|
|
|
cynicallyderanged
New Member
2 Posts |
 Posted - 08/27/2001 : 12:57:22
|
Or at least in the possibility that there is a God?
From some light lurking Ive done, it seems like there is a fairly widespread disparagment of spirituality on this board (not too supprisingly I suppose), but I really dont understand it all that much. So whats wrong with being spiritual?
|
|
|
@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 13:18:29 [Permalink]
|
It's not that Skeptics "go after" religion. Skeptics analyze claims and religion usually includes a claim that there is a god type thing. Flavors and colors vary but there's still usually a god at the center of it all.
What exactly do you mean by spiritual?
It sounds like something you see on personal ads but I never quite get what it means.
 @tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law! |
 |
|
|
cynicallyderanged
New Member
2 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 14:54:18 [Permalink]
|
quote:
It's not that Skeptics "go after" religion. Skeptics analyze claims and religion usually includes a claim that there is a god type thing. Flavors and colors vary but there's still usually a god at the center of it all.
What exactly do you mean by spiritual?
It sounds like something you see on personal ads but I never quite get what it means.
@tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law!
I'd define a persons spirituality as their conviction to ideals or concepts which are predicated on the exsistence of some intangable force or being, wether that be God, or their soul, or their chi, or ESP, or whatever. Things which must be taken on faith because there is no current way to verify them empirically.
Perhaps I was too vague, but it just seemed to me like a lot of people here dissmiss those things outright just because they CANT be empirically proven at this stage. Which is why I wondered if anyone here belived in God. Ive talked to a lot of hard core skeptics, and a lot of bible-thumping christians, but Ive never really encountered someone who was sort of in the middle, beliving in god, but questioning his nature.
|
|
|
|
Slater
SFN Regular
USA
1668 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 15:50:52 [Permalink]
|
You seem to be talking about claims that people make that they can't back up.
Skeptics are more than happy to go along with claims that are backed up.
Why would you believe something that you didn't know to be true? How could you claim to know if something is true if you can't prove it?
Wanting something to be true does not make it so, or people would be mistaking me for Pierce Brosnan.
-------
The brain that was stolen from my laboratory was a criminal brain. Only evil will come from it. |
|
|
|
@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 15:52:15 [Permalink]
|
I thought you said you had been lurking here for a while. You might have noticed that skeptics do indeed dismiss that which cannot be proven impirically.
Always have, always will. It's a big part of that scientific method thing. Observation plays a rather large role in it.
@tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law! |
|
|
|
comradebillyboy
Skeptic Friend
USA
188 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 16:44:24 [Permalink]
|
well deranged, most of us are materialists, that is we believe what we can measure or detect or calculate.
i also am not sure what you mean by spirituality. if you mean belief in the "judeo-christian" god, well the easter bunny is about as believable. just because i don't have all the answers, or can't explain all phenomena, is no reason for me to blame it on jeeeesus or yawhe or whoever.
comrade billyboy |
|
|
|
Zandermann
Skeptic Friend
USA
431 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 17:47:04 [Permalink]
|
"Does anyone here believe in God?"
Yes, there are theists here.
"...or at least in the possibility that there is a God?"
Yes, there are agnostics here also.
And there are those among us who have expressed no opinion.
"... what's wrong with being spiritual?"
Well, depends upon which of us you ask. Some are more 'hard-line' as to what evidence they will accept; others somewhat less so.
"If in the last few years you haven't discarded a major opinion or acquired a new one, check your pulse. You may be dead." |
|
|
|
Lisa
SFN Regular
USA
1223 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 20:33:56 [Permalink]
|
Zandermann is right. The folks here run a pretty wide spectrum. There's atheists (me, for example), agnostics, and theists of several types.
If you've done some "light lurking" you'll see we don't limit our discussions or skepticism to religion. Try running over to the folder on medicine and post that you believe in the curative powers of magnetic bracelets . Wear kevlar .
Lisa
|
|
|
|
Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 08/27/2001 : 23:28:55 [Permalink]
|
quote:
I'd define a persons spirituality as their conviction to ideals or concepts which are predicated on the exsistence of some intangable force or being, wether that be God, or their soul, or their chi, or ESP, or whatever. Things which must be taken on faith because there is no current way to verify them empirically.
As a Buddhist I follow what Buddha said, 'belive only in yourself', 'question everything'.
Therefore I too am an Atheist. But maybe by your definition I am spiritual, I am a force onto myself. I can send my chi anywhere throughout my body.  
Rap Crap is to music what Paint by Numbers is to art. |
|
|
|
Antie
Skeptic Friend
USA
101 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 02:18:33 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Does anyone here belive in God?
I don't think so. I don't think I've lived in God, either.
quote:
Or at least in the possibility that there is a God?
I don't believe in the possibility that there is a God, but I haven't ruled out that possibility. I'm an Athiest. That is to say, I simply lack a god belief.
Ian Andreas Miller. My site. |
|
|
|
Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 09:46:23 [Permalink]
|
quote:
I'd define a persons spirituality as their conviction to ideals or concepts which are predicated on the exsistence of some intangable force or being, wether that be God, or their soul, or their chi, or ESP, or whatever. Things which must be taken on faith because there is no current way to verify them empirically.
Spirituality is your right hemisphere telling your left hemisphere to shut up. Being rather than doing. Seeing rather than looking. Empathy rather than analysis. Feeling your place in the world rather than defining it.
Spirituality is sitting in the back meadow on a warm summer evening with an iced tea (or Jack Daniels ) in ANALOG, not DIGITAL mode.
So for the left hemisphere "pigeon-holers", I'm a deist / theist something-or-other.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it.
(:raig |
|
|
|
Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 18:25:22 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Spirituality is sitting in the back meadow on a warm summer evening with an iced tea (or Jack Daniels ) in ANALOG, not DIGITAL mode.
(:raig
Sounds good to me. But I don't know what ANALOG is, guess it doesn't matter. And the ice tea is good but not the booze. But whatever!
nlm
Rap Crap is to music what Paint by Numbers is to art. |
|
|
|
@tomic
Administrator
USA
4607 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 18:46:36 [Permalink]
|
ANALOG: Clock with hands. Never tells exactly what time it is. All you can get is an approximation. Between 12 and 6 there are an infinite number points depending on how much time you want to waste looking deeper and deeper without ever getting an exact time
DIGITAL: Digital clock shows the exact time.
@tomic
Gravity, not just a good idea...it's the law! |
|
|
|
bjones
Skeptic Friend
Australia
82 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 20:47:09 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Or at least in the possibility that there is a God?
From some light lurking Ive done, it seems like there is a fairly widespread disparagment of spirituality on this board (not too supprisingly I suppose), but I really dont understand it all that much. So whats wrong with being spiritual?
Which one
|
|
|
|
Snake
SFN Addict
USA
2511 Posts |
Posted - 08/28/2001 : 23:31:43 [Permalink]
|
quote:
DIGITAL: Digital clock shows the exact time.
@tomic
 Smart Ass!
Rap Crap is to music what Paint by Numbers is to art. |
|
|
|
Mespo_man
Skeptic Friend
USA
312 Posts |
Posted - 08/29/2001 : 06:25:22 [Permalink]
|
quote:
Sounds good to me. But I don't know what ANALOG is, guess it doesn't matter. And the ice tea is good but not the booze. But whatever!
In the previous "meadow" example...
ANALOG: Bio-electrical stimulus only from surrounding natural environment, through organs of sight, smell, taste, touch and hearing.
DIGITAL: An electronic field kit on a two-wheel dolly containing car battery and converter for max power, pager, cell-phone, mp3 player, laptop, portable TV, and up-link dish. And of course, an electronic bug repeller, electric Japanese lanterns and a million candle power Coleman lantern to overpower the night sky. Some people call it "back to Nature" and "communing with God".
(:raig
|
|
|
 |
|
Topic Locked
