyone for the constructive input. I would have to say while I certainly understand the superiority of the diamond rule in very few cases would it be better than the golden rule.

In most cases I deal with other people I have no idea that they would like to be treated differently from myself so the golden rule would be a good rule of thumb in treating people I just met, deal with infrequently, or other acquaintances that I don't know real well.

The people that I know real well are only a few and 99% of the time they want to be treated the way I want to be treated so again the Golden Rule would be valid in 99% of the cases when I deal with people I know well. Also in a couple cases as Eden mentions people I know well would want to be treated in a way that isn't healthy for them so the diamond rule would probably not be the best.

Taken together I personally feel in my own life the Golden Rule is applicable 99.9% of the time.

99

Golden Rule: Pure Garbage?

by willmarite in

on another thread a poster made the comment that the golden rule was garbage.

she said it was arrogant and made assumptions.. i didn't want to derail that thread so i started another wondering if this is a common thought about this belief on this forum.

i guess i naively thought the value of doing to others as you want them to do to you was generally accepted as positive.. i understand people have different opinions of jesus as a person but i don't want to get into that here.

willmarite

On another thread a poster made the comment that the golden rule was garbage. She said it was arrogant and made assumptions.

I didn't want to derail that thread so I started another wondering if this is a common thought about this belief on this forum. I guess I naively thought the value of doing to others as you want them to do to you was generally accepted as positive.

I understand people have different opinions of Jesus as a person but I don't want to get into that here. What about the teaching called the golden rule itself? Is it just garbage?

94

Disowning the God of the OT is not an Option

by cofty in

it's to their credit that many modern christians prefer the jesus of the gospels to the god of the old testament.. ot god is an embarrassment.

i am not going to list his multitude of moral crimes here but my personal favourite is his brilliant idea that a girl who is raped must marry her rapist.

it's not his biggest crime but it demonstrates a disregard for human feelings that is beyond the comprehension of every moral person.

willmarite

Viviane - I never thought someone could so misunderstand my point of view. I'm not asking anyone to accept truth from a book.

Take for instance just one thought from what Jesus taught. Do onto others as you would have them do unto you. Do not quote me something else that Jesus supposedly said and you disagree with. Consider just this one part. Is it an idea that can help people? Or is it pure garbage? Is everything Jesus said garbage and you disagree with it 100%?

If because of your past you can't accept anything that is contained in the bible that is fine. Go to other spiritual teachings or go to self-help books and yes go cherry pick. Accept what resonates with you and leave the rest.

94

Disowning the God of the OT is not an Option

by cofty in

it's to their credit that many modern christians prefer the jesus of the gospels to the god of the old testament.. ot god is an embarrassment.

i am not going to list his multitude of moral crimes here but my personal favourite is his brilliant idea that a girl who is raped must marry her rapist.

it's not his biggest crime but it demonstrates a disregard for human feelings that is beyond the comprehension of every moral person.

willmarite

I'm not sure why "cherry picking" is cast in a negative light. Do not all of us do this with most everything? Accept the good discard the rest only makes sense. When I go out to my orchard I don't reason "Well I've got to eat every apple out there even if it is filled with insects or I can't eat anything!" Pure foolishness. Does an atheist have to accept every thing that Richard Dawkins has ever said or reject everything he has ever said? Or does he "cherry pick" his statements accepting what makes sense and leaving the rest?

94

Disowning the God of the OT is not an Option

by cofty in

it's to their credit that many modern christians prefer the jesus of the gospels to the god of the old testament.. ot god is an embarrassment.

i am not going to list his multitude of moral crimes here but my personal favourite is his brilliant idea that a girl who is raped must marry her rapist.

it's not his biggest crime but it demonstrates a disregard for human feelings that is beyond the comprehension of every moral person.

willmarite

Grreatteacher - My view of the divine isn't dependent of the bible so I can't answer your questions in a concise way.

That's true, of course, and it includes all 'teachings' from whatever source. That's an enlightened view - assess, evaluate, accept or discard. But it's not one which sits well with many in the religious world. If you teach that the bible (however defined) is divinely inspired and inerrant, and that your god is all-powerful and unchanging, you have to accept it all - and then try to explain away the unacceptable stuff.

What you say about religions is for the most part true but it is because they are mired in the same aforementioned black-and-white thinking. Religion says you must accept the whole bible. This thread says you have to reject the whole bible. Both are examples of black-and-white thinking.

Or, you 'cherry pick' - and once you start doing that your 'cherry picked bits' may, no will, differ from others and so you've started your own religion/sect/cult - which quite nicely illustrates that religion is a man-made thing built to suit your own circumstances, needs and aspirations.

Of course religion is a man made venture. However most religions have some truths in their core. Starting a religion is a fool's game. Developing our own spirituality without trying to force others is where it's at. However this doesn't appeal to people who are in it for money, power, or adulation.

94

Disowning the God of the OT is not an Option

by cofty in

it's to their credit that many modern christians prefer the jesus of the gospels to the god of the old testament.. ot god is an embarrassment.

i am not going to list his multitude of moral crimes here but my personal favourite is his brilliant idea that a girl who is raped must marry her rapist.

it's not his biggest crime but it demonstrates a disregard for human feelings that is beyond the comprehension of every moral person.

willmarite

I hope people can move beyond the black-and-white thinking of the premise of this thread. The point that you must accept the Jews view of God and what they wrote about God in the Old Testament or you can't accept anything Jesus taught is obviously black-and-white thinking. Or that you can't accept what is of value in the bible and not accept other things is also self evidently false.

The Jews of the first century obviously had a very distorted view of the divine as shown by their scriptures. Jesus presented the divine like a loving father. Would not one of the best ways to help the jews come up in consciousness is to use the parts of their own scriptures that could be valid in teaching a particular point? I may quote from the movie the Matrix to make a point but it doesn't mean I believe it is some ultimate truth.

As JWs we had black-and-white thinking. Let's move beyond it. We can find value in many teachings it doesn't mean we have to accept it lock, stock and barrel.

61

I know there is NO GOD

by jam in

isis, plain and simple.

if there is a god there is no way he.

would allow this to occur (beheading of james foley).

willmarite

Post 702 of 702
Joined 8/2/2008

"However, as free-will beings wouldn't a god allow us to act out our free will even if it hurts others?" -

How about the free will of the person being beheaded?

Free will gives us the ability to act and think what we want it does not give us the ability to avoid certain things happening to us. Otherwise free will would mean we have the ability to avoid any kind of unhappiness ever.

Jam, there are of course religious people who do and think as you say but not all. It doesn't take religion to make someone close minded and insist that their way is right. Just look a few comments above when someone said all believers in a god are extremists.

61

I know there is NO GOD

by jam in

isis, plain and simple.

if there is a god there is no way he.

would allow this to occur (beheading of james foley).

willmarite

I guess we disagee island man. Religion most certainly can be extremist but doesn't have to be. Do you believe the kind methodist man down the street to be an extremist?

Alleging that all who believe in a higher power are extremists is in of itself an extremist viewpoint. However I agree that blindly following orders from religious leaders is extremist.