Posts by Viviane

18

My new Religion is The Truth.

by LAWHFol in

what exactly is religion?

why all of the pain?

you either love religion (usually the one you call home), you hate it.. or you're somewhere in between, and you say "let bygones be bygones".

Viviane

I pay theists the respect of assuming they care about truth despite all the evidence that they mostly don't.
I'm generous like that.

You are so very Scottish.

15

Just read "Zealot - The Life And Times Of Jesus Of Nazareth"

by EdenOne in

so, keeping in mind that mrs. eden isn't so comfortable with english, i have been searching for books on the subject of the historical jesus and who wrote the bible, and i got very frustrated because there's not a lot of those in my native language.

most of what i read in english simply hasn't been translated, which is a shame.

in any case, i managed to get two: bart ehrman's "misquoting jesus" and reza aslan's "zealot".

Viviane

I have, it was quite a good book, I thought. Like you, I also thought it was a bit superficial in places. I also recommend "How Jesus Became God" by Bart Earhman.

68

My Explanation of God.

by LAWHFol in

i am a theist & this is my version of god.. instead of using the term god, i'll use "unseen presence".. this unseen presence, is perfect in every way.

this presence is so perfect it can seem a bit boring.this perfection can be seen in the laws of science, for example gravity.. it does not sometimes work, depending on the mood of some one in the sky, it always works, perfectly.

gravity does not get angry and decide to stop working, and cause the death of innumerable living beings, it just works, through thick or thin, it is reliable.. what allows this unseen presence to remain perfect, is the fact that it does not act based on emotion, or strategy or regret.. it acts based on law, mathematical law.. this unseen presence is not partial to jews or muslims or jw's it is completely impartial at all times, to everything that exists.

Viviane

@Viviane, I hate to break it to ya, but this statement is not only ignorant, but very unscientific.

Don't worry, you didn't break it to me. Atheism simply means a lack of belief in gods, goddesses, spirits, a spirit world, fairies, etc. It makes no claims about the world, senses, etc.

Without Assumptions about reality, we would not even have Science.

Science and atheism have nothing to do with each other. Science a method and process for discovery about the world around us.

Science MUST by necessity make assumptions about the natural world in order to test a hypothesis in the first place.

Which has nothing to do with atheism.

If what you say is true [science does not make assumptions] then there would be no reason to conduct an experiment since

Well, I never said that or anything like that. You appear to be struggling with reality a bit yourself.

So there you have it, an Atheist [or Agnostic] who makes assumptions.

I'm an atheist and I make assumptions. If you'll check against reality (I'm presuming you have working neurons, as you said), I said atheism makes no assumptions, not atheists. Two different things, neither of which has anything to do with science.

I have to say, you seem very confused by this.

144

JW message becoming more and more relevant

by lsw1961 in

mans requirements are limited which can be satisfied with a little and tension-free endeavor..

however man attempts not only to collect but also to grab and amass everything to the excess.

somehow he feels that he can be happy only when he has in abundance whereas others have nothingwhich seems to be the thread that runs throughout the history.

Viviane

Oh, OK…my mistake…I see them now. I was wrong…we did evolve then.

See that was easy. You just needed someone to show you the light.

144

JW message becoming more and more relevant

by lsw1961 in

mans requirements are limited which can be satisfied with a little and tension-free endeavor..

however man attempts not only to collect but also to grab and amass everything to the excess.

somehow he feels that he can be happy only when he has in abundance whereas others have nothingwhich seems to be the thread that runs throughout the history.

Viviane

John, the missing links are right there in the picture, hiding behind the signs.

144

JW message becoming more and more relevant

by lsw1961 in

mans requirements are limited which can be satisfied with a little and tension-free endeavor..

however man attempts not only to collect but also to grab and amass everything to the excess.

somehow he feels that he can be happy only when he has in abundance whereas others have nothingwhich seems to be the thread that runs throughout the history.

Viviane

Why are there still apes…why haven’t they turned into the missing link???

What missing link?

68

My Explanation of God.

by LAWHFol in

i am a theist & this is my version of god.. instead of using the term god, i'll use "unseen presence".. this unseen presence, is perfect in every way.

this presence is so perfect it can seem a bit boring.this perfection can be seen in the laws of science, for example gravity.. it does not sometimes work, depending on the mood of some one in the sky, it always works, perfectly.

gravity does not get angry and decide to stop working, and cause the death of innumerable living beings, it just works, through thick or thin, it is reliable.. what allows this unseen presence to remain perfect, is the fact that it does not act based on emotion, or strategy or regret.. it acts based on law, mathematical law.. this unseen presence is not partial to jews or muslims or jw's it is completely impartial at all times, to everything that exists.

Viviane

You can know simultaneously know the absolute position and absolute speed of a particle.

That should say can NOT simultanously know...

68

My Explanation of God.

by LAWHFol in

i am a theist & this is my version of god.. instead of using the term god, i'll use "unseen presence".. this unseen presence, is perfect in every way.

this presence is so perfect it can seem a bit boring.this perfection can be seen in the laws of science, for example gravity.. it does not sometimes work, depending on the mood of some one in the sky, it always works, perfectly.

gravity does not get angry and decide to stop working, and cause the death of innumerable living beings, it just works, through thick or thin, it is reliable.. what allows this unseen presence to remain perfect, is the fact that it does not act based on emotion, or strategy or regret.. it acts based on law, mathematical law.. this unseen presence is not partial to jews or muslims or jw's it is completely impartial at all times, to everything that exists.

Viviane

he basic Atheistic assumption about reality is that you CAN trust your empirical senses as a measurement for reality. I find it ironic that the very title of his book assumes that people can in fact have a Delusion of reality based on their senses.

Atheism makes no assumptions about reality. Neither does science (which, in fact, has shown we cannot trust our senses quite often).

Truth manifests itself in absolute laws that are fixed [not capricious or random] 1+1 will always = 2; that law of logic is a reliable method of reasoning [There is no such thing as a married bachelor] etc.. I would be willing to go toe to toe on any Atheist on this board who insists on defending a universe without any absolutes.

You can know simultaneously know the absolute position and absolute speed of a particle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uncertainty_principle

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_function_collapse

45

Who or What is the Holy Spirit?

by FusionTheism in

tradition within christianity has long been that any time the phrases holy spirit, holy ghost, or spirit of godare used in the bible (especially in the new testament), it always refers to the mysterious third divine person of the trinity, who is fully god, co-equal to the father and son, yet somehow distinct.. i want to present a simplified alternative view: let the context determine the meaning!.

(one thing to keep in mind is that the meaning of the bible words used for spirit basically is unseen force or invisible presence.).

the holy spirit as the mind and personality of god.

Viviane

Could it be the Holy Spirit is the incredible automation that exists in the universe which possibly includes Karma and 'The Force be with you' type phenomena presented in the Star Wars movies.

What automation? Which "tasks" (implying a purposeful mind with a goal) are automated? How can we detect this automation? What would be the sign of something being automated and something not being automated? Karma is not at all like the Force in Star Wars. How are you imagining karma automating things? Which things are being automated and why do they need automation?

Regardless of whether someone is an Atheist, Spiritual or Religious, I am of the opinion many people would agree to the possibility such a force exists.

Of course it's possible. It's also possible there is are microscopic rhinos made of unicorn spoons mating while in orbit around Pluto. You've exactly as much evidence for both.

Some people are good at tapping into it and others 'sin' against it.....for example blowing people up in the name of their God.

Wait, I thought it was an automating force? Now it's a moral force? What is this force made of? A field? A particle? If humans can tap into it, we should be able to detect. What would you propose as a means of detection?

68

My Explanation of God.

by LAWHFol in

i am a theist & this is my version of god.. instead of using the term god, i'll use "unseen presence".. this unseen presence, is perfect in every way.

this presence is so perfect it can seem a bit boring.this perfection can be seen in the laws of science, for example gravity.. it does not sometimes work, depending on the mood of some one in the sky, it always works, perfectly.

gravity does not get angry and decide to stop working, and cause the death of innumerable living beings, it just works, through thick or thin, it is reliable.. what allows this unseen presence to remain perfect, is the fact that it does not act based on emotion, or strategy or regret.. it acts based on law, mathematical law.. this unseen presence is not partial to jews or muslims or jw's it is completely impartial at all times, to everything that exists.

Viviane

Viviane - See "Mathematical universe hypothesis"

I'm well aware of it. You've still all your work ahead of you if you expect to move from meaningless deepity that's not even wrong to saying something that can be evaluated in context that comports with reality.