Ah, good point. Hadn't thought of that. Must add that to my sermon! You can be my apostle now if you want, you've earned it. :-) Jesus pointed us to l...
Ok, except that we don't know that. We know only that no one has proven that it is adequate. It seems reasonable to guess that reason is not adequate,...
Here's another take on that claim... One theory could be that when Jesus went out in to the desert and subjected himself to extreme stress, he somehow...
Why do you think you know all this? To me, it seems every bit as much a made up story as Jesus in the clouds with his virgin mother and so on. And as ...
Returning to the thread title... I can't provide what the original poster requests, but I can share an experience. This experience proves nothing at a...
The most reasonable theory is that nobody has the slightest clue what death is, and all theories are just wild guesses. Imagine there was a continent ...
I'm saying reason has not been proven qualified for that job. We look at holy books and see their qualifications for the largest subjects has not been...
Soul may be a concept which is attempting to describe what I've called "leafness". Like the ripples in the pond, a pattern which is both real, and hav...
And then there's this... We typically assume that life and death are two different opposite phenomena. This may have more to do with the dualistic man...
A leaf falls to the ground and melts in to the soil. The tree pulls the nutrients left by the fallen leaf back up in to itself and uses them to create...
If you believe faith to be irrational, you could always stop believing without proof that human reason is qualified to generate meaningful statements ...
Ok Frank, thanks for playing. Well if you feel you have an answer, or a method of finding one, then you don't need an alternative. Go for it, and good...
What I'd really like to do is transcend the religious vs. secular paradigm, as that's what is implied by devaluing explanations. But yea, where to put...
I'm enthusiastic about discussions regarding the practical business of how to have healthy experiences. To me, that seems the serious way to proceed. ...
How about this? Skip the reasoning and stick with the experience. Attempts to explain the experience are really a statement that the experience is ina...
By asking for a definition of God we are assuming that God is a "thing", some phenomena which is separate and distinct from other phenomena and thus d...
Yes, it's been a long investigation for sure. What this long investigation has revealed is that nobody on any side has been able to prove anything. We...
I should have added that I was describing myself in the previous post, seeking fantasy superiority by the most efficient effective method!! :-) I'm st...
I've already been thinking about it for over 20 years. Your turn! :-) No offense, but you've not actually addressed my claim at all, but just further ...
Agreed, much better philosophically, but seen as much worse by all those whose personal identity depends on them having an answer which is superior to...
Agreed. Why? I'm not assuming logic to be qualified for god questions, and I'm still having a conversation. But we're not talking about "every time we...
Now you're getting it. The "does god exist" question doesn't model reality very well. The vast majority of the time that question seeks a simple yes/n...
Best I can tell, you reach that conclusion using a methodology you decline to challenge. Seems kind of like a "because it's in the Bible" argument. Fi...
Perhaps for a next project you could explain why we should care if an argument uses sound logic if the argument has no relationship with reality. Do y...
Wow, Natherton, what a great post. Well done, more please. I was listening to a NPR show about suicide awhile back where a panel of experts was passio...
How much does 10,000 cubic miles of space weigh? My point is not that space exists, or doesn't exist, but rather that it occupies a realm outside of t...
Biden has repeatedly said he will be a transition president, so he may be taking the long view. Black and brown voters will soon form the majority in ...
Yes, I hear you. Here's an accessible documentary which goes in to considerable detail on the subject. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rKPv8zApee0&t=5...
Ok, no problem. You've defined the topic narrowly enough so that you can do the logic dance you know how to do. No problem. I'm happy to bow out, and ...
Please don't take it personally, it's not about you at all. The thing is, I'm pushing 70, an old man, doing this very thing for over 20 years, almost ...
Yes, agreed, we are riding the edge every day. One thing I've come to find interesting is our relationship with being in this position. Our relationsh...
My point is, you're not doing that. You're not following your own chosen methodology. If a religious person makes a claim from the Bible, you ask them...
It's exaggerated to turn free will, or determinism, in to a principle that applies to everything. Some things we have free will for, somethings are de...
It's not touchy. It's boring. The wild exaggerations in any and every direction so as to strike a bold pose. Blatant disregard of common sense. Colleg...
I've been struck by how, on philosophy forums at least, both theists and atheists typically throw the baby out with the bath water when it comes to di...
The universe as we know it is actually comprised overwhelmingly of space, that which is typically labeled as non-existence. Your statement is referrin...
Just more simplistic exaggeration to make a point which sounds dramatic, confusing dramatic with philosophical. Ok, I'll leave you and the determinist...
No, sorry, your assignment has been changed. :-) If you are female, your assignment now is to hang around this place and provide some balance to the d...
You're making the same error as the determinists. Are you proposing that I have freedom of choice about EVERYTHING? They exaggerate in one direction, ...
Yes, we do have good reason to suspect that the highly imperfect reasoning ability of a semi-suicidal species only recently living in caves with thous...
My sense is that the answer lies somewhere in the muddled inconvenient middle. If true, this is not likely to be a popular theory with philosophers as...
Um, in your reply you demonstrated that my understanding of your position was correct. You clearly believe that a god does not exist, thus you believe...
Ok then, so we could rehabilitate this thread with that if you wish. Or start another thread on the subject perhaps? Or let it go. Agreeable to any of...
I'm willing to be corrected here, but my understanding of his posts was that he had concluded that a particular answer to the question has no value. I...
My complaint, which I don't want to get too carried away with, is that selling pessimism in a thread about suicide doesn't really qualify as compassio...
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