StreetScooby

What makes you think I was referring to Christians alone? I wasn't. Were you raised in a faith? If so, which one? We are all engines of karma

Do you allow for a view of God that differs from the Christian God defined on dictionary.com? We are all engines of karma

Who is "they", and have you ever been part of "they"? I'm not making that claim, though I'm certain there are many Christians that are quite comfortable with their life. God bless them We are all engines of karma

Agreed. I was raised as a fundamentalist Christian, even wanted to be a preacher (when I was 16). I reached a point where that belief system could not withstand the rigor of scrutiny I imposed on it. I am not a Christian. Again, having said that, there is a core set within the Christian belief system that has value, especially to those that live it. We are all engines of karma

So do I. I'm a big fan of word of the day. How do we communicate better? In my view, language is firmly grounded in common experience. Without common experience in a given context, it is very difficult to communicate. We are all engines of karma

Only because people chose to run those experiments and seek those observations. If someone had not chose to do that, the neutrino would still be fictional. We are all engines of karma

Bottom line, those folks who discuss God have chosen to pursue a discipline in their lives, effectively "running experiments", that you have chosen not to pursue. That's ok, doesn't make you a bad guy. It shouldn't be surprising that you don't relate to whatever "observations" they choose to discuss/share. Just because you choose not to "run those experiments" does not invalidate their experience. We are all engines of karma

Another word to define and argue over. As you've used it, there's nothing to argue with. We are all engines of karma

The bible allows for many interpretations. Why this is so is viewed differently by different people. I see the ambiguity as being introduced over a very long period of time where religious authorities tried to codify daily existence. Throw in the difficulty of codifying anything in language, and one can understand the failures generally pointed out. We are all engines of karma

I don't see mnealtx playing word games. I think he's trying to make a valid argument that you're not seeing. So, how would you describe that period of time when energy balances around radioactive decay didn't add up? We are all engines of karma

Other dictionaries can have a different definition of God, if they're even using the same word to describe the phenomenon I personally am discussing. We're in agreement that's not a good definition of God, at least not for me. That's not to say I ridicule those who do choose to use that definition of God, especially if they adhere to that core set of principles identified by many throughout the world, as I mentioned previously. We are all engines of karma

Cool, I think we are on common footing here... Over a long period of time, I began to view "God" more as a verb than a noun. In practice, it became much easier for me to accept certain phenomenon with that basis. At this point in time, I see "God" as a great flow that we're all part of, whether you want to be or not. It's everything we know, everything we don't know, everything we feel, and everything we don't feel. And more. It reaches a point where the definition becomes meaningless, really. Why bother pursuing a definition of God in the first place? Clearly those that choose to do so are looking for a higher purpose in this life. It's up to the individual to pursue this "science" (...I hate using that word here), but that pursuit very much involves making personal observations and acting in accordance to a set of principles. Once one has decided to have that "faith", reproducible things begin to happen in your life. The best test is to pursue it diligently, and see for yourself. We are all engines of karma

"the common definition of god" must mean your "common definition" of god. If you reread our posts, you'll see that I was clear in saying I wasn't discussing what I perceived to be your definition of god. We are all engines of karma

I don't think the English language is capable of properly describing it. That's not a cop out to your question, but let me set the tone here. What's your definition? We are all engines of karma

I think the first step here would be to reach some reasonable definition of "God". We are all engines of karma

Claiming to have said beliefs and actually practicing them are two very different things. I'm only referring to those that practice that core set of principals identified by various cultures across the planet. We are all engines of karma

So, superman doesn't exist? No argument there. Anytime some new measurement is made, someone has to come up with a new word for it. How hard is it to get a new word into common use? Unbelievably difficult. I'm not going to bother arguing with you that your definition of "God" doesn't exist. Personally, I think you're right. The weakness in your argument is that others don't define "God" as you're defining it. We are all engines of karma

You're wrong. There's been an enormous amount of good done on this earth by people whose beliefs you can only ridicule. So, you've tried this for yourself? We are all engines of karma

You seem to be arguing against a "God" that's a single sentient entity, kind of like us/superman? We are all engines of karma

There's an enormous number of observations made by humans across the planet, spanning all cultures, that there is something more to our existence than just the human body. Granted, none of those observations make a gauge move, but that doesn't invalidate them. My point here is that one's experience with "God" tends to be deeply personal. Those that choose to make those observations within themselves, and practice whatever faith based discipline involved with those observations, do have reproducible observations that can be shared with like minded people. Even better, at their core, most "religions" advocate a core set of behaviours that are remarkably consistent. Doesn't this count for something? We are all engines of karma

You lost me here... What question are you trying to answer? We are all engines of karma

Your "logic" reminds me of a Wolfgang Pauli quote: I see where you're going, but it's a silly argument, IMO. We are all engines of karma

Uhm, I see that experiment as silly, but then again, I don't view God as most Christians do. We are all engines of karma

Exactly. How long did neutrino's exist before we detected them? The constraint of reproducible observations is an enormously difficult one. There are things that exist which our science cannot measure. It's been that way for a long time, and will continue to be so for a long time. Just because our science, at this point in time, can't independently and reproducibly measure something doesn't mean it doesn't exist. We are all engines of karma

What is _your_ standard of evidence? We are all engines of karma