tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766537588102582619.post5280700964233419928..comments2023-06-03T14:38:52.510+02:00Comments on Reillusioned: An essay: life as a game of ultra-poolUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766537588102582619.post-53874869312128503472013-02-20T19:47:43.977+02:002013-02-20T19:47:43.977+02:00Well done on being brave enough to tackle the post...Well done on being brave enough to tackle the post, Matt. I don't know if anybody else has, lol. To relate to your points, I've often made it just to tweak atheists: I'll note that an ant will never understand quantum mechanics, so we need to accept that there will simply be things which we can never understand no matter how much we study. Things like the Big Bang, for example. Or your concept of interconnected time. I file all of these things into my grandfather's 'We'll be surprised' belief.<br /><br />If I can relate something I've recently become sensitive towards, it's driving and the related dangers. I'll be driving and then feel a twinge of pain in my chest or one of my legs, and immediately drive more carefully. I like to think that it's an impending reality drawing closer to 'my' reality, if I don't drive slower I may be involved in an accident. Superstition? Definitely!<br /><br />Regarding your objection to my use of "Hell" I agree, I was just emphasising for effect. The underlying point still stands though: for those people who are raised completely out of touch with the 'Christian' way of life (nowhere near churches, missionaries or even TV), are they to be condemned to an after-life in Hell because they couldn't learn about Jesus and what they're meant to do with their lives? I mean, the Bible is pretty adamant: there is no way to Heaven but through Jesus. So really, it's a single case study which disproves the whole system: a loving God could never create a rule of such complete exclusion towards the innocent, and therefore the concept of Hell (or at the very least its connection to formal religion) doesn't exist. That's before we start plumbing the contradictions in the Bible, and that's one debate I'm happy to steer well clear of.<br /><br />The gist of my post is that it's possible (and I like to think recommended) to embrace quasi-religious views (if a belief in God is considered religious) without following any formal religion or being lumped into a Mother Earth cult.<br />Reillusionedhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02287850097990734695noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3766537588102582619.post-33288655956894056962013-02-20T16:11:13.409+02:002013-02-20T16:11:13.409+02:00Everything is wrapped up in itself, I like that. I...Everything is wrapped up in itself, I like that. I'm a firm believer that everything is pretty much interconnected and this is why random 'coincidences' happen. There is too much interconnectedness for events not to 'meet' every so often. <br /><br />If I may, though, I'd like to offer another perspective to some of the things you mentioned. What can I say, the publishing of this essay opens many a door. <br /><br />The Isaiah quote, regarding God's knowledge of all events at all times is a good start. On the surface, the statement does conflict with the nature of our existence vis-a-vis our free will. But there's something to it, and it's all in our perception. <br />We can agree that we use only a fraction of our brain's full capacity. In which case we know that there must be a lot that we're missing and that, to a higher being, that which we call 'rationality' is potentially laughable. So, while our perception of time is linear (chronological), does this mean it really is so? <br />I realize this leads to more questions than answers, but if time is not actually linear but rather a sort of all encompassing universe into which we're all born, living, and dying in the same 'frame', then it does answer the question pretty clearly; God sees and knows what will happen, but as you live your life, the images/outcomes are constantly changing. Maybe one moment you die in a car crash and the next in your sleep as an old man -all depending on the choices you make on a day to day basis. Ironically, Men in Black (the latest one) illustrates this pretty well at the end; K's tip at the Diner spelled the difference between an asteroid collision and a happy ending. If you look at it this way, then you'd better believe that 'doing the right thing' makes a big difference and that God's plan for us matters.<br /><br />As for the analogy about the Middle East, I have to disagree about a couple of things. <br />1) It doesn't make the existence of Hell 'unfair'. Sure it can be harder to live there,in many ways, much like it's harder to be a working class person in Romania than in the US, but no matter where one is born, strapping on a suicide vest, or otherwise stripping value from human life is a conscious and personal decision that couldn't possibly depend on any human variables. Particularly if the rules are "written on tablets of human hearts". <br />2) This is a very separate discussion in itself - heaven and hell can't simply be embodiments of green pastures and boiling cauldrons. In the context of what God is (Love, 1 John 4:8), it would simply be enough for them to be places that are either full or void of this Love. Maybe, as humans, this doesn't seem like much, but for our souls, created out of God's love, the complete absence of Love for eternity must indeed be hell.<br /><br />Thanks for the read!<br /> Matthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08018332111588824966noreply@blogger.com