A special Christian message to terrorists.......

by WingCommander 25 Replies latest jw friends

• 

  the_classicist

  go ahead and keep waiting on your book keeping god, as he tallies up the injustices. i would prefer a god that actually does something about "his" f*cked up world.

  God does do something that's why there's a hell. You may say that if he does exist, he's not proactive. Man is more than body; God decides to punish evil by means of the soul.

  Well, God solves the world's problems on his own schedule (I mean, hey, the universe is still expanding at the speed of light). In the meantime, the pain and suffering of this life are beneficial to the soul.

  two true beleivers duking it out for their pathetic warlord gods. great.

  But a true believer wouldn't be "duking" it out, unless they're a simpleton exploited by the rich and powerful.
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  hey classicist,

  God does do something that's why there's a hell.

  does this seem inefficient to you in the slightest? why turn our brains off when it comes to how god chooses to do things? if this paradoxical god really wanted to do something, he would do something of substance instead of giving us an unfalsifiable idea to fly with.

  Well, God solves the world's problems on his own schedule (I mean, hey, the universe is still expanding at the speed of light).

  and what exactly do the two have to do with one another? the universe is still expanding, ergo god must still be working at something, whilst we all suffer over here in this older part of the universe? is this a non sequitur, or am i missing a tool of logic here?

  In the meantime, the pain and suffering of this life are beneficial to the soul.

  the soul exists philosophically, not scientifically. and yet suffering is a physical thing. why are we extrapolating more than what we can deduce from observation and data? is it because that's the way we have always done it, so why change? so, do i see another non sequitur here? pain and suffering linked to an unfalsifiable concept of a soul? suffering is beneficial for nothing, on a physical level, which we can observe easily. and yet you say it is beneficial for the soul, which no one can know exists? this almost sounds abusive to us humans, wouldn't you agree?
• 

  the_classicist

  hey tetra, I was working on something good, but I just pressed *back* by accident and deleted everything. So I'll summarize.

  does this seem inefficient to you in the slightest? ; why turn our brains off when it comes to how god chooses to do things? ; if this paradoxical god really wanted to do something, he would do something of substance instead of giving us an unfalsifiable idea to fly with.

  You would not believe a substantial revelation of God anyway, and most people wouldn't either. If God appeared to you, you would go to a psychologist. And if He did so repeatedly, you would check yourself into a mental hospital. Just as inefficient as the unfalsifiable idea.

  the soul exists philosophically, not scientifically. ; and yet suffering is a physical thing. ; why are we extrapolating more than what we can deduce from observation and data? ; is it because that's the way we have always done it, so why change? ; so, do i see another non sequitur here? ; pain and suffering linked to an unfalsifiable concept of a soul? ; suffering is beneficial for nothing, on a physical level, which we can observe easily. ; and yet you say it is beneficial for the soul, which no one can know exists? ; this almost sounds abusive to us humans, wouldn't you agree?

  Our knowledge of the soul exists as a revelation of God. It trust this revelation as I would trust my senses. Both are equally unfalsifiable.
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  classicist,

  i enjoy this banter. that sucks about you losing that work. i have done this too. i'm sure, that as always, it was good.

  You would not believe a substantial revelation of God anyway, and most people wouldn't either. If God appeared to you, you would go to a psychologist. And if He did so repeatedly, you would check yourself into a mental hospital. Just as inefficient as the unfalsifiable idea.

  yes, i give you that i would check myself into a hospital. i could only imagine the rare delight that a selular doctor would experience by someone actually checking themselves in because of a revelation from god. but i digress. you are right, i would not take it seriously.

  however, i would take it much more seriously, very seriously actually, if there were other mentally healthy skeptics that experienced the same thing, at the same time, in the same room, as i.

  It trust this revelation as I would trust my senses.

  so not that god would do this, but for the sake of argument. considering that god is fully capable of surprising you, if he asked you to jump off a cliff, would you do so? even if your senses told you it would lead to death? i mean, the potential damage of rocky ground approaching at a very fast speed, is a falsifiable concept. we observe it all the time.
• 

  kid-A

  Tetra,

  I enjoyed reading that exchange, but alas, its a losing battle. Religionists will always fall back on the standard circular logic unwilling

  to accept that magical thinking (i.e. hell, heaven, the easter bunny, tooth fairy, etc) are simply social constructions implanted in the brain

  over millions of years of human and societal evolution. You may enjoy this article from the journal "Medical Hypotheses" where they identify various regions in

  the medial prefrontal cortex responsible for the generation of religious ideation and religious delusions.

  Med Hypotheses. 2004;62(4):479-85.

  Related Articles, Links

  
  The role of the medial prefrontal cortex in human religious activity.
  
  Muramoto O .
  
  Department of Neurology, Kaiser Permanente, Interstate Medical Office East, 3550 N Interstate Avenue, Portland, OR 97227, USA. [email protected]
  
  Although religious practices are ubiquitous and universal throughout human history, their biological basis is little understood, particularly at the neural level. In this paper, I will first review the current understanding of the neural basis of human religious activity, and then present a hypothesis that the medial prefrontal cortex plays a vital role in the integrity of religious activity. In this hypothesis, optimal functions of the medial prefrontal cortex, such as error detection, compliance to social norms, self-reflection, and theory of mind, are a key prerequisite to the maintenance of integrated religious activity. Hyperreligiosity may result from the hyperfunction of the medial prefrontal cortex, including rigid legalism (excessive error detection), excessive concern over one's existence (excessive self-reflection), and delusional interpretation of God's mind (excess of theory of mind). Future research based on this hypothesis is proposed, and the potential implication of this hypothesis on our society is also discussed.

  Cheers!
• 

  tetrapod.sapien

  kid-A,
  

  
  ah yes, brilliant! and here i have always pointed the finger at the right temporal lobe hyper activity, and the shutting down of the parietal lobe. but that really is more to do with religious experiences, like OBE or religious hallucinations (a la temporal lobe epilepsy).

  but this is truly new to me. i would love to read the whole thing, but 30.00USD is a bit much for this poor student.

  thanks though, (on my way over to wikipedia),

  TS