Theological Ramblings.

Well, sad day for me then.

And I don't know about some of that. I really expected more technological advances in the last 20-30 years. We've done what, made a cell phone into a mini computer. Whoopie doo.

Our time of greatest advancement was no doubt during the cold war, to the degree where part of me wishes Russia would actually try and start something. Main reason why things came to a crashing halt was because they did.

Making smaller efficient forms of technology is a big deal. Your cellphone has more computing power than the systems on the lunar landing modules in the Apollo program.

can't really compare the intel 8085 (or was it the 8080?) to modern stuff, hell they still used a lot of that stuff until they shut the shuttle program down, it worked.

edit: I've tried to code those things, more power to them.

There is a possibility that matter is shaped on observation(or maybe perception is a better word). However if something isn't observed it doesn't stop existing, it just loses its form as we know it. It could be applied to death too while we're into phylosophy. It's nothing new that some beliefs suggest that our essence is not material(including christianity: soul). Now, were this true who would be right? You don't even need to think much to realize that pretty much any religion could fit in their way of seeing it into this concept; migrating to heaven isn't so different than believing in the existence of a dimension that it's right here around us but we can't see(Flatland, read it if you haven't), or a parallel universe, or reincarnation.

Still though, I wanna agree with something Ono said some thousand pages ago, whatever there is next(if anything at all), we wouldn't be human anymore(unless reincarnation is the right thing), thus nothing really matters.

Looking at all of the advances we've made since the mid 19th century to the modern age and I'm pleasantly satisfied with our progress in a mere 150 year span.

Many consumer products, medical procedures, flight, weapons, computing, advances into space, biology, chemistry, railroads, automobiles etc etc. Toss in nuclear weapons cause yeah, bigfuckingdeal.

The next 100 years could prove to be yet another push into a world that is unrecognizable from the present day and there is still much to explore on this planet - like the oceans.

In the spirit of theological ramblings:

In the year 1166 B.C., a malcontented hunchbrain by the name of Greyface, got it into his head that the universe was as humorless as he, and he began to teach that play was sinful because it contradicted the ways of Serious Order. "Look at all the order around you," he said. And from that, he deluded honest men to believe that reality was a straightjacket affair and not the happy romance as men had known it.

It is not presently understood why men were so gullible at that particular time, for absolutely no one thought to observe all the disorder around them and conclude just the opposite. But anyway, Greyface and his followers took the game of playing at life more seriously than they took life itself and were known even to destroy other living beings whose ways of life differed from their own.

The unfortunate result of this is that mankind has since been suffering from a psychological and spiritual imbalance. Imbalance causes frustration, and frustration causes fear. And fear makes for a bad trip. Man has been on a bad trip for a long time now.

It is called THE CURSE OF GREYFACE.

fnord

Anyone willing to trust Hagbard Celine would be immediately disowned by him, anyhow.

Although a satire, after reading 'Lamb' by Christopher Moore, I had become intrigued by the idea that Jesus could have adopted Buddhist influences.

There were theories that Jesus could have traveled to Tibet and India during his unaccounted for years, or that because of the centralized commerce in the area of Judea, he could have influenced by the tennets of Buddhism. There are those who believed that Buddha predicted Jesus's existence, but that can be chalked up to interpretation.

I prefer to subscribe to the hypothesis that Jesus traveled to India where he eventually met the crew of the Red Dwarf and was transported ~3,002,010 years into the future, learned about the genocide caused in his name, and tried to thwart it.

Don't you worry your pretty, little head.

Sparth and I left our earthly confines long ago in a quest to enlighten our fellow man with the teachings of the Celestial Equis Codex. We have journeyed far and wide, sling-shotting ourselves from planet-to-planet with the aid of the interstellar lasso of the ultimate truth.

We have overcome the dual reigns of temperance and justice, and charioteered our way to the defeat of the Pegasus...Pegasi...Pegasuseseseses(?) that had once occupied the rings of Saturn.

Ours is the way and the light!

EDIT: Spaghetti-heads ain't got nothin' on us!

Do some searches on the grave of Yuz Asaf in Jammu Kashmir.
Quick Tidbit: 2000yr old jewish grave of a holy man in a traditionally Hindu/Muslim region who's name means "Healer of Lepers".

edit: Whether it's true or not? dunno but it's interesting.

Hmmm...That story sounds familiar!

I've always found the similarities in theology and myths interesting, whether true or just a matter of collective unconscious. (But Jung's idea of the collective unconscious is also sniggered at.)

/shrug

I'm already working in turning bronies towards the one true faith. Our equine masters have delivered onto me a revelation on the fate of this world and many like it.

Which animal immediately pacifies any human? Horses.
What allowed Genghis Khan to trounce across Europe? Horses.
What allowed European conquistadors to instill fear into Mesoamericans? Horses.
Which animals have slowly watched us over the years develop from pastoralists and hunter-gatherers into modern civilizations? Horses.
Horsehead Nebula? Obvious signs of design.
Pegasus? A flying horse. Symbols of their visitation here.
Pegasus Galaxy? The location of our one true masters.
My Little Pony? Coded references to the creators.

I don't see how we didn't notice this sooner. Repent and never eat the horse flesh.

What? I'm pretty sure "pacify" doesn't involve running behind the nearest tree whilst looking for a weapon. I grew up in the country and despise horses.

Also (and, yes, I know this was a joke), at least half your references apply to dogs, too.

Would Christianity have spread across Europe in such a circumstance though? You're talking about the faith during its start-up phase (beer fridays! we care about our workers!) and not its era of corporate takeovers and Gordon Gekko-esque greed is good.

I'm specifically talking about after the conversion of Constantine... so, yes? It was made the official religion of the Roman Empire, so silly capitalist metaphors are wasted on an essentially socialist action.

I'm not sure why you want to lay blame solely at the feet of Augustine considering his major role to play in us even discussing Christianity in the modern age.

Without the Catholics getting off the ground and establishing a canon that would later be accepted by the powerhouse of Western Europe we'd be looking at Islam triumphant or Eastern Orthodoxy spreading westward.

Splinter factions of Christianity were already being wiped out as early as around the Nicean council when Christianity was still incubating and hadn't settled the most important questions surrounding the faith. I'm not sure what you mean by 'community engaged' unless you mean regional variants? There was alot of pagan thought tossed into Early Christianity which is impressive considering today's unlimited variants of Christianity has once again started throwing in 'new-age' (pagan) thought into the faith.

The problem is never in whatever unfounded stuff you can dream up and follow moreso when you attempt to impose your unfounded beliefs on others under pain of violence. For beliefs so concerned with the afterlife, religion never fails to want more and more earthly power.

Wut?

Constantine was the Emperor of Rome who converted the state religion to Christianity.

Augustine was the bishop of Hippo who lived a youth of excess, hedonism, and abandon, then turned around in middle age and, with his conversion by Ambrose of Milan, campaigned to denounce everything he had done as a youth to such an extent that it irrevocably altered the opinion of the Church with regards to sex and pleasure.

And the "community engagement" thing I meant was in contrast to the "hiding from the police because we're a state-denounced cult" thing. Rome had very strong opinions about cults.

The equine guiding hand of civilization can only be explained by the cosmos! Do not fear the Pegasi (or whatever the plural is) without wings! For the Ultima Horse favors the de-winged even more than his/her (because it's a hermaphrodite) celestial, winged children!

Let us now bow our heads.

Can you dig it?

WE CAN DIG IT!

Whoop! There it is! I thought you knew.

Is Jonathan Swift the one true prophet?

Chick Tracts have gotten weird lately.

Inspirational!

Religion?



The dog gets it.

Neil deGrasse Tyson, most famously of the new Cosmos miniseries, likes to say “The good thing about science is that it's true whether or not you believe in it.”. I hate this quote, I find it poorly worded and misleading. Science is, broadly speaking, our understanding of reality and frankly, science has been wrong so often in the past, is surely presently wrong currently, and will be wrong in the future. In 1000 years, we will surely not know everything.

We can laugh at the things science prescribed 100, 50, 20 years ago and how wrong, and often dangerous it was. (Radiation is good for you!) Science today rambles back and forth on things like how good eggs may or may not be for you.

Last year, or maybe 2012, they were nearly ready to upend core principles of physics because neutrinos appeared to be moving faster than the speed of light. Test after test came to the same conclusion and experts were speaking, with 'certainty' about how this wasn't really the case and how this or that was merely making it appear so. The real cause? Loose cables

In the search for the cause(s) of autism, they strike out at everything, and one of the theories (not talking about vaccines) is probably right but science claiming they're right about that is like asking a kid what 8+8 is and he calls himself right for saying "it's 13,14,15,16 or 17".

I am a Christian but I wouldn't denounce the theory of evolution any more than the theory of gravity. It's present and apparent. It happened. Do I think that means the Holy Bible is fiction? No. I'm not the first to speculate this but "7 days" could have been a billion~ times longer than 168 hours.

I'll continue with my beliefs and quite happily do so because our growing ability to explain how things work doesn't mean a thing in regard to the source of them. Also, honestly I'd rather believe in something than shoot towards oblivion.

You misunderstand what he means by "science" the scientific method is overall infallible, that's what he means. There will be many mistakes along the way but the overall method will eventually find the right answer as long as it is continuously applied.

Your concepts of the scientific method and the scientific community overall show a true lack in education/understanding and I feel bad for you.

You also confuse politics with "science" with the radiation bit and the eggs bit.

As for the bible: it's fiction, or do you not understand that it constantly contradicts itself and many parts are outright false?

Even a broken clock is right twice a day.

Fresh news in the Jesus's wife fragment:

No evidence of forgery in ancient text mentioning ‘Jesus’s wife’

TLDR: 8th century ACE, probably part of a theological discussion. What it could mean is debated as much as the authenticity has been.