Linna wrote: So then, what is the right word for what I was thinking? The person who always feels like she's "on stage" and like she always has to say the right thing, yet deep down feels a bit like a phoney? I think what Linna might be trying to say here is not that this person might be e...

Vraith wrote: They should NOT have any power [except over themselves, which is inviolate] UNLESS they are right and can show it. Hence my point, that nobody can claim the right to know the true purpose. Of course if someone were to KNOW that purpose, they would have not oly the right, but the duty. ...

When cosidereing the purpose of the Universe, no one individual or group could ever have a corner on what that specific purpose might be. Moreover, within the context of a strand of this thread related to the idea of the universe's "purpose" (as introduced by Peter IIRC, wheein purpose, co...

And Z, this thread's title is "Can the atheist experience 'the spiritual'". I believe the word "spiritual" qualifies most of what I posted as "on topic". And as I answered 'yes' to that question, I felt it important to provide why I think the answer is 'yes', that IMHO ...

Aliamtha wrote: I think he meant to be on your side, Vizidor. Uh, yes. That's the way I read it as well. V, Z and O: Simply because one disagrees with another's position or rationale, or mode of argument, does not mean the other is preaching at them. Listening and responding (to the best of one's ab...

Orlion wrote: Instead, the "religious hope" is just that: a mere hope with no justification and no satisfaction or realization. Of course such a conclusion conveniently ignores the thousands of years of testimonials, revelations, appearances, Jesus' coming and his undeniable affects on the...

V: I love that you can find heaven in the every day. Jesus said: "Behold, the kingdom of heaven is suddenly upon you". I think he meant himself in the presence of his witnesses, but nevertheless I agree it is all part of the journey. It starts here on earth, and each person has a different...

Vizidor wrote: I take a lot from the line in The Lord's Prayer: "There will be done on earth as it is in Heaven". This comes off sounding as if we have an edict that whatever is done in Heaven is done on earth. And yet, the prayer does not read that way. The line actually reads: "Thy ...

Z, I don't see the circular reasoning you are accusing me of making. You challenge why a God would make a world that would allow for evil/sin to ever even be a choice. I say that we can't know the true purpose, but that it doesn't mean there is none. Because I can't explain all the things that go wr...

Freedom to choose is a gift. God made our world the way HE/SHE envisioned it, not the way we envision it should have been made. His/her ways are beyond our understanding, and IMHO we should think about giving the benefit of the doubt that the universe's purpose just might be greater and grander than...

I find the analogy of the relationship between a parent amd child helpful. A parent's purpose in having a child is for the child to bring joy to the parent, and to the world, and so to find happiness and contentment in this new creation, which by its nature and purpose is good. One would not deny th...

Z wrote: I'm still kind of in awe of the fact that purpose can be introduced into reality in the first place, even if only subjective. It comes about from entirely purposeless events, in a universe without purpose. That's kind of amazing.   I believe that the universe certainly has purpose, and it i...

Wilding wrote: Ultimately, there's no way to prove either position unless God descends from the heavens and has a Q&A session. Well, you know what my response to that is....He already came to do just that. It's what is being celebrated tomorrow. And then man thanked him for it by killing him. Bu...

Wilding wrote: I would strongly disagree with the bolded part. All of those things are present in each of us, to greater or lesser degrees. Both the good (compassion, caring) and the bad (greed, despair). It's not faith in any particular higher power that brings it out. If it were, priesthoods of va...

Fist and Faith: I wouldn't say the good outweighs the crimes. Of course the good outweighs the crimes. It's what the good represents that makes it so. The "good" resulting from faith, et.al., is not a thing that comes from man. It is a gift that makes all that we have that is good possible...

Z wrote: I don't see how it's possible for the two not to contradict. It's like saying you can believe in both magic and science. Science depends upon naturalism, the idea that everything in the universe can be explained with natural mechanisms/causes. If there is some part of reality that can't be ...

Avatar wrote: It's easy to forget the other half of his username Now why didn't I put that one together for myself? I am going to go with the idea that just by having the other half in there, there is at least a struggle going on between the "Fist" and the "Faith". Hey, the name ...

Oh, and trust me, others will notice. Believers will take notice, and will learn from you by your simply being there, and it will strengthen them, give them renewed energy and hope, and you will see how the fueling and refueling of people truly can work for good, and then it comes back to you, and y...

Fist and Faith wrote: Dondarion's advice to "Try him out and give him a chance, and see where that prayer you offer up lands." is literally a preposterous suggestion. I don't mean that in the casual negative sense. I mean there's not a cell in my body that can even contemplate the idea ser...

Couldn't resist logging back in to post this one from “The Little Blue Book”, 2014 Advent edition. Thursday, December 11, 2014 “Bill Wilson” On this day, 80 years ago, an alcoholic named Bill Wilson was admitted to a New York hospital. He had just celebrated his 39th birthday. Alone in his room he c...