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NPR is not credible. The shrinking in churchgoing and membership, appears in the news and talk radio weekly.
NPR is reporting on a PEW study.
Do you really think they dishonestly changed the numbers and what PEW found?
I'll tell ya what...here is the study, directly from PEW: https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/...ons-2010-2050/
Like it or not Salty...you are wrong. The "wind" of Theism/Religion in this world is getting stronger, not weaker. That's just the fact of the matter.
I'm trying to educate you...because you obviously do not know the facts. If you did...you would not have gotten it completely wrong.
We are so low in the order...if humans didn't exist (and they ARE very new to the system) at all, the system (God) would function just fine...probably "smoother" in some ways at the micro level.
I don't see a need to call the system G-O-D... but I can certainly agree with all the rest. We are new to the system, have been here a MUCH shorter time than many of its other components.... but are managing to do more in that short time to disrupt/damage/destroy the system than any other component. Well, I suppose you could say that natural occurrences like wildfires, volcanos, earthquakes and floods are all capable of some serious disruption/damage/destruction. But we can't fault them for doing the job assigned to them by nature, and the natural cycles of rebirth and renewal that follow their actions. We can fault ourselves for putting the tools at our disposal to such destructive use, because that's more of a choice. Unless someone wants to argue that this is *OUR* special purpose (... I sure hope not)?
In any event, I'm sure you are correct.... The system would do just fine without us, like it did for a few billion years before we arrived.
bad religion, bad theist, over and over and over and over and over and over ...
I just read the last 24 posts that you made. Not a single piece of data. Repeatedly, repeatedly, repeatedly throwing out the term "reality stack" is not data.
I don't see a need to call the system G-O-D... but I can certainly agree with all the rest. We are new to the system, have been here a MUCH shorter time than many of its other components.... but are managing to do more in that short time to disrupt/damage/destroy the system than any other component. Well, I suppose you could say that natural occurrences like wildfires, volcanos, earthquakes and floods are all capable of some serious disruption/damage/destruction. But we can't fault them for doing the job assigned to them by nature, and the natural cycles of rebirth and renewal that follow their actions. We can fault ourselves for putting the tools at our disposal to such destructive use, because that's more of a choice. Unless someone wants to argue that this is *OUR* special purpose?
In any event, I'm sure you are correct.... The system would do just fine without us, like it did for a few billion years before we arrived.
I understand that some may not refer to the system in totality (ALL) by the title "God"...and that's cool that anyone may not perceive it as such.
I look at it from the point of what comports with observations of how The Universe works.
Because ALL THE ENERGY/MATTER THAT EXISTS AND HAS EXISTED (ALL) has the attributes definitive of a God Entity, I view it as such.
~~ALL and that which comprises it, has rearranged itself so as to produce everything that has ever existed in Reality...from the smallest particle to the biggest Galaxy.---SOURCE/CREATOR
~~ALL and that which comprises it, possess knowledge of everything that is known at any given time.---ALL KNOWING
~~ALL and that which comprises it, occupies all places in Reality.---ALL PRESENT
~~ALL and that which comprises it, accounts for all the energy and force that exists in, acts upon, and controls, Reality.---ALL POWERFUL
Everything and anything that occurs necessarily happens by & through ALL THAT EXISTS.
I could go on...but these are the attributes known to be definitive, demonstrative, and indicative of a God Entity.
Religions use metaphorical and allegorical characters and stories to describe all of this.
ALL is as "Godly" as it gets...from ANY reasonable assessment...and certainly merits the title "GOD" in my view.
If ALL doesn't cut it as GOD, nothing does...and we may as well not even have such a word/term/title.
I understand that some may not refer to the system in totality (ALL) by the title "God"...and that's cool that anyone may not perceive it as such.
I look at it from the point of what comports with observations of how The Universe works.
Because ALL THE ENERGY/MATTER THAT EXISTS AND HAS EXISTED (ALL) has the attributes definitive of a God Entity, I view it as such.
~~ALL and that which comprises it, has rearranged itself so as to produce everything that has ever existed in Reality...from the smallest particle to the biggest Galaxy.---SOURCE/CREATOR
~~ALL and that which comprises it, possess knowledge of everything that is known at any given time.---ALL KNOWING
~~ALL and that which comprises it, occupies all places in Reality.---ALL PRESENT
~~ALL and that which comprises it, accounts for all the energy and force that exists in, acts upon, and controls, Reality.---ALL POWERFUL
Everything and anything that occurs necessarily happens by & through ALL THAT EXISTS.
I could go on...but these are the attributes known to be definitive, demonstrative, and indicative of a God Entity.
Religions use metaphorical and allegorical characters and stories to describe all of this.
ALL is as "Godly" as it gets...from ANY reasonable assessment...and certainly merits the title "GOD" in my view.
If ALL doesn't cut it as GOD, nothing does...and we may as well not even have such a word/term/title.
I understand that some may not refer to the system in totality (ALL) by the title "God"...and that's cool that anyone may not perceive it as such.
I look at it from the point of what comports with observations of how The Universe works.
Because ALL THE ENERGY/MATTER THAT EXISTS AND HAS EXISTED (ALL) has the attributes definitive of a God Entity, I view it as such.
~~ALL and that which comprises it, has rearranged itself so as to produce everything that has ever existed in Reality...from the smallest particle to the biggest Galaxy.---SOURCE/CREATOR
~~ALL and that which comprises it, possess knowledge of everything that is known at any given time.---ALL KNOWING
~~ALL and that which comprises it, occupies all places in Reality.---ALL PRESENT
~~ALL and that which comprises it, accounts for all the energy and force that exists in, acts upon, and controls, Reality.---ALL POWERFUL
Everything and anything that occurs necessarily happens by & through ALL THAT EXISTS. I could go on...but these are the attributes known to be definitive, demonstrative, and indicative of a God Entity.
Religions use metaphorical and allegorical characters and stories to describe all of this.
ALL is as "Godly" as it gets...from ANY reasonable assessment...and certainly merits the title "GOD" in my view.
Please don't (go on). Ironically, I thought I saw a chance for actual dialogue, agreeing with everything you posted... save one single word you slipped in as a parenthetical. Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained?
Quote:
Originally Posted by GldnRule
If ALL doesn't cut it as GOD, nothing does...and we may as well not even have such a word/term/title.
Sold! We already have words for "all" and "system" and "universe" and lots of other things.
Last edited by HeelaMonster; 07-11-2021 at 05:03 PM..
Please don't (go on). Ironically, I thought I saw a chance for actual dialogue, agreeing with everything you posted... save one single word you slipped in as a parenthetical. Ah well, nothing ventured, nothing gained?
Sold!
Sorry.
This is the Pantheism thread...the only place I get to express my Religious beliefs on this forum...so, I got caught up in the freedom of expression.
Since you obviously read it...I thank you for at least indulging to that degree.
As an analogous explanation to the end of your post: We have names for certain groups like "Firemen", "Emergency Medical Technicians", "Soldiers", etc...but based upon attributes they possess through being those things, we may confer upon them the title "Hero"...even though there already is a "name" for what they are.
"God" is a title I bestow upon The Universe because I feel it merits such a designation based upon its known attributes...as per my perception.
NPR is reporting on a PEW study.
Do you really think they dishonestly changed the numbers and what PEW found?
I'll tell ya what...here is the study, directly from PEW: https://www.pewforum.org/2015/04/02/...ons-2010-2050/
Like it or not Salty...you are wrong. The "wind" of Theism/Religion in this world is getting stronger, not weaker. That's just the fact of the matter.
I'm trying to educate you...because you obviously do not know the facts. If you did...you would not have gotten it completely wrong.
Not so, my Saltless, Truthless friend. EVERYTHING I heard or read says its going the other way (to the betterment of humanity).I make one proviso, my info is for the U.S. only. Bumhump Egypt and surrounds isn't included.
Not so, my Saltless, Truthless friend. EVERYTHING I heard or read says its going the other way (to the betterment of humanity).I make one proviso, my info is for the U.S. only. Bumhump Egypt and surrounds isn't included.
That isn't quite what the report says, however.
I was glad to read: "Over the coming decades, Christians are expected to experience the largest net losses from switching. Globally, about 40 million people are projected to switch into Christianity, while 106 million are projected to leave, with most joining the ranks of the religiously unaffiliated."
But the bigger question here may not be in mere numbers. It may be in something far more nebulous that I'll call "depth of faith". When I grew up in the 1950s and 1960s, the churches in my town were pretty much filled every Sunday. If you didn't go to church, you were not keeping the sabbath holy. The Catholic side of my family pretty much all went to church at least every Sunday and on Holy Days, and quite a few went at least some other masses during the week. On the Methodist side of the family, most Sundays we went to church, with occasional exceptions. The Catholic Church in my home town no longer has a rectory, and the church itself has 1 mass per week, instead of the approximately 16 masses a week they had when I was a kid. The Methodist Church recently went of business. Literally closed and sold the building, since there were only something like 6 members of the congregation. Are we to assume that the Catholics and Methodists simply packed up and left town, or did they stop going to church? My guess is the latter. I live in a senior community now in Arizona. Out my 20 neighbors that I know well, one goes to church with any regularity at all.
So the question I am asking (which is covered in the study) is how many people who claim they are catholics act like catholics. How many methodists that claim they are methodist act like methodists...as well as all the other congregations. What it means to be religious today has changed DRASTICALLY in the last 50 or so years.
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