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I think I will download a copy of the Koran to my ipod, and then at the appropriate time delete it. Chris

First, stop looking for a rational basis. There is always some some initial point of faith that you have to just swallow. Once you believe in that everything else just follows naturally. OTOH, examine your motives. Why do you want to believe? I wish I could believe, but I took that rational...

There are two basic functions of human interaction: Status forcing, and face making. "Nice" is, for the most part, a sort of passive-aggressive, non-playing yet playing stance between these two dynamics. Chris

This is an interesting discussion. I'm not sure I have anything to add other than the following musing: It's always interesting to me how a discussion of "pure motive" always seems to retreat into terms which are ultimately indefinable. Religion is ultimately about the creation of status and...

The Bible also prohibits the castration of animals. Take that Bob Barker. Chris

I'll give you a real "tough" Bible question: Why do you suppose the "Jews" in the New Testament hate the "Samaritans" so much? Form a historically based answer to that and you'll have all the empirical fodder you need to figure out what's really going on in the Bible. Chris

Don't know what I can add to what's already been said. I don't believe that the RCC's official position is that the mythology of the Pentateuch, that's the first five books of the Bible, is literally historical. I suppose I could Google it and give you a specific link, but I'll leave that...

Wow! I never saw this until now. Double wow! Belated congratulations to you both! And Q, all is forgiven.:) Chris

Love seems to be more a state of open-ended commitment without reservation. In that sense it's a personal process where safety is abandoned, rather than an ideal. Chris

In the past I've pondered what prayer actually does. I know I didn't get that pony I prayed for when I was eight. Of course there are different kinds of prayer, or different processes that people engage in during the activity they label "prayer", so it's hard to generalize. I like this...

Isn't Sky Angel an arm of the SDA church? Chris

Hi Linda! It's nice to see you around. This board has become quite milquetoasty in your absence, and due to the loss of several of our more outspoken members. I'm thinking particularly of Tao. I think that we have entered an era of absolutely poisoned politics where the only discussions...

I made my first ever eagle on the golf course today! I celebrated by apologizing to my ex-wife for being grumpy, and promising to be friendlier and let bygones be. Chris

Once I had read Ernest Becker it ruined me. We're all deeply in the neurosis of death denial. Really, religion provides the only available remedy, but it's an illusory remedy based on transference. Even Becker took the Kierkegaard route at the end and pussed out. It's an impossible thing to...

For lyrical guitar work I don't think you can ignore Brian May of Queen. Chris

That's awesome! Two Buddhas bumpin' bellies! Ha, ha, ha! Yeah. All meaning is derivative, and life is what we make it! You climb and scramble to get on top of the rock, then you wonder "what the hell am I doing up here?" "I'm tired, and there's no place to go to the bathroom!" I tried...

What?! Why you.... Hey Mark, happy fourth! You know, I find myself in the interesting, and not enviable position of having come to the end of my quest to figure it all out. And the answer is...E: all of the above. Chris

Puddinhead..

Religion is for puddinheads. Again. A scientific enumeration of religion reveals a great deal about how culture works. But religion itself is concerned with creating status. That is it's function. Politics is more akin to religion than religion is to science. And only in political reprise...

I looked up several definitions of Agnosticism. The problem I have with agnosticism mostly comes down to semantics. It is the apologetic notion that because one refuses to profess disbelief in a concept like deity, one has allowed for the possibility of that contingency- however unlikely. I...