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It seems to me that consciousness can be determined by brain scans, if not ordinary observation. Consciousness does not present a dilemma for me. I think the atheist's dilemma is free will. If you believe that the laws of science determine everything, even what goes on in the human brain, then...

Interesting about the Sinatic definition of JHWH. What is Sinatic a Canaanite word? How does it relate to Hebrew? The most sacred prayer of Jews today uses the Hebrew word Adonai as God's name and Eloheinu as the word for God. Sh'ma Yis'ra'eil Adonai Eloheinu Adonai echad. Hear, Israel...

I think I have a better answer to the first riddle about Junior and Senior Monks. Senior is a charlatan and as such he doesn't know the path to enlightenment. So in order to avoid showing his ignorance, he sends Junior on a fools errand to find the hare . Miraculously, the hare finds Junior...

The final riddle is the response of voiceofwood, the OP, to Wil. The first question concerns Wil's remark. Why is he complimenting VOW for his helpfulness when he ostensibly has not been helpful at all? Either Wil see's something in VOW's response that I don't or he is being sarcastic. I vote...

Finally a question. It's implicit meaning is can you explain the paradox where looking and seeing have subtly different meanings? I think riddle has something to do with the idea that looking at implies seeing only the surface of things whereas seeing implies something deeper: understanding...

My first question upon hearing this is, "What's ironic about it?" In these kinds of stories, the humbler one is always wiser than his supposed superiors. So it's no surprise that the simply dressed, and presumably unlearned narrator (i.e. not a disciple of a great master) is not stumped by the...

I'm going to take a crack at responding to the riddles with my impressions. In my experience, riddles present a story and then ask a question like, "How many are going to Saint Ives?" Apparently Buddhist riddles don't follow this format, so first we have to guess the question. The first story...

Hello Aussie. Welcome to the forums.

Lincoln, Those are good stories about your father. I like your interpretation about his meeting with the rabbi. I'm sure it wasn't the first such conversation he would have had with a dying person. I was also raised by atheist parents, but they were strongly Jewish-identified, celebrated...

As a kid attending religious school (Jewish) I was taught that God or Truth was like a mountain top and the religions, like paths for their followers to climb. None of the paths came close to the top and so they seemed far apart to the climbers. Yet they were all attempting to reach the same...

Speaking as an American, secularism in the public sphere (i.e. government) should not mean that religions are threatened. In fact the principle of separation of church and state is meant to protect religion in the private sphere. You can still have your houses of worship, you can still celebrate...

Lincoln, I'm a somewhat familiar with Reconstructionist Judaism through the writings of Rabbi Harold Kushner, a student of Mordecai Kaplan. He's the author of "When Bad Things Happen to Good People," and other books. I see the second link use posted describes Kaplan's thoughts about God like...

Thomas, This is well put. I realized after I started the thread that the title was too simplistic and the topic wasn't introduced well. As you indicate, Exodus is a defining story for the Jewish people and resonates with many of us today whether we believe the story happened or not, or whether...

Wil, Thanks for bringing up this problem. We can all use a refresher on civil communication from time to time.

I've heard it said that God may have spoken but his biographers may not have transcribed every word correctly. Also, from my religious brother-in-law, "I'm not sure that everything in the Bible happened, but I believe it to be true."

I pretty much agree with LincolnSpecter in #25. I don't want to see Israel destroyed but I do take issue with a lot of its policies, particularly around the settlements. But if we're going to continue this discussion, perhaps we should start another thread under politics and society. We're...

Well, if you ask an atheist, morality can exist without an Absolute divine creator because here we are, moral people, without the existence of an Absolute divine creator (in our opinion.) But that argument is not going to persuade a theist so I don't see how we can continue this conversation in...

Samuel, Welcome to the lively debate you began. With all due respect, I disagree with you and Kant. I'm not sure that Absolute morals exist, or if they do, that they can derived solely from revealed texts written thousands of years ago. I think our moral sense stems from our consciences...

Madera wrote in #59: ...how does the group "self reflect".? ...interesting. Madera wrote in #61: ...Self reflecting is between man and God, not a group thing. ...makes no sense. As a group, we recite a "prayer," of sorts, that allows each of us, individually, to reflect upon our past year and...

Thanks, Jayhawker. Fortunately I have a Hebrew speaking friend who translated the Hebrew for me.