Thread: Life
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Old 05-27-2004, 09:35 AM   #21
KiltedBanshees93GT
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Well, normally I stay out of debates, but its been a while so what the heck
*Please understand that I take none of this personally, nor is it ment personally, but in the spirit of debate and learning only*
As to the question of life on other planets in the universe: Absolutly. Statistically, its inevitable. Also, you have to apply the correct definition of "life" which as was noted earlier was the ability to grow, reproduce, (and some might add have a survival instinct). That leaves the field open for anything from single cell organisims to sentients.
Now as to why it hasent flown in and landed on the white house lawn: If you were advanced enough to travel the stars, would you really want to come to the home planet of "The Jerry Springer show"?
As to the other theological questions, I AM the agnostic that your mother warned you about<g>
My framework of "spiritual" belief is based in science, with a little intuition mixed in, a bit of practicality,and a dash of gut feeling.
I believe in the spirit/soul, its energy we have not been able to quantify. So is all matter. (Matter is just energy slowed down to a measurable state) Energy cannot be destroyed, just transformed. Therefor, that part of us, the thing that makes us sentient doesent "end" or dissolve or go away at death. it is merely "disbersed" or transformed to a higher frequency.
As to what this is like to the recently dead soul, I have no firm idea, but it may depend on what that person believed. (Making heaven and hell a self fulfilling prophecy)

As to God: I dont believe that there is a humaniod figure watching over the universe, like Zeus on olympus, waiting for folks to slip up, etc.
Personally, I think that if there is any type of sentient force in the universe that meets the requirements of "godhood" it wouldnt care less what were doing. It would be like us worrying about what a single atom composing a single molicule in a single blood cell was doing.

As to Holy books across the board, I think its a case of blind men and elephants. The big drawback to them, especially monotheistic ones, are that they tend to promote an "us vs them/I'm right, your wrong" mentality amongst the followers, and by nature are perfectly suited for gaining and maintaining control over large groups of people.
Even the best of intentions can be, over time perverted, and the true nature lost.
A classic example of this would be the KJV. Lets think about that for a sec, this is the King James Version of the bible. It is a fact that when James comissioned a "retranslation" of the bible from (I believe latin) some of the scripture was changed.
The line "Suffer not a witch to live" is famous ,but wrong. The original word ment "poisioner" or corruptor. Meaning someone who used power to do evil. It was changed to cover any type of "Pagan", since James was having a bit of trouble at the time with the Heathens who werent keen on his being their king.
The Catholic church co-opted Mithrinism [sp?] and most of their symbology and holidays whole to gain more control of conquered lands.
Anyway, \rant, enough for right now
Some quotes I'd like to refer to before I go.
Mr 5.0:
[The Christian belief is that God orchestrated the creation of the universe. We cannot know the exact process involved as the bible only tells us that God 'declared' the 'heavens' into being. That may have been accomplished instantly but it could have taken 10 billion years.]

Its refreshing to see a christion that recognizes that point.

bo55:
dont take life to seriously................... you'll never get out alive
AMEN, and remember, "On a long enough timeline everyones survival rate drops to zero".

bigredgt:
I believe that when we die, we just continue to go about our daily lives , not realizing we are dead. Why do you think people see ghosts doing ordinary, everyday activities, as though they are still alive. As far as they know, they are.

Personally I think that most ghosts are just "echos" of the energy they had when they were alive, hence why they keep doing to same thing over and over. A true ghost (as opposed to apprition) are those rare ones that are seen to react to the current world/ do different things.

Rbatson:
To think there isn't life on another planet just goes to show how humans are natured to feel self important. Its rediculous!

We are. I guess it started as a survival trait. Then it became a security blanket.

Mr 5.0
As a fundamentalist Christian, I cannot speak to Catholic doctrine or history except that I reject most of what I know of it, including the manipulation of scripture in centuries past.

The books Bigwhitecobra was referring to are called the Gnostic gospels. An interesting read. They cover the rest of Jesus' life.

Fox body:
I believe in God as well and that He created everything in the universe and that He has always been. Hard to fathom. I also believe that people have created their own "gods". For every true thing, there is a counterfeit. However, those gods are only figments of imaginations and meaningless idols.
See us vs them mentality

bigwhitecobra
I have no idea as to what makes one man want to have sex with another. I think it's best to forget this part and move on, as long as we realize that even in the church there is MAJOR homosexual activity, involving the Priests. If they feared hell as the Bible states it, you'd think that would be enough to deter them, again just guessing here.

That would be assuming that the believed what they professed, instead of using it as a control device.

Fox Body:
This is not fantasy, it is absolute reality.

According to a 2000+ year old book, whos various authors are not concretely identified, that has gone through several alterations. There are several other 2+k year old books out there that claim the same thing.
Whos right?
Reality is a very subjective thing.

Mr 5.0:
I find it interesting that while we take history about the great names and deeds of the ancient past almost without question, so many find the bible, one of the greatest books ever written that has survived many attempts to ban it, destroy it and condemn it for two thousand years, 'questionable' because it was written by human beings.

The difference is that most of us are not willing to stake ours and/or others lives on historical fact. "relegious fact" tends to get those that dont believe it killed by those who do. Hence why relegious doctrine should be scrutinized a bit more.

And a quote about humanity in general:
"Nobodys perfect. (Well there was this one guy, but we killed him. )"

Anyway folks, thats it for me right now,

J

"Boy, you're just pissin' everybody off today!"---MIB


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Last edited by KiltedBanshees93GT; 05-27-2004 at 09:54 AM..
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