Comments for Provoking Thought

Comment on Brain washed by A Free Spirit

A Free Spirit — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 01:50:52 +0000

Is religious truth antipodal to “false”? Is such truth true in the sense of logic? If so, is God limited by logic? I argue in my posts that religious truth is sui generis (i.e., unique).

Comment on Belief is a choice. by Brad

Brad — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 05:12:20 +0000

My point is, Mr O’Reilly, that when someone is trained from day one that X is truth and they believe in X why would they say at some point “maybe X is not X”? Many do, but their tools that they were taught to handle such situations and often times their support systems direct them back to X.

It’s not impossible for Xtians to, in my terms, move beyond their Xtianity, but from day one when a child is taught religious orthodoxies, dogmas, etc. the cards are stacked against them in doing so.

How often do you hear about fundamental muslims in Mecca converting to christianity? How often to do year about christian fundamentalists in Texas converting to Islam? In this argument the two are not the exhaustive list of conversion possibilities, however I think their unlikelihood is demonstrative of my point. People in Texas or Mecca (using extreme examples) don’t convert to their ‘enemies’ religion because of how they were taught, how their world view was constructed.

Theoretically, everyone has a choice unless they are enslaved (or wage slaves) but you don’t walk into a men’s room and piss of the floor, you don’t wear only underwear to the grocery store and you don’t ditch your church, family and community. People abstain from said activities in great numbers because they are taught to.

Comment on Belief is a choice. by Brad

Brad — Fri, 31 Aug 2007 00:02:37 +0000

what can you verify in the Bible? You can see that some nutjob 2,000 years ago said the same thing Joe Religious said today but what does that mean? Verify for me who wrote the Bible and the validity of what it says!

If a Christian is already indoctrinated/socialized to think they know what truth is, why would they magically decide to cross check their religion’s version of reality with other sources?

Comment on Belief is a choice. by Jason

Jason — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 22:29:49 +0000

@Brad:
It may be hard, but if someone is committed to finding truth, they’ll be willing to look for the truth in those teachings (“heresy” or “damnation”) as well. Besides, the claim of Christians is that their beliefs and teachings come from a widely available source, the Bible. Therefore, anyone can verify for herself/himself the source of a particular tenet.

Comment on Belief is a choice. by Brad

Brad — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 02:55:54 +0000

Its kind of hard to just move past something when you are repeatedly told that ‘moving past’ is playing with heresy and you are at risk for eternal damnation if you do.

Some people move past Christian indoctrination/socialization but they intentionally put walls up to try to prevent that making sure there is less and less of a choice.

Comment on Prime by Brad

Brad — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 01:56:13 +0000

According to Harpers, Obama has received over $300,000 from donors who gave to Bush as well. I don’t think I can overlook that (Hillary received over $450,000).

Comment on To what extent should my identity be defined by my job/career? by Jason

Jason — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:38:55 +0000

@Galvanized:
Those are excellent points. But it’s hard to remember all of that when I have to spend so many hours at work each week.

Comment on Prime by Jason

Jason — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:35:45 +0000

I’ve gotta say, it would be hard for me to overlook something like that. I know it was an innocent slip. He was under a lot of pressure and was answering on-the-fly. But, I have a tendency to think less of someone who makes this kind of error.

I should probably base my decision on more important factors.

Comment on Prime by Brad

Brad — Thu, 09 Aug 2007 01:18:04 +0000

so does this guy who made this site, so does this guy.

Comment on To what extent should my identity be defined by my job/career? by Galvanized

Galvanized — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 06:31:25 +0000

Most definitely not. Who you are is where your fulfillment lies in your life — which could be your relationship with God, beliefs and values, family, home life, education, career, friends, social activities, church member, the different kind of person you might be when you travel or seek out adventure, or when you volunteer or give of your time, and personal hobbies like music, art, dance, theater, whatever. Who you are is based in what you most enjoy doing. For some, it’s the job, and that’s good for them. For others of us, it’s in what we look forward to putting ourselves when we have the choice. It’s just a job if that’s all you want it to be. But if you’re looking for happiness in a career and know you’re worth more than you’re getting out of it now, you can always put the word out that you’re looking for more. :) Just remember that a person’s identity consists of many different aspects, not mainly one thing or he’s screwed.