If there were a just God

Also, I believe all the continents were combined, I forget what that is called. Also, all of the other separate islands also.

That was Billions of years ago with a B not thousands and here we go with the time frame again it dont add up sorry.
 
That was Billions of years ago with a B not thousands and here we go with the time frame again it dont add up sorry.

That's a completely different discussion. Yes, billions of years according to what you believe. Based on what I believe, (brace yourself) the earth is only about 6000 years old. Seeing this discussion is going nowhere, I choose to remove myself from this discussion.
 
That's a completely different discussion. Yes, billions of years according to what you believe. Based on what I believe, (brace yourself) the earth is only about 6000 years old. Seeing this discussion is going nowhere, I choose to remove myself from this discussion.

Wow really only 6000 years old that explains the time gap. Come on dude if that was the case erosion would be rampent and there would not be anywere not wet to live come on really. What is the world made of silly putty and blue cheese I guess and there are fairys and unicorns too if you know were to look.
 
Spidergoat
The easiest way to know what any personality wants is to find out from others familiar with them or literature on the subject.

Appeal to authority? How do they know?
Suppose we were talking about Albert Einstein or president Obama. How would you propose that one investigate their personal likes and dislikes?

(One can also meet with success by trial and error, but that takes a considerably longer time for the same result. )

How does one distinguish between error and non-error?
Kind of like searching for the president by searching your local vicinity. Eventually, as you scoured the earth's surface, you would come to the state of washington. Provided you had good information about the role of who and what the president is, you could meet with success.

That literature is even better when it comes with normative descriptions for determining those who are actually in knowledge. Since the topic of god also encompasses the issue of desire in the material world, a healthy part of the subject also deals with questioning or understanding the greater picture of what we really want, too.

How is that knowledge aquired?
The standard manner - application of theory.

Theistic practices (or normative descriptions) are also indicated by god

How?
Through scripture (at least scripture that credits the word of god)


and also fine tuned by saintly persons according to time, place and circumstances.

How?
By distinguishing between what is intrinsic and what is instrumental.

For instance experts in the field of eating chocolate cakes agree that having a cake his intrinsic to the practice while having a knife is merely instrumental to the act of serving it. (so having a knife is not essential to the act of eating cake in all times, places and circumstances).

Do you see a trend in my questions here? How does one distinguish what is knowledge from what is simply an opinion of an authority figure?
Blind faith is one extreme and blind doubt is the other. IOW when the opportunity to apply oneself comes and one insists on procrastinating, they miss the opportunity.

IOW there are very good reasons why application, which is built on theory, comes before a valid conclusion.
 
You know you are right there I did divert from that perhaps it was due to someone diverting me as they do not have any proof to the contary that God actually does exsist other then a Book of his words that when read in context does not make a lot of sense and contradicts most of our modern social values. Such as rape murder and incest. I would say that is not very just now would you.
Feel free to indicate how the vedas support your conclusion

(In fact religion doesn't even show up this thread)
 
Fine

Tell which part of the vedas you are talking about and I can start there.

Well I am not talkinf about Hindu religion I have never studied it but I am sure it has it bad spots too every religion does one way or the other it has bad spots.
 
Ok

Its just that you don't know what the bad spots are yet, eh?
:D

As I said it has them every cult has to scare the shit outta people to join or offer them some huge payoff in the end. You see the either prey on the greed of a person or the simple mindedness of a person. Which by any standard is not loving nor just. Oh and did I say cult I meant religion.
 
Based on what I believe, (brace yourself) the earth is only about 6000 years old. Seeing this discussion is going nowhere, I choose to remove myself from this discussion.


Your radical comment is unsubstantiated and a rehearsal conveniently ignoring the fossil record.
 
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As I said it has them every cult has to scare the shit outta people to join or offer them some huge payoff in the end. You see the either prey on the greed of a person or the simple mindedness of a person. Which by any standard is not loving nor just. Oh and did I say cult I meant religion.
Its not so much your conclusion that I have a problem with but the premises you use to support it.

;)

(IOW its a radical comment and a convenient rehearsal)
 
And what premise do you see me useing to support my conclusions.
If I am prepared to argue like you do, there isn't any.

eg

As I said it has them. Every atheistic doctrine has to scare the shit outta people to join or offer them some huge dividend in the form an egotistical crutch. You see they either prey on the pride of a person or their simple mindedness . Which by any standard is not loving nor just.

Such is the beauty of a tentative argument.
:eek:
 
spidergoat said:
Do you see a trend in my questions here? How does one distinguish what is knowledge from what is simply an opinion of an authority figure?

Blind faith is one extreme and blind doubt is the other. IOW when the opportunity to apply oneself comes and one insists on procrastinating, they miss the opportunity.

IOW there are very good reasons why application, which is built on theory, comes before a valid conclusion.

This is where I can relate to the atheists very well.

They seem to be coming from the position of

"I can know whether something is from God or about God only if I have full knowledge of God which I have acquired previously and independently from all theistic teachings and practices.

Without such previously and independently acquired knowledge, I am in no position to assess whether something is from God or about God, or not.

Knowledge about God that is acquired through theistic practices is necessarily biased and invalid."

This is related to the more or less implicit requirement for omniscience.



There could be several assumptions that underlie such a position, among them:

"God and/or theists cannot be trusted. If we are to know any truth about God, we have to find it ourselves, independently from all theistic practices."

I think it is this assumption that needs to be unpacked, and a new, positive, hopeful attitude toward theism found, before we can move on.
 
I think people arrive at that notion because they conceive of god having no ultimate environment outside of taming the madness that goes on in the material world (or they conceive of heaven as being some sort of community of the sedated). It's kind of like they accept the material world as the "real" or ultimate world and everything else is relative to it. Kind of like a person in jail thinking that prison life is the "real" society while being totally oblivious to the fact that it is housed within not only a greater society but also a more greatly functioning society.

It is the dominant theists who make that notion popular, and they make it so, with violence if needs be.


The calculations tend to go askew when one doesn't have proper knowledge of god, proper knowledge of the material world and also proper knowledge of the living entity.

Sure, this is all fine in theory.
But see my post above.


Moreover, at what point does one know that one has "proper knowledge"?
One cannot know that in advance!

I cannot say "I am now on the right path to the right goal" - whether either of them is right is something I can at best find out only after I have completed the path, but no sooner.

In the case of theistic knowledge, this could mean decades and decades of study and practice with no conclusions!



It helps to understand one's incompetence ...

but its often a slow learning curve

What could one do instead, but which would still yield positive results?
 
Moreover, at what point does one know that one has "proper knowledge"?
One cannot know that in advance!

I cannot say "I am now on the right path to the right goal" - whether either of them is right is something I can at best find out only after I have completed the path, but no sooner.

In the case of theistic knowledge, this could mean decades and decades of study and practice with no conclusions!

What is the necessary attitude for someone aspiring to (a particular) theism?


From what I have been able to understand so far, it should actually be something like this:

I am willing to risk eternal damnation, my bodily health, the relationships I have with friends and relatives, my job, my reputation, my sanity, my house, rejection by fellow congregationalists, and thousands of kalpas of mistakes in order to learn the truth about God.

I vow to be swayed neither by the scorn and violence of people, nor by poverty, nor by any bodily and mental ills, nor by any of the hardships that a living being can be subjected to in this Universe, but that instead I will keep firmly to the course of this theistic practice that I have chosen, even while I was in a state of durress and thus cannot claim perfection of choice.

I am devoted to this particular theistic practice because I believe that knowing the truth about God is more important than any other concerns or fears that I may have.



This is what it takes, doesn't it?
 
If I am prepared to argue like you do, there isn't any.

eg

As I said it has them. Every atheistic doctrine has to scare the shit outta people to join or offer them some huge dividend in the form an egotistical crutch. You see they either prey on the pride of a person or their simple mindedness . Which by any standard is not loving nor just.

Such is the beauty of a tentative argument.
:eek:

Dude I can see it is pointless to talk to someone with the brain activity of your own. Which appears to be somewhere just above slime mold and just below an infant. I will depart from the discussion with that.
 
This is where I can relate to the atheists very well.

They seem to be coming from the position of

"I can know whether something is from God or about God only if I have full knowledge of God which I have acquired previously and independently from all theistic teachings and practices.

Without such previously and independently acquired knowledge, I am in no position to assess whether something is from God or about God, or not.

Knowledge about God that is acquired through theistic practices is necessarily biased and invalid."

This is related to the more or less implicit requirement for omniscience.



There could be several assumptions that underlie such a position, among them:

"God and/or theists cannot be trusted. If we are to know any truth about God, we have to find it ourselves, independently from all theistic practices."

I think it is this assumption that needs to be unpacked, and a new, positive, hopeful attitude toward theism found, before we can move on.
Part of that unpacking would involve looking at an example of knowledge that is understood in full that one acquires previously and independently from the context it appears in.

Personally I don't think its possible to provide such an example .. at least for any sort of knowledge that is credited as advanced or sublime.
 
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