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Do you believe in God and why


ivor bigun

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Throughout time, skeptics have regarded the Bible as mythological, but archeology has confirmed it as historical. Opponents have attacked its teaching as primitive and outdated, but its moral and legal concepts and teachings have had a positive influence on societies and cultures throughout the world. It continues to be attacked by pseudo-science, psychology, and political movements, yet it remains just as true and relevant today as it was when it was first written.

 

It is a book that has transformed countless lives and cultures throughout the last 2000 years. No matter how its opponents try to attack, destroy, or discredit it, the Bible remains; its veracity and impact on lives is unmistakable. The accuracy which has been preserved despite every attempt to corrupt, attack, or destroy it is clear testimony to the fact that the Bible is truly God’s Word and is supernaturally protected by Him. It should not surprise us that, no matter how the Bible is attacked, it always comes out unchanged and unscathed.

 

After all, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mark 13:31). After looking at the evidence, one can say without a doubt that, yes, the Bible is truly God’s Word.

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2 hours ago, VincentRJ said:

Just the opposite, according to the history of economic development. Two main causes of population increase in undeveloped countries are: the need for more family members to take care of the parents in their old age, due to a lack of social services in the country, and the need for more 'effectively free' labour to manage and develop the farm or whatever business, in the hope of raising living standards at least a little.
 

 

 

 

Absolutely, yes. A world ruled by 'irrationality' summarizes all the problems mankind faces in the present and the future.

On a rational level, nothing wrong with what you say.

I recently re-read "Brave new world", where, in a hypothetical future, the humans are produced in labs.

Frightening, but rational ????

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2 minutes ago, CMNightRider said:

After all, Jesus said, “Heaven and earth will pass away, but my words will never pass away” (Mark 13:31). After looking at the evidence, one can say without a doubt that, yes, the Bible is truly God’s Word.

I like this, but, as discussed before, while the word of Jesus is still lively and shining after 2000 years, the Old Testament is opaque in comparison.

To call "the Bible" the mix of the word of Jesus and a mix of some obscure ancient tales is not right imho.

That said, before criticizing the Bible, some people should at least take the trouble to study it.

 

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Absolutely I believe in God.

 

I was raised a Christian,  and have looked into different aspects of christianity,  as well as Buddhism,  and Gnosticism,  and even others.   

 

It is possible for a Buddhist to be a christian,  but a christian can not be Buddhist.    I suppose that at this juncture,  My philosopy is that there is indeed a god,  and I aint her.

 

Interesting topic and subject from Alan Watts:  and interesting buddhist similie:

I was talking to a Buddhist priest in Thailand a while ago.  I was looking at some books in a book shop in the precints of a Buddhist temple.  I was wondering over & I noticed a book on a certain form of Buddhist meditiation. 
I murmured, "hmm,  Satipatthana" (which is the name of a certain type of Buddhist meditation) and a voice suddently said to me, "you practice Satipatthana?"
   I looked up.   There was a skinny monk in a yellow robe with rather red eyes looking at me.
I said, "not exactly Satipatthana, I use a different method called Zen."
 
"Oh, Satipatthana not Zen" he said.
 
I said, "It's somethng like it isn't it? It's rather like Yoga isn't it?"   "No" he declared,  Satipatthana different!  Satipatthana only right way."
 
"Well look," I said to him, I have a lot of Roman Catholic friends who tell me that their way is the only right way,  who am I to believe?"
 
"You know," I said, "you're like someone who has a ferry boat for crossing the river (I'll use the Buddhist similie.)  And another fellow down the stream has opened up a ferry business.  You go to the government and say , "He is not authorized to operate a ferry boat because he is competition to you."
 
I said,
"Let all operate ferry boats who will.
 
& if you haven't got the sense to get off one that sinks,  it's your fault."
 
Alan Watts

 

Edited by samuttodd
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2 hours ago, VincentRJ said:
Quote

Of course, science could be able to solve, at least in theory, all these problems, but do we really want a world ruled by scientific rationality ?

 

 

Absolutely, yes. A world ruled by 'irrationality' summarizes all the problems mankind faces in the present and the future.


I think a balance is necessary for a leader to be truly an effective leader. 


Scientific rationality is just as welcomed as creative intuition...left brain + right brain...one without the other will tend to fall out of balance and move towards an extreme. 
The west needs more introspection, the east needs more rationality.
The same goes for us individually. A person who lives in lala-land the whole time may forget about the more practical things in life like making sure your visa is up to date or paying the taxes on time. Both undesirable things but nonetheless, they have to be done.
On the other hand, a person who only identifies with his body, his 5 senses and becomes too rigid in his rationality, may be lacking the joys that come from more subtle areas.

Of course, finding a world leader with such a balance is no easy feat. Personally, I would already be happy (and surprised) if one presented himself with some basic human qualities such as humility, compassion, selflessness, and a long-term vision of the future. If he then would tend to be more scientist or spiritualist, would not matter at all.


Again, what we would expect from a world leader, we should also expect from our Selves.

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Lately, I've occupied myself a bit with nutrition, doing some research and experimenting on myself.


A few months ago I noticed that I've become lactose intolerant. Normally, I would drink a glass of milk with coffee in the morning, but then my stomach would kind of "rebel" against it, my body would produce a lot of phlegm and my nose would run for about an hour afterwards. I then switched to lactose free milk for a while, which helped. Then, someone here mentioned how cows are treated to produce the milk, and from that day I stopped drinking it. I still eat cheese and the odd yogurt now and then, so I'm not too strict about it.

I also experimented with fasting. First skipped lunch for a couple of weeks, then prolonged it to 24 hours a few times. (It's called 'intermittent fasting')
4 months ago I stopped smoking after almost 30 years! This alone gave me a boost in will power and confidence to make other changes in my lifestyle.
Last week my wife and I went to do a full medical checkup (I would recommend that for everyone here, especially if you're a bit long in the tooth). The results were pretty good...only the sugar level and the saturated fats were a bit high. So, need to cut down on sweets and fried chicken wings... ???? 

Anyway, I remember some posters here contesting the human ability to influence matter to a degree that would be labeled as 'miraculous' and that, so they lamented, there's no scientific proof for any of it.

During my research, I came across many accounts of people who were or are able to live without food, even without water for prolonged periods of time. Certainly longer than science would deem possible. They are called "breatharians" and claim to use only "prana" (=life force) as their only sustenance. Some do drink liquids, but don't take any solid foods. I personally know a guy who went from vegetarian to vegan to fruitarian and now all he eats are apples. His goal is to live from prana alone. (No, I haven't put together a group of scientist to put him under constant observation and verify his claim).


While I do believe this is possible, I also tried to find more 'watertight" stories that were put under the scrutiny of doctors and independent observers.

2 such stories stood out from the rest. One is about a young Israeli guy who abstained from food and water for 8 days, constantly video monitored (it was also a TV show) and checked daily by a (skeptic) doctor. He lost 9 kg in that time, but contrary to what the accepted scientific opinion dictates, he didn't die. He also won 100.000$ in the process. 
The documentary is in 2 parts and is subtitled in English:

 

 

The second one is about an Indian yogi called Prahlad Jani, who claims to have not eaten or drunk for 70 years. He was also tested for 10 days at a renowned Indian hospital under close scrutiny by the medical staff and government officials and again, all of them confirmed that he did not eat or drink during that time.

 

There are countless such accounts in Indian spiritual literature, but not only...plenty of Christian mystics are also credited to have been able to live from "light" or "divine bliss". 
Now, are they all (including respected doctors and researchers) in a gigantic conspiracy just to upset the scientific world? Or is there really something more going on? And as the evidence suggests, is living from prana simply an extraordinary feat of the human will or is there a metaphysical component at play like these people claim?

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2 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

How can you prove that your experiences and the ones you quote are not merely the placebo effect?

 

Nobody need to prove anything here.

If you want to call it placebo effect ( a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient's belief in that treatment. )  , that's ok, i guess.

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6 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

How can you prove that your experiences and the ones you quote are not merely the placebo effect?

 

Placebo or not, if it's true that people can stay without food and water for that amount of time, it would be a direct contradiction of the accepted and established scientific facts that humans can't survive without water for more than 3 days. 
That alone would be worth investigating.

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No idea why the "placebo effect" seems to be so despised, perhaps for his funny name ?

It seems quite an admission for me by the official science, that the "will" or the "faith" can influence, to a yet unknown extent, the so-called "natural processes".

 

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3 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

No idea why the "placebo effect" seems to be so despised, perhaps for his funny name ?

It seems quite an admission for me by the official science, that the "will" or the "faith" can influence, to a yet unknown extent, the so-called "natural processes".

 

Right?! 

"Oh, it's just the placebo effect"...as if that could take away the extraordinary from those cases and reduce them to some banal everyday occurrence that is easy to digest.

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6 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

No idea why the "placebo effect" seems to be so despised, perhaps for his funny name ?

It seems quite an admission for me by the official science, that the "will" or the "faith" can influence, to a yet unknown extent, the so-called "natural processes".

Why would you think it despised and who is "he" in "his funny name"? There's some evidence of doctors deliberately prescrbing a placebo and only reverting to the standard treatment if that doesn't work http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1700079,00.html

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2 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

Right?! 

"Oh, it's just the placebo effect"...as if that could take away the extraordinary from those cases and reduce them to some banal everyday occurrence that is easy to digest.

The most extraordinary thing is that there is nothing extraordinary in the potentially unlimited power of the faith and the will, but then, many dogmas of the official science would have to be quickly redefined...

..And the extraordinary profits of the medical science could take a big hit :whistling:

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11 minutes ago, Sunmaster said:

Right?! 

"Oh, it's just the placebo effect"...as if that could take away the extraordinary from those cases and reduce them to some banal everyday occurrence that is easy to digest.

I'm still looking forward (very much) to mauGR1's telling us who the "he" is in "his funny name". I suspect the answer relates to my #5923

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7 minutes ago, ThaiBunny said:

Why would you think it despised and who is "he" in "his funny name"? There's some evidence of doctors deliberately prescrbing a placebo and only reverting to the standard treatment if that doesn't work http://content.time.com/time/health/article/0,8599,1700079,00.html

My bad, its and no his, thanks for the correction.

As for your "evidence" , well, i am very suspicious about every statistic, unless i can check by myself.

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1 minute ago, ThaiBunny said:

I'm still looking forward (very much) to mauGR1's telling us who the "he" is in "his funny name". I suspect the answer relates to my #5923

Don't get so worked up about a typo, pedantic much ?

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56 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Nobody need to prove anything here.

If you want to call it placebo effect ( a beneficial effect produced by a placebo drug or treatment, which cannot be attributed to the properties of the placebo itself, and must therefore be due to the patient's belief in that treatment. )  , that's ok, i guess.

Belief is everything, as long it last!

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11 minutes ago, Silencer said:

Most people want "proof" before believing anything.

I don't want proof of anything. My position is quite a simple one - "on the balance of probability" - which doesn't require either proof or lack of it

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1 hour ago, mauGR1 said:

Surely is an important part of "everything", and of course everyone wants it to last !

How many times have you changed perspective, state of mind and view in light of politics, clima, religion, life, overall understanding during your time on this planet? Placebo effect is strong medicine! 
 

 

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1 minute ago, Tagged said:

How times you changed perspective, state of mind and view in light of politics, clima, religion, life, overall understanding during your time on this planet? Placebo effect is strong medicine! 
 

 

That's very personal, but i have always tried to see things from as many points of view as i can, with a pinch of skepticism added.

That way i can hope to have a fair understanding of what's going on here ????

 

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11 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

That's very personal, but i have always tried to see things from as many points of view as i can, with a pinch of skepticism added.

That way i can hope to have a fair understanding of what's going on here ????

 

I would say it was strange if people stayed status Q all their life, I would go so far that they never progressed, experienced, or evolved nothing. I would call that sad! 

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