[thechat] Mythology was comics

[isaac]

hi,

> God. Consider that in 0 ad, Palestine was essentially an 'eastern'
> region...trading with and influenced by the orient. In an 'eastern'
> religion...questions like this would be answered with another
> question...I'm
> not a master or anything...so I don't know the answer/question, but it
> sounds to me sort of like the question, 'what is Tao'...

eastern religion is irrelevant. and my question bore little relevance to
tao.

is your "kingdom of heaven" a material/physical place? or is it a state of
being?

or do you have no idea whatsoever? ("and jesus said 'trust me, it's really
good...'")

same with hell. wtf is that? i've heard it defined as "eternity without
god". i've had 24 years without god, and it's been a shitload of fun. hell
sounds great.

i've also seen stats that suggest that a huge number of americans believe
that hell is a physical place complete with lakes of fire and devils with
pitchforks. that's laughably ridiculous, imho. a tool of fear.

> The incredibly intricate, beutiful, fragile, *intentional* nature of
> nature...The sheer glory of the design of nature suggests a designer, and
> one with *SKILLZ*, considering how amazing it all is. In fact, in
> maybe you need to spend more time outside...

i am fully aware of the beauty and intricacy of nature. i can see beauty in
even the ugliest weeds fighting to survive in a ditch on the side of the
road. nature and life are amazing. as is every science. i am also fully
aware that this was derived through evolution and the beauty of physics and
chemistry.

wouldn't the beauty of the design suggest the glory of a designer which
would in turn suggest a designer before that? you end up with an infinite
line of creators.

if you can see your god as just existing and not being created, why cannot
therefore the universe have existed likewise?

(personally, i don't think there is a single universe as we know it. think
of a soup of energy with many different bursts occuring in many different
locations. we merely exist on one planet, orbiting the star of a galaxy in
an immense universe. one of many.

on that same line, you speak of the creation of the earth and light, etc.
quoting the bible as truth, but do you believe it occured as spoken? that
the creations of oceans/whatever or beings on a single planet within such an
immense universe took the same time as the creation of the universe itself?)


> well, the ability to design and craft a thing like the Universe
> does imply a certain 'Almighty' power.

control over every aspect of every thing, right?

> > is, as many religious people tend to insist, your god in everything (and
> > every part of every thing)?
> nope...creator of, he's definitely the creator of, a separate
> entity/being:

there are many people who think that god physically exists in every single
thing. i've always wonder how that god could be so free of sin if it were
involved in sinful activities every single second.

> This is really interesting, to get exposure to different people's
> perception of matters 'spiritual', et al.

my position: faith in a god, to me, is ludicrous. there is nothing quite so
far-fetched.

and it enrages me to see the history of violence wrought by the religions of
the world.

as someone who believes so fully in a god, do you look upon the beliefs of
scientologists (for example) as ludicrous? what about other cults? i'm
interested in your personal opinion, not whether or not you believe they
have the right to possess those beliefs.

> overbearing Dad would get pissed off and raise his voice whenever anyone
> *talked* about ideas that didn't line up with his take on scripture...and
> man, did he have a take on scripture. We've all matured a lot since then,
> there are scars, but its much better now...

never really been to a church (excluding weddings and funerals - my own
wedding was in a garden, and we were married by a civil celebrant). i think
my parents "think" they believe in a higher power but they certainly don't
practice in any way. australia is a far less religious country than america.
there was never any suggestion from my parents that i should have any faith,
which i certainly appreciate.


can i ask one last thing for this email? (tv crew arriving any minute to
film our office)

what are the actual 10 commandments? was there ever any commandment that no
one should make an image of god? i swear i remember that from somewhere.


isaac