A faith scale makes sense for something that could be measured. For instance, we can track probabilities, and make educated guesses going forward, and invest our faith in that probable result. However, when it comes to something that cannot be measured, that is the existence of God because by definition God is beyond measurement, the faith scale doesn't exist, nor is it logical to apply it. Simply stated, no one knows. Some have faith, some have anti-faith, and some have suspended judgment.
elcubano made a good example of how a trader could "get" his faith through what someone else has done. however, it can be applied in other ways. think of thomas edison and a light bulb. he may have had faith that it was something that was possible before it existed, HOWEVER, he probably came to this conclusion by looking at reality and making logical conclusions to what should be possible. these examples are completely different than someone having faith that people go to hell. this is EXACTLY why i have faith aliens exist and consider it a stronger position than a christian's faith; although i will cede both are faiths.
so, does my current knowledge of MYSELF not count? am i not taking into account my strengths, what i have learned, what i have accomplished, and knowing i won't quit? these things may not be easy to measure, but i AM basing my faith in myself on something IN REALITY. CASE CLOSED.
Rest assured, when someone announces CASE CLOSED they have made an argument that does not speak for itself. Your inner faith is just that, inner faith based on your own personal experiences, no different than those who have inner experiences with God that allow them to progress positively through life. IN REALITY is a concept, not a fact. Reality doesn't exist outside anyone's mind. Try to prove reality exist without the use of human mind.
Wow everyone has gotten so agitated....I go away for 6 hours and come back to a full-blown atheist-deist brawl! I guess if I were to add anything, I would add this: I know nothing about GG (except for his support of me earlier in this thread - thanks man...), and while I think his points have some validity, he is definitely expressing them in such a way whereby many could be inadvertantly insulted. Need to focus those thoughts man.... The biggest irony here is that this thread can be viewed as having evolved as follows: (i) it was begun to determine the whereabouts of Jack Hershey, which led to (ii) an examination of whether Jack Hershey's pronoun should be capitalized (as to render him some form of deity), to finally (iii) a calumniatory verbal brawl over the existence of God or the right to believe in that existence. If anyone is, Jack is certainly is laughing while reading this.
This post is inaccurate, incorrect and primarily a character assassination. It needs to be removed. Iposted for 6 months in support of a proocess. The 293 pages were very long and a mess. I edited them and posted them as a 200 page condensation with the vocal minorites stuff removed. I advocate for learning processes. It is an accepted viewpoint at large. i worked very hard to provide support to thers here. Naturally with the moderation and continuing harranges i recieved, after 6 months I returned the comments made to me in kind. The vocal minority complained and so did the moderators who treated me as this person does, even today. I was canned, summilarily. "Jack is a power trip" I do not take this comment lightly. I certainly am empowered and I have been all my life. Throughout my life I have assembled teams of skilled and talented people to deal with unsolved problems affecting our society and culture. Justice douglas had words for me and a few others. As subversives we wrecked the plans of others and became the "Green Mafia" as Douglas saw us. We entered into the legislation and regs the concept of the EIS. The EIS prevails because it is the prerogative of people to determine their environmental quality and destiny and not the job of the enforcers who now work for the interests of the people. I have made it a point to go where I have been invited and get the job done. A lot of times. I know I am powerful and I use my power wisely. People are affected by my support. But I am not on a power trip. The conclusion that I am by the person who says I am is just a reflection he is seeing when he comes on the scene where I am and injects his two cents. He sees my name and not even my presence and he starts spewing stuff into the space that is tripe and totally uncalled for. This guy is definitely out of order and he uses the word power to castigate me. He is out of order Finally: "He is nasty, mean, immature, bullying." I do beat up dgabrial as everyone sees. However I did put up with it for 6 months, first. He and everyone else who treated me badly got the treatment for a week or so. I dealt it out in kind for what I got for 6 months. since I am empowered they all complaines. and complained. They said I was nasty, mean, immature and bullying. And I was good at it apparently. The worst of the worst. Very few people are thrown out of ET for being like me. I limited my wrath to a bunch of people who bugged all the people I was working with for 6 months. I worked with people continually and got mouthed off to continually by people who are really not very nice. Very unnice people. I have changed. I have returned to my original ways. I took care of the situation I was in deliberatively and strongly and powerfully. They will remember me dealing it out for one long time. Now I am no longer a meany who is nasty to people who gave me the idea to be mean and nasty. Because of my strength of _______, I get to be called a bully. By a person who doesn't like the bullies in his life. Wimps have a lot of bullies around them. I'm the opposite of a wimp. I am not immature. When you are well off and have been around you turn out to be respected. Immature people piss and moan and act like cry babies. I was told I have thin skin. Since I am a bully and a nasty, mean guy I could be accused of a kind of immaturity. It is a focussed kind that just shows up for a small group of people here. I treated them just like they treated me. What you see is what you get from now on. I am projecting excellence. If you see nasty, mean, immature and bully, you can't see me because you are looking at your reflection instead of me. dgabrial is going to get it from me, every day every way. at some point he is going to stop seeing himself and he is going to start seeing excellence. That is where I come form and that is what he is going to get. and it is going to hurt for a long time. I am not in the mood for anything he has to say about this. That is just how it is.
It is so funny. Now we all have to get to work to fix ET up here and there. The membership has to roll...............
Jesus m*t**rf**king Christ on a second-hand bicycle... What has this thread arted out into? Haven't been here for the time during RTH and what's new? How many pages? From criticism on dgabriel's profanity over lots of dbphoenix's usual one-liner flames and Gordon Gekko's equally usual excursions into the deep character that is himself, over Atkins diet, tolerance, GG's failures and non-failures to the final discussions on god and faith. Where are we going next? Parallel universes? The inaugural annual ET meeting where all ET'ers meet up live? Freak show. TM_Direct, where are you? C'mon, say something funny! Personally, to sum up my own standing on this thread's original point: I am not going to defend Jack here, since there clearly is no point anyway. However, quite a few people here have gone a little too far. Particularly dgabriel. I think he should, quite frankly, get a grip on his moderating style and exercise a proactive, yet diplomatic and unpartiysh approach to moderating the forums. Moderators should be there to keep discussions under control, flame-free and on topic, that's all. They should not be tolerating, not to even mention actively exercizing unfair (destructive) criticism, pro-or-contra propaganda or personal attacks, as has clearly happened in the case of dgabriel. He has mutated from the "friendly thread police" into a "Judge Thread" that captures, sentences and executes, all in one. This is far from democracy. dgabriel, I think you should admit that you have gone a little too far in your endeavours and apologize to those you blatantly insulted here, including Jack Hershey. If you want to give an example of real maturity, you should bring up the courage to get over your pride for once and admit the inappropriacy of your behavior. That is true strength. There is a line that needs to be crossed to define maturity. This line is defined by the ability to admit to yourself and others that you were wrong. If you actually are a trader, you will even understand why this is so important. Without recognizing our errors, we can not learn and therefore not grow. If nobody here goes to admit any faults, nobody is going to learn. Think about it. Do the right thing, as is appropriate for a moderator. If Inandlong can - so can you. As for the whole issue in general : The people who flame and criticize Jack are really people who have problems themselves. I think that nobody here who has any sense of self-security should feel like he has to diminish others. There's never anything to be gained from diminishing others. You just cut off all the options. If you don't agree with someone's posts / statements / methods or whatever - ignore them. Put the author on ignore. You flamers are just creating martyrs and really achieving the exact opposite of what you want to achieve. If Jack is really such a 'dud', then it won't need flamers to prove it. Time alone will tell. Time uncovers all the lies. You know - lies have short legs. Think effective for a change. So if you think it's so foul - sit back, relax, enjoy, and let time work for you to uncover the truth. This is the art of living effectively. Use the time to do something more creative instead. Best Regards, Scientist.
Nice case of selective memory, Jack. But congratulations on the personality transplant. We'll see whether or not your body rejects it.