Why does it seem the SL population hates Christians?

Too bad you are "offended" but you have been through out this thread. Sorry you hate my Japish (Japanese Engish) but am a NOVA (english conversation school) dropout! About the other, Residents in this thread have resorted to calling Tya, Lewis and myself names and using vulgar language. While we never called any other resident names.

To those that want to "debate" my beliefs, so sorry never do that. It is my belief and that is that. Call it what you will......

Picture Ranma flying off into the sunset on her Tarn

See you next thread!

Yes, but then I'm addicted to SL!

Surreal, sorry, I edited my post to add the mention of Shermer's book after your response. Shermer is easier to read than D'aquili, I think, though his book is broader in scope. His points about humans being pattern-seeking animals are well taken when we ask ourselves how we came to believe in invisible deities.

man...you must want the negitive attention. why post for sympathy here....

I think its great you are excited about turning your life around...but as you know religion isnt the best subject to start up conversations with people who you have just met or to people you dont know.

and then you go and post it here of all places....it would seem your asking for confrontation.

You would be best to commune with like minded people....its great to be proud in whatever you believe in...but it seems it is you pushing the subject out there...which you said your werent doing...but...LMAO...you did...twice now...admittedly.

(you guys know there was no way I was gonna skip this drama wagon).....WEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE


♥hugs♥
recovering christian and happy to be loose'n her religion

jolene the master of her own universe....even her own GOD on good days


oops...im still on marks account...he is goinna kill me

Lewis: Game Ball

Prove, via scientific method, that God exists.

You cannot prove a negative, thusly 'prove he doesn't' is not acceptable.

You will be allowed to use the bible as evidence, provided you can back 100% of its events and stories as full truth as written with no interpretation.

The ball is in your court.

ok, I see that you are right about my reaction to your responses to me. I apologize for that. I don't have an excuse except that I was up far too late and I have no mastery of the subject that I am trying to discuss.

With that said, I was simply trying to insert something different in an otherwise useless thread filled with half-assed notions about what Christianity is and isnt.

I thought I'd present the central idea of a book I recently read, Relion Explained: The Evolution of Religious Thought.
Here is a quote that describes the point of view of Evolutionary Psychology. The author tries to explain religion from this point of view:
"The goal of research in evolutionary psychology is to discover and understand the design of the human mind. Evolutionary psychology is an approach to psychology, in which knowledge and principles from evolutionary biology are put to use in research on the structure of the human mind. It is not an area of study, like vision, reasoning, or social behavior. It is a way of thinking about psychology that can be applied to any topic within it."

I have no personal battle. I just thought some fresh brain candy would be better than the same tired half assed arguments people have for and against institutions of religion

PWNED!
Of course, he'll ignore it, just like the now 3-times quoted new testament passages I've provided which say slavery and killing children is just fine.

1. - you've confused me with someone else, maybe Briana?
2. - Rephrase it to "I wonder if we are speaking the same language" if that makes it clearer. It's obvious to me that you are not taking away the same meaning as the majority of the writers.

I'm offended by comparing talking to killing.

Coherent thought! Why do you think that religious thought is not coherent thought?

I haven't discussed this because I didnt think that i could do it well, but the way the brain produces coherent thought is exactly the mechanism which produces religious thought.

Again, you fail to really understand (or I fail to explain) that reliogious thought != religious dogma or institutions. Religious thought is the result of the inference systems of the brain. Inference systems (there are many in our brain) are the systems our brain uses to group and compare things. The results of these sytems constitute our cognition.

If you think that coherent thought or cognition are infallable (meaning that it sis a lack of coherent thought that produces religious thought) then I would argue you are mistaken. We mistake things all the time - just examine our visual cognition for a short while and you'll understand the wonders of the brain and how it does great things and how it tricks us all the time (for our own benefit mostly)

Perhaps you can make some sense out of that?

So, religious thought (I would argue) IS coherent thought. (I guess it may not be coherent from your perspective, but I'm not talking about YOUR opinion of coherent (like a babbling homeless person is not coherent). I am talking about ideas that relate to psychology. Have you ever taken a Psychology of Perception course, or any psychology for that matter?

{offcolorjoke}

If we'd been teaching you math, would you have dropped out?

{/offcolorjoke}

(j/k of course)

Man...pay no attention to surreal....LOL...incredibly talented and brite individual...she always has and always will be put off by any use of bad grammer...emotes....incorrect spelling...and even sentence structure.

There isnt anyone excluded from her criticism and judement....she cant help it....its her life work......SHE IS THE ONLY SURREAL WE GOTS....the more you'ns chop up the english language...only drives the need to critique.

<dont hit me again surreal...i wont post no more....please...not the cellar...I DONT WANNA GO BACK INTO THE CELLAR...PWEEEZE SURREAL....HELLLP ME

<ducks and runs

MWA HA HA HA HA

You will never dangle a participle again!!!!!!

The really tricky aspect of Religeon is ..

..as it pertains to who will or wont go to heaven, hell or any other place ...

You have to die to find out if you were right.


Kinda takes the fun out of the whole thing.

I'd never heard of the book before... it does sound interesting.

I can see there is a clear benefit that human beings have found in developing things like comforting belief structures, worship, etc. If there weren't a benefit to it, if it didn't have some positive effect on us, it wouldn't have developed in our society to the degree that it has. So, nodding as I read your last paragraph.




Sounds like another interesting book.... this thread is once again making me wish I had more time in my day for reading for pleasure.

I think with the exceptions of a few angry individuals who chose to only make hostile comments this really has been an interesting thread.

Speaking of which...


While I tend to avoid organized religion myself for my own reasons.... excuse my intruding on your life for a moment, you clearly have some serious anger issues about it. If you enjoy debating a topic then jump in and debate ... but lashing out this way is really pointless and not likely to sway anyone into listening to you. And for the record, as my son does a lot of missionary work too, I'll just be glad most people don't feel the way you do.

The driving force behind war is land grabbing. Not religion, beautiful wives who run away (Helen of Troy), or any other bullshit reason that people use when they want more land.

But the easiest way to get people whipped up and go out there and grab some land for you is to use religion. Happens over and over again in the bible. "Those people on that juicy piece of real estate are heathens and sinners! They eat babies, sacrifice virgins, and f*** donkeys! We should kill them all and take their land!"

And really how do we know that those people, including pregnant women and small children, were heathens and sinners? Cause their murderers told us so! Yes, but remember that John Wayne Gacy accused all of his victims, including a 15 year old boy just looking for a summer job, of trying to hustle him for money.

So, yes, the general found justification for what he was doing. I've never seen a person of any religion who couldn't justify his/her actions according to his/her religion.

Allana,

I do want to apologize again for being rude in some of my responses.

I'm glad to hear that you do find the topics interesting. And I am appreciative of Cindy's contribution. "Brain Science " will most likely be the next book I pick up right.

I really wish I could better articulate the ideas in the book I have read. I find the whole topic of religion fascinating but very convoluted. It would be easier to talk about Quantum Physics because at least we all wouldnt have so many preconceptions.

Thanks again for all your help in asking questions and demanding good responses

Champie

Ok, I can see the connection. Trying to find the right words to voice my thoughts here....


The human psyche (sp?) needs to be able to rationalize that which it doesn't understand. I see religious thought as a way human beings have rationalized the things in their world they don't understand. I dont see religious thought as at all incoherent, I wouldn't relate to nonsensical babbling. On the contrary, it makes perfect sense. It explains those things in our world we have no other explanation for. I personally believe there are any number of explanations and religion is just one of them but I fully understand why people turn to it.

There are some people who prefer a scientific explanation. There are some people who can manage a balance between science and faith. There are some people who NEED scientific explanations to the point that they can not veiw religious explanations as anything but fantasy and close themselves off to it. And vice versa. There are many who turn completely away from any scientific proof and choose ONLY to believe what a bible tells them.

I think that your argument (if I'm understanding it correctly) that religious thought is vital to humanity ... and my argument that humanity has made religious thought vital ... are in a way the same argument. Which came first, the chicken or the egg, is really irrelevant.

(and I've only had my one cup of coffee this morning and my mind is partially on something else I have to do soon so I hope I"m making some sense here)

Oh and yes I have taken some phsychology courses in college but .. ugh!.. so many years ago, I wouldn't dare to try to think I'm even remotely up to date on the latest research and at the time my focus was on abnormal and criminal psychology. I've never studied theology or religion either... civilian there too, just a civilian who likes to argue.

It's not a possible thing to put into simple words that someone else can understand. However, what IS important is how I feel and what happened to ME, and I list those so at least you know why I believe what I do.

- I believe that the universe is far too complex and varied to be the random result of an explosion.

- What happened to me on 2nd August 1990 was a life changing experience, thats when I finally accepted Christ as my saviour.

- I believe that the Bible is too complex, considering that it spans several thousand years of history (much of which has been proven by archaeological and other historical evidence) to have fallen together in such a comprehensive way without a lot of oversight.

- Out of all the various 'explanations' as to why and how we exist, I believe Christianity is the most credible explanation.

- Comparing my life how it was before I knew Jesus, and how it is now, I know which one I'd prefer.

- The Bible offers many words of comfort and reassurance, especially when feeling alone. God is always there when you need Him.

So.... you may laugh it all off as delusions, a mental disorder, a low self esteem or whatever on my part, but that is your choice. I merely explain why I believe.

Lewis

Hey no worries Heated arguments are the best kind right. And I never said you were rude, you weren't.... you were just wrong *grins*........ i'm joking! heh

Anyway, ditto on the rude thing, I hope I wasn't either...... and now off to deal with the real world....*sigh*

Again, my asking that question was rude (I know my intentions) and I apologize. The same applies to me..it was all so long ago and I don't have half the experience you describe for yourself.

I would say that we are essentially on the same page in terms of understanding each other. Like I said, I am trying to present the ideas in a book i read, but as you suggest, I shouldn't assert them as fact.

I actually take lots of comfort in the idea that humans are essentially religious (in the manner we've discussed) because it helps make sense of why we have so much conflict in the world when it comes to religious ideas. It's not enough for me to beleive that "religion is for stupid or weak people" (as some suggest in their approach and attitudes toward relgion). I've always felt that there is something essentially HUMAN about religious thought, like Jung's collective uncouscious and archetypes (these ideas seem to spring forth from our religious thoughts as humans).

So, when people start talking shit about Christianity, I can't help but think that they don't really know anything. Because if they did they might consider that there is something elementally true about all religions (Christianity inclided). Again, that requires separating the institutional thought from the religious thought(as we've been discussing).

Now, that doesnt mean they really dont know anything, but that is my reaction.

That was very respectable, especially if you take the "you" in your last tenet as explanitory instead of directive. And that's because you didn't say, in one single bit of it, that anyone else was wrong.


Edit: Something I'd like to point out is that people really seem to think that you have to choose a religion to have faith or express faith in God/Deity/Whatever. It doesn't matter what a religion can prove, what matters is the faith you find yourself drawn to and truly believing. Believing to a degree that the lore of it could be completely disproven, but that personal relationship wouldn't be affected, as the lore is the make of man. Faith can exist entirely independant of religion, and can be even more devout when it is.

wow...im glad i read this thread if only for the book referrals given by you guys!!...gonna check all mentioned.

So here is one I read, wanted to throw out at you guys (yes surreal...jolene reads...LOL u know your my hero). "Deceptions and Myths of the Bible" by Lloyd Graham.

The basic premise boils down to comparisons of all beliefs...which all have a "hero" and a "villain". It brings together many stories taken form many religions...some much older than christianity and parallels all aspects of stories.

Here is example:

culture hero warned by

Hebrew Noah God
Babylonian Utnapishtim Ea
Persian Yima Ahura Mazda
Greek Deucalion Prometheus


etc....

it shows that the amount of similitude was too great to be coincidence. I appreciated the outting of scriptural tyranny...and as quoted in the book "tyranny was broken so that we may devote our time to man instead of GOD and to civilizing ourselves instead of saving our souls that were never lost"...anyhoo....Im putting this drama back where I found it....thanks for lending it to me...hehe...even though I didnt ask permission.....

okies...no more posting...i promise ...i swear....LMAO

peace pot and microdot
jo
♥♥♥

"similitude" was scary.

"Peace, Pot, and Microdot" made me die a little.

Lewis, I am hurt that you didn't respond to my questions to you. Do you want to Save me or not? I genuinely want to know what you have to say about them. I will post them here again for you, just in case you missed them.

1Lewis I am curious as to how you can bring these two concepts into mutual agreement:

1) God is all loving and all forgiving.

2) Believe that Christ is saviour or go to Hell for all eternity and suffer endless pain and suffering.

These two concepts are diametrically opposed to one another. It’s not possible for them both to be true.

And while I am at it I might as well go all the way and ask you which of these two bible passages is correct and which is wrong. (It's impossible for them both to be correct):

MATTHEW 27:1-10

and

ACTS 1:18-19


I then ask you to explain to me how I can identify which other verses in the New Testament are wrong as well. That way I will know which I can ignore.

And before you start, I am not attacking you or your beliefs. I am simply asking legitimate questions in a polite manner.

(and I agree with those who said they thought it was wrong of people to send rude IM's to the OP regarding his profile. It's his profile and he can put what he wants in it. If they don't like, that's fine. But if they want to talk to him about it they can do so in a polite manner. I imagine he would welcome polite conversation regarding his beliefs, since he is publically announcing them in his profile.)