Metaphor or real: Jesus went thru walls, walked on water? (believe, Adam)
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To suggest that I am not like people who consider ignorance and gullibility a virtue, is little different from suggesting that you might well wish to separate yourself from those who genuinely believe in and practice the religion of Voodoo. Indeed, we find that both the religion of Voodoo and the religion of Christianity embrace, as a part of their core beliefs, similar doctrines... having to do with the return of the dead. There are direct parallels between gullibly believing in Zombies, and gullibly believing that many dead people arose from their graves and wandered the streets of Jerusalem (Matthew 27:52-53). Indeed, Acts of the apostles (Acts 1:9) tells us that the world's most famous walking dead corpse, Jesus, subsequently flew off into the clouds after he returned from the dead. Not even the Voodoo priests had the chutzpah to attempt to feed stories of flying Zombies to their gullible flocks. But then, the Voodoo priests had their gullible flocks so thoroughly indoctrinated into faithfully accepting their belief system , that it was reportedly possible, at times, to literally frighten the poor sheep to death. The devoutly religious believers of other faiths, rather than being frightened to death by the depths of their gullibility, sometimes did, and still do, seek martyrdom in death as a manifestation of their devotion to personal gullibility.
So, am I attempting to separate myself from this sort of ancient superstition and gullibility predicated on mindless abject faith? I separated myself from subscribing to such beliefs many many years ago. But nowhere have I anointed myself with the claim that I have "superior intelligence."
I have simply been fortunate during the course of my lifetime to direct what intelligence I possess towards the pursuit of analytical thought. As opposed to buying into the heavy layers of faith-based indoctrination handed out by religious leaders that have turned so many people into little more than gullible sheep. Because, except for the blessing of my unusually pragmatic (hard headed) nature, I can see that I might have been flocked and cursed to remain a gullible sheep for life myself.
Sisyphus was cursed with the task of rolling a heavy boulder up a mountain, only to eternally be forced to start over again when it rolled back down. The epitome of a useless endeavor. Statistics establish, however, that religious belief in America his been eroding away at the rate of just about 1% per year for the last 20 years. There may be hope for the eventual elimination of religious ignorance and gullibility, and the general ascendancy of analytical thinking, yet. So I keep my shoulder to the boulder.
This does not exclude secular beliefs either. And "physical evidence" is also a bit of an issue. many "secular" people just say "I don't believe that" and dismiss everything "spiritual" in nature. some people need that spiritual stuff, and there is some physical evidence (but its often ignored for it).
thats no where near "died, woke up, and flew away for us sins" tho. I agree that people need to key in on that kind of content as "why are they selling me that".
I am going to try and appear less hostile. was that wording ok?
If we don't have physical evidence to go on, then we have no hope of acquiring knowledge. The tricky question of course, is just how should we approach judging what the evidence is telling us?
The laws of physics represent the highest state of confidence that we have attained in understanding the universe we live in. The laws of physics are derived from much observation and experimentation resulting in achieving exactly the same result to the point of confidence that we actually have acquired genuine knowledge, which is to say insight, into the way the universe appears to operate. The application of these laws has led to working computers, smartphones and all of the other technological marvels of our rapidly changing technological world. If the physical evidence that have given us the laws of physics are NOT inviolate as we now believe them to be, we are in the embarrassing position of having no idea why our technology works at all!
Ancient people worked on a different theory of how the universe works. Since they did not yet possess a level of technology sufficient to allow them to acquire the information needed to explain the natural phenomenon going on around them, lightning, thunder, earthquakes and the like, they made up answers. They presupposed solutions for which they otherwise had no ability to answer. There is a universe of difference between careful observation and experimentation which leads directly to working technology, and presupposing solutions based entirely on assumptions derived from the imagination. Which has historically led to belief in supernatural deities.
Presupposition is simply another word for make believe. Presupposition led to the conclusion that humans, and the universe humans exist in must have been created by an infinitely powerful Being whom has not only been presupposed to exist, but whom has been presupposed to exist without the need for such a creation Himself. This has entirely been made up and imagined to be true, which is, as I have just pointed out, what presupposition is all about. There is another way of looking at the universe however. It's called the empirical method, and it involves studying the physical evidence and then accepting the physical evidence for what it has to tell us. The empirical method entails close observation, much experimentation and direct experience, resulting in detailed conclusions that allow for the same results to be reached repeatedly. It requires that the results, when discovered, be accepted at face value even to the extent of completely abandoning centuries of make believe. This sort of research has also led us rather inextricably to the conclusion that EVERYTHING THAT OCCURS DOES SO FOR NATURAL REASONS which can be understood and even utilized for our advantage. The general term for this deeper understanding of the basis for how the physical universe operates is called quantum mechanics. Does the empirical method have credibility? Well, does that computer you are sitting at actually work? Do we have operating smartphones and all of the other modern technological marvels of this modern technological age? They are all based on a working understanding of quantum mechanics. They were NOT rendered extant by make believe.
So, where were all of these modern marvels in Jesus' time? The laws of quantum physics are exactly the same today as they were 2,000 years ago... or a billion years ago for that matter. However, by in large the ancients used a different method for reaching conclusions then the empirical method. They presupposed! What ancient peoples did not understand they simply made up reasons for. Gods and goddesses, elves, fairies, and the like. Whatever served to answer questions for which no obvious answer was readily at hand. This was the old "make it up and declare it to be true" method of reaching a conclusion. It really had no practical value, other than to create the illusion of providing an answer, even though that answer had no connection to anything valid and true. Sadly, many people today still operate this way, applying made up solutions to questions they don't otherwise understand. Which is a shame, because the actual answers are most often readily available now, so make believe is no longer necessary.
We have learned, through much trial and error, that the empirical method for accumulating genuine knowledge far surpasses the old "make it up and declare it to be true" presupposition method. I don't "presuppose" that there is no deity. I simply see no point in arbitrarily making up the existence of an invisible Being with infinite powers where no such Being is obvious. In fact, the existence of an infinitely powerful invisible Being that possesses the power to manipulate the laws of physics at will contradicts everything we believe that we have learned about how the universe works. We are now witnessing the face off between ancient make believe and modern knowledge that has always been inevitable. Which horse are you betting on?
Rather odd sort of article. The idea that Intuition can reveal true facts but also mistaken ones is a bit skewed.
One may suppose that a monster is lurking behind the shower - curtain, but one would rationally suppose that 'intuition' here is merely instinctive fear of unknown threats. It may be argued that one can apply empirical evaluation as to whether the way the world usually works would put a monster behind the curtain. But then a mind that accepts that monsters exist than can flit through walls with the motive of frightening people by lurking would of course make the supposition quite feasible.
Intuition then may not be at all a reliable guide to what is. The only reliable thing to do is scientific investigation. Twitch the curtain aside and have a look.
It does not inspire one with confidence in 'religion Wiki' that they post articles justifying guesswork and superstition as perfectly valid ways of coming to conclusions. I suggest that you browse in 'Rational wiki' to avoid being misled.
That matchbox demo certainly explains away remote viewing and/or the ability to stop a living creatures heart.
You do realize the Govt has SAPs involving these kinds of abilities...right? Thats where they were able to stop a goats heart from beating, they even made a comedy movie about it, starring Brad pitt.
MK Ultra was another SAP they had going for 20+ years, some of the subprojects involved developing telekinesis in adults and children!
This also reminds me of that saint that lived long ago, that could literally fly thru the air, many people saw him doing this, inside the church and outdoors, I cant think of his name right now, but I know he was made a saint eventually.
If we don't have physical evidence to go on, then we have no hope of acquiring knowledge. The tricky question of course, is just how should we approach judging what the evidence is telling us?
The laws of physics represent the highest state of confidence that we have attained in understanding the universe we live in. The laws of physics are derived from much observation and experimentation resulting in achieving exactly the same result to the point of confidence that we actually have acquired genuine knowledge, which is to say insight, into the way the universe appears to operate. The application of these laws has led to working computers, smartphones and all of the other technological marvels of our rapidly changing technological world. If the physical evidence that have given us the laws of physics are NOT inviolate as we now believe them to be, we are in the embarrassing position of having no idea why our technology works at all!
Ancient people worked on a different theory of how the universe works. Since they did not yet possess a level of technology sufficient to allow them to acquire the information needed to explain the natural phenomenon going on around them, lightning, thunder, earthquakes and the like, they made up answers. They presupposed solutions for which they otherwise had no ability to answer. There is a universe of difference between careful observation and experimentation which leads directly to working technology, and presupposing solutions based entirely on assumptions derived from the imagination. Which has historically led to belief in supernatural deities.
Presupposition is simply another word for make believe. Presupposition led to the conclusion that humans, and the universe humans exist in must have been created by an infinitely powerful Being whom has not only been presupposed to exist, but whom has been presupposed to exist without the need for such a creation Himself. This has entirely been made up and imagined to be true, which is, as I have just pointed out, what presupposition is all about. There is another way of looking at the universe however. It's called the empirical method, and it involves studying the physical evidence and then accepting the physical evidence for what it has to tell us. The empirical method entails close observation, much experimentation and direct experience, resulting in detailed conclusions that allow for the same results to be reached repeatedly. It requires that the results, when discovered, be accepted at face value even to the extent of completely abandoning centuries of make believe. This sort of research has also led us rather inextricably to the conclusion that EVERYTHING THAT OCCURS DOES SO FOR NATURAL REASONS which can be understood and even utilized for our advantage. The general term for this deeper understanding of the basis for how the physical universe operates is called quantum mechanics. Does the empirical method have credibility? Well, does that computer you are sitting at actually work? Do we have operating smartphones and all of the other modern technological marvels of this modern technological age? They are all based on a working understanding of quantum mechanics. They were NOT rendered extant by make believe.
So, where were all of these modern marvels in Jesus' time? The laws of quantum physics are exactly the same today as they were 2,000 years ago... or a billion years ago for that matter. However, by in large the ancients used a different method for reaching conclusions then the empirical method. They presupposed! What ancient peoples did not understand they simply made up reasons for. Gods and goddesses, elves, fairies, and the like. Whatever served to answer questions for which no obvious answer was readily at hand. This was the old "make it up and declare it to be true" method of reaching a conclusion. It really had no practical value, other than to create the illusion of providing an answer, even though that answer had no connection to anything valid and true. Sadly, many people today still operate this way, applying made up solutions to questions they don't otherwise understand. Which is a shame, because the actual answers are most often readily available now, so make believe is no longer necessary.
We have learned, through much trial and error, that the empirical method for accumulating genuine knowledge far surpasses the old "make it up and declare it to be true" presupposition method. I don't "presuppose" that there is no deity. I simply see no point in arbitrarily making up the existence of an invisible Being with infinite powers where no such Being is obvious. In fact, the existence of an infinitely powerful invisible Being that possesses the power to manipulate the laws of physics at will contradicts everything we believe that we have learned about how the universe works. We are now witnessing the face off between ancient make believe and modern knowledge that has always been inevitable. Which horse are you betting on?
I have nothing to say. lmao ... yeah, right ...
this post is brillant. on many levels. i couldn't even bring myself to nippe it for space.
now that you have, thoroughly, put my position in proper perspective (better than i could), now what? what does QM tell about the system we are in?
this post is brillant. on many levels. i couldn't even bring myself to nippe it for space.
now that you have, thoroughly, put my position in proper perspective (better than i could), now what? what does QM tell about the system we are in?
As I already pointed out, QM suggests, at least, that everything occurs for entirely natural, and therefore presumably (if we can work out the details) predictable reasons. As opposed to being subject to the whimsy of capricious and ultimately inscrutable imagined deities. Monsters from the ID!
Well, yes...however, to them...who understand things better than most Westerners....
they would not think they are supernatural, nor miracles....
once one is really in touch with reality (as Jesus was)...what this place actually is, I mean...it can be manipulated...I mean the atoms.
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They actually grow into paper chains, my friend!
