Reasons for nonbelief

Or possibly insightful. What if you have both the benefit of added support from like minded people and the benefit of a sincere faith in God... seems like a win/win to me.

 

It does sound like a good thing........but........isn't that what Jonestown was all about? And also the various hate groups that use God as their raison d'etre?

It has the potential to be extremely good or bad, depending on the motives of the leader.
When the religion that the leader is promoting espouses superiority and derides other faiths as 'false', it is a recipe for bloodshed.

 

That's why it is important for every man, woman, and child to think for themselves. God puts awful leaders out their so that people realize they should lead themselves and do not need to lead others. Don't follow man, don't try to get man to follow you, walk your own way alongside others.

 

Personality cults are a thing that evolution of sentient being evolve out of..

Jonestown was a bunch of lost people following a tinpot ego.
It happenned because hope was used by ego.
And ego betrayed it.
EGO BETRAYS ALL BUT ITSELF...and in the END , IT BETRAYS ITSELF EVEN MORE
Humanity ...has no ego... It is more than the sum of its parts.
It is a thing we cannot see because we are part of it.

Occam

 

Perhaps on should not judge. Jonestown was just another quantum jump sequence.....no better, no worse than anything else. It is only from our shared collective reference, that it seems to have been a dead end. But from another reference point, it might have been just what the 'doctor' ordered.

 

Spinor

Some truth..for the adults it was personal choice..But many children were
KILLED by their parents,,,
Thus the parents usurped the rights of the children...and killed them
HUMAN EVIL

Jonestown ended up as a bunch of lost adults following a tinpot ego...
And chosing death...And MURDERING their children.

That is it. No higher meaning for the ones MURDERED..the children.

There is no higher meaning or 'quantum jump sequence' when the 'jumpers'
MURDER their children before 'jumping'

Occam

 

Kharakov

Rubbish

Occam

 

J kerry

Excellent...
Why?

Occam

PS..Please address yout reply...
[who are you replying to?]

 

Of course. Those who do not think they should think for themselves would think this way.

Rubbish (bullshit) is fertilizer for truth.

 

Politicians and preists work in similar ways to manipulate people. Each appeals to the morals and links it to the passions which makes it doublely forceful. Save your country! Save your soul! They shout it from the soapboxes and altars. Combine the two and it doubles again. Who can resist? The Puritans are once again on the rise. It is nothing new for America. They have been here and preaching since they landed on Plymouth Rock. You can see it in Prohibition, Dress Codes, "Family Values". It is enough to drive Miss America to a Valium addiction(or Bushs' daughter). As H.L. Mencken said:"no one ever lost money underestimating the taste of the American public". And George Bush didn't lose the election by appealing to their puritan instincts.

 

So puritans are favored by natural selection?

 

The problem of inbreeding persists. Ask any dog breeder and they will tell you that with the purer the breed, the greater the risk of genetic abnormalities forming, the bible belt for example.

 

Hmm. So do you think ideas (memes) are the same way?

Fundamentalism... the meme.

 

Quote:
Originally Posted by Occam
Rubbish

Occam

Of course. Those who do not think they should think for themselves would think this way.

Rubbish (bullshit) is fertilizer for truth. Kharakov
.
I am surprised that you feel Occam is against free thought. He is adamantly in favour of free thinking, as far as I know. I think that the rubbish he was referring to was this:
.
'God puts awful leaders out their so that people realize they should lead themselves and do not need to lead others.' Kharakov
.
That is a bold statement of opinion that I doubt many would find to be sensible.

 

Portrays himself to be, might even believe it. Bill O'Reilly is the only source of fair and balanced news coverage. Welcome to the no spin zone.

Yup. Some people score in the 99th percentile, meaning they understand more than the rest of the population. The other 99% of the population don't get it, or deliberately lie about it.

Not only is it an opinion, It's a fact.

 

Are you claiming that 99% believe god puts awful leaders in power?
That is what I read.
If it is a fact, then there is no point in me refuting it even though it sounds unlikely.

 

Not at all. I worded it incorrectly.

percentile:a value on a scale of one hundred that indicates the percent of a distribution that is equal to or below it

When you score in the 99th percentile on a test it means that the group that has gotten an equal score with you did better than 99 percent of the population.

When I said "Some people score in the 99th percentile, meaning they understand more than the rest of the population" I was speaking metaphorically. I didn't mean that people literally score in the 99th percentile: I meant that a very small portion of the population understand what is going on. I later suggested that : The other 99% of the population don't get it, or deliberately lie about it (I worded the original statement incorrectly as well, this is a little bit more like what I want to express : God deliberately causes awful leaders to arise in order to make men turn to God instead of following other men or their own foolish plans). God's rule is the lightest rule of all.

 

When you score in the 99th percentile on a test it means that the group that has gotten an equal score with you did better than 99 percent of the population.kharakov

I know what a percentile is. I have scored in the 98th percentile in IQ, the 93p'tile in english skills, and the 100th p'tile in emotional supportiveness. I get yer point, i just dont buy it.

 

Ok. I wouldn't either, I just happen to own it. My point, that is.

 

ideas are copies of impressions. memory preserves the order of its' perceptions, as compared to the imagination, which is bound by no such order. At times, aided by passion and driven by emotions, the dim imaginings of our mind can come close to the more lively impressions, such as might happen at a revival meeting. The whole production is setup to amaze the congregation and appeal to what is at once the best human nature has to offer, and at other times, raise the spector of what is worst. The willing believer rides this holy roller coaster as far as they and the preacher conductor can take it. But at best, I must remain sceptical as to how well ideas can represent impressions. It is easy in this setting to confuse the two. Even our perceptions may not be identical with its´objects, and should be viewed with a certain amount of scepticism as well. What indeed can we believe?