aa5874

But it is right there. What can you see?



It simply tells me that they have no support for their position and must avoid further embarrassment.

When people perceive I am wrong they move in like vultures, when they believe I may be right, they just disappear, vanish, run away. They BOLT for cover.

I don't run from anybody.

show_no_mercy

I think I understand the strength of the meme perfectly. I mean, I can't even think consistently in any language other than English. A language that was forced on me. Imagine if your "language" was Christianity - it would take an extreme amount of effort to unlearn your "native" language and learn a new one... and then be able to do simple everyday thinking in this new language.

But people think they are 100% autonomous individuals; completely unaffected by their sociological situation. People are almost oblivious to how much indoctrination goes into their "individuality", to the point where they have immediate visceral reactions to things that would be completely unremarkable had they grown up in a different culture.

Barefoot Bree

What I see is you continuing to twist my words around to the exact opposite of what I was saying.

On the contrary, it means I have no desire to continue this kind of frustrating conversation with someone who argues in the same manner as my ex-husband. I've had enough passive-aggressive, word-twisting, deliberate refusal to understand to last me the rest of my life, and see no reason to engage in it with some random stranger on the internet. Others here have a higher tolerance for that kind of thing, so I'll let them take over.

bacht

It's probably true that many of us weren't raised to "think outside the box", but there is adult volition also. Refusing to ask hard questions about yourself or your society is not really excusable as we get older. Fear is the usual reason, rationalized as conformity or something else.

Sheshbazzar

Exactly Bree,
I my case I was caught in a snare of suggestions of 'greater truths' that were as it were, laid 'just around the corner', and only needed me to go after and seek out the answer's, being so convinced to the core of my being, I spent decades in searching The Scriptures, even learning to read, and to recite large portions of the Hebrew texts.
No one 'made', or ever 'required' me to expend such effort, I was driven by the strength of my own convictions, and by the peculiar circumstances of my upbringing and life.
Now I do not regret the effort, as I did learn many things that simply cannot be accessed, understood or appreciated in any other way, and thus yet remain 'hidden' to most of mankind. (I am not bragging here- any honest individual can recognize that there still are unexplored subjects that lay beyond the limits of common knowledge)
But here I have also digressed from my point.
I without much provocation or indoctrination, or communal, or societal pressures, turned myself over heart and soul to the pursuit and rationalization of my religious beliefs, and this course was resisted by my family and culture.
Now if I, raised within the midst of average mid-Western society, can become so enthralled by religious convictions, how much more so these men raised up in and encouraged by the norms of an ancient and totally religion dominated society?
I, though involved in religious studies day in and day out for decades, have never been exposed to even one- thousandth of the ritual requirements and that continuous, every day social pressure that shaped these early believers lives, and thought processes.
I had the luxury of being able to 'step back', and to listen to critical examinations of the Bible's claims, and even for all of that it was extremely difficult for me to 'get my mind straight' and place these religious teachings into a more educated and rational perspective.
I would judge that it would have been well nigh impossible for these ancients to ever so escape the bonds of their religion and culture.

aa5874

Please show exactly what words I have twisted around to the exact opposite of what you were saying.

Barefoot Bree

Sorry, kiddo, not interested in this warped tango anymore. I've been down this road too many times. First you hyper-focus in on one phrase ("don't give a shrill hoot...."), then you conveniently "miss" the point of my analogy, then tear apart my post into single sentences or phrases - don't forget to repeat that phrase! - twisting each back upon itself and each other, and then we get into arguing styles, and then you start heaping sarcasm, and when I decline to indulge you any further, you claim victory from my sheer exhaustion. Of course I must be running away to avoid admitting I have no support for my position.

Deja vu all over again. I'm having flashbacks to 8 years of marriage to a ..... nevermind.

Congratulations, you're now on my ignore list; the sole occupant. Don't bother replying, I won't see it.

aa5874

Please show exactly what words I have twisted around to the exact opposite of what you were saying.

J-D

I see a difference between

'about Paul's veracity'

and

'what the content of Paul's visions were'

Don't you? Doesn't everybody?What, not even a berserker with a flamethrower?

I guess you'll live your life the way you choose, but if everybody I met ran away from me, I might check that I was washing myself properly. Or see a counsellor. Or something.

J-D

Do you not understand how an 'ignore list' works?