Martial Arts & Religion

[Lucas]

so when you guys say 'allows' does this not leave room for conscious decision to know? for instance, if i decided to know, would that be withheld if i wasnt allowed? have i been 86ed?

[Scott R. Brown]

only on tuesdays, and since today is thursday, i wont know left until i go right to tuesday. as long as i dont go directly to jail, dont pass go, and dont collect my $200.00 i'll make it.

I have confidence you will make it!

i know !!!!

I thought you might!

[Scott R. Brown]

so when you guys say 'allows' does this not leave room for conscious decision to know? for instance, if i decided to know, would that be withheld if i wasnt allowed? have i been 86ed?

We would never know would we, because we wouldn't be allowed!!

Doesn't sound fair does it?. But this is mere intellectual play really. I am not prepared to say we cannot know God completely, except that we still create our own limitations by defining knowing and completely and God, Etc.

As long as we impose a definition, we are limiting, and thus creating our own boundaries to knowing, whatever that is!

[Lucas]

is anyone else as excited to die as i am? i'm in no hurry or rush to get there but i think its going to be quite the experience. if i simply cease to exist thats fine, because 'i' wont be around anymore to know. but if i dont, its going to be one hell of a ride.

[Scott R. Brown]

is anyone else as excited to die as i am? i'm in no hurry or rush to get there but i think its going to be quite the experience. if i simply cease to exist thats fine, because 'i' wont be around anymore to know. but if i dont, its going to be one hell of a ride.

Very nearly my own thoughts. I too am in no hurry, but it is a journey into the great unknown, and that is exciting!

Either way we have nothing to lose!

[sanjuro_ronin]

is anyone else as excited to die as i am? i'm in no hurry or rush to get there but i think its going to be quite the experience. if i simply cease to exist thats fine, because 'i' wont be around anymore to know. but if i dont, its going to be one hell of a ride.

In a hurry? No.
Afraid of what comes? Absolutely not.
Death is simply the final stage of THIS physical world.
As a Christian, much like another Paul, I am at odds with "staying here" and wanting to return to My Lord and be at home, finally.
As a "scientific soul", for lack of a better world, I am looking forward to what the universe holds.

[Lucas]

Either way we have nothing to lose!

and no choice!

[Lucas]

In a hurry? No.
Afraid of what comes? Absolutely not.
Death is simply the final stage of THIS physical world.
As a Christian, much like another Paul, I am at odds with "staying here" and wanting to return to My Lord and be at home, finally.
As a "scientific soul", for lack of a better world, I am looking forward to what the universe holds.

Save me a spot!

[RenDaHai]

@Ronin and Scott,

I've lost my place now but
I agree with both your last responses to me.


Dao Ke Dao, Fei Chang Dao, Ming Ke Ming, Fei Chang Ming!

Kind of like the Uncertainty Principle... When you measure it you change it.

Perhaps the Probability Wave can never be probed.

[Drake]

At least they actually tried, and put their ideas out there for discussion.

Unlike someone who just says "critical thinkers would rip you guyz to to shreds" and then posts a cartoon guy having an assburger.

I don't have time for it, is why. If you haven't noticed, things went to **** down here.

AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO POST THE OBVIOUS.

For ****'s sake, look it up yourself. And stop acting like some emo kid in high school making up philosophical rules and basically role-playing like some AD&D player (nothing wrong with AD&D players, because they know it's fantasy).

If you don't get it, which you don't, then no amount of posting on a kung fu website is going to change anything. Now, if you'll excuse me... I have **** to do.

[Scott R. Brown]

I don't have time for it, is why. If you haven't noticed, things went to **** down here.

AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO POST THE OBVIOUS.

For ****'s sake, look it up yourself. And stop acting like some emo kid in high school making up philosophical rules and basically role-playing like some AD&D player (nothing wrong with AD&D players, because they know it's fantasy).

If you don't get it, which you don't, then no amount of posting on a kung fu website is going to change anything. Now, if you'll excuse me... I have **** to do.

Hey Dude! I thank you with all my heart for your service to our country! You have all respect possible from me!

I understand you have a world of pressure right now! Try to keep in mind this.is just a pastime.

Relax.and let it go.for a bit if you have too much on your plate right now. If it isn't fun at the moment, come on back.when you are less pressured. we'll understand!

thanks again for all your hard work and sacrafice for those of us here living the easy life!

[rett]

I don't have time for it, is why. If you haven't noticed, things went to **** down here.

AND I SHOULDN'T HAVE TO POST THE OBVIOUS.

For ****'s sake, look it up yourself. And stop acting like some emo kid in high school making up philosophical rules and basically role-playing like some AD&D player (nothing wrong with AD&D players, because they know it's fantasy).

If you don't get it, which you don't, then no amount of posting on a kung fu website is going to change anything. Now, if you'll excuse me... I have **** to do.

I'm chiming in with Scott. I appreciate the things you're doing and can't imagine the pressure you guys must be facing.

That said, careful of the possible headlines: GI snaps, goes awol, and intellectually massacres forum denizens.

We'll be calling for your head.

(sorry if it's too soon to joke about that)

But if you DO find some time... what I meant was it would be fun if you did try your hand at picking apart some arguments... you might be surprised at what we can sling back.

Look WHAT up myself? Get what? sheesh....

[rett]

Ciritical thinking is one of the first things taught in Theology.
You are taught and exposed to every ( or close to every) form of critique of every doctrine, why they are, how they came to be and what are the orthodox and unorthodox responses to them.
It is up to the individual to decide which, if any, fits there "mindset".

Emo's a word that didn't exist in my day, but here goes...

I never studied theology but I did take a bunch of philosophy courses with good profs who ran us through the arguments and the whole back-and-forth. Pre-socratics and plato, the rationalists, the empiricists, formal logic, advanced logic... some other stuff, I forget. An interesting part of it was how many assertions arose just because they were logically needed to uphold a cherished assumption.

So I totally agree with you about mindset coming first. You even see this in physics or cosmology with the stereotyped-but-true Indian cosmologist – fully trained in physics – looking for evidence of cyclic universes, and the Christian cosmologists looking for a single big bang point of creation. Working backwards from a mindset.

My mindset, as far back as I remember, has chimed with Buddhist ideas, while Christianity scared me. It was like a haunted house. I went to sunday school but I thought Church was creepy, the hymns were sad, the organ sounded depressing, the wafers and wine thing was just plain weird. Wrong mindset I guess.

Interdependent origination. Constant change. No inherent self or essence. This cluster of ideas is what was missing from most of the philosophers we studied. A few glimpses here and there mocked by Plato as the "runny nose" view of the universe. This always seemed the direction of light and goodness.

And so I take my place in this thread: a runny nose seeking a hanky.

[sanjuro_ronin]

Emo's a word that didn't exist in my day, but here goes...

I never studied theology but I did take a bunch of philosophy courses with good profs who ran us through the arguments and the whole back-and-forth. Pre-socratics and plato, the rationalists, the empiricists, formal logic, advanced logic... some other stuff, I forget. An interesting part of it was how many assertions arose just because they were logically needed to uphold a cherished assumption.

So I totally agree with you about mindset coming first. You even see this in physics or cosmology with the stereotyped-but-true Indian cosmologist – fully trained in physics – looking for evidence of cyclic universes, and the Christian cosmologists looking for a single big bang point of creation. Working backwards from a mindset.

My mindset, as far back as I remember, has chimed with Buddhist ideas, while Christianity scared me. It was like a haunted house. I went to sunday school but I thought Church was creepy, the hymns were sad, the organ sounded depressing, the wafers and wine thing was just plain weird. Wrong mindset I guess.

Interdependent origination. Constant change. No inherent self or essence. This cluster of ideas is what was missing from most of the philosophers we studied. A few glimpses here and there mocked by Plato as the "runny nose" view of the universe. This always seemed the direction of light and goodness.

And so I take my place in this thread: a runny nose seeking a hanky.

Mindset is what creates our preconceived notions and we all have them.
When I used to go to church because I had to, I hated it.
When I used to go to a mosque or syngouge I used to think how strange and wrong their customs were.
As my eyes opened to God, I see His Hand everywhere and I see the enormous potential we have as humans is we just live truly in "His Image".
There are many paths to God and they exist because of our cultural trappings and the preconceived notions that they created.
From what I have studied about naturalism, it doesn't seem to have the answers to the questions that its answers create,
Of course the same can be said about religion.
The first thing we have to do is admit that we do NOT know the answers and be open to that, since we don't know, we can't rule something out because it doesn't "fit" into our preconceived notion of what we THINK something should be.

[TaichiMantis]

In a hurry? No.
Afraid of what comes? Absolutely not.
Death is simply the final stage of THIS physical world.
As a Christian, much like another Paul, I am at odds with "staying here" and wanting to return to My Lord and be at home, finally.
As a "scientific soul", for lack of a better world, I am looking forward to what the universe holds.

Who knew? Another Christian...