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121  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 29, 2019, 09:01:10 PM
...
In other words, the NU and Hell will BE the "from the beginning" you are talking about... because none of this universe will ever be remembered or come to mind once the NU is in use.
...


"Earth, I think, will not be found by anyone to be in the end a very distinct place.  I think earth, if chosen instead of Heaven, will turn out to have been, all along, only a region in Hell:  and earth, if put second to Heaven, to have been from the beginning a part of Heaven itself." - C.S. Lewis
122  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 29, 2019, 06:57:59 AM
How will god prevent evil in the new universe though, people will still have free choice, no? Therefore they can still commit crimes there, again, 0 logic. What about children born there once we go there? How will he make sure they are born not evil? Garbage argument.

You would need to make sure that consciousness that made the transition from this world to the next were entirely grounded in the Law. Specifically such consciousness would need to be both superrational and adopt an unbounded and inclusive morality. As long as these two criteria were met there would be no crimes in the next world.

I discussed this immediately upthead in my discussion of Multiverse Wide Cooperation.

In Biblical terms you would need to separate the wheat from the chaff.
123  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 28, 2019, 10:34:01 PM
HOW RELIGION IN THE UNITED STATES AVAILS ITSELF OF DEMOCRATIC TENDENCIES
By Alexis de Tocqueville

"There is hardly any human action, however particular it may be, that does not originate in some very general idea men have conceived of the Deity, of his relation to mankind, of the nature of their own souls, and of their duties to their fellow creatures. Nor can anything prevent these ideas from being the common spring from which all the rest emanates.

Men are therefore immeasurably interested in acquiring fixed ideas of God, of the soul, and of their general duties to their Creator and their fellow men; for doubt on these first principles would abandon all their actions to chance and would condemn them in some way to disorder and impotence.

This, then, is the subject on which it is most important for each of us to have fixed ideas; and unhappily it is also the subject on which it is most difficult for each of us, left to himself, to settle his opinions by the sole force of his reason. None but minds singularly free from the ordinary cares of life, minds at once penetrating, subtle, and trained by thinking, can, even with much time and care, sound the depths of these truths that are so necessary. And, indeed, we see that philosophers are themselves almost always surrounded with uncertainties; that at every step the natural light which illuminates their path grows dimmer and less secure, and that, in spite of all their efforts, they have discovered as yet only a few conflicting notions, on which the mind of man has been tossed about for thousands of years without every firmly grasping the truth or finding novelty even in its errors. Studies of this nature are far above the average capacity of men
...
When the religion of a people is destroyed, doubt gets hold of the higher powers of the intellect and half paralyzes all the others. Every man accustoms himself to having only confused and changing notions on the subjects most interesting to his fellow creatures and himself. His opinions are ill-defended and easily abandoned; and, in despair of ever solving by himself the hard problems respecting the destiny of man, he ignobly submits to think no more about them.

Such a condition cannot but enervate the soul, relax the springs of the will, and prepare a people for servitude. Not only does it happen in such a case that they allow their freedom to be taken from them; they frequently surrender it themselves. When there is no longer any principle of authority in religion any more than in politics, men are speedily frightened at the aspect of this unbounded independence. The constant agitation of all surrounding things alarms and exhausts them. As everything is at sea in the sphere of the mind, they determine at least that the mechanism of society shall be firm and fixed; and as they cannot resume their ancient belief, they assume a master.

For my own part, I doubt whether man can ever support at the same time complete religious independence and entire political freedom. And I am inclined to think that if faith be wanting in him, he must be subject; and if he be free, he must believe."


124  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 28, 2019, 07:50:06 PM
If you follow that regression of fault, you will end up at God, he who is responsible for everything.

According to your twisted logic, parents suffer having a baby with birth defects, not only by the choices they make or don't make, but by the choices of their parents (as did the baby), and so on, all the way to God.

All your "blame the victim's parents" logic leads you to your main character.

Remind me who created and then punished Adam and Eve?

Birth defects are caused by many things they can be a result of genetics, lifestyle choices and behaviors, exposure to certain medications and chemicals, infections during pregnancy, a combination of these factors, ect.

Many of these drug use, alcohol consumption, smoking during pregnancy, inadequate prenatal care,
untreated bacterial infections can be traced to deliberate human action or inaction. Others like family history of birth defects or other genetic disorders are currently outside the realm of human choice. These are hopefully problems of ignorance and will be resolvable in the near future with our increasing knowledge.

You are correct that you can trace the ultimate cause of all events good and bad to God.  
So why did God create a universe where evil, horror, and suffering exist? The problem of evil is a deep question. Here is a short video on the subject I agree with.

Why Does God Allow Evil?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XAexl_loCfg
125  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 28, 2019, 05:39:28 PM

Children born with birth defects or HIV did not have much choice, didn't they?  What sin did the newborns commit?

You make as much sense as a hippopotamus explaining Shakespeare.


Newborns clearly have not sinned. They may suffer however do to the choices made outside of their control. Children born with HIV are suffering because of the choices of the elder generation usually their father or mother. Human choices do harm the innocent.

Children with cancer are dying because a part of them has broken away and defected. It no longer acts in its assigned role for the greater good but instead strengths itself over the short run via unrestrained growth. Left unchecked that growth will eventually disrupt the delicate balance necessary for life and will end in death.
126  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 28, 2019, 04:59:52 PM

''God’s anger is rationally retributive. His anger is His direct, calculated response to sin.''

Actually, his 'anger' is nothing but rational. Consider this example, you know everything, you can do anything. A rock falls on your friend and kills him, do you get mad? Of course not because you could have prevented it, you allowed it to happen and you already knew thousands of years ago that it would happen so there is simply no logical reason to get mad. I understand humans have free will, so what? God created them that way and knew what would happen so again, no reason to be mad.

Also big logical inconsistencies, god wanted us to have free will but he himself killed millions.

The overwhelming majority of human suffering is human caused either via direct malevolence or indirect negligence. It could only be averted by removing human free will and making us slaves or the long hard path of gradual planetwide moral perfection.

Your example of a rock falling on someone is an exception suffering caused by a combination of human ignorance of nature (lack of awareness that a rock will fall) and general human frailty. Both of these lessor causes of suffering are self limited. They are things that we will gradually and naturally outgrow with technological progress if we can get control of our self induced harm.

Now you could argue that a loving God would set up the universe in such a way that ignorance alone would not end us. He would step in and make sure that life was not over for us when we foolishly stepped under falling rocks or when our natural bodies give out on us because we lack the knowledge to keep them functional and regenerated past the age of 80.

The Christian worldview holds that this is exactly what he has done. You just need to apologize for foolishly walking under falling rocks on a regular basis genuinely try to stop doing that and ask him to save you and he will preserve you and elevate you to a state where that ignorance and frailty do not exist. He is not just the friend who pushes you out from under the falling rock so that you can die of old age in 20 years he is the friend who brings you back to life and in such a way that falling rocks and old age will never threaten you again.

The Christian view requires faith, however, not a faith in nothingness but a faith in God. Free will necessitates honoring the choices we make in this world. If we choose to define ourselves as our own gods as independent entities apart from detached and unbeholden to God I suspect that choice would have to be honored. To do anything else would be to trample on free will.
127  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 28, 2019, 03:03:13 AM
It's fairly easy, if you think god is all powerful and knows everything, the bible can be logically disproved. An all powerful, all knowing god would not get mad and kill everyone because he 'failed', he can't fail, he can't be mad, he can't have our feelings.

God can’t fail we can. We can fail because we have been given freedom. Our choices are not compelled.

This article had a nice summary on this topic.

God’s Anger
by Caleb Colley Ph.D.
http://www.apologeticspress.org/APContent.aspx?category=12&article=1462
128  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 27, 2019, 09:12:47 PM

Good going, taking advise from a guy who thinks the evolution is a hoax and Earth is less than 10,000 years old.

You know that you just assigned an attribute (infinite) to something that you yourself said cannot be defined (God). I guess reason is not your friend.

Like I said, you make shit up as you go.  Making excuses for your delusion.

Let me use your logic to say, God is undefined and non-existent.  See, I just assigned a new property just as valid as any of yours, badecker’s or notbatman’s.

I just realized that I might be talking to a real schizophrenic.  So please excuse me, I have to leave this ward.

Again it would be helpful if you actually read what I wrote before replying. I did not hear about these ideas from BADecker but someone like him a resolute believer if you will. BADecker and I probably disagree about the age of the earth and some aspects of evolution. That is ok and the difference in interpretation is not worth debating at least not here where there are more important fundamental disputes under discussion.

I have highlighted how we can mathematically deduce The incompleteness of the universe and logically conclude that whatever is outside the universe must be boundless, immaterial, indivisible and an uncaused cause.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg23796852#msg23796852

Of the very limited logical options on what could exist outside of the universe I would argue the best logical solution is that of an infinite creator. The monotheistic conceptualization of God is consistent with what we can mathematically deduce.

Your are correct another faith can be chosen.  You can choose a faith in nothingness or non-existence. An infinity of nothingness is still nothing. Everyone is free to do as you have and choose emptiness and concurrently define yourself as your own god.

The universe is structured in such a way that you are not compelled in the choice. You are free.

You appear to suffer from a profound inability to understand any perspective other then your own. I assume that is why you insist on calling everyone who disagrees with you insane.
129  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 27, 2019, 05:38:05 AM

Let me guess, God is not part of everything and you know this because someone like CoinCube told you. Lol.

You guys are comedians. You make shit up as you go.

The reverse is true actually. I learned about most of these concepts because someone like BADecker told me. I rejected them for a very long time until I could no longer deny their inherent rationality and truth.

I don't make anything up. I make rational arguments and highlight the assumptions I make in those arguments. I may occasionally speculate but when I do I clearly identify the idea as speculation and advise the reader to think about the topic and reach their own conclusion not simply rely on my musings.

The concept of an infinite God's necessary distance to allow a finite creation to exist is actually a very deep one. However, you won't appreciate it because you don't believe in God. To be honest its not a topic I fully grasp. However for those interested in the topic here is an interesting article on it. A brief excerpt below full article at link.

Tzimtzum: A Kabbalistic Theory of Creation by Dr. Sanford Drob
http://thejewishreview.org/articles/?id=121
Quote from: Sanford Drob
An article in a recent issue of U.S. News and World Report begins with what would seem at first to be a rather odd question for one of our nation's major news weeklies. How, the article asks, did the universe begin and it proceeds to provide the following by way of an answer:

"In the beginning, there was no time, no matter, not even space. Then in some unfathomable way, a universe emerged from a dimensionless point of pure energy (U.S. News and World Report, March 26, 1990)."

This, the article assures us, is as close to a description of 'the beginning' as science can currently provide, and it is to probe deeper into the questions of cosmic origins that the National Aeronautics and Space Administration plans, on April 12, 1990, to place the 1.5 billion dollar Hubble Space Telescope into earth orbit on the most sophisticated scientific satellite ever constructed.

As I pondered the news weekly's description of creation, I was struck by what appears to be at least a superficial similarity to the account of creation provided in the Kabbalah. Indeed, the description reads almost as if it were a translation from a passage in the opening pages of Chayim Vital's Sefer Etz Chayyim, the classic exposition of the Kabbalah of the Ari, Rabbi Isaac Luria. Rabbi Luria, starting from completely different assumptions and operating in a universe of discourse which is, to use an unusually precise metaphor, light years away from the Hubble telescope, arrived at the very same conclusion: that the universe emerged from a dimensionless point which gave rise to a world of matter, space, and time. Only, for the kabbalists, that dimensionless point is not so much an impenetrable beginning, but is rather the end result of a process occurring within God Himself. This process, known as tzimtzum (divine contraction or concealment) is, according to the Lurianic scheme, the very essence of creation; it is the means by which an infinite unified God "makes room," so to speak, for a finite, pluralistic world. Through an understanding of the doctrine of tzimtzum we may, without ever turning our gaze upon the astronomical heavens, gain some genuine insight into how a universe of matter, space and time could emerge from a single point in a metaphysical void.

The kabbalistic account of creation is, to the uninitiated, a very strange, difficult and perhaps even disturbing notion. However, it is a notion which gives expression to a series of paradoxical, but deeply profound ideas. Amongst them is the notion that the universe as we know it is the result of a cosmic negation. The world, according to Lurianic kabbalah, is not so much a something which has been created from nothing, but rather a genre of nothingness resulting from a contraction or concealment of the only true reality, which is God. A closely related notion is the idea that it is the very unfathomability and unknowability of God and His ways which is the sine qua non of creation itself. Creation, the doctrine of tzimtzum implies, is, in its very essence, "that which does not know."

One cannot be expected to understand or accept such notions without some significant and serious explanation. In this essay I offer a philosophical exposition, commentary, and in some respects, elaboration of the concept of tzimtzum as it appears in the kabbalistic system of Rabbi Isaac Luria (1534‑1572) and his disciples such as Rabbi Chayim Vital and later, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Lyadi. In addition, I offer an idealist and rationalist philosophical context in which these ideas can, I believe, be best understood.
130  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 26, 2019, 08:18:51 PM

You have been indoctrinated into your religious cult and are unable to free yourself from it.

You desperately cling onto this Bronze Age myth despite all the evidence that it is a man-made fiction.

If you truly believe in it, you might be a borderline schizophrenic.  No amount of evidence will change your mind because you live in a carefully constructed bubble and will protect it at all costs.

Talking to you feels like talking to notbatman.  At times you seem lucid, but then you revert into this comatose pseudoscientific state and you keep babbling about nonsense, proving nonsense with other nonsense.


Your replies are getting a bit empty lately af_newbie. Everyone is almost exactly the same.

"Christianity is a cult"
"You are (random insult) a hapless chap, a borderline schizophrenic, comatose, delusional."
"Your arguments are not rational (but I can't be bothered to actually rebut them)"

Since you appear to have no actual interest in thinking about or discussing my posts here is a list of future insults you can substitute into your template for your next several replies. I would not want you to strain yourself.

75 Funny Insults which are Incredibly Brutal!
http://pun.me/pages/funny-insults.php
Quote
1) If laughter is the best medicine, your face must be curing the world.

2) You're so ugly, you scared the crap out of the toilet.

3) Your family tree must be a cactus because everybody on it is a prick.

4) No I'm not insulting you, I'm describing you.

5) It's better to let someone think you are an Idiot than to open your mouth and prove it.

6) If I had a face like yours, I'd sue my parents.

7) Your birth certificate is an apology letter from the condom factory.

8 )I guess you prove that even god makes mistakes sometimes.

9) The only way you'll ever get laid is if you crawl up a chicken's ass and wait.

10) You're so fake, Barbie is jealous.

11) I’m jealous of people that don’t know you!

12) My psychiatrist told me I was crazy and I said I want a second opinion. He said okay, you're ugly too.

13) You're so ugly, when your mom dropped you off at school she got a fine for littering.

14) If I wanted to kill myself I'd climb your ego and jump to your IQ.

15) You must have been born on a highway because that's where most accidents happen.

16) Brains aren't everything. In your case they're nothing.

17) I don't know what makes you so stupid, but it really works.

18) I can explain it to you, but I can’t understand it for you.


 

131  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 26, 2019, 07:36:25 PM

Do you think god is all powerful and knows everything? Because if you do, your logic is seriously fucked, like really fucked.


Please elaborate.
132  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 26, 2019, 12:23:51 AM

And we are back to more outlandish conjectures...You are seriously deluded.

Using your logic you will always be wrong about everything in your life.  You will make shit up as you go and explain to yourself that you are correct, lol.

Yes this last bit is conjecture. Can't you read.

Up until now (several pages of) answers and replies to you have been simple logic and deduction essentially IF -> THEN statements. However, I am not wise enough to answer these last questions in the same definitive manner. The best I can do is share my opinions on these issues. Perhaps that will be helpful.

On the question of Adam and Eve...

Conjecture can be useful at times. It helps us explore and tests ideas. You asked for my thoughts on the question of Adam and Eve. You are clearly riled up by them but that is nothing new.

I freely admit that I could be entirely wrong in my thoughts on Adam and Eve. My opinion on the issue is certainly not a proof of any kind. It is as you said conjecture.

I would argue, however, that this particular conjecture is in harmony with both with our scientific understanding of how mankind came to be and with the Biblical account of our creation. Thus I present it as an interesting possibility.
133  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 25, 2019, 11:45:51 PM

Where these prehumans came from?  If they were not humans, breeding with Adam’s sons would not work.lol

Didn’t your God create Adam to be the first man, wait for it, from fucking dirt?

You are a hapless chap. You cling to your Christian cult no matter the obvious holes in its dogma.

Just admit that you will believe in your God no matter the evidence to the contrary.  Don’t pretend you are a rational person when you are clearly way in the Christian la-la land.

God created life from dirt.

Was the Bible RIGHT about the origins of life? Scientists believe that we may have had our beginnings in CLAY
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2488467/Scientists-believe-beginnings-CLAY.html

God created man from life over time. So yes God created Adam from dirt. It probably took a long time for that dirt to go through various shapes and forms until it became Adam.

You should read up on how new species are thought to form. They probably initially exists as subsets within a larger population before branching off so yes the very first of what we would call human beings would presumably have existed among a larger planet wide population of prehumans they could breed with. Read the article on speciation I linked upthread.

At some point prehumans who did not have knowledge of good and evil obtained it and became the fallen creatures we refer to today as humans. The first two prehumans to "eat from the tree of knowledge" and the beginnings of our species are referred to as Adam and Eve.

Anyways that's my opinion on the matter. Other interpretations are out there and people should think about the issue for themselves.

There cannot be evidence against God. That is impossible as I highlighted above. One can make the case that there is evidence against the Bible. Its a very weak case. The more one dives into that text the more depth and complexity one finds. Like layers of an onion,

134  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 25, 2019, 08:16:14 PM
Why don’t you get off your high horse and tell me who did the sons of Adam and Eve marry?

I have discussed this earlier.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg25115058#msg25115058

I don't include it in my list of arguments above, however, because I don't have enough information. The best I can offer is my opinion.

Up until now (several pages of) answers and replies to you have been simple logic and deduction essentially IF -> THEN statements. However, I am not wise enough to answer these last questions in the same definitive manner. The best I can do is share my opinions on these issues. Perhaps that will be helpful.

On the question of Adam and Eve I believe the Bible/Torah is best understood as a functional document. It's intent and purpose is to redeem and rectify humanity.

For this to occur biblical wisdom must be conveyed in a manner that is both simplified enough to be understandable by primitive man while simultaneously accurately reflecting a truth which can be better understood as our wisdom grows. The best way to meet these two needs is via parable and metaphor.

(The reasoning below represents my opinions and speculations on these issues. I make no claims beyond that)

Adam and Eve in the garden can be looked at literally as a man and a woman walking through a garden and considering the fruit of various trees.

Or Adam and Eve can be looked at as a metaphor for our biological species progenitors. All choices were potentially open to our remotest ancestors but a singular choice namely the development of an intellect capable of understanding good and evil was "forbidden" as that choice is probably incompatible with long term sustained biological existence.

Many "punishments" outlined in the Bible are not necessarily outside intervention at all but simple cause and effect the inevitable consequences we bring upon ourselves from sin.

Let's look at the "punishment" women received as a result of eating the fruit from the tree of knowledge.

Genesis 3:16
"Unto the woman He said: 'I will greatly multiply thy pain and thy travail; in pain thou shalt bring forth children"

Why is childbearing in humans so painful? A religious man would have told you 1000 years ago that it was because Eve ate from the tree of knowledge. It has taken science a very long time to catch up to this very simplified but according to our current theories essentially accurate description.

Current science theory states that the reason human birth and labor is so painful and dangerous is due to the physiological consequences of our large brains specifically some combination of the physical limitations of pelvic size when walking upright and the extreme metabolic demands a large infant brain places on a mother.

See:
Why Is Human Childbirth So Painful?
https://www.americanscientist.org/article/why-is-human-childbirth-so-painful

For the most part God doesn't punish us we punish ourselves with our choices. Sometimes these "choices" were made long before our time but the consequences nevertheless impact us.

Now unlike my prior posts which were simple logical deduction the arguments in this reply are opinion. They are one possible interpretation. I have not proven this opinion is fact and am not in a position to do so currently. I share them as a potential answer to your questions but the question is a spiritual ones and must ultimately be answered on a personal and individual level.

As for who the sons and daughters of Adam and Eve married I suspect it was other prehumans nearby. With their pairing they passed on the cultural and genetic mix that pushed us over the edge allowing them and later us to have knowledge of good and evil.

See: Speciation: The Origin of New Species
https://www.nature.com/scitable/knowledge/library/speciation-the-origin-of-new-species-26230527
135  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 25, 2019, 06:28:56 PM

You have not presented any rational arguments. First define God, then make your argument.


I have presented many rational arguments in this thread. Here are a small selection of them.

I have highlighted how we can mathematically deduce The incompleteness of the universe and logically conclude that whatever is outside the universe must be boundless, immaterial, indivisible and an uncaused cause.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg23796852#msg23796852

I have also highlighted how religious thought specifically monotheism conceptualizes God and how this conceptualization is consistent with what we can mathematically deduce.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg24187846#msg24187846

I have demonstrated how traditional Biblical writings on the timeline of creation and origins of mankind can in fact be reconciled with modern scientific thought.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg24374030#msg24374030

I have discussed the importance of truly drilling down to the foundations of ones metaphysical assumptions and how failure to do so was ceding control of ones actions, beliefs and thoughts to external forces.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg24418501#msg24418501

I have argued that maximizing cooperation is the greatest challenge that must be overcome to maximize progress.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg16982834#msg16982834

I have highlighted how superrationality breaks people free of prisoner's dilemmas allowing the achievement of optimal cooperative outcomes despite a Nash equilibrium of defection and betrayal and thus maximizes cooperation.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg21680790#msg21680790

I have argued that the laws needed to extend superrationality across the cosmos must lead to the creation of a universe wide not human specific morality and basic acceptance of superrational reality. These requirements manifest logically if we choose to love God with all our heart and with all our soul and with all our mind and love our neighbors as ourselves.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg51893391#msg51893391

Finally I tied much of this together in a single post in my argument for God.
https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=1373864.msg36246134#msg36246134



Fucking evil fairy tale dressed up as a religion designed to extract people’s wealth and molest their children.


This seem to be your real problem. You have arbitrarily and illogically defined the worship of God as evil based on human corruption and abuse that has infiltrated some houses of worship. This seems to have led to a progressive inability to process rational arguments that indicate you are incorrect and that the worship of God is the very opposite of evil.

Human corruption is endemic and everywhere omnipresent in all institutions. God is necessary to limit and eventually overcome that corruption.  
136  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 25, 2019, 05:53:14 AM

Are you sure you understand the “big” words?  Maybe you should stick with comic books and other fairy tales you are so fond of.

Your constant blabbing about nothing is nauseating.


So reason and rational argumentation nauseate you? This sounds more like an emotional response then a logical one.
Perhaps it is related to your view of religion as a cult?

You realize that the majority of Atheists in North America come from your cult, don't you?

Indoctrinating children into your cult is child abuse.

I saw this article today. Figured you would approve.

China: Schoolchildren taught to 'hate God,' Christianity an 'evil cult'
https://www.christianpost.com/news/china-schoolchildren-taught-to-hate-god-christianity-an-evil-cult.html
Quote from: Leah MarieAnn Klett
Christian parents in China have shared how their schoolchildren are being taught that Christianity is an “evil cult” and encouraged to “hate God” as the officially atheist country continues to tighten its grip on religion.

According to Chinese persecution watchdog Bitter Winter, since the Regulations on Religious Affairs legislation was implemented last year, schools around China have adopted “unprecedented measures” to keep students away from Christianity. Schools in China are government-controlled, and therefore Communist in ideology.

The policy has resulted in difficult situations for families as children are encouraged to question the beliefs of family members and report those closest to them to authorities.

Several Christian parents shared their stories with Bitter Winter, revealing the magnitude of China’s animosity toward Christianity.

“My teacher says that Christianity is an evil cult,” one boy explained to his mother. “[That] if you believe in it, you will leave home and not take care of me. You might set yourself on fire, too.”

Another mother shared how, after discovering an anti-Christian school textbook in her son’s backpack, she hid many of the items that identified her as a believer to help her son with his anxiety.

A month later, when her son found another religious leaflet in his mother’s bag by chance, he “angrily took a fruit knife from the kitchen and fiercely poked several holes in it,” according to the outlet.

He then threatened his mother to give up her faith because “Christianity is an evil cult” and she “mustn’t believe in it.”

“Before starting school, I told my child about God’s creation, and he believed it,” the woman explained. “But after being taught at school, my child is like a different person. In atheistic China, these pure and innocent children have been taught to hate God.”

Kindergarten and primary schools are also teaching children how to oppose religion. In late April, a primary school in Xinzheng city in the central province of Henan encouraged young children to refrain from believing in any deity.

“If your mom goes to church and believes in God, she doesn’t want you as her child anymore,” one teacher said.

Another school screened a propaganda video in which Jesus followers were depicted as big scary monsters. After the presentation was complete, a teacher warned that Christian relatives might “cast spells” on the youngsters.

One of the parents at the school said that as a result, her son actively opposed her reading religious books in the family home. Another student was terrified that his mom was going to be led away by police.

Others students were advised to “supervise” their parents to ensure that they don’t practice their faith.

“It leads to a dead-end,” one young student said of his father's Christian faith. “If you attend gatherings, you will be arrested.”

China introduced revised regulations on religion in February, which included banning under-18s from attending church or receiving any religious education.

The new regulations have also forced primary schools in Henan to warn parents that they are not allowed to breach the country's laws on the practice of religion.

"No one may use religions to disrupt social order, harm citizens or impede the national education system," read a letter by the Ninth Primary School of Linzhou city of Anyang and the First Primary School of Chengguan town of Xingyang city of Chengzhou.

"It is an offense for any organizations or individuals to guide, support, permit and condone minors to believe in religions or participate in religious activities," it warned.

Officials have also reportedly claimed schools are places "for the state to foster students to build up socialist society," with parents told they have an obligation "to nurture children in accordance with national laws and social requirements."

China ranks as the 27th worst nation in the world when it comes to Christian persecution, according to Open Doors USA’s World Watch List. Open Doors has expressed concern that the religious affairs in China now “lies with the Communist Party.”


What you don't understand is that rejection of God does not free you from religion. It just drives you into an ideology and to borrow the words of Jordan Peterson ideology is corrupt; it's just a parasite on religious structures.

Jordan Peterson: The Collapse of Belief Systems, Nihilism and The Way Out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k8UTMl3BK80
 
137  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 24, 2019, 01:17:00 AM

Faith is not a reliable method to discover the truth. The scientific method is.

The only thing you showed is how faith indoctrination can lead to delusions.

You don’t understand epistemology.

You effectively worship a technique as capable of supplying answers it cannot and will never give. Like the cult of pythagoras you have found something that provides some answers and assume in error that it will provide all answers.

Science is just a technique. It is the observation that if I do X in a controlled manner then Y happens predictably. That is useful information certainty but it does not address nor is it capable of answering the important questions in life.
138  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 23, 2019, 11:04:46 PM
I'm not assuming anything, you are. Your arguments show humans cannot determine whether something is true or not. It's also really easy to prove that using the scientific method works far better than simply using your reasoning and logic. For example:

Let's say you don't know much about anything. An apple falls on your head, you start to think about it, why does that happen? Will you ever be able to determine it's gravity only using your logic without performing any experiment or gathering evidence? Of course not. In fact logically, the earth could simply be accelerating upwards, that would make sense logically and would explain the apple falling.

You are correct that my arguments do highlight the difficulty humans indeed any consciousness must face when determining whether something is true. Indeed there are only two possibilities. You can become a epistemological nihilist and decide you can never know anything at all ever or you can assume some basic foundation to ground yourself upon and build your knowledge upon it.

Once you really understand this you understand that faith is unavoidable. Ultimately we choose to have a faith in our core beliefs and build everything we are upon that faith. Even the nihilist have faith in their nihilism they certainly cannot prove nihilism is true. Most people don't understand their own assumptions. They adopt a whole host of them but don't actually ever analyze them to any degree or even know what they are.
 
The scientific method is an extremely useful tool for answering questions but it is just a tool. It is an error to elevate that tool to a stature that it does not warrant and pretend it will answer questions it never can. One of the assumptions you must make if you believe scientific facts exist is that the universe is rational (results from today will predict reality tomorrow) and that knowledge exists. Science ultimately is just disciplined observation, testing, and recording of results very useful but limited in what it can answer.

What I have endeavored to show in this thread is that faith in God is superior then faith in alternatives like nihilism and definitely superior to lying to oneself and pretend denying you have faith. To some degree I have succeeded and to some degree I have failed. That depends on the reader.  
139  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 23, 2019, 07:13:07 PM

His epistemological tools do not lead him even close to the truth, so you can assume he is wrong about everything.

Like I said before, the scientific method is the best tool we have, anything else can easily lead you to mental masturbation or worse, delusion or schizophrenic episodes. You know the “I am the prophet”, “I have found the light” type of conditions.

Translation: His arguments lead to conclusions that falsify what I have arbitrarily and subjectively defined as "truth" so I am going to assume he is wrong about everything and stop thinking about his arguments.

140  Other / Politics & Society / Re: Health and Religion on: July 23, 2019, 02:17:41 PM

Well, if you agree humans cannot be ideal rational thinkers, then whats the point of bringing it up? We gain nothing with it.

Humans cannot be “ideal” anything. We can’t be ideal parents or ideal employees. We cannot be ideal athletes or ideal mathematicians.

We may not be able to achieve perfection but we can approximate it to the best of our ability. Yes we are guaranteed to fall short but to the degree we succeed everyone benefits.
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