WOW!!! What a marvelous thread!!! WOW wow... wow...
BoyntonStu:
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Religion comes from translated/interpreted words whose origins came from unknown sources. The 'believers' accept the words as Gospel without challenge or proof. They 'feel' it to be true. Well, so do the sheep's HEAD believers.
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WELL said!
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Wouldn't it be nice if the believers named their book, "The Theory of Jesus"?
Scientists are strong enough to call it "The Theory of Evolution".
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WELL said again!
gldskr wrote: (bold emphasis mine)
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Since I don't wish to discuss easter bunnies or tooth fairies I'll leave the theists POV for others to haggle with. The point is, that regardless of the reasonableness of the deist methodology, the conclusion is the same. Because we (the scientists) cannot explain our existence, therefore something must have caused it. It is this belief in something rather than the something itself that disturbs me. Why is it necessary to believe, rather than the evidence to show itself or be discovered? Why can we not admit to ourselves that we do not know and simply endeavor to find out? Are we so weak intellectually that we must have closure to be whole, or maybe it is our arrogance of our "knowledge", that results in the pitting of faction against faction, each having ulterior motives. I would suggest that it is a combination of these.
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EXACTLY!!!
And David Merrill posted this link:
http://kjmaclean.com/
Where I found the following:
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What if consciousness is non–physical in origin, undetectable by the instruments of science?
What if the universe, instead of being indifferent and probabilistic, has been designed to respond to our preferences and our thoughts?
What if incarnation is a conscious choice?
And finally, what if death is an illusion? What if death is simply a transition from a physical state to a non-physical state of broader awareness?
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YES! Just as gldskr said in his eloquent treatise above, why plug in answers to fill in the blanks? Why not just continue to seek information with an open mind?
Religion habitually attempts to close the minds of its followers. If you consider reincarnation, or the survival of consciousness after death, or believe there
might be a spiritual realm (the Universal Mind... the aggregate of all of our eternal consciousnesses) that is just as much a part of nature as everything else that our 5 limited senses can perceive, religion teaches that you must be a doomed non-believer (infidel) or under the influence of "Satan". Balderdash!!!
I've had psychic experiences. I've had an out of body experience during which I saw and heard things that were subsequently proven true. At first I thought I had only been dreaming... but then I found out that the events actually happened. I cannot prove this... but it made me open-minded to books written by doctors who studied near-death experiences, and psychologists who've performed hypnosis and heard their patients describe a spiritual realm after life and between lives. I've been "told" things and have received guidance regarding matters that I could
never have known otherwise. I cannot prove any of this to anyone (although my husband has witnessed two such occurances), but because of these things, I will always believe that my consciousness is eternal. I do not fear physiological death, and I do not believe that I must adhere to some religious faith in order to be "saved". I believe this life is a learning experience - one of many.
I am now going to enjoy further perusing that website that David Merrill posted! Thanks David!
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