Electricity: Well if you really want to discuss this (hahaha), you should prepare yourself by learning some terminology and concepts that are probably not in the Bible, sorry. Try these for starters: Electrical phenomena in nature, Basic electric circuits, basic electromagnetism, electric potentials, electric fields, electric currents, and electric charges. You also might want to brush up on your nuclear science as in atomic structure, molecules, electrons, protons, neutrons for starters there. Then we can talk electricity after all you said “I admit I (we) don't know what electricity or energy is, period”. So what are we going to talk about here until you read up some??? This is a good starting place foe energy too but it is complicated if for no other reason there are quite a lot of varieties of it. Chemical energy, cellular energy, nuclear energy, electrical energy, stellar energy with a wide variety of types, thermal energy, and if one is religious, there is also instant energy. Where do you want to start without the foggiest idea huh? If you want to discuss this topic further … take it to one of my posts please.

“First, there is but one Christianity.” Another side step I see: Half the Christians in the world are of the RCC … the other half of the Christians are not Catholics. I think the other half (exceptions) preaches God’s love (FTMP) and the RCC teaches God’s hate (FTMP) … polar opposites, your logic is frightening.  Protestants and their sects are your problem and not mine because I don’t care about it. It is amazing though that everyone ELSE (and I do mean EVERYONE) is only capable of misunderstanding the Bible except for Lula or the RCC, go figure. Maybe it is something they put in their bread offerings hahaha. I was wrong (benefit to you) … there are 38,000 Christian denominations around the world … and you avoided this issue in the usual manor, hehehe.

I know this is a waste of breath--but it really irks me to see the intellectual dog pile with name calling, insults to intelligence and the like all attacking and self-congratulating one another while agreeing with each other's points.

There is religion--it's usually anthropomorphized and full of errors or strictures that originate as much in human psychology as anything.  No disagreement there.

A large number of people take the "simplest path"--do what you're told, believe what's said, keep your head down and don't ask questions.  Yeah--happens everywhere.

A lot of sincere (and even many insincere) people have taken up public battles in areas off science and nature that they aren't really qualified to argue in and often are completely unconcerned with any facts that disagree with them.  Human nature--happens everywhere.

I can't speak for other "religions".  I don't practice them though I have studied some and spent time speaking with members of them.  There's everything from simple people like the Quakers to UFO cults.  I don't lump them all together because I'm not stupid and intellectually dishonest enough to dismiss the thousands of ideas and philosophies as all being "stupid if they aren't mine" nor do I think all their followers and adherents are dangerous, ignorant people who are a blight on humanity.  They are humanity.

I had experiences with what I can only describe as God.  If he turns out to be a quantum-transcendent expression of the collective human id--it beats anything I have seen any individual come up with.  If it turns out to be an advanced alien race from another dimension (or this one) interacting in man's history--fine by me.

I know the character and nature of what I have dealt with and it reflects everything I have read in the Bible--human influence and inaccuracies allowed for--that is positive and praiseworthy and transcendent.  In my case, this influence and presence has been unequivocally identified in my mind as Jesus.  Don't expect a skeptic to agree with that and understand you have to rationalize my views so they don't trouble yours.

It can still be done respectively.

The bottom line is this--you can argue religion until the cows come home, you can spout internet collected pseudoscience and quite your favorite Christophobic scientific lecturer and you can find the stupidest and most offensive representatives of people claiming to have a faith and use them as a "proof" of your arguments but in the end if you can't discuss and address the experiences that led people to believe they have had an encounter with Christ, you can't really measure them.

Nothing new here--it's exactly where Jesus said the disagreement would be--those who hate and revile, mock and ridicule and see such belief as foolish stupidity...and those who have had the experience and have no choice but to accept it.

Don't believe?  Fine.  It just means you haven't had the experience and have no idea what it actually is.  Nothing more than that.

 

Sinperium, hello again! As you didn’t single out anyone I thought I would chime in. What are likeminded people supposed to chat about … what ails them or what doesn’t? In either case, it will disparage the believers. I don’t know of any requirement to give someone the benefit of the doubt (to anyone) … just because they believe in something and especially when they admit they cannot prove any of it at all. As I said before, I could care less what Christians, Muslims, Jews or whatever else, believes in or practices. I just don’t believe in them … no more than I do Thor, Odin, the Easter bunny, the flying purple people eater or the devil. My main issue with all religions is just keeping them away from our children in the public schools.

My-oh –my, hit a sore spot did we, hehehe. If you honestly believe science is pseudo-science and the bible contains nothing but the truth … God help you but more power to you ... whatever. What’s wrong with the this part of the internet anyway? How many lies have you uncovered therein I wonder? You try to make this sound one sided as usual. We don’t believe in your mysticism and are therefore the bad guys … and you don’t believe in our science and we are still the bad guys. This just sounds like more of your circular logic to me is all. What possible need is there to seek out a faithful idiot when any devout Christian will do nicely? I don’t know of one Christian who expressed this view at all on their miraculous revelations as most seem to have inherited their Christianity from their parent’s insistence. No reason not to discuss it … but if it concerns mysticism, why bother and if it doesn’t then it isn’t a religious experience at all. What’s there to chat about?Is there any other place this argument could take place?  At least try to be reasonable. But I will note it is normally the (maleficent) Christian folk who interject most of the hate … just look at your sentence above. Inquiring minds want to know and hate is usually all you guys talk about. That and how you haven’t been given an honest chance to present your case … how many more thousand years do you need might I ask to get a fair shake?

Speaking for myself I find that I can not answer one really important question.   That question is with each day that passes, and it's been well over thousands of years, are we moving further away from or closer to reality?  It even seems at times that we just are stuck in place making no headway at all. 

Nothing began.

Nothing will end.

Nothing.

You can get away with teasing Lula ... but you better be careful if you try slamming the RCC, hahaha. Lula is not looking for anything because she believes she knows well ... everything there is to know. Most normal people have little problems expressing their limitations based on their education, experience, fields of expertise and the prevailing scientific accomplishments. But devout Christians can rip off the complete history of the cosmos down to a grain of sand ... without cracking a science book. They can also give you the complete history of all living things from the dawn of (both) times (another hard point)... without cracking a biology or chemistry book, hahaha. And as far as Lula's RCC is concerned, they are the only ones capable of understanding God, intuitively only they know God's true meanings and purpose, they think they are the only ones who can know God's will and they have self-empowered themselves to convert the world to Catholicism (only) no matter other views and beliefs ... how are you going to fight that, besides laugh at the silliness like I do, hahaha.

Philly0381, except for religion … we are making giant leaps and bounds in the sciences and other rational things.

Really, and would that be closer to or farther away from reality?  

Just a reminder to all....

WHEN a thread devolves into name-calling, etc. it closes.

One certainty in life [after death and taxes] is that ALL 'religion' threads close.

word

From the Book of Dictionary....

"In the beginning was the Word,

And the word was Aardvark".

Hmmm....nihilist, ey?

oh please, somebody violate TOS, put this thread to death. god, can you hear me? no, not you, you silly nit, the other one.

She's deaf.....

That explains a lot!

That's a tall order, given that nearly all TOS prattle is nearly as vague and completely as arguable as an text claiming to be revealed truth.

What we need is for someone to squarely push the wrong button on some moderator's Internal Console. My mom raised me to be nice and I'm not drinking heavily enough to disobey her, or I'd try something to help shut this repetitive and boring mess down.

Where's psychoak when you need him?