Polycarp, if you believe that some of the supernatural stuff in the bible is merely symbolic, then what part of christianity DO you believe? That Christ rose from his grave? That the Red Sea was parted? How do you determine what is crap and what is the real thing?
Priceguy: I do not think “compatible” means what you think it means.
MegaDave: Unless God somehow prevented light from shining through tiny spheres of water suspended in air, there would have been rainbows long before the Flood.
Let’s not forget Genesis’ explanations for the Flood, and for weather in general: there are immense bodies of water situated above the sky, and God opened doors in the sky to allow the water to flow through. The world is of course flat, and the heavens are a semi-spherical shell placed on it. :rolleyes:
I will be honest TVAA, I do not know enough of the bible to be able to dissertate well on it. You could say that pretty much anything is somewhere in the bible, and i would have no choice but to believe you.
my opinion is more along the lines that religon is as old as the spoken word… it has been in almost every culture for the last 3000 years in some form or another… it seems to be a predominant theme in most humans regardless of their specific beliefs… it would appear that someone may be trying to tell us something… regardless of who or what is trying to do it… if there is no god, or some other deity, then why has this prevalent thought traveled across all cutlures and across all time
there must be something out there, no?
For as long as there have been humans, the vast majority of them have been born with two hands, two feet, and two eyes.
What cosmic significance does this fact have? Surely something or someone out there is trying to tell us something!
that is not even close to the same kind of analogy TVAA and you know it…
the fact that we are born with 2 arms and 2 legs has never caused wars that last years, there has never been a country founded on the principals of 10 fingers, i have never met anyone who has devoted their entire life to the study and worship of knee joints either
spirituality and phisical appearance have no bearing on each other… do you believe you have a soul TVAA?
There are people who worship Iluvatar – yes, Iluvatar – despite knowing that it’s a fictional deity invented by Tolkien to represent the Christian God is a supposedly pre-Christian mythology.
There are people who dedicate their lives to the study and propagation of silly and demonstrably false ideas.
The analogy is not particularly different.
Define “soul”, please. I’m familiar with the general concept, but it’s an inherently self-contradictory one.
it is different in that i was describing a sense of spirtuality that has been ingrained in every culter for centuies upon centuries, and you were making a facetious comment to belittle my argument.
my view on souls (and i am not SURE that they exist, just IF they did) is that it is that part of you that makes you aware. that part that has conscience though and control. What makes you conscience? just some random firing of neurons in your brain? or something much deeper?
Who said anything about “random” firing of neurons?
Do you think the electric impulses in computers are random?
do you have conscience control over what neurons in your brain fire and which ones do not? of course it isn’t random in that there is no pattern, i meant random as in you cannot predict, control, or even observe it.
but to make it easer to understand ill rephrase:
"is it just the physical abiltiy to “think” enough to declare conscience or do you need something more, something that transcends “thought”?
I think you mean ‘conscious’.
Do “I” control the firing of neurons in my brain? Of course not – presumably I am the firing of neurons in my brain.
How does postulating a soul change this? Do you have conscious control over your soul?
sorry again, like i said i am not going to win any spelling bees anytime soon…
anyway, why wouldn’t i have control over my soul? isn’t my soul the essence of who i am? if so then controlling my body and my mind (to any extent that i can) would be controlling my soul… every time i used my free will to make a decision and act on it, i would be controlling my soul
So if your soul isn’t “you”, what is?
What is ultimately responsible? What is the definitive essence of your being? What is “you”?
no no, my comment was that my soul was the essence of me, my soul is me… it we are the same thing… i have ultimate control over my soul… you asked if i have control over my soul and i was answeing you
at least until i die, then IF there a god the presumably he would have control of it if i was to die
So what is the “I” that controls your soul?
Are you suggesting that your soul controls itself? If so, why do we need to postulate a soul to control our brains? Why can’t our brains control themselves?
Have you ever considered that “purpose” may be solely a human concept? That we have a sense of purpose because we are social animals geared towards survival? In that light, to wonder about the purpose of the universe is tantamount to wondering if the universe is hungry, or if it has a sex drive.
Things fall to the ground because the fabric of space is warped by very large objects, in this case, the Earth. And actually, the Earth rises towards the object, but to such an infinitessimal degree that it’s probably not measurable. We don’t yet know the exact mechanism by which this occurs, but some day we may discover it. To me, that’s a much more interesting answer than “God did it”. What you find dissatisfying, I find eminently satisfying.
Interesting. I’ve always found it facile to simply say “God did it”. To each his own.
(first, to be sure, i am just debating here, i am not certain that i do have a soul, i am not certain on anything, that is why i started this thread)
“I” control my soul, “I” am my soul, my soul controls my brain, the conscious thought from my soul controls my brain, which controls my body…
Let’s reverse it a little bit. If the soul is what gives you consciousness, then why is it that when the brain is damaged, the soul seems to suffer the affliction as well?
Example: If I ingest certain chemicals, they obviously affect my behavior, my perception etc. In the cases of disease or injury to the brain, like Alzeimer’s, etc. What happens to this soul then? Why does it also seem affected by the same malady? Does someone who gets Alzeimers get to ‘live’ the rest of eternity with a soul that shows all the symptoms of Alzeimer’s?
When the brain becomes affected, so does the consciousness. When the brain dies, so does the same consciousness. I see no evidence to see it any other way. When you unplug the computer, it turns off. When there is no longer an energy suply for the brain, it turns off. Energy cannot be destroyed, and so this energy is then released into the environment as heat as the body cools.