If there is no life after this one, why does it matter? In fact why would anyone in their right mind spend one second of the limited time you have here talking about things that don't exist with those who think they do? Talk about insane.
If there is no life after this one, why does it matter? In fact why would anyone in their right mind spend one second of the limited time you have here talking about things that don't exist with those who think they do? Talk about insane.
It matters precisely because there is no life (as we know it) after this one; and I wish a continuation of this evolving life for as long as possible through our children and our children's children. Your faith in an afterlife in human form (if I understand correctly) miraculously rendered "divine" leads logically to a desire for "end times" ASAP, a horror show we have been on the verge of staging since 1945, the fragile continued avoidance of which is our greatest accomplishment and gives me hope, so far.
For the priesthood to (deliberately) put Revelations at the end of the New Testament is to take Christianity back to the horrors of the vengeful god of the Old Testament, replacing Christlike aspirations for humanity with the unChristlike coercive specter of terror. I see the prophesies as either metaphorical (i.e., not literal) or, if literal, the ravings of mad men who are already in a personal hell and wish for others to join them there.
There is much in the Bible and in all religions that is vitally important to human culture, and there is much that is factually false, but metaphorically true. Many of the larger historical facts are provable to a degree by scientific means and many are not amenable to proof, particularly at the individual level, like Plato's authorship as mentioned in another thread here. Religious faith requires Truth, a Platonic ideal, while science is simply a method of relentless inquiry (that will not allow Final Answers short of disproving its own usefulness) which true Faith does not allow. The best science is always inconclusive but ironically the technology derived from it is nevertheless the source of our "God-given" dominion over the earth.
Insanity is a subjective qualium and flinging it carelessly about in accusation can have a boomerang effect.
LOL, if this is what qualifies as knowledge, logic and pragmatism in your mind, all I can do is chuckle. The afterlife is not in human form according to the Bible you claim to know so well. And most people do not long for the "end times" which in the context of the portions of Revelations you are referring to, are actually *not* the end times at all, but rather a seven year period of unprecedented transition and upheaval. As for science and "true Faith" being somehow being mutually exclusive, how can that logically be when according to you, it is a merely a method of inquiry? Faith actually requires inquiry and study, which if you knew the Bible as well as you claim, you would already know. Its a very, very basic principle. Look I'm not trying to convert you or brow beat you, but you really should at least know what you're talking about when you claim to know what you're talking about...
If there is no life after this one, why does it matter? In fact why would anyone in their right mind spend one second of the limited time you have here talking about things that don't exist with those who think they do? Talk about insane.
It matters precisely because there is no life (as we know it) after this one; and I wish a continuation of this evolving life for as long as possible through our children and our children's children. Your faith in an afterlife in human form (if I understand correctly) miraculously rendered "divine" leads logically to a desire for "end times" ASAP, a horror show we have been on the verge of staging since 1945, the fragile continued avoidance of which is our greatest accomplishment and gives me hope, so far.
For the priesthood to (deliberately) put Revelations at the end of the New Testament is to take Christianity back to the horrors of the vengeful god of the Old Testament, replacing Christlike aspirations for humanity with the unChristlike coercive specter of terror. I see the prophesies as either metaphorical (i.e., not literal) or, if literal, the ravings of mad men who are already in a personal hell and wish for others to join them there.
There is much in the Bible and in all religions that is vitally important to human culture, and there is much that is factually false, but metaphorically true. Many of the larger historical facts are provable to a degree by scientific means and many are not amenable to proof, particularly at the individual level, like Plato's authorship as mentioned in another thread here. Religious faith requires Truth, a Platonic ideal, while science is simply a method of relentless inquiry (that will not allow Final Answers short of disproving its own usefulness) which true Faith does not allow. The best science is always inconclusive but ironically the technology derived from it is nevertheless the source of our "God-given" dominion over the earth.
Insanity is a subjective qualium and flinging it carelessly about in accusation can have a boomerang effect.
LOL, if this is what qualifies as knowledge, logic and pragmatism in your mind, all I can do is chuckle. The afterlife is not in human form according to the Bible you claim to know so well. And most people do not long for the "end times" which in the context of the portions of Revelations you are referring to, are actually *not* the end times at all, but rather a seven year period of unprecedented transition and upheaval. As for science and "true Faith" being somehow being mutually exclusive, how can that logically be when according to you, it is a merely a method of inquiry? Faith actually requires inquiry and study, which if you knew the Bible as well as you claim, you would already know. Its a very, very basic principle. Look I'm not trying to convert you or brow beat you, but you really should at least know what you're talking about when you claim to know what you're talking about...