tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post2877966446332864896..comments2023-06-08T05:02:22.650-07:00Comments on AnticitizenX: Part 1: Why God MattersAnticitizenXhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05041380277822761284noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post-36590429023137198932018-10-28T02:33:15.902-07:002018-10-28T02:33:15.902-07:00Sorry about splitting it up to the two (now three ...Sorry about splitting it up to the two (now three threads). It wasn't letting me post in depth comments :/Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801750905084651230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post-79678718378724407092018-10-28T02:32:23.438-07:002018-10-28T02:32:23.438-07:00The funny thing is, even if anyone asks for proof,...The funny thing is, even if anyone asks for proof, no orthodox religious person would be willing to give one (at least from what I've seen from my parents.). Even if there was a person who claimed to have met, talked or interacted with one- they are met with harsh criticism especially from the religious side. They're diagnosed with say, schizophrenia and that's 'bout it. Any otherworldly experiences recounted by people are deemed hallucinations, acid trips, delusions, a trick of the eye or misremembered facts. Group delusions can be attributed to carbon monoxide emissions, mirror neurons and biases to believing someone who gives part of the facts that they share common (like in the ouja board). If you consider the impossible as God, then we wouldn't believe it- because it'll fall mostly on our cognitive biases. I think cognitive bias is a tendency to lean towards anything that has already been explored, observed and interacted with. You bring a being whose actions you can't fathom in the big picture, a being akin to super-intelligence that think on a different level than us (making us the dogs to us humans, say.) that people can't help justify as benevolent, because the contrary is dreadful.<br />Also, in Asian cultures, there is a sort of masochism set afoot where Gods tend to give trials, test, suffering so that we can live fulfilling lives. In western cultures, I think they play as a messiah who's to shoulder all sins. In this way, there are multiple definitions of what God means to people, and I understand them as a representation of the current generation of society- their beliefs, ideals, and values. That being, according to me, is an ideal role model and a representation of hope and achiever of the impossible and the absurd, something to strive towards and a safety net to retry- since they would have faced much worse situations and triumphed with different solutions and approaches.<br><br />If you'd ask me to prove if he/she/it/they exist or not; I can't. It's because I consider this area as a region of uncertainty- since, no dead man has talked about what happens afterward (weirdly enough, even the statements of clinically dead people don't count). Even if you don't consider the dead, there is not a single person that would fit as an authority that we can trust enough to inquire these questions. I believe that god is in the end, a manifestation of a very personal idea/ideal which was created as a kind of id token of acceptance in a group. I think the concept is entwined with our selves and what all we want to be able to do. Maybe, it's for this reason religious fights are so intense- it's because it's a war on our id, ego and superego as well as on the community we have chosen to belong in(I think this is that hive mind logic thing or that the sense of belonging is one of our basic needs).Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801750905084651230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post-52963158159874124432018-10-28T02:32:01.745-07:002018-10-28T02:32:01.745-07:00I'm really not taking any sides, cos religious...I'm really not taking any sides, cos religious wars can get terrifying (at least when considering the extent people go to support some unobservable being that doesn't respond, react to any stimulus, and can be a group's manifestation of an imaginary friend). <br />I'm interested in just considering the possibility of this being called God, if we consider frankly absurd cases like living in a simulated universe, as a phenomenal causation from unobservable forces(that are mostly inert to our current devices) or particles that have yet to reach our part of the universe or are inert wrt our measurement devices or rare or could change states when observed to something more innocuous. Whatever randomness exists in the subatomic states are not significant in our scale (suppose this would be order in randomness.), so I really doubt that some chain reaction can cause something 'miraculous' even though there are mentions of explosive reactions from chain reactions. But I won't rule it out, since there are theories regarding teleportation(via entanglement), multiverses(where a possible 'divine' occurance can occur. I'll give them the benefit of doubt)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10801750905084651230noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post-43404290930228342922014-11-09T00:07:52.096-08:002014-11-09T00:07:52.096-08:00If the Cristian god did exist wye would you want t...If the Cristian god did exist wye would you want to not resist and try and change it's doctrines to something based on being benifitial to the wellbeing of mankind.<br />Why would you consider .worshiping such a moraly empty, cruel, dictitorial and jealous being?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post-47379930438991964012014-02-10T13:24:06.652-08:002014-02-10T13:24:06.652-08:00Dear John,
Are you really interested in hearing m...Dear John,<br /><br />Are you really interested in hearing my answers? Or are you just venting? Please let me know so that I don't spend time responding to a drive-by comment.AnticitizenXhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05041380277822761284noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9068953745226541087.post-22792758955610248502014-02-10T10:52:45.513-08:002014-02-10T10:52:45.513-08:00Anti-Citizen:
You say you want to have a debate. ...Anti-Citizen:<br /><br />You say you want to have a debate. For what purpose? To make us better citizens? Why are you “anti-citizen” then? What’s your real name? Or do you like to hide behind a clever nom de plume? You say you are highly educated but which university and what degree? You say things like this: “And if Christians don't want to play by the rules of rational discourse, then everything they have to say on the matter is already wrong before it even begins.” I guess you want to make the rules – your “well-defined set of epistemic rules”.-If we don’t want to play by these rules then to hell with us.<br /> <br />Then you begin making assumptions: For example: “It’s a dead giveaway that when all is said and done, religious belief has nothing to do with an objective understanding of reality, but instead is a purely cultural phenomenon of human making.” So you’ve already started the “debate” with a conclusion supposedly proven by a map with leading church denominations as if you discovered something new. Then you make this audacious claim; “So if we’re going to take the issue of God’s existence seriously, then we need to remind ourselves that the actual existence of God Himself is not important.” So one of the things we have to agree with is that the actual existence of God Himself is not important. You say what?<br /><br />You seem worried about the Christian mandate to make disciples but nothing is mentioned about the mandate to feed the poor and clothe the hungry – acts of charity which continue to go on despite all your epistemological rumblings and probably had something to do with your very existence unless you can trace your ancestry back through a royal line that never lost their fortune and never got sick. <br /><br />You seem worried about wasting political capital. What do you want to waste it on? Are you American? You haven’t identified this either. Do you subscribe to the American creed which says that “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights; that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.” If you don’t believe in a Creator then what gives you the right to claim American citizenship? If you were born here and no longer believe; then you should do the honest thing and renounce your citizenship because you are giving your tacit assent to that belief by remaining here. <br /><br />You seem worried about the fact that big money and political power is involved. Are you advocating the dismantling of the present American political power elite? If so, you are looking in the wrong direction.<br /><br />You seem to be bothered by the fact that Christians won’t give up their faith. Why should they? -Because of your reasons? Good luck.<br />. <br />JOHN BARBOURhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13822104532598811136noreply@blogger.com