Religion III

[hcap]

Originally Posted by boxcar

Yeah, I know. Everything is an illusion. God. Time. Mind. Evil. Good. Free Will. Life itself is an illusion. Therefore, everything you write is an illusion.

Like the images cast the walls of Plato's cave.?



Literal interpretation is being stuck in the shadows. Idol worship is bowing down to "Fido" and such, dancing on the wall.

[hcap]

However...

“…Hashem is your shadow…” (Psalm 121:5)

Shadows will follow our movements. If we raise our hand or bend down, our shadow will follow suit. The Baal Shem Tov taught (Israel ben Eliezer circa 1698) that just as our shadows move with us, the Almighty’s relationship with us follows our movements in life.

For example, if we judge others favorably and with compassion – God will judge us similarly. (Talmud, Shabbat 127b)

Meditation and prayer is a way to witness what we cast on the wall and eventually from where it is projected.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Actor

But a lot more lives might be saved if the system can be changed.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

As well as everything you write.

You're an illusion, as well.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Actor

But a lot more lives might be saved if the system can be changed.

"The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few, or the one."

So, if 20,000 kids starve in the meantime, that wouldn't be considered too many? Why can't both avenues be pursued? Are they mutually exclusive to each other?

[hcap]

https://www.cnn.com/2019/04/13/us/no...rnd/index.html

(CNN)For the first time "No Religion" has topped a survey of Americans' religious identity, according to a new analysis by a political scientist. The non-religious edged out Catholics and evangelicals in the long-running General Social Survey.
Ryan Burge, a political scientist at Eastern Illinois University and a Baptist pastor, found that 23.1% of Americans now claim no religion.

"Religious nones," as they are called by researchers, are a diverse group made up of atheists, agnostics, the spiritual, and those who are no specific organized religion in particular. A rejection of organized religion is the common thread they share.
"It is the first time we have seen this. The same questions have been asked for 44 years," Burge told CNN.
The meteoric rise of religious nones began in the early 1990s and has grown 266% since 1991, he said.
Burge estimates that 'No Religion' will be the largest group outright in four to six years.

I guess god is screwing up. Appointing biblical literal evangelicals like boxcar as his spokesman, who would expect organized religion to grow?

Ironically one of the worst "sin" as defined by the Judeo-Christion mores, has diminished. How come?




In fact the violent crime rate has also dropped drastically

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by hcap

I guess god is screwing up. Appointing biblical literal evangelicals like boxcar as his spokesman, who would expect organized religion to grow?

I guess you are the real deal bible illiterate, which makes you the screw up (cf. 2Thes 2:3). Prophecy unfolding right before your eyes. Want are you going to do now: Assign a 21st century date to the text?

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by Greyfox

Yes, that's old ground.
But if free will is an illusion, how do you know that your logic isn't an illusion?

In honor of Holy Week for Christians, how Good Friday changed the world by breaking the chains of fatalism.

Fatalism is the belief that we are not masters of our own destiny, but there is another force that determines our fate. It is the gods. It is nature. It is our karma. It is the ones with power.

Fatalism is fatal. It keeps everyone who follows it enslaved. Now, before Good Friday, humanity was locked into fatalism. It was always someone else’s fault. The only other force in society was the rule of power. Some people had wealth and power. Others did not. The struggle was simply, therefore, between one powerful person and another, and human destiny was determined by who had the bigger army. https://dwightlongenecker.com/fatali...ed-everything/

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

It would certainly seem that an "all-powerful", "ever-loving" God would lend a helping hand to the most helpless among us...if he really exists, that is. The mystery of mysteries...IMO.

Not really. This has been addressed, several times. Choices are made by people, which leads to situations, as there are consequences for actions, we live in a fallen world, not all people want or ask for God's help and others worship entities as their god.

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by thaskalos

Did this child get an answer?

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/

“The parents of the children were busy taking food from the plane, so they had left their children only briefly while they collected the food. This was the situation for the girl in the photo taken by Carter. A vulture landed behind the girl. To get the two in focus, Carter approached the scene very slowly so as not to scare the vulture away and took a photo from approximately 10 meters. He took a few more photos before chasing the bird away”. [emphasis added]
https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/vulture-little-girl/


A very humane choice, don't scare the vulture away from an unsupervised child, while the parents were collecting food from a plane stocked with food.

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by TJDave

Let us make man in our image, after our likeness; and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the fowl of the air, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth...

except starving children in Africa.

Have you figured out what accident is your image and likeness like?

[hcap]

Originally Posted by boxcar

I guess you are the real deal bible illiterate, which makes you the screw up (cf. 2Thes 2:3). Prophecy unfolding right before your eyes. Want are you going to do now: Assign a 21st century date to the text?

Why no response on the apparent correlation between the decrease in "sinning" and the decrease in organized religion?

Like both Evangelism and Catholicism?

God must have given up having guys liker you attempting to spread the so-called "good news". Your clumsy approach as many others of your pompous ilk have worked to have people seek other non-traditional approaches or have no interest at all.

If your god is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnibenevolent and Omnipresent, how come?

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by hcap

Why no response on the apparent correlation between the decrease in "sinning" and the decrease in organized religion?

Like both Evangelism and Catholicism?

God must have given up having guys liker you attempting to spread the so-called "good news". Your clumsy approach as many others of your pompous ilk have worked to have people seek other non-traditional approaches or have no interest at all.

If your god is Omnipotent, Omniscient, Omnibenevolent and Omnipresent, how come?

How come God allows any evil in the world?

[hcap]

Originally Posted by boxcar

How come God allows any evil in the world?

According to you, because it is like a mid term or final exam.

God must test and then perfect his children. A little murder and starvation is good for the soul he gave us.

OR...
if at first you don't succeed try try try try try try try try try try again

[TJDave]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

Have you figured out what accident is your image and likeness like?

I'm having trouble figuring out what your sentence means.

[thaskalos]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

Not really. This has been addressed, several times. Choices are made by people, which leads to situations, as there are consequences for actions, we live in a fallen world, not all people want or ask for God's help and others worship entities as their god.

What "decisions" do you suppose the world's unfortunate children have made, which have resulted in the grave consequences that they now face? They didn't choose the "right parents"? If the "Almighty", with his unlimited power and his limitless "love", won't help these suffering children, then...WHO will?

Yes...we live in a "fallen world". But...how can it be otherwise when all that the "Almighty God" can do is make promises about a future that none of us can ever live to talk about? Promises can only take people so far...you know.