The death of eternal truths and the new Paganism

When [and if] you get tired of banging your head against the wall, you'll know there is another path. In the meantime, why be so confrontational? It takes up so much energy and creates no peace inside. Instead, consider encouraging people [even if it is not your thing]. After all, I believe we can all agree that it's about helping other people.

 

Pagans may have a religion of nature worship. Atheists worship nothing. The idea of Atheism being a religion is just a modern idea. Many Greek philosophers were atheists - not believing in or worshipping a god - despite the many gods available. Democritus - the first to postulate that everything was made of atoms - “Nothing exists except atoms and empty space; everything else is opinion.”

The belief in a God and intelligent design fails to impress me when the designer created a world so unstable that when he put man on it it started to kill his creation by its instability. Earthquakes, storms, floods, continents that move and collide causing tsunamis, volcanos that destroy vast areas either with lava or by blotting out the sun for years and causing the earth to become almost barren. Meteors and asteroids that crash to earth and cause devastation . In the universe planets collide. Planets and systems are wiped out by blackholes. Suns go nova. etc etc. Intelligent design?

 

By the way. The Christian gods son, Jesus, worshipped Jahweh. If you study Bible history outside the Bible, when the Jews accepted Jahweh as their god in Babylon, they chose Jahweh rather than his father El. who was worshipped by the nations around. So Jesus actually had a grandfather. Not many Christians bother to study outside the Bible. That's a pity. They might realise that 'all that glitters is not gold' as the saying goes

 

You're the one being confrontational.

Your last few posts have been nothing but ad hom, calling other posters children and other such disgusting nonsense.

So far, I don't see where you are suggesting ways to help people.

 

So for vision problems are you going to trust Ophthalmology or find some modern day Jesus to put spit and mud in your eye.

 

Did you not read or not understand what I wrote? You give a superficial take and then you are off on a tangent of your own (the main problem is the systemic corruption which has deeply infected the system??) based on fear (could that be conservative thought?). There are plenty of conservatives in every governing system you mention, that has nothing to do with the root cause of conservatism. Conservatives are fearful. They see a threat to authority in evolution, atheism, socialism, “paganism”, equal rights...They fear the other in undocumented workers, Muslims, gays, poor Blacks...They fear loss of control in a pluralistic society and climate change which will demand changes in their behavior. I could go on and on, but you get the point. Their brain is different, plus as we get older the brain becomes less plastic, less able to modify ingrained ideas with new information. Some see the future beyond their control and threatening, as you seem to.

Anywho, just what is this systemic corruption? We might agree on something.

 

It's not a matter of trust, instead, it's a matter of understanding the nature of knowledge. Any physician [who is honest] will tell you how little is known about their particular specialty. But this applies to all things.

The key is in not attaching to any particular idea but instead to understand the flow...where it came from and where it's going. These skills are attained through perceptual clarity and direct experience.

 

First of all, aren't there things in your own life that work really well for you? Do you wish to change those just for the sake of change? Are you afraid to change them or have you learned what works for you? This fear of change meme you have attached yourself to applies in some cases, but so what? That's not what it's about.

Systemic corruption? Perhaps you should first study [in detail] how this system's institutions are supposed to work and then what has happened over the past 50-60 years. Nearly everything not nailed down was stolen through every mechanism possible...counterfeiting the currency, swapping debt for equity, and just plain "in your face" human corruption EVERYWHERE...politics, law, health care, finance, education, you name it, it was been sold-out to the highest bidder.

 

That's what science does. Right?

 

Sometimes, but [unfortunately, more often than not] science has been sold-out. Again, COVID was the perfect example of how an entire health care system was corrupted by financial [and political] interests. Much of the research going on out there is bought and paid for by huge financial interests. This has been known for decades.

I am not saying that there isn't good science going on, but it doesn't take a great deal of mold to spoil the entire loaf.

 

You're just plain wrong about the science behind solutions to COVID.

And, your idea that some sort of problem that you may have with one branch of science would disqualify science as a whole is a monumental fail.

 

How do you like it besides that?

 

I'll wait for you to have something to say.

 

the new Trumpism

 

It seems we have no agreement. Your first paragraph was a list of banal questions trying to be deep and condescension (meme?).
Despite your condescension I am well aware of the flaws in our institution systems and that highlights the well documented differences in conservative and liberal brains. The more threat one perceives the more conservative one becomes. Liberals become more conservative if viewing a threat, but some people are more suspicious of others intent, have greater fear of personal danger and prone to search out and focus on the negative. They are conservatives. They come up with absurdities like: just plain "in your face" human corruption EVERYWHERE....
Seems a dark world you live in.

 

And getting darker... the Second Coming just can't be that far away now.

 

Seriously?

There is more than one reason for all things, including why one might be conservative on some issues. I've never known anybody who was 100% either way. Why would you be? Even the most miserable among us must have something they would like to preserve.

Most people used to be fiscally conservative and socially liberal [when this meant helping out the less fortunate to a moderate degree]. As time went on and the spending got completely out of hand and the results poorer and poorer, many folks threw in the towel on attempting to prop folks up and realized that they had to do the work themselves.

Why do all the people who think the way you do feel compelled to tell everybody else how horrible their lives are? That's a sure tell that you are NOT a happy camper. All the left leaning people are miserable because this is how your world is constructed...to only see the bad in everything. Tough way to live.

 

I don't even know what the heck you are trying to say here.

I'm definitely progressive. I am an atheist. I believe we need to live more like the message Jesus gave in Matthew 25:31 to end, as there are people who need our help. Our population and that problem are too large to depend on individuals following the words of Jesus to search out those in need and to provide - so we need a systematic approach to ensuring people get healthcare, clean water and food, lodging, fair judgement, equal treatment as humans and other requirements. For most of those, our system delivers the goods by capitalism. That is great, but the costs can be higher than some can possibly pay.

My life is outstanding. I'm more than willing to contribute to systematic changes that bring quality of life to others. And, I'm constantly surprised that seemingly good Christians would fight AGAINST doing so.

 

“Seriously?” Yes, I am current with the state of society and you seen unaware of the multiple studies highlighting the differences between liberal and conservative. Yes, there are differences between social conservatives and economic conservatives as well as socially liberal and economically liberal. Hispanics for example tend to be socially conservative and economically liberal, but that is getting into nuances that you ignore with absurd statements like “all left leaning people are miserable….only see the bad in everything.” Project much? Hilariously you prefaced that remark with "Why do all the people who think the way you do feel compelled to tell everybody else how horrible their lives are?"

Who came here saying there is corruption everywhere, mankind is lower than slugs, the country is corrupt, the youth are no good, adults have sold out the children, the world is crumbling, women are miserable….I could go on and none of the sentiments do I, a liberal, agree with, but it does not paint a happy picture of you.

 

I completely disagree with this statement. Allowing the government to do these things wastes incredible amounts of money as well as creating massive dependency. It is simply adhering to a narrative that implores that the solutions to all problems stems from the collective. This approach benefits the elite and the administrators and few others. After throwing trillions and trillions of dollars at social problems in urban America since the sixties, the cities are worse off than ever [but look at how wealthy the government [and its parasites have become].

Collectivism DOES NOT work. You keep advocating the same exact solutions that fail EVERY time. The way you get to the best outcomes is people empowering themselves through their own hard work. It is a cultural thing. This is why some groups do better than others. Put the past behind. Work hard now and you will have success. This has been known forever.

 

Perhaps you should have lived in the USSR or Maoist China [after folks caught on to those scams] to see how happy the people were there.

Leftists concentrate on all the bad [thinking that they have such a simple solution [omnipotent government]. This is an idea that ranks up there with the worst ideas of all-time. Imagine convincing millions that a group of people have got it all figured out, so if you give them all the power, they will take care of everybody's problems and life will be a dream [actually a nightmare].

You think the idea of an all powerful God living up in the clouds is crazy, imagine somebody believing that the government is going to save you? Government is the public embodiment of the elite's agenda, and has never been anything else. The U.S. works as well as it has because of the checks and balances designed in [which unfortunately have been corrupted].

 

It is extremely rare for anyone to remain successful till the day they die, unless they die while they are successful. It is a fact of reality that things deteriorate over time and fade away. Remember Sears, Montgomery Ward, Woolworth, Dodge, Packard, AOL, RCA, Kodak, Bell Telephone?

 

You make claim after claim after claim in your post, but I don't see you presenting an actual fact based argument AND I don't see you presenting alternative solutions.

This is where science comes in. I know you hate to hear that.

 

Okay, I’m starting to repeat myself, that means things are getting pointless. Some governments are bad and the people unhappy. It is dependent on social liberty/restrictions, economic wealth/poverty and rule of law/corruption. Citizens of theocracies in the middle east are unhappy as well as democracies like Haiti. It has nothing to do with whether individuals are conservative or liberal.

I think you are getting left-wing governments and liberals confused. With communism, besides attempting social equity, there is little else that is liberal and more that is conservative. Theocracies are thought to be right-wing and hopefully, as a conservative, you have little agreement with that form of government.

You bring no evidence that liberals concentrate on the bad, just an absurd gut feeling, but I have given you ample evidence of someone who concentrates on the bad. You go on making more absurd accusations like I think believing in a god is crazy and the government is the savior. I have no idea where you pulled these bigoted viewpoints from (I can guess).

You end by concentrating on the bad….hmmm

 

All things knowable have a birth, life, and death...every moment. If you understand this then you understand all things.