This makes the most sense of anything I have seen on this thread. Also, I went back and looked through this thread. I guess I must have missed something. I thought the thread started in a completely different vein and somehow got manipulated into something entirely different that what it was originally about. I can see how superstition may be an issue in trading. But religion? Who really prays for good trades?
daniel m: Thanks for your sarcastic PM alerting me to your 'challenge'. I rushed over as soon as it hit my email. If you had actually read my previous posts on this thread, many (most?) of them relating to the issues of science and faith directly and the boundaries they must respect, then you would not have issued such a stupid challenge. But you did post your challenge, so what can we conclude? either a) you actually read the thread, but didn't catch that your rehashed argument (or should I say rehashed insult), voiced ten times already, has already been taken apart in depth long before you posted it or b) you posted without actually reading the thread, in which case you walked in here blind and started throwing punches without getting background first. Picking fights with people better informed than you is generally not a good idea. Either way I am tired of repeating myself, there is really no need to since there are literally pages of stuff already covering this ground, and finally I am beginning to strongly suspect that you like to pick fights just to be an ass, you are establishing a pattern of ripping people for no reason. p.s. you tend to assume a lot of things. thus i have to quote Bobby D from Heat once again: WHEN YOU ASSUME, YOU MAKE AN ASS OUT OF YOU.
p.s. i didn't mean to sound cranky there but if you had to deal with the same tired, boring, unoriginal 'christians are dumb' insults over and over you would be weary too... Yer stupid. No I'm not. Yes you are. No I'm not. Yes you are. No I'm not, here's why- a,b,c,d,e,f, g, h, i, j, k... Welll....yer still stupid but I'll let you slide (slinking away). repeat with next: Yer stupid. No I'm not.... ad infinitum.
Rs7: Glad we can agree in this sense. If you take a look back you'll see I never disputed this...in fact I said pretty early on that you will only find God if He chooses to reveal himself to you, not the other way around. The ultimate decision to hide or reveal is God's. 'Many are called but few are chosen.' 'No one can come to me unless the father who sent me draws him.' This is why I expressly said I have never tried to 'convert' anyone, only to make them think and shake cages and weaken barriers. The messenger bears the message, that's all. When I agreed with Kymar that Aquinas was wrong and that no one can be intellectually wrestled into the kingdom of God, I was covering this same ground. My 'goal' was not to have anyone come to my side, but mainly for people to see I make some reasonable points and that there is perhaps further room for them to consider the search. To choose nothing is to choose oblivion. To stick with the analogy, we are all born colorblind- it is only by grace, through no merit of their own, that some are allowed to see later on. The interplay of sovereignty and natural will again, with sovereignty preeminent. p.s. also if you were hinting that its time to let this thread go then I completely agree.
I don't much feel like defining anything for you because I doubt you have a genuine interest. If that ever changes there are many books out there, hit your library or hit amazon. Funny that you know so much you can confidently label all believers idiots, yet here you are asking for a dictionary definition.
This is the reason I am a trader...not a politician or bureuacrat having to deal with professing and defending partisan ideals....not a priest, having to deal with skeptics of religion in general as well as other religious concepts....the reason - each has an opinion based on certain things, and without different opinions our society would be stagnant and corrupt. There is no correct answer to these questions, it's whatever works for you. Would you tell a Buddhist monk 'fuck you, Buddha doesnt exist dumbass!' Of course not, because he believes in something so strongly it transcends his entire existence. Whether Buddha ''exists' or not is entirely inconsequential (whatever 'exists' means in terms of a deity). I have my own opinions on religion in general, but I thought I should be foremost in pointing out that this is a trading forum, not a religion forum. What we do as traders can become very personal and emotional when we fall prey to 'hoping', and like trading, it is important in real life to remain as objective and unbiased as you would about market movement. (Lundy need not apply) Have an open mind, some tolerance, and keep your trading away from any sort of bias, be it a superstitious, voodoo, luck related, religous based or just a hunch.
Amen!!! When I started this thread, it was on a lighthearted note, and it was totally related to trading...or was meant to be. I don't know how many times I tried in total futility to steer it back that way. It was about lucky shirts and unlucky elevators. Which lights to keep on and off, who to sit with, etc. Well we got about a page or two of that, and over 120 pages of stuff that is waaaaay too serious for this site. And too personal. Let's try and keep with politics and abortion and other lighter subjects, ok?