are you kidding, a 1000 differing conceptions of god here, but each thinks he has the one true pipeline to god, they just "know" it, and it becomes true [like magic]. it doesn't matter what you believe in as long as it is spiritual your OK. believe in something ANYTHING and you'll be OK, that's the recurring theme here.
I am sure that 'incorrect beliefs have huge consequences' ..... but to believe you must have faith....that is my statment... I chimed in to discuss how we can go round in circles from trying to prove something that needs not be proved or can....FAITH... anyways please do continue the debate
Exactly. You've got four general categories of possibilites: 1. There is a God and one of the theistic religions is true. 2. There is a God and He left us largely on our own. 3. Pantheism i.e. the universe is the supernatural/spiritual reality (eastern religions, NAM, occult, etc.) 4. Materialism From my perspective, none of these match or make sense with ART's perspective. That's all I'm saying...
I agree with you absolutely on this. One cannot absolutely prove/disprove God and therefore faith must come into play for anyone... Of course, I believe faith has much more value than simply bridging the gap between known and unknown...
Magical thinking: "According to anthropologist Dr. Phillips Stevens Jr., magical thinking involves several elements, including a belief in the interconnectedness of all things through forces and powers that transcend both physical and spiritual connections. Magical thinking invests special powers and forces in many things that are seen as symbols. According to Phillips, "the vast majority of the world's peoples ... believe that there are real connections between the symbol and its referent, and that some real and potentially measurable power flows between them." He believes there is a neurobiological basis for this, though the specific content of any symbol is culturally determined. (Not that some symbols aren't universal, e.g., the egg. Not that the egg symbolizes the same things in all cultures.) One of the driving principles of magical thinking is the notion that things that resemble each other are causally connected in some way that defies scientific testing. Another driving principle is the belief that "things that have been either in physical contact or in spatial or temporal association with other things retain a connection after they are separated" (Phillips). Think of psychic detectives claiming that they can get information about a missing person by touching an object that belongs to the person. Or think of the pet psychic who claims she can read your dog's mind by looking at a photo of the dog." http://skepdic.com/magicalthinking.html
http://www.csicop.org/si/9505/belief.html "Our brains and nervous systems constitute a belief-generating machine, a system that evolved to assure not truth, logic, and reason, but survival." "It is because our brains and nervous systems constitute a belief-generating machine, an engine that produces beliefs without any particular respect for what is real or true and what is not. This belief engine selects information from the environment, shapes it, combines it with information from memory, and produces beliefs that are generally consistent with beliefs already held. This system is as capable of generating fallacious beliefs as it is of generating beliefs that are in line with truth. These beliefs guide future actions and, whether correct or erroneous, they may prove functional for the individual who holds them. Whether or not there is really a Heaven for worthy souls does nothing to detract from the usefulness of such a belief for people who are searching for meaning in life." Oh oh self-deception is hard wired :-/
Obviously, he lands squarely in my #2 or #4 above. But how does he disprove #1 or #3? If #1 and #3 are true, then there will be a certain amount of "interconnectedness", although perhaps less than people assume since life is obviously largely governed by natural properites even with divine involvement/interaction...
what makes more sense? A) you religious people each have a personal, one on one, relationship with a creator of the universe. B) some nut made up a story thousands of years ago, it got passed on from generation to generation, it was suggested to you at an early age, now you believe it, too.
since y'all are worshipping different gods around the world and everyone claims a personal relationship to god, obviously some people are wrong. but how come y'all still claim to have the relationship??! because you all have it in your head.