The Divine Within (ritual, homosexuality, spiritual, sexuality, faith)

[Scuba Pete]

Ah yes... we are made in his image. At least our insides!

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by SoulTYPE01

I have not read his work, could you link me? I am interested to see why he thinks that about all people.

It's so new, it's only in hardcover. Sorry! You might try a library or even a bookstore to browse it.

Bob

[Mr Spinkles]

What do you think, Lightkeeper? What is the Divine, and, as Deut said, how do we distinguish between it and delusion and cognitive dissonance?

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Deut is, of course, right in his quote. The book is not the peer review and suffers many faults. Not the least of which is a genetic correlation to spirituality and then discussion of God. He mentions, as a building block, three other studies, conducted by interview which define physcological states of "self-transendance", "religiousness" (disctinct from religious), and "spirituality" . He discusses the statistical methods employed to arrive at the "measurement" of self-transendance incorporated in genetic material.

The book is "food for the masses" and not the feast for scientists. It is a good background to the eventual paper.

I should also mention that Hamer was a principal in the study that identified the "gay gene" in a study not accepted by all of his peers.

Bob

[Master Vigil]

This sounds to me like everyone having buddha nature. Or everyone having right dharma. But it only takes the right ways to unlock it. I'm not sure if I agree or disagree at the moment. But since I believe that everything is connected and apart of the oneness of nature. Sure, I guess its possible, but I will better determine that after deuts post has been answered.

[No*s]

Originally Posted by Deut. 32.8

A Divine what? And what do you mean by Divine? How do you distinguish between it, cognative dissonance and delusion?

When I say "divine," I refer to that which is like God.

How do I distinguish between it and cognative dissonance and delusion? That answer...is not one I can easily answer, and I may not be able to answer. The Bible is not sufficient. It has its share of scientific errors, historical errors, and contradictions.

I go by the Church, but then the valid question is "which church" and "why?" I say the Orthodox Church, and I can argue it is the earliest, but then there are the Non-Chalcedonians, both the "Monophysites" (more like Miaphysites) and Nestorians. They're both pretty danged old too. I can say trace history, but that is colored by the person preserving it.

As for the "why?" I believe in the resurrection, but that too, is colored by inconsistency. It's not the only explanation for an empty tomb. I could say I believe in the miracles of Christ, but one can point to inconsistency in the very texts that tell us about them, and a defense of that is beyond the scope of this thread.

So, in the end, I have to say I don't have a firm method to separate them without trusting my Church, which leads me back to the "which" church bit. I'm trying to at least be honest with my situation on it.

[oracle]

I think people can easily be self-decieved into believing in an "illusion", and become convicted by emotions alone. If you think rationally, you need concrete evidense to come to a conclusion. I might as well believe that the earth is flat as a pancake. People were convicted that the earth was flat in the past, however did it turn out to be true? Sometimes people become convicted because they desire for something to be true. On a mystical aspect, you cannot locate God as being here or there. He (she or it, whatever you call God), is everywhere and within everything, is eternal, infinite, and therefore cannot be given finite qualities. In the mainstream orthodox point of view, God is located in heaven, and His Spirit within us. In the New Age perspective, we all become gods after reaching a certain point of elightenment. There are so many different aspects of God and Divinity, how do you know which one is true? There's so many people pointing in a direction. However, how do you determine whether if someone is pointing to a pit, or to a straight road? Is blind faith reliable, or does it really avoid truth?

[Jayhawker Soule]

Some rhetoric cries out to be wrapped in a stale fortune cookie.

[Bright-ness' Shadow]

Originally Posted by Deut. 32.8

Some rhetoric cries out to be wrapped in a stale fortune cookie.

It has value when the numbers on the back really hit the big lotto.

Bob