??? Dont quite follow your leaps and assumptions.
My atheist friends dont believe in a God but have logic about
What works effectively and what is wasteful or unsustainable behavior. The buddhists study what causes excess suffering and refrain from making worse problems in life. How does this require God or emotional attachment and conditioning? The buddhists teachto avoid such bias on judgment but seek pure wisdom and balance or harmony in life. Whats wrong with that
Hi eminem Unfortunately you are making me flashback to Crime Alley when I was 5 years old cradling my murdered cat in my arms and vowed to combat ignorance wherever I found it. For my rage at discovering that cats did not really have nine lives I would become......Catman. But seriously let me show you just how simple it is to change the way you think and any beliefs you have in any particular religion. It's so easy a child could do it. In fact, if any of you grew up in a western culture you already have done it once in your life. When you were a child the first serious religious faith you had was in Santa Claus. Faith is belief without proof. You completely and wholehearted believed that Santa was real, would hear your prayers or read your letters, and if you were good would give you what you asked for. Why? Because you were told it was true. Sooner or later you logically realized, discovered or were told that he was not real. And what did you do? Chose to accept reality: Santa is not real, he was never real, he never will be real. You chose to think logically and completely discarded your first religious belief system. Now you don't give Santa a second thought, except if you have children you think about ways to continue this hilarious lie so another generation can experience the fun. And people think sociopaths are bad:) I'll be back later:) Regards parker
Hi Parker:
1. I did not come to my interpretation of the meaning of God/Bible/Jesus through that route.
2. People who do, generally don't get the Santa Claus arguments either.
What smashes this either/or business of secular science and symbolic religion "rejecting" each other is showing how these are not opposites. Such as proving the energy/process behind spiritual healing is natural and scientific and works with medicine. So science/reason and religion/faith can BOTH be right simultaneously, without conflict. Wow what a concept. (I also have an atheist friend who believes in abundance of free grace, so he gets along perfectly with Christians without believing in any personified God. We agree on concepts and practice, so that's good enough. Only my Christian friends who can't deal with a gay atheist believing in natural grace in life have a problem with him. I don't have a problem with either one. Why should you have a problem? Let them figure it out on their own.)
So where I come from, these religions are like languages, which are NEUTRAL.
They bear no meaning except using to express something.
Similar to using math variables X Y Z and A B C and expressing "relationships" between "values."
That's all religions are, just systems of variables.
So once you get over the emotional/religious hocus pocus, you can see it for what it is.
Just a relative expression. I may use Arabic numbers, a computer may use 0 and 1, etc. I may speak French and others speak Spanish, and we are programmed to revert to our native language which biases our perception.
So what.
What difference does it make to me if you speak secular science speak and others use the Bible or Buddhism.
Why not translate back and forth, even if people are dependent on one language and can only talk that way.
So I have no issue with that.
My 3 main languages are using Buddhist concepts and approaches/secular/natural law and also Constitutional laws to talk politics with people and using the Bible/Christianity to address people who speak that way.
This is like being multilingual.
There is nothing wrong with these languages per se,
just how we use them and not imposing them on the wrong people and judging them for not getting it.
Anyway Parker I love how intelligent and detached you are from the usual BS.
When you see more of where I am coming from, maybe you will laugh with me at the circus of
people who don't get what is going on. Here is one joke presentation I gave about explaining the Trinity:
http://www.houstonprogressive.org/insanity.html
Maybe you are one of these "independent Buddhas" questioning everything in the world laughing at the silly conflicts.
If one person calls it 6 and other calls it half a dozen, you are still talking about the same thing.
People just can't get over it, but have to think their system is better and the other people are lost.
What if everyone's system works for them equally, so no one has to be lost. What's wrong with that?
Why this NEED to "convert" people from one system to another. Why not let each speak and master their own?
Have a good day Parker and keep posting. Maybe we can get rid of the puppet games going on when people have real things to discuss instead of making up garbage. There's plenty to straighten out without adding more doo doo.
Hi Em Thanks for the reply but.. EMILY'S REVISION WHERE THE FUCK ARE YOU WHEN I NEED YOU????!!!! Yeah Em um well ahh hmm my main language is English. I prefer Marvin Gaye to "Spiritual Healing". I'm sure you can forgive me. Goodnight(Be back later with my thoughts on Buddy and J-Dog.) Regards parker
Yes you have your taste in music and in comedy. And others have theirs.
And the same with what "languages" or "religions" speak to which person as "their THANG."
I have one friend who didn't get Catholicism and found joy and liberation through Islam. Somehow the truth that set her free was spoken through that venue. To each his own. You can imagine what she and her family went through. But if that is her THANG, that's how she relates to life/God, then let her play and pray her way, eh?