OldYgg

yay, where is your member list? We can argue and splinter off on who is the best metal band of all time, Metallica or Iron Maiden... Oh, and kill each other once we figure we can't change the other guys mind on the subject.

Old Ygg

Perm

Not pretentious at all?

If you are a critical thinker, and you know that intelligent, thinking, rational humans have moments of transcendence or experience of the "supernatural", how is it not at least somewhat pretentious, if not blatantly arrogant to think that YOUR interpretation of that experience is the absolute correct one?

:huh: I don't get it.

Has someone who has *never* heard of Jesus Christ ever had a moment of clarity and suddenly "discovered" him during a moment where they felt they experienced the supernatural? Does burning flame's girlfriend think that the prophet Muhammed speaks truth about the one true God?

When someone is aware of the phenomenon, and insists that their interpretation is the only correct one... there is at least some degree of arrogance involved.

David B

I wouldn't have quarrelled with 'arrogant'.

And, having just looked up the meaning of 'pretentious', I find that it doesn't mean precisely what I thought it did, so withdraw the 'at all'.

David B

peanutaxis

I think these are both extremely valid points. My flatmate will sit there and mock the 'illogic' beliefs of other religions and yet won't use the same measuring stick on himself. Since to him it is 'obvious' that his view is correct, everyone else is in denial of the truth and is incorrect. This kind of thinking leads to an intollerant and ugly religion. A lot of athiests are extremely intollerant also.

There are Christians out there who are tolerant, as VitalOne suggested

Wolfie

You forgot the ambrosia!

IonMic

Levels of heaven - Standard Mormon theology

And I guess us Mormons really are doomed to Rot in Hell with you Atheists LOL - I took the little Dantes test - 8th level of hell for me

Gawen

It isn't really difficult to "see through" Christianity. Read your bible, if you have one. To sum up, Jesus tells us to:
• Abandon all your Earthly ambitions.
• Forsake your Earthly family and give your loyalty to God and your fellow believers.
• Sell everything you own and use the money to do good works.
• Avoid receiving any Earthly reward for your good works.
• Follow the Mosaic Law, both the letter and the spirit of it.
• Abstain from all sin, inside and out;
• Abstain from covetousness
• Abstain from anger
• Abstain from lust.
• Abstain from adultery.
• Do WHATEVER YOU NEED TO DO to abstain from lust.
• Practice strict nonviolent pacifism.
• Do not resist evil.
• Do not strike back.
• Do good to those who hate you.
• Practice mercy and forgiveness and peacemaking.
• Do not judge others; Judgment Day will come soon enough.
• Seek to purify your own character, strive to "be perfect, even as your father in Heaven is perfect."
• Over-fulfill the Law seeking to follow the spirit of it as well as the letter.
• Practice forgiveness, mercy, reconciliation, and peacemaking.
• Kill those that do not believe.
• Abstain from swearing false oaths.

When you're done with that, read this website:
http://www.buckcash.com/opinions/tem..._Crimeline.htm


Oh, I forgot. I'm second level Hell: Lustfull...*wicked evil snicker*

burning flames

once you experience the joys of fellowship and church choir you would know. in the right environment, something magical happens and we all exist in some collective positive consciousness. this happens in other group activities.

my theory is that humans, as sinful as they are according to the bible, deep down love the positive company of other humans. I see this plainly to contradict the notion of the bible that we are so horrible that we are hellbound without jesus. we have our problems and then we have love and fellowship!

I guess the fundies say that the only reason we experience love is because god is showing it to us. But this god never says a word, and in other scenarios it is clear that in the brain, we can kind of prove our version of reality to ourself. so it should be understandable, imaginable, that we are just prooving an idea of god to ourselves everytime we interpret an event as being influenced by the supernatural.

the thing that irls me is that brainwashing works in cults not called christianity, and so does the ability to take events as being influenced by something un proveable. we know that people can take coincidences as signs of prophecy, communicating with the dead, being haunted by ghosts, being drained every night by a vampire (doctor he covers the bite marks with his magic!)

we know of instances in reality where people can come to believe things not readily provable by means of coincidence and hindsighht, why doesnt it cross peoples minds that religion is another form of conditioning/brain programming?

Gawen

This is not magical. It is psychological. Hardly is there a need to conjure up an invisible deity to invoke magic.

burning flames

I agree. but its events like this that "may" be tricking people into convincing themselves they experienced something supernatural..