Religious

[hcap]

I get it you are the only sighted individual in the land of the blind?

Take a gander at the blindfold around your sense of humanity, decency and especially the gigantic set of blinkers interfering with your self-honesty.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by hcap

I get it you are the only sighted individual in the land of the blind?

Take a gander at the blindfold around your sense of humanity, decency and especially the gigantic set of blinkers interfering with your self-honesty.

You should take a gander at how much you are out of touch with reality, your hypocrisy and how you hate everything that his true.

Pull the plank out of your own eye before pointing to any real or perceived specks in mine!

[HalvOnHorseracing]

Originally Posted by boxcar

You should take a gander at how much you are out of touch with reality, your hypocrisy and how you hate everything that his true.

Pull the plank out of your own eye before pointing to any real or perceived specks in mine!

That plank metaphor certainly gets a workout around here.

Although regardless of the planks in someone's eye (which somehow got there without causing immense distracting pain or brain damage) would it still not be the polite thing to point at a real speck in someone else's eye?

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing

That plank metaphor certainly gets a workout around here.

That's why it's in the Sermon on the Mount.

Although regardless of the planks in someone's eye (which somehow got there without causing immense distracting pain or brain damage) would it still not be the polite thing to point at a real speck in someone else's eye?

Not according to Jesus.

[boxcar]

I dedicate this to you, Mr. Actor.

http://www.gotquestions.org/QOTW.htm

[Show Me the Wire]

Originally Posted by HalvOnHorseracing

That plank metaphor certainly gets a workout around here.

Although regardless of the planks in someone's eye (which somehow got there without causing immense distracting pain or brain damage) would it still not be the polite thing to point at a real speck in someone else's eye?

Of course. it is the polite thing to do. Pointing out a physical speck of debris in someone's eye if, for some reason, they do not physically feel the speck's presence, is not only polite but caring.

[boxcar]

and I'm sure this will all make good sense to the Hcap's of the world.

Why ISIS Sees an Elderly Priest as a Threat to the Caliphate

http://observer.com/2016/07/why-isis...the-caliphate/

Be careful, 'cappy. They could be coming for you next, since they're out to destroy all Jews!

[Marshall Bennett]

ISIS is merely a symbol for a hate group. There are others. They'll kill anything, even themselves.
Islam is an excuse they use. Followers, mostly Muslims, buy into their bullshit and propaganda. A few so called Muslim leaders have simply jumped on the bandwagon. Many of those involved in the mass killings don't know the first thing about Islam, or any other religion.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

You, the fool, who thinks there is no God, is asking me this?

How about we all try to be civil and leave the ad hominem's out.

And yes, I'm asking.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

I dedicate this to you, Mr. Actor.

http://www.gotquestions.org/QOTW.htm

Thank you!

The claim that Jesus was a myth or an exaggeration originated in the writings of liberal German theologians in the nineteenth century. They essentially said that Jesus was nothing more than a copy of popular dying-and-rising fertility gods in various places—Tammuz in Mesopotamia, Adonis in Syria, Attis in Asia Minor, and Horus in Egypt.

Cherry picking! They went beyond that. Some, notably Bruno Bauer, pointed out the inadequacy of Christian text as historical documents. Gotquestions.org does address this question but conveniently ignores the fact that Bauer, et al also addressed it.

Of note is the fact that none of the books containing these theories were taken seriously by the academics of the day. The assertion that Jesus was a recycled Tammuz, for example, was investigated by contemporary scholars and determined to be completely baseless.

Of course they would say that. The old guard whose bread and butter depend on the status quo is not going to be receptive of new ideas that challenge the status quo. I very much doubt that they conducted their investigation with an open mind and without confirmation bias.

It has only been recently that these assertions have been resurrected, primarily due to the rise of the Internet and the mass distribution of information ...

It certainly is inconvenient for the old guard that technology has made the dissemination of information (and misinformation) more wide spread. Dogma trembles when it is questioned.

... from unaccountable sources.

There are plenty of accountable sources. Start with Bauer.

I'll have more to say about the link later. Right now there are other things I have to get done so I'll sign off.

[boxcar]

Originally Posted by Actor

How about we all try to be civil and leave the ad hominem's out.

And yes, I'm asking.

I am being civil -- as civil as scripture, as you well know by now.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

I dedicate this to you, Mr. Actor.

http://www.gotquestions.org/QOTW.htm

I wish to make one point about this link. It talks a lot about the movie Zeitgeist. Zeitgeist is a terrible movie. Every atheist that I know of who has seen it agrees. Their arguments just don't stand up. Some of those same arguments appear in Bill Maher's movie Religulous.

So I will not defend Zeitgeist. I will make my own argument.

[Actor]

Originally Posted by boxcar

I am being civil -- as civil as scripture, as you well know by now.

Scripture is not civil.

Numbers
31:17 Now therefore kill every male among the little ones, and kill every woman that hath known man by lying with him.
31:18 But all the women children, that have not known a man by lying with him, keep alive for yourselves.

[hcap]

Originally Posted by Show Me the Wire

Of course. it is the polite thing to do. Pointing out a physical speck of debris in someone's eye if, for some reason, they do not physically feel the speck's presence, is not only polite but caring.

This specific discussion about what we can know has veered off into Christian terminology and it is much simpler.

Thaskalos asked boxcar

"It isn't Actor's fault that God wishes to remain unknown, and unknowable."

Boxcar thought he would use a word game trick he has used so many times before.

What do you know about God that makes you say he's unknowable?

I made the point that one must know oneself and ones' perceptual limitations before we are inundated with boxcars' silly "gotcha" word games again and again.

One only has to know and observe the blindfold around one's eyes.

[hcap]

It is more than ones' perceptual limitations of what is outside of us. Understanding how we limit our view of the outer world starts with realizing we only experience things in bits and pieces mostly because who we "are" is constantly changing. According to Buddhism and other eastern and esoteric concepts our attention is often lost attaching to the momentary small fluctuations of the phenomenal world.

Rather than identifying and getting lost in those very attractive sensory moments, the idea is to stand back from the ongoing fragmented jig-saw puzzle which we do not see as a whole, but instead time-wise as one piece either before or following another, or spatially as unconnected data points. This chopping up the universe is the result of our brief short sighted selves taking turns at the helm of our being each calling and confusing itself for the real "I".

.................................................. .....

Lower Self: The Ten Thousand I`s

The lower self is a collection of attitudes, dreams, and mechanical habits that dwell within a man. There is not an unchangeable ‘I’ that is always the same. Rather, a man's many thoughts, emotions and sensations are his ‘many I`s’, which are traditionally numbered as ten thousand. As the ten thousand I's randomly assert themselves, each one mistakenly takes itself to be 'real I', and moreover, constantly interferes with the effort to simply Be Present. Jesus Christ said, "Thine enemies shall be they of your own household."

...Gurdjieff: Man is a plurality. Man's name is legion.

....Christian tradition--The Bible, Mark 5 - 9: And Jesus asked him, What is thy name? And he answered, saying, My name is Legion: for we are many.

...Sufii tradition-- Darqawi (17th c. Moroccan Sufi): There exist ten thousand worlds, and all these are contained in man, without his being conscious of it.

...Liu Yiming (18th c. Taoist master) The Inner Teachings of Taoism: As acquired conditioning runs affairs, mundanity (yin) increases and the celestial (yang) retreats, day after day, year after year. Inwardly, the ten thousand thoughts cause trouble, outwardly the thousand things coerce.

...Zen Buddhist tradition-- Bodhidharma (First Partriarch of Chinese Zen Buddhism. 6th c.): Near and yet you cannot see them. This is the nature of the ten thousand things.