I was raised Lapsed Catholic out of the starting gates, so I suppose i never really had much of chance <grin>. After 12 years of age, I was no longer forced to go to church. I never felt a divine love, so I went looking for it wondering what I had done wrong. I have convinced myself of two...
Okay, hate to jump in so late, but i think a coyote chewing off a trapped limb is an example of withstanding pain. I have seen snakes (which I believe are quite noble, stoic animals) withstand horrid wounds (for no better reason than they were snakes) and just sit and endure the recuperation. No...
Personally i think the reason the supernatural (i really do hate that word) is not discounted in poorer, less sophisticated nations is a lack of scientific education. These people aren't told real reasons for things, so they run with the myths handed down to them.
Lightkeeper, is the belief that god is a powermongering enron executive type really any more narrow than the view that he is an all loving aging hipster lawn gnome sort? I have often wondered if maybe Satan was the good guy and he just had horrendous PR. You know, sort of a divine mud slinging...
Heh, haven't gotten to chat with you much, but you seem like a smart cat and I have enjoyed reading your posts. My unit keeps me pretty darned busy, so I don't get to meander my boards as much as I'd like. Usually too wiped out. I haven't ever cleared 100 before either, as I usually get annoyed...
I consider myslef skeptical, but I rule nothing out. If life turns into a horror movie I refuse to be the guy curled up on the floor whimpering 'This can't be happening, man... this isn't empirically possible'. I wil not be Stan from 'IT'.
I have always considered things possible, but usually...
Okay, here I go,
America can do nothing right. If we let people massacre each other then other powers will look at us and sob 'why don't you dooooo something?!' If we do something before THEY ask us to ( another bunch of meddling outsiders... UN anyone?) then we are not minding our own...
The idea that there is a common morality has strong and weak points, and like most things intellectual is likely a half truth. Societies generally do not condone murder, rape, stealing, etc...
This is for the good of the society. So, it seems there is some truth to this.
Now, there are...
Speaking as a Marine, what I think Scott was saying was that he would pick up his weapon and go fight again... seemed obvious to me. He was saying if required he would fight for his peoples country not your twisted dystopian ideal of a nation. he seemed to be speaking for himself as a free...
Darn those zany ATHEISTS...
No, I cannot quote scripture. I cannot quote The Lord Of The Rings either. I can, however, give you the jist of either entertaining fictional work, if you'd like.
And if the signers of the Declaration of Independance did it, it must be good! Oh, wait... they owned...
everyone in their right mind knows that abortion is murder? convenient way to ignore arguments:label your critics as insane. that way your side to the argument is the only viable one. What about a woman who the doctors say will die during childbirth? Or the mother and child will both die...
No, the government does not have a responsibility to keep children out of gangs. It has a responsibility to find, punish, and dissolve said gangs. Parents have a responsibility to keep children out of gangs. Every little thing the government does to keep children out of gangs is a strike at...
As (Q) stated life is the purpose of life. Life is not less meaningful to me without a concept of eternity, it is vastly more meaningful. Most of the people who howl about how life doesn't matter without god are the reason we need religion:these are people who do not possess the depth of...
I do not adamantly deny an afterlife. It would be swell. But, odds are, when we die... well you're dead. As Mr. Sprinkles put it, we are hardwired for survival. The human animal wants to live, will fight to live, and will kill to live. It's nature.
What would you do for an eternity? What could...
First off, the stance of the United States military is that torture is WRONG. if it is being taught, then it is not official. That isn't to defend it, but fact is, there are rules to war. Secondly, I seriously doubt any respectable oppresive regime has to travel to another part of the world to...
I will endeavor to explain the world in real terms to them. I will allow them to explore the world and it's faiths. Sheltering and blindfolds are the provinces of religion, not atheism. I know I can get thru life without a crutch, and I would like to think my choldren will be able to as well...
I knowledgable man knows it's raining, can tell you that's a cumulo nimbus cloud it coming from, what the rainfall this year has been.
Meanwhile, the wise man has gone inside so he doesn't get sick..
Generally I view it as weak and silly. However, like anything in life, it runs the spectrum all the way up to honorable and couragous. Take, for example, a serviceman that hurls himself on a grenade to save his friends. It is clearly suicidal behavior, but he saved lives with his death. An...
Heh, not so much a conversion to Aethiesm as an acce[tance that that is what I was. Reading a lot of you all argue, I realized that I agreed. With that revalation, I realized that it was just a matter of being honest with myself.