remibond

Couldn't the same be said in reverse, ie. that it is equally dangerous in real terms to spend ones whole life worrying about and so absorbed in their potential meeting that they forget the world is still spinning?

I'm a student so i figure i may as well enjoy my temporarily debt free status while it lasts . If you say you want to make a living in skydiving in the near future would it be fair to assume you haven't updated your jump numbers in quite some time? I don't think that fear of missing out on life is the reason why I, or for that matter any of my atheist friends, do not believe in or are unsure of the existence of God. Speaking for myself, the reason why I have yet to reach a conclusion is because i consider myself, on principle, unconvincible. Not going into too much detail, it's basically the blind faith vs. negative proof argument for me. To pick you up on the prisoner analogy, that requires the observer, in this case you, to be of the opinion that 'finding God' is being set free. I have absolutely no doubt that someone on the other side of the argument could, and quite possibly would, use the exact same analogy of why their side is right. Just a small thing that I've noticed, very few arguments in religious debates cannot be used by either party. Skydiving rules, no discussion A point i was going to make earlier, but it fits in just as well here. I very, very strongly believe that it is possible to separate God, spirituality and religion. My views on the God topic i've already posted and am not going to repeat and spirituality (self reflection) you've quoted from my last post, though for me it's really just a case of getting to know myself better or being lost in my own thoughts. Religion, however, is a totally different beast. I couldn't accept in my own conscience following any religion that claimed to know the one true path to any god, as those claims would need to be made by a human. In the same way that, perhaps, a colony of bacteria grown in a petri dish could not possibly fathom the existence of beings so literally incredible to them as humans, we cannot possibly fathom a being as relatively incredible to us as God. I honestly would be interested to know what those of different religions think of this point. And in answer to your question; yes, i read the entire Bible (original & revamped) a few years ago. A few good messages, a few bad ones, but far more of them were simply irrelevant. Oh and in the interest of keeping this thread somewhat on topic (as if it hasn't been off topic for the last however many posts), if we're looking at the question from a non-ironic (and christian) view point, God won't heal amputees because it was through his will that they became amputees in the first place. Or maybe, just maybe, God=/=exist and shit just happens. Sorry about the length btw, i just enjoy theological debates. You're lucky i was being brief

Pretty much just backing up what everyone here is saying. I did my first S/L jump a few months ago with quite a few people through the uni skydive club. when we were all talking afterwards, the two main messages that came through from everyone were 1) Arch til you can't arch no more... then arch a bit further & 2) Listen to the radio if you want to have any hope of landing anywhere near the general landing area Just remember, arch & radio and you'll do great edit to add: oh and if you're bricking it in the plane, try not to look down. it can really mess with your concentration on arching yer arse off

Haha thanks dude, figured I'd been just lurking for too long. And i was out enjoying life way too much In answer to your question though, I'm not claiming that a spiritual life is any less fulfilling than a non-spiritual one, but that focusing on what may or may not occur after we die can detract from what we allow ourselves to experience while we are alive. I think the fact that we skydive should make this even more apparent. It's hard to get my POV across over the internet. While I appreciate the need for a certain amount of self reflection (perhaps what you would call spirituality?), I do think that too much of it can, frankly, be classed as time wasted. You may have noticed, I'm undecided on the whole god topic

na we all know how dangerous golf is but i'm in a similar boat to you, used to play rugby loads (and get injured way too often, broke the same hand twice in the past 12 months ) until i started jumping and all my time (and money) was spent tryna get that big shiny A. i've seen a few people get injured and i've become personally acquainted with a hedge, but i definitely see skydiving in my future for a long time to come

Because having faith provides a blanket explanation for why all things, good and bad, happen (because it is gods will), whereas one without faith is forced to find an actual reason for what you called a "difficult reality". Furthermore, the promise of life after death gives those with faith the assurance that even if life is hard, it does not matter as much as what they will encounter when they die. One without faith, however, may be more inclined to make the most of the finite time they believe they have.

you sir are the very definition of an evil genius...i find myself strangely aroused

though i personally don't follow any religion and have no intention of changing that, i do realise it's benefits. whether or not there is a god (or gods) and whether or not he (or she, or they) created the universe or whatever (impossible to disprove and im not a fan of blind faith), religion does help many people every day. not being religious myself, i try to hold myself to my own values and morals and (occasionally) the values and morals of the society i live in, rather than those preached by the church. despite this, i freely admit that if one can look past the vast amounts of bullshit in it, the bible (which i use for an example only because i've read it) does hold some very good moral messages. but having focused on the positive sides of it, it is my opinion that religious teaching is also rife with contradictions and hypocrisy, or at least some very serious inconsistencies. i often discuss the concept of faith and religion with my friends, many of whom are religious themselves, and this is a topic we always get stuck on. in my view, any religion that stands on a platform of blanket forgiveness as long as they apologize cannot truthfully claim to hold people to a high moral standard, as it is in simple terms a 'get out of jail free' card. furthermore, i don't think it could be classed as moral to only act in a certain way because of fear of punishment or the hope for reward, which are in effect what the invention of heaven and hell metaphorically represent (the carrot and the stick). but i'm tired of writing, and i've kinda lost my train of thought . basically what i'm trying to say that religion can be interpreted in many ways. though i don't follow one, i recognise they have benefits and see no reason to try to dissuade people from following them unless you can offer them something better

I agree with this statement 100%. The word "cute" can also sound condescending. It's just not a word that I would use to compliment a grown man. see i'm the opposite of that. when i was younger, as in at school, i liked it less than i do now. not the best compliment in the world, but still a compliment

the only reason i'd consider writing them down would be perhaps for sites that don't let you choose your own (eg UCAS in the UK) or in case i forgot them, but seeing as i only have about 3 i regularly use that doesn't seem particularly likely

dude just eat all his food and 'hide' his money/cards. he'll soon starve then hey, no more roommate

on a good day, with a hangover 2 mugs of coffee with tons of sugar, some of one of my flatmates cornflakes (with tons of sugar) and a nice healthy dollop of DZ.com before, during and after my lectures

+1 i'm fairly new to skydiving and i don't claim to know much about SCUBA, but i find the idea of jumping out of a plane a far less terrifying one than going SCUBA diving. it may just be the thought of a watery grave, but i'm far happier in the air than in the water...though i can't swim so that could have something to do with it either way, assuming gear is good for both sports, you have a lot less time to fuck shit up during a jump, which to me means less opportunity to die through human error. so for me, skydiving = , SCUBA diving =

yeah i saw you here and was like WOAH DUDE...IT'S DUDE!

just ordained dudes D.S. 1999 checking in