Finallysomeprid....it was buddha playing tricks on you. He emailed me and we had a good giggle about it...
How can anyone really be a 100% confident atheist given the paranormal and occult?
by yadda yadda 2 78 Replies latest jw friends
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OnTheWayOut
CONFIRMATION BIAS ON WHACKY IDEAS.
Y'all know one reason we are so passionate about the subject of whether God exists or not, what proof there is? Many of us firmly believed we had "the truth" and that the world outside of our beliefs was being deceived. It's so wild that many can continue to believe that very same thing in a second or third time around after waking up to the truth about the truth.
Whenever there is two sides of an argument, like evolution vs. creation, blondes vs brunettes, artists vs. intellectuals, up vs. down, Bears vs. Packers… each person finds valid points that reinforces their belief, and some people can be completely oblivious to the other side.
A patient's belief that a drug will not work can become a self-fulfilling prophecy. Another patient's belief in a drug that is really a placebo, can cause him to start getting better.
One person's craziness is another person's reality.
The subconscious mind can make itself believe anything it wants to believe.
One person has a belief about ghosts or spirits, he then starts to see shadows and things at the corner of his eyes at first. Then those thoughts become reinforced and he starts to see things move. A “miracle” or maybe just a "coincidence" happens and further compounds his beliefs. He convinces others about what has happened, and now they are all compounding the thoughts into reality. They add their own experiences with "miracles" or just coincidences to the mix. And now we have a belief established.
Don't let annoying little hang-ups like logic, reason, or even reality stand in the way of what you want to be true. Your mind is the most powerful tool you have, and you'll be amazed at all the incredible things you can deny.
It's all in the way you don't look at things!
Heck, this even happens in the most ordinary of things. You buy an expensive car and you start justifying it with all the positive things said about the resale value or the quality of the machine. You minimize the negatives as things that are unimportant to you anyway.
This kind of thinking also leads to great achievement. Many people become great athletes by being so sure they can be. They climb mountains by being convinced that it can be done. They ignore what some would call reality. So there is a positive aspect to this thinking. "Reality" can also be dream-crushing. The young musician who listens to his parents talk about so few making it in the business, so he better have a solid backup plan, ofen never makes it.
And before people on the other side of the [vs.] symbol try to point out that logical, analytical, reasoning minds do the exact same thing, I will grant that as true. It is not an argument.
One of the greatest assets I have personally ever had was the ability to admit I might be wrong about something. I try to see things from the other side of the fence.
A few weeks ago, the Green Bay Packers (American football) had a terrible call against them that cost them the game. Typically, a Bears fan (Packers' rivals) would side with the terrible call and start to say the referee did the best he could. But the call was so bad that even a Bears fan would side with the Packers on this one.
It's such a "bad call" made by some believers that I am sure most other believers side against it- proof in the paranormal that God exists.
Well, know that unbelievers go further and see the same problem in this mantra:
"Have faith first and the knowledge/voice of God/Spirit will follow."
Believe, Perceive, Repeat.
Believe, Perceive, Repeat.
You might put a positive spin on that with "What the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve." But to an unbeliever, it just sounds like a command to turn off the reason and doubt and logic and let the mind be swept away in belief. -
Ucantnome
The ghost's i saw opened doors and windows and switched off lights. It was over a period of months. These events were witnessed by more than me. One I saw and was seen later by someone else pushed past him as it went into the kitchen. Scared the hell out of him. He ran upstairs to the bedroom and came out a short while later to looked down the stairs and could see it, exactly where i'd seen it some time earlier.
I find having experienced these things, how it helps me is I know how they came to be in our house and I know how we got rid of them.
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still thinking
How did you get rid of them Ucantnome?
The thing that interests me about the paranormaal is that it may be possible...but so far, no one has proved it. You would think there would be some proof by now...somewhere.
And even if you could prove that the paranormal is real...what has that got to do with any of the hundreds of gods mankind has invented being real. It's like saying 'The sun is shining...therefore Zeus is real' one does not prove the other.
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Ucantnome
Still thinking
How did you get rid of them Ucantnome?
By getting rid of the what brought them in.
With proving the paranormal I don't know how you would. Things for us happened fast and unexpectedly. It wasn't always the same. It was associated mostly with one area of the house.
And even if you could prove that the paranormal is real...what has that got to do with any of the hundreds of gods mankind has invented being real. It's like saying 'The sun is shining...therefore Zeus is real' one does not prove the other.
I don't think Zeus would have helped much.
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Fernando
From my experience there are definite paranormal dimensions to the hypocrisy, deceptiveness, malice, insanity and blindness of Watchtower Pharisees (the ruling religious clergy class) and their Sanhedrin (Governing Body).
The same for the inane addiction that causes the blind to follow the blind.
The same for cultic mind control.
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Chariklo
I agree, Fernando. Nice to see you again, by the way, you've probably been around but we've missed each other in-between threads!
What puzzles me is how some people...fill your own names in here where appropriate...not only refuse to believe in anything beyond what they see but do so with vehemence and scorn for all those who don't see as they do.
They remind me of people who refused to believe the earth was round because they couldn't see visible evidence. Or believe in inoculations. Or that the earth wasn't the centre of the universe. Etc. it's the same mind-set time and again. By and large, they are the same people who refuse to believe in the existence of God because they can't see him, but we'll leave that aside for the moment.
As he does so often, Shakespeare summed it up beautifully. "There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio, than are dreamt of in your philosophy."
And there are. I know that, from my own first hand experience.
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still thinking
I don't think Zeus would have helped much...Ucantcome
LOL Ucantcome...I mentioned zeus because I am also an atheist about him. So, given the thread title about being 100% confident atheist I have to include all the other gods that I'm an atheist about.
I think most christians are atheists about all the other gods too...I just go one more god than they do...LOL
By getting rid of the what brought them in....Ucantcome
What brought them in? And how did you get rid of it?
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Ucantnome
What brought them in? And how did you get rid of it?
Someone in the house brought something in from someone and the trouble came with it.