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#21
10-10-2007, 03:22 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
Churches, bibles, crosses - I'm fairly certain most of them fall under the false idols category anyway.
Seriously, does it take an atheist to see that most christians worship these _things_ more than they worship god these days? The bible is seen as near infallible, when its meaning can mean different things in different translations. The cross is used as a symbol that people rever and worship and the rituals taking place in churches take presedence over many people's worship of their god. I'm no theist, but atleast in the bible stories Jesus and his followers travelled the lands, discussed with scholars, debated customs and practices in accordance with their belief and helped people they met. They didn't sit around with a book and quote it religiously every time they encountered some resistance - and religion wasn't something they just happened to do every sunday either. 
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#22
10-10-2007, 03:27 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
You have to tell us what you think adds meanng to your life. For many people "feeling loved" does add meaning.
I agree. A lot of your sociopaths seem to exhibit disconnects from people/animals. Showing emotional support or love has always been integral to building individuals and character. Hitler and Stalin were both treated harshly by their fathers.
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#23
10-10-2007, 03:39 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
[ QUOTE ]
You have to tell us what you think adds meanng to your life. For many people "feeling loved" does add meaning. [/ QUOTE ] You're under the radar. I'm trying to deal with the 'no real scotsman' statement by theists " the only REAL meaning comes from god loving you" or some such. If they are conceding that meaning in life comes from other sources, np, and who needs It then. How does all the meaningless things that give meaning to my life get erased when I get message, " I am the great and powerful Oz, I have built you and set you on a mission, I can't tell you what it is, but I love you .... here's two extra helping of REAL meaning to last you til dinner". again, there are many christian versions of god, for example, some say he can't do logically impossible things, others say he can. Could either of those gods add meaning? What limitations on a god would still make him powerful enough to add meaning? ( I'm using that approach to see if there is a trigger level where 'presto' meaning is added because you are the love child of a sufficiently powerful overlord). luckyme
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#24
10-10-2007, 03:55 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
I don't see this tame_deuces...Christianity is a lot less ritualistic than other religions...Christians are required to worship once a week...I've never met anyone that worshipped the object of the cross...they use the word "cross" to symbolically represent what Christ did for us...Jesus was the Living Word hence he never had to quote a bible verse, but that doesn't mean his followers don't need to be intimately concerned with the words of the bible...and since a lot of people are trying to live in truth and spirit how would you know if they are doing that since you can't be around them 24/7...The Apostles went into communities throughout the ancient world to spread the Gospel it doesn't mean everyone who accepted Christianity was moved by the Spirit to hit the road like Jesus, in fact, quite a few of the early Christians were persecuted with the Roman Christians staying down in the Catacombs for quite some time...but this may have varied from region to region for different communities of Christians...
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#26
10-10-2007, 04:18 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
[ QUOTE ]
"Its a great method of social control as well as it gives people structure. I suspect we can all agree that structure and goals make our lives better. Religion fills in those blanks. It fills in the void for those looking for meaning." Can't help but think Lenin, Stalin and Hitler would be the first to agree with you here... [/ QUOTE ] Of course. Hitler used Religion to control the masses as many have done throughout history. Its a great tool to control man. [ QUOTE ] If you stamp out Churches you can create a vacuum of power and just about anything could fill it... [/ QUOTE ] I believe Hitler didn't stamp out the churches, he simply used them. This has happened throughout history and still happens today all over the place including our country. I believe a lot of Christians are feeling they egg in their face after being courted so vigorously by the Bush administration and then ignored. But that's a topic for another forum.
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#27
10-10-2007, 04:19 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
[ QUOTE ]
You have to tell us what you think adds meanng to your life. For many people "feeling loved" does add meaning. I agree. A lot of your sociopaths seem to exhibit disconnects from people/animals. Showing emotional support or love has always been integral to building individuals and character. Hitler and Stalin and Jesus were all treated harshly by their fathers. [/ QUOTE ]
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#28
10-10-2007, 04:24 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
[ QUOTE ]
Christianity is a lot less ritualistic than other religions...Christians are required to worship once a week... [/ QUOTE ] That's modern Christianity. It was too long ago when you were expected to worship many hours a week. Modern christians are much more lax then they used to be. [ QUOTE ] I've never met anyone that worshipped the object of the cross...they use the word "cross" to symbolically represent what Christ did for us... [/ QUOTE ] Apparently you've never seen the hilarious footage of good Christians bawling on the steps of courthouses because they can't display their symbols of the 10 Commandments or similar religious symbols. I distinctly remember them crying and saying they were being "denied their God." Hunt that footage down and you'll not only have a good laugh, but you'll see Christians who worship symbols.
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#29
10-10-2007, 07:25 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
If you believe that believing that your are plaything of a powerful being gives your life meaning then it does.
It’s the individual that decides what gives their life meaning. [ QUOTE ] Since we don't have evidence of that being the case, [/ QUOTE ] If someone says belief in God gives there life meaning, then the only way it doesn’t is if they are lying.
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#30
10-10-2007, 07:41 PM
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Re: The Myth of Meaning
[ QUOTE ]
If you believe that believing that your are plaything of a powerful being gives your life meaning then it does. It’s the individual that decides what gives their life meaning. [ QUOTE ] Since we don't have evidence of that being the case, [/ QUOTE ] If someone says belief in God gives there life meaning, then the only way it doesn’t is if they are lying. [/ QUOTE ] Np with your points, that's essentially my view of it. Theists don't explain it that way, they don't say the 'meaning' comes from them, they claim it comes from god. I can't get it to work with any of the approaches I've noted in this thread. Iow, they claim the meaning comes from god's doing his thing on you, not from your view of him doing it ( with brings it in line with any random wednesdays 'meanings'. None have come forward with even a hint of how this comes about, so I take it is just the hollow claim that it sounded like originally. luckyme
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