sinker 0 #76 September 21, 2005 Quote definately the land of MILK and honey... -the artist formerly known as sinker Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
mr2mk1g 10 #77 September 21, 2005 Quotedefinately the land of MILK and honey... I always thought that was a rather graphic term given its religious origin.... Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
popsjumper 2 #78 September 21, 2005 Reading all this has fried my brain. <>My reality and yours are quite different. I think we're all Bozos on this bus. Falcon5232, SCS8170, SCSA353, POPS9398, DS239 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Channman 2 #79 September 21, 2005 Please don't use the term fried Agnostic in question does'nt wish to think of such things for his eternal furture. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
sinker 0 #80 September 21, 2005 QuoteQuotedefinately the land of MILK and honey... I always thought that was a rather graphic term given its religious origin.... see? some religious folks aren't so down on sex... -the artist formerly known as sinker Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
freethefly 6 #81 September 21, 2005 QuotePlease don't use the term fried Agnostic in question does'nt wish to think of such things for his eternal furture. Actually, I have gave it a lot of thought. When first diagnosed with a fatal illness ten years ago, I questioned everything. I searched through my bible for answers and came up with a lot more questions that could not be answered. Some of what I read was damning me to burn in hell for what I did, for how I was. Drinking, drugging, fighting and having sex with as many women as possible. Some of what I read countered the former. All in all it merely went in circles and gave me no definitive answers. In the last ten years my way of conducting myself is commendable when I consider how I use to be. I very seldom have a drink, don't use drugs, never get in fist fights and have not been with a woman in ten years. (the last one, really, is not by choice, just that it is difficult to meet a woman who is also HIV+, I refuse to be with a woman who is not due to fear of infecting her). I have become a far better person than the majority of those I know who claim to be christ-like. I do not ride on a high horse and claim superiority over others as many christians do. I merely go about each day working to improve myself without coming off as vain. I honestly do believe that I have a personal higher power that has abled me to see each day through. Believe me, there are times when I do consider ending my life prematurely. It is extremely difficult to spend 99% of your time alone. I know that there are people in the skydive community who do not care for me to be around. Same as outside that community. I also see the same people heading in the same direction that got me where I am today. How many TM's use the sport to screw their students? I have known quite a few. Not many think of their mortal future as well as an eternal future. I USE to believe that I could go on forever doing what I was doing without consequence. I never considered such things as cancer, diabetes, motorcycle accident that could lead to paralysis or loss of limb and I never even considered that I, of all people, would ever get AIDS (I honestly believed that only gay people were able to contract the virus). So, should I be thinking now of an eternal life after death? Should I consider it on christian terms. If I were to think of it in the christian view, I have already bought a first class ticket to hell. I do find it to be extremely vain to say one knows what will become of another after death when one cannot possibly know. If I consider it in my own belief, then all is good and it works for me. It keeps me from blowing my head off. It helps me to stay alive one more day just to see what happens next."...And once you're gone, you can't come back When you're out of the blue and into the black." Neil Young Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
dharma1976 0 #82 September 21, 2005 QuoteQuoteBeing atheist is still a "belief". Not in my view. It is withdrawing belief. you cannot suspend belief in all aspects...only some, you believe that your reserve wil work dont you, however unfounded that may be sometimes... you believe that the sun is orange which has been foisted upon you since childhood you believe in money which we are starting to find out is not really worth the paper it is printed on etc etc etc so aetheism is more a belief that there is no god. (that being said I am a siddarthic traveler of some sort and am just being a pain in your arse.) Davehttp://www.skyjunky.com CSpenceFLY - I can't believe the number of people willing to bet their life on someone else doing the right thing. Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
immanence 0 #83 September 21, 2005 Quoteyou cannot suspend belief in all aspects...only some I guess I'm led to believe that my reserve will open. Do I believe it? Maybe Sure, one cannot give up believing in everything: I still believe the sun will rise tomorrow. We have several zillions of years to go before I need to question that one. But I think this can be separate from not believing in the existence of God. And as I say, this is how I would put it. Atheism is not the belief that there is no God so much as not believing in God. Maybe there's an important difference here. Though I am totally unconvinced by anything I have heard in my lifetime that tries to establish as unshakable fact the existence of God, I can't say for sure (because I'm not God ) that God exists or not. I can, however, decline to believe in God (i.e., decline to invest emotional energy and establish a code of life based upon the theory that God exists). I can withdraw allegiance from the concept and all it's social meanings / triggers. I think this is different — in a small but perhaps significant way — from believing in the non-existence of God. Perhaps, though, I have defined agnosticism not atheism. I'm not sure (it's late, I'm tired). I do think that atheism need not be a "belief" as such. But I'm being a fussypants because in general I think language-play gymnastics ("You don't believe, but you believe you don't believe, hypocrite!", or "Your theory encompasses everything and so therefore says nothing") are lazy. What is a siddarthic traveler? You're referring to the book by Hesse, perhaps? I don't know, but would like to know! "where danger is appears also that which saves ..." Friedrich Holderlin, 'Patmos' Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
