Totally Random question for Christian

SallyMae
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Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm I disagree. Because the only way you can be sure you’re doing something for the benefit of others is to be omniscient. In other words, it’s those limitations that make it a guessing game that can go horribly wrong.
Human teachers are not perfect but we still have to try.

Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm Giving everyone a cushy and comfortable life, without any pain and suffering may sound very nice and compassionate, but is it really for their own good? What’s true goodness and compassion then?
"Giving everyone a cushy and comfortable life?" Is that what you think Buddhism is? Because it totally isn't. It's a set of skills.

Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm Which makes an (almost) divine individual deeply flawed and prone to do more harm than good, as beautiful as his/hers intentions are.
So, don't teach these skills?
Momto2boys973
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That’s the thing. Humans aren’t perfect. We make mistakes because of our limitations. And yeah, all we can do is try.
The same will apply to any being in the universe with those limitations.
But if there was a being without those limitations, he wouldn’t need to try. He would what needs to be done, what’s best for every individual every time. Even if that sometimes means hardship.
SallyMae wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 5:36 pm
Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm I disagree. Because the only way you can be sure you’re doing something for the benefit of others is to be omniscient. In other words, it’s those limitations that make it a guessing game that can go horribly wrong.
Human teachers are not perfect but we still have to try.

Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm Giving everyone a cushy and comfortable life, without any pain and suffering may sound very nice and compassionate, but is it really for their own good? What’s true goodness and compassion then?
"Giving everyone a cushy and comfortable life?" Is that what you think Buddhism is? Because it totally isn't. It's a set of skills.

Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:36 pm Which makes an (almost) divine individual deeply flawed and prone to do more harm than good, as beautiful as his/hers intentions are.
So, don't teach these skills?
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Quorra2.0
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I really don’t think it’s possible. I don’t mean that in a negative way.

I’m going to answer your question in two ways:
I try to avoid really talking about what I believe because even I recognize how insane it sounds. But in a nutshell, pun intended lol, I believe that at some point in our existence as conscious energy(our soul) we realized that we had limitations. Without a physical body, all we could do was observe not really experience the vastness of the omniverse. So the higher powers(conscious energy greater than ourselves) created a means for us to take physical forms on planets. Our physical forms biologically are made for whichever planet. I think that living, learning, growing is part of our soul, our conscious energy. But going between forms, is traumatic, so there are “fail safes” so to speak. We don’t remember what it is like to just be conscious energy BUT because experiencing a planet, because learning, growing and living are so much a part of our soul, we adapt. I think the needs that drive religion and sciences are part of the fail safe, part of allowing us to do what we need to do on this planet, and part of our soul.

Second response:

Both in science and religion it is believed there’s a single start point of human existence. This means that all human descended from that same start point. I think it’s reasonable to believe that even the very first human tried to understand their existence and purpose. If they didn’t, there’d be no path for growth and learning, we’d be no different than ever other animal on this planet and there’d be no purpose really for higher intelligence. As humans migrated, they took with them all the core beliefs (the similarities) and each evolved them. I don’t think it’s impossible for different groups to get same ideas such as building pyramids. There’s times I see replies here that are extremely, not exact wording, but extremely similar to what I was thinking. I find it unlikely that I’m the only person who’s experienced this.

And this all goes back to my very first sentence, we may have no purpose, this could be it, but I can’t even fathom an existence without a purpose because on the preconception that there has to be purpose. Why create something that does nothing? The whole circle of life revolves around purpose.




Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:23 pm Wow, deep questions. I wonder how many could answer them without their preconceptions and prejudices showing.
Here are some of my thoughts:
Many people say “religion is man made”, but then how come societies without any contact between them ended up with the same concept of divinity? The names may change, but ultimately, Hindi, Aztec, Greek, Inca, Celtic, Nordic, all have a similar concept of what a “god” is. Even the Biblical version, which talks about one God, the idea of immortality, of being able to manipulate nature, of having superior knowledge and interfering in human affairs is pretty universal. I find it hard to believe that was man-made…
You would think that so many people living in so vastly different environments an lad facing vastly different circumstances would each come up with vastly different ideas if it was just a matter of explaining natural phenomena.
How come the idea of pyramids developed both in Mesoamérica and Egypt? A lone Egyptian builder traveled to the Mayan Riviera for spring break?
And it’s not just that, so many shared concepts: clothing, family, social status, war, currency, literature, art. You do have to wonder how those developed all over human societies.
L
Quorra2.0 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 10:14 am
Anonymous 6 wrote: Sun May 01, 2022 11:15 am Religion is a man made thing. I do believe there is life on other planets. It's impossible for there not to be. As for Christianity on other planets, no. As I said, Religion is a man made thing, it's a way to explain what was previously unexplainable to people who wanted some sort of answer to the questions they didn't have answers for.

That was an interesting question.
Thank you. Many things are human made. Humans created and developed languages, means not only to communicate but to identify. Humans also developed sciences to explain and understand what was previously unexplainable. All a hypothesis is, is a belief that something is or will be true. So it makes one wonder; whether it’s science, religion, or both, if our needs that drive the ideas are part of our physicality or part of our conscious energy? I additionally wonder if humans would have evolved to where we are today or where we will be in the future without that need. Idk if that makes sense.
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Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 6:21 pm That’s the thing. Humans aren’t perfect. We make mistakes because of our limitations. And yeah, all we can do is try.
The same will apply to any being in the universe with those limitations.
But if there was a being without those limitations, he wouldn’t need to try. He would what needs to be done, what’s best for every individual every time. Even if that sometimes means hardship.
Well maybe, but who knows? In the meantime, learning to overcome suffering with focused attention is a set of skills anyone can learn which is extremely beneficial, especially if they are in hardship. If aliens are sentient, and mortal, I cannot imagine they would need it less than humans do.
SallyMae
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Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 6:21 pm That’s the thing. Humans aren’t perfect. We make mistakes because of our limitations. And yeah, all we can do is try.
The same will apply to any being in the universe with those limitations.
But if there was a being without those limitations, he wouldn’t need to try. He would what needs to be done, what’s best for every individual every time. Even if that sometimes means hardship.
Well maybe, but who knows? In the meantime, learning to overcome suffering with focused attention is a set of skills anyone can learn which is extremely beneficial, especially if they are in hardship. If aliens are sentient, and mortal, I cannot imagine they would need it less than humans do.
mommy_jules
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Quorra2.0 wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:56 pm
mommy_jules wrote: Thu Apr 28, 2022 5:31 pm Interesting question…weird Christian Twitter (#WCT) would be a great place to ask this.

I’d think if there were other intelligent life on other planets, God would have revealed himself to them in way that was unique to them. Jesus was human, so he wasn’t sacrificed for other lives that weren’t human. I hopefully that makes sense.
Lol, I don’t do Twitter but thank you for the suggestion.

That does make sense. The fact that he was born and lived as a human seems very significant to the sacrifice.
I subscribe to a podcast called “Ask NT Wright Anything,”and they just released an episode called “Would God need to redeem aliens?” I haven’t listened yet, but I thought of this post and wanted to share.

https://pod.link/1441656192
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Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:23 pm how come societies without any contact between them ended up with the same concept of divinity?
  • one God
  • immortality
  • able to manipulate nature
  • having superior knowledge
  • interfering in human affairs
There's not much point in worshiping a deity who can't or won't respond.

Several religions have divine spirits that can die (Greek, Norse, Japanese), and most are not monotheistic.

There are a few which contain deities who were not particularly known for being smart (Thor?), but by and large religion gets affected by the same dynamic as fan worship - devout fans of sports and music personalities praise them not just as being brilliant at one thing, but also tend to make out that they are just generally better in most ways.
Momto2boys973
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I’m not saying every society has had exactly the same concept. And I never said anything about monotheism. I said the vast majority (if not all) cultures have a concept of divine that has many common characteristics.

The concept of a deity is pretty universal, in many cultures sharing the points I made. In others, not so much. But still they have a concept of divinity. How come all these cultures came up with that concept? In fact, Atheism is a fairly recent belief. In fact, it seems Atheism only went hand in hand with scientific knowledge and that’s where the falso science vs religion concept arises. One doesn’t negate the other. In all logical analysis, understanding how something happens doesn’t negate a deity. It’s the misguided belief that a deity must always act in supernatural ways.

You can’t deny the fact that regardless of good, bad; male, female; one, many; smart dumb; pure, kinky; the concept of divine is pretty universal.
Aletheia wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:10 am
Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:23 pm how come societies without any contact between them ended up with the same concept of divinity?
  • one God
  • immortality
  • able to manipulate nature
  • having superior knowledge
  • interfering in human affairs
There's not much point in worshiping a deity who can't or won't respond.

Several religions have divine spirits that can die (Greek, Norse, Japanese), and most are not monotheistic.

There are a few which contain deities who were not particularly known for being smart (Thor?), but by and large religion gets affected by the same dynamic as fan worship - devout fans of sports and music personalities praise them not just as being brilliant at one thing, but also tend to make out that they are just generally better in most ways.
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Buddism is the 4th largest belief system in the world, and does not believe in a deity, divine creator or omnipresent entity.
Momto2boys973 wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:40 pm I’m not saying every society has had exactly the same concept. And I never said anything about monotheism. I said the vast majority (if not all) cultures have a concept of divine that has many common characteristics.

The concept of a deity is pretty universal, in many cultures sharing the points I made. In others, not so much. But still they have a concept of divinity. How come all these cultures came up with that concept? In fact, Atheism is a fairly recent belief. In fact, it seems Atheism only went hand in hand with scientific knowledge and that’s where the falso science vs religion concept arises. One doesn’t negate the other. In all logical analysis, understanding how something happens doesn’t negate a deity. It’s the misguided belief that a deity must always act in supernatural ways.

You can’t deny the fact that regardless of good, bad; male, female; one, many; smart dumb; pure, kinky; the concept of divine is pretty universal.
Aletheia wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 5:10 am
Momto2boys973 wrote: Tue May 03, 2022 3:23 pm how come societies without any contact between them ended up with the same concept of divinity?
  • one God
  • immortality
  • able to manipulate nature
  • having superior knowledge
  • interfering in human affairs
There's not much point in worshiping a deity who can't or won't respond.

Several religions have divine spirits that can die (Greek, Norse, Japanese), and most are not monotheistic.

There are a few which contain deities who were not particularly known for being smart (Thor?), but by and large religion gets affected by the same dynamic as fan worship - devout fans of sports and music personalities praise them not just as being brilliant at one thing, but also tend to make out that they are just generally better in most ways.
SallyMae
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Momto2boys973 wrote: Fri Aug 05, 2022 4:40 pm How come all these cultures came up with that concept?
1. It works. Common spiritual beliefs were extremely beneficial to ancient tribespeople. They provided a narrative tradition that made sense of the vagaries of life, and they were a source of group identity and mutually-understood metaphor. They provided a link between the individual and the group, a link between the cosmos and the moral order. Religion is a human technology as beneficial to our development as fire.

2. It spread. Ancient cultures have common ancestors, and were not cut off from each other entirely. Art, religion and technology were all so beneficial to people that they were frequently copied.
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