Posted by Jim (206.79.177.145) on March 07, 2002 at 13:19:57:
In Reply to: Re: evidence of god posted by thor on March 06, 2002 at 23:19:02:
Ah, well in that case, I would say, sure, there are a plenty of world events that, when properly contorted, conform to Christian prophecy. But in that department, I'd say Nostradamus is still way ahead. Besides, when you've got an enormous volume saying issuing a myriad of minor proclamations like "This, too, shall pass," "A kingdom shall fall," blah de blah, you're going to hit a few marks here and there. I'm chalking it up to the million monkeys million typewriters deal, only for furture prediction.
"-i think a whole religion must be based on something substantial and as responsible amateur philosophers it is our duty to study the nature of christian faith rather than cast it aside as "baseless" and "indocrinated at an early age"."
Religion, or at least modern religion as it stands, is something people persue in their free time and think about in order to make their lives feel more secure and ordered. Western religion is largely savior-based, and revolves around following a bunch of little rules and a few big ones in a big scary world until a cosmic father-figure comes home and makes it all better. I could see this type of mindset offering a whole new depth of security for the soul, since it effectively answers the big question in a way that seems to ring true on a subconscious level-- Dad fixed everything when you were a baby, so it stands to reason that, as one's perception of the world expands, one would require an infinitely more capable dad if one were against the idea of taking more responsibility for oneself and the world. I think it's laughable. It's a transparent and dumb idea; so ridiculously dumb, in fact, that I wouldn't even want to see it on The Twilight Zone, let alone follow it as a way of life. I find it annoying and often impossible to explain things beyond that (there's my little fallacy for your enjoyment.)
The only part of most religion I take seriously is the fact that so many people believe in it... I take this with the same level of gravity that I try and maintain when I think about how many wage slaves vote republican or the fact that Britney Spears is the hottest pop idol of today's generation.
Why is it at all hard to believe that so many would be so moronic? Check out world politics- greed endlessly wages war with stupidity for world supremacy, when, cynicism aside, it's obvious to anybody who is at all educated that all the world's people would be better off as a team.
"-shouldn't we use THE RAZOR to autopsy christianity rather than to destroy it?"
Yeah, if by that you mean we could use our vast powers to deduce what fools people into believing in this crap, then take steps to make sure that we give the next generation the presence of mind to see it for what it is and resist it. Understanding is the first step regardless. Like forensic scientists working to prevent more murders of the mind. That would be cool. It would also be cool if, in the middle of this, the illuminati puppeteers attacked our secret base with biomechs that, after a dramatic battle, removed our brains, took them to their lab, and began analyzing them to see what enzymes allowed us to think beyond the BS, so they could then breed them out of the next batch of slave-drone-workers. But something goes wrong and our brains stay alive and get psychic powers, and fly away in our green brain vats and begin projecting astral images of ourselves everywhere and perform miracles, and we inspire a religious war, and win. And then we begin fighting eachother over minor idealogical differences and eventually we, or our followers, destroy eachother, and we're again left with a bunch of headless beast ideologies and ignorant masses. We should also work in an AI, if we can.