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The vast majority of humanity is beset by a panoply of beliefs unsupported by any rational evidence..............
To me the ' majority of humanity ' is Not using the supported beliefs Jesus taught.
Jesus used logical reasoning on the old Hebrew Scriptures on which to base his teachings.
That is why Jesus often prefaced his statements with the words, " It is written...." already written in the OT.
Corrupted clergy teach their own religious traditions or customs unsupported by what Jesus taught.
For example: Jesus and the OT both teach the dead are in a sleep-like state, Not conscious of anything.
-> John 11:11-14; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5
What happened to “standard model”? Is “reality stack” your new sciencey buzzy buzzword? That we’re going to have to listen to you incessantly repeat over and over for the next two weeks?
Your ignorance is excusable, Marc, but your arrogant pretense that you have any clue about what science has actually discovered and only accept what is scientifically validated is pure bunkum. Neither you nor any of the pretenders to respect the scientific method actually employ it in your lives to any degree let alone only operate on scientifically verified beliefs. You are frauds using the veneer of some knowledge about how science validates discoveries as if that is how you function which for most of you is utterly preposterous.
Are you saying that Animists, Buddhists and Deists have idiotic beliefs?
Some are less idiotic than others. For example, I had a bash at Theravada Buddhism, but you wouldn't get me doing Mahayana, simply because of the polytheistic clutter. Where 'idiotic' might be an excusable term.
But otherwise, even if not idiotic, 'doubtful' would be a quite valid term. Even with Theravada, I'm obliged to say, which I went into because it looked like a direct method of accessing a real human experience.
Your ignorance is excusable, Marc, but your arrogant pretense that you have any clue about what science has actually discovered and only accept what is scientifically validated is pure bunkum. Neither you nor any of the pretenders to respect the scientific method actually employ it in your lives to any degree let alone only operate on scientifically verified beliefs. You are frauds using the veneer of some knowledge about how science validates discoveries as if that is how you function which for most of you is utterly preposterous.
Every minute of every day. That’s how often I use scientific methodology. Observation. Verification. Repeatability. Testability. Every minute. Of every day. I observe what is ACTUALLY in reality and visible. Or audible. Or touchable. I operate on the integrated verified knowledge of every surface, substance, and material. My fellow human beings and I CONTINUOUSLY identify these entities, integrate the percepts they provide into concepts for whuch we assign linguistic symbols (words). I REPEAT this process every minute I am alive, providing further verification of reality. I TEST this knowledge continuously, recognizing consistency of interface with reality. Over and over. I pick up the snow shovel. I expect the snow to go on the shovel when I push it. It happens. It’s confirmed. It’s real. I repeat the process, operating from the evidence of previous experienced, repeated, tested, and verified prior moments.
The fact that we AUTOMATE scientific methodology in our daily life does not mean it doesn’t happen. It is implicit in every move we make and is the reason we stay alive and don’t walk off cliffs.
Successful life for man is the application of science to living. We sabotage that process, and become idiots, when we neglect to bring science to life, substituting whims and fears for experience and analysis. And pulling stuff out of the air through our ability to imagine, that which we might wish for rather than realistically expect.
That’s where afterlives and karma and superstition and reincarnation and deities come from. Fear, longing for permanence, and utter whim-worship.
To me the ' majority of humanity ' is Not using the supported beliefs Jesus taught.
Jesus used logical reasoning on the old Hebrew Scriptures on which to base his teachings.
That is why Jesus often prefaced his statements with the words, " It is written...." already written in the OT.
Corrupted clergy teach their own religious traditions or customs unsupported by what Jesus taught.
For example: Jesus and the OT both teach the dead are in a sleep-like state, Not conscious of anything.
-> John 11:11-14; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5
To me the ' majority of humanity ' is Not using the supported beliefs Jesus taught.
Jesus used logical reasoning on the old Hebrew Scriptures on which to base his teachings.
That is why Jesus often prefaced his statements with the words, " It is written...." already written in the OT.
Corrupted clergy teach their own religious traditions or customs unsupported by what Jesus taught.
For example: Jesus and the OT both teach the dead are in a sleep-like state, Not conscious of anything.
-> John 11:11-14; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5
The historicity of Jesus is debated and disputed. The evidence is not clear as to if he existed as a person, a myth, or some combination. Therefore, crediting actual thoughts or words or deeds to a jesus figure is unsupportable and should be avoided. The so-called “teachings“ are clearly of men, by men, and for men. Various men. Different men. Men with ideas and wishes and plans and agendas.
Use the portions of the teachings that make sense. Get rid of the rest. Many jesus teachings, particularly the collectivistic and altruistic ones, are clearly incorrect, immoral, and antithetical to human success and advancement. We can toss those. We can cherry pick mythical figures for our own benefit. But we have to be careful and selective.
Are you saying that Animists, Buddhists and Deists have idiotic beliefs?
I would like to do a bit of what I guess would be an analogy here.
In the 13 years that I was a teacher, I worked under 7 different principals. 2 of them were, in my view, incompetent (one so badly incompetent that he ended up on"60 Minutes"), 4 were competent (did a "good" job), and one was inspirational/transformative.
In my 13 years as vice-principal, I worked under 5 principals. 1 was incompetent, 2 were competent, and 2 were inspirational/transformative.
In my 7 years as a principal, I worked under 3 superintendents. 1 was competent, 2 were inspirational/transformative.
When I worked under people who were incompetent, I kept my head down and did what I had to do.
When I worked under people who were competent, I did what I had to do, but I also developed my own opportunities to have a little influence (department chair, chair of the faculty advisory council, etc.). When I worked with inspirational/transformative leaders I became somewhat of a follower, but maintained the ability to say, "You know, I'm a big supporter of yours, and I usually try to help bring your ideas to fruition, but on this particular matter I think you're going down the wrong path". And when I became principal, the last thing I wanted in the rest of my administrative staff, department chairs, or team leaders was a bunch of "yes men or yes women".
In a way, I look at religion the same way. There are "incompetent" religions; that usually doesn't mean that there's no wisdom in their teachings; even there, there may be little gems of wisdom that are worthwhile. There are "competent" religions; that doesn't mean that everything in a competent religion is wise, but there may be many gems of wisdom that are worthwhile. And then -- and it varies from person to person -- there are inspirational/transformative religions that, for many individuals may seem full of wisdom. But -- and this is where I am an anti-religionist -- that doesn't mean that every line written in the bible, or the koran, or the Tipitaka (etc.) is wise. And unfortunately, we have too many religionists who stop thinking when they get too immersed in "their" religion.
Let me give you an example. It was not too long after 9/11 that I was talking with a colleague -- a devout christian -- who said, "I hope all Muslims burn in hell". We happened to be sitting in my living room, and I got up and got a piece of paper and wrote something on it. And then I said, "I hope your wife and two children burn in hell". "That's a hateful thing to say. I can't believe you'd say that!" Then I showed him the paper, on which I had written "Of course I don't mean that...I'm making a point". I continued by mentioning two colleagues of ours who were Muslim, and asked if he wanted them and their families to burn in hell? "Well no, of course not". "And how about the 20 or so Muslim children in our school?" "Well, no". "So as long as the Muslims are 'faceless' to you, you want them to burn in hell, but if you actually know them, that's different?" There was a very long silence.
To me, that was a good example of the kind of thinking that some religionists get wrapped up in.
That's why I believe in cherry-picking, and that's part of why I settled on Theravada Buddhism. Buddha himself asked his followers to test the teachings rather than accept his word as true. And I've talked to Theravada monks about this, and their advice was that it's okay not accept a teaching if you tested it. Set it aside; you don't have to incorporate it into your personal belief system. But be open to possibly coming back to it later. And that's a very key difference between christianity, where basically you're told what to believe (in many churches you have to recite the creed during the worship ceremony, for example), and Buddhism, where you're given a sort of road map and guide book. And just as when I travel for real, it's nice to have that map and guidebook, but sometimes it's great getting off the beaten path.
To me the ' majority of humanity ' is Not using the supported beliefs Jesus taught.
Jesus used logical reasoning on the old Hebrew Scriptures on which to base his teachings.
That is why Jesus often prefaced his statements with the words, " It is written...." already written in the OT.
Corrupted clergy teach their own religious traditions or customs unsupported by what Jesus taught.
For example: Jesus and the OT both teach the dead are in a sleep-like state, Not conscious of anything.
-> John 11:11-14; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5
Isn't it just a shame that some of us have a different belief system than you do? Victor 1:2
To me the ' majority of humanity ' is Not using the supported beliefs Jesus taught.
Jesus used logical reasoning on the old Hebrew Scriptures on which to base his teachings.
That is why Jesus often prefaced his statements with the words, " It is written...." already written in the OT.
Corrupted clergy teach their own religious traditions or customs unsupported by what Jesus taught.
For example: Jesus and the OT both teach the dead are in a sleep-like state, Not conscious of anything.
-> John 11:11-14; Psalms 6:5; Psalms 13:3; Psalms 115:17; Isaiah 38:18; Ecclesiastes 9:5
Hard for the majority of humanity to do otherwise when the majority of humanity does not believe Jesus to be what you believe. Including the Hebrews. Just for starters...
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