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Perhaps you could explain what you mean by "we are lost" without faith? And how do you reconcile the need for faith with also believing that people need to be fearful? How are faith and fear not mutually exclusive?
I mean fear in the sense of respecting the magnificent power of whatever it is we are each a part of. Each of us has an ego that helps us survive in this world, but it also makes us think we are separate. For atheist/materialists, that separateness is real. But even if we are seriously spiritual, we are likely to feel separate most of the time.
Having a healthy sense of fear could make us aware that we need and depend on the great whole that we are part of.
We have the freedom to turn away from the divine. I happen to think that is a dangerous thing to do.
An atheist is someone who does not believe in the existence of God. So within this definition, YES! As an example though, there are atheist Republicans. The only thing I have in common with atheist Republicans is the recognition that we are (arguably) of the same species, and that we do not subscribe to a belief in God.
Are all those who DO believe in God clearly all alike? Many, perhaps most, Christians seem to feel that many of those who claim to be Christians are not "true" Christians at all. As a non Christian myself I am not qualified to sort through the different forms of Christian believers making value judgements on who is and who is not a Christian. Katzpur considers herself to be a Christian. That's good enough for me. I consider all religious claims to be equally silly, you see.
You sound like someone who has never tried to understand anything about religion, beyond what you were taught as a child in a particular culture.
I think it's hard to hide from problems in the world..if Im reading you right
that is part of what you consider reality.
It sure has helped me to understand that I, myself, am creating any good or bad or ugly in my life..SO, if I can stay in a positive, flowing place...things work out better for me all around.
My head isn't in the sand...I see the problems or evil in the world and learned the formula of a much happier life.
I saw the power Jesus was teaching Peter, (and us)...that within us we have the power of belief....and also,
the power of doubt and distraction..sink or walk on water....Ask, believe and receive....that is what I would call magical thinking...positive New Age thinking...but, I learned it from opening the Bible for the 1st x in Jan 2006 and I turned into some kind of positive, creative thinker that can 'manifest' most anything in my little environment now....
not from any New Age woo-woo,
but from practicing what Jesus taught...and I did become fearless...fearless is not a bad word...it pretty much means we have overcome being influenced only by external situations...there is really nothing to fear.
It is a conscious choice to see all the bad stuff OR focus more on the good stuff...I am so much healthier and happier
deciding to look at the good stuff..and that is reality also.
And my friends like hanging put with me way more!
I basically agree with you. I didn't mean we should focus on problems and live fearfully. By fear, I meant the fear of being disconnected from our divine source. I agree with you that we can make our life better or worse depending on our attitude. Faith gives me good things in my life. Not having faith brings the bad things.
there is nothing in "New Age" teachings that has not already been known and taught by masters and ancients for thousands of years.
Ok, but the New Age was new because modern people have so much more access to information. And we have ideas from modern physics and technology that ancients didn't have. Now we can see the similarities between various mystical traditions and religions. Before, people mostly only learned about one.
What I considered good about New Age is its intellectual aspect. Being able to gather all kinds of information and see the patterns.
But, as I said already, there is a lot that is called New Age that I don't identify with any more.
I fail to see your logic. If 9ne lumps all religious beliefs as silly how is it logical to lump all lack of religious beliefs as silly? Not that I myself have lumped all religious beliefs as silly but parts of most religions do seem silly, especially that part where each and ever religion is the one true one and the rest are totally false. Secondly in silliness is the belief that a toasted bacon and cheese sandwich along with a glass if milk is unclean. I had never felt the least bit cleaner or purer eating at my grandmother 's house where she kept a kosher one than at home where I could drink milk with my pork chops.
I don't find a belief or faith of a higher power silly, I think claiming it is known for a fact or that it is true and all other faiths are false as silly and unsupported by the evidence.
Every religion includes a mystical essence, plus a lot of tribal mythology. People like to have a tribal mythology, whether it's religious or political. My God is the best, my political party is the best. That aspect of religion has nothing to do with the spiritual aspects.
Every religion includes a mystical essence, plus a lot of tribal mythology. People like to have a tribal mythology, whether it's religious or political. My God is the best, my political party is the best. That aspect of religion has nothing to do with the spiritual aspects.
I was responding to a comment on religion not spirituality. In fact I don't think I ever discuss spitituality on these forums.
You sound like someone who has never tried to understand anything about religion, beyond what you were taught as a child in a particular culture.
I don't understand still subscribing to superstition and supernatural voodoo in the 21st century. Subscribing to superstition and supernatural voodoo made sense when people were largely ignorant of the workings of the universe. But superstition and supernatural voodoo have no place in our modern understanding of the natural workings of the universe.
I don't understand still subscribing to superstition and supernatural voodoo in the 21st century. Subscribing to superstition and supernatural voodoo made sense when people were largely ignorant of the workings of the universe. But superstition and supernatural voodoo have no place in our modern understanding of the natural workings of the universe.
Who's asking you to subscribe to such? Or are you simply expressing your disdain for the theist?
Atheists are unified by only one claim, which is that they do not subscribe to a belief in any God or gods.
And according to your "logic" it is ok to consider all atheist claims silly. Your "logic" presented in earlier post appears to be that claims different from your claims are all equally silly.
Final line of earlier post=
Quote:
Originally Posted by Tired of the Nonsense
....I consider all religious claims to be equally silly, you see.
Last edited by Tzaphkiel; 10-24-2018 at 07:10 AM..
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