Hi all,
thanks for the warm welcome. I'll try to frequent this forum relatively often. I used to post quite a bit at discussanything.com, but those folks are either conservative american christians, generally unpleasant, or both (with a few exceptions). It's ad hominem and other logical fallacy galore there. I have an academic background in philosophy and so was quite pleased to see a list of logical fallacies to avoid at the top of one of the forums.
I'll try to answer some of your questions now:
bobo0100 wrote:Welcome to the forum, do you mind if I call you Alex.
Thanks, I prefer Alexander or Johan... But I don't mind if you call me Alex for short.
bobo0100 wrote:
I'm sure you will find the forum slow going, as we are constantly trying to grow the community please check in daily, (don't be yet another theist to leave us). You will find that most the people on this forum are strict sceptics, and will (often harshly) criticize your statements.
As long as people are willing to listen, and unassuming, people can criticize what they want. I'm open to admitting I don't know everything. That's one thing that separates "the way" as Jesus describes in his video's as a way of life from religions: it's not about believing in a pre-made concept that you take on faith, it's a method to discover things about God and life for yourself.
Those look interesting, the letter to Matt (Dillahunty?) is about veganism? I'm pro same-sex marriage, so as a theist I could maybe contribute to that letter. I heard of Penn Jillette, so he already changed to veganism? Is the letter about him being more vocal about it?
bobo0100 wrote:
As far as theism is concerned do you identify by any labels, or are your beliefs similar to that of any known ideology? I ask this not to try to pin you into any ideology but rather to understand your ideology in general, if it differs from a similar ideology all you need do is state that it is so when relevant. This is far simpler that laying out your theistic ideology which may be complex.
I often call myself an areligious theist. As I stated before, when I first saw this interview with Jesus and Mary video, I was intrigued, and quickly started watching more video's from the Divine Truth channel, such as the "secrets of the universe" series (8 hours total). I can't say I've personally experienced all of what he describes in that series, but I experience large parts of it to be true. So, for some parts (such as the division of the universe into spiritual spheres), I believe they are true, based on circumstantial evidence, rather than personal experience, or from extrapolation of my own experience. For other things he says, my reasoning goes along the lines of: a lot of things he said have been proven true to me, so I consider it likely that these things will turn out true to me in the future.
So in short, it's much more about learning to experience things for yourself, rather than taking on any belief without evidence.
The shortest summary of my beliefs about God at this point would be: A being was so overflowing with love, existing as a
causa sui, that it wanted to share her love. So it created entities separate from herself, with an independent will, to share this love with and a playground for them to play in.
bobo0100 wrote:
Do you hold any moralistic viewpoints dew to your views on theism? (gender, homosexuality, marriage, activism, ect)
Well, yes. I'd define morality as: acting in harmony with the true value of all things. Therefor, since animals are beautiful, sensitive creatures, using them merely to please our tastebuds, and be violent to them in the process, is highly immoral. Sexuality can be a beautiful expression of love between two individuals. If we use sex as if it's a disposable product, so to speak, we aren't honoring the true value of it, so we are immoral and out of love. I see porn this way, even though I still watch it sometimes. I'm trying to change that, by looking into myself at the reasons why, such as being disillusioned with romantic/sexual relationships in my own life, and also issues surrounding receiving love from my mother and the relationship (failed marriage) of my mother and father. This is pretty hard, to take an honest, hard look at, as you can imagine. Praying helps me with dealing with such issues.
I believe that soulmates exist and that sex is best experienced between soulmates, and that any other sex doesn't do complete right to the value of that connection. I do believe that soulmates can be of the same sex/gender.
One subject that I once got into a conflict with a friend about, is that of gender dysphoria. I believe that spirits influence people a lot more than we are usually aware of, and can hook into people that have emotional openings to them. Having experienced psychosis, this was basically the voluntarily walking out of my own life, and letting different spirits take over my behavior. Different desires can lead to different types of situations of spirit attachment, including 'gender dysphoria'. In the case of very young children, the parents' emotions are the cause of such spirits 'walking in' and taking over the body of such a child. If the spirit is opposite sexed of the child, this can lead to so called gender dysphoria. I wouldn't recommend parents choosing surgery for young children. I also wouldn't recommend an adult to have surgery, if they indeed experience gender dysphoria. However, in the end all people are free to make their own choices and I don't want to judge them for it, or treat them differently.
bobo0100 wrote:
do you hold views that are simmer to Catholicism? The video you posted seems to be more down a new aged path, although I admit I did not watch it till the end. If you are new-aged than I can relate as I was heavily into it before I joined this forum, although I identified as an atheist and a new-ager.
I don't agree with most Catholic or Christian beliefs, such as: vicarious redemption and the trinity (two of the if not
the two defining beliefs of Christianity) . I do like the current pope, because he seems to focus on important issues in the world today: accepting homosexuality, environmental issues, wealth distribution issues. It may be a matter of time before he says something about animal protection (i.e. not killing/abusing them).
I don't know too much about new age belief systems. When I see typical new age YouTube channels, I often don't understand the words they are using, to such an extent that I suspect their meaning is so vague that I might call it, as Hitchens once did, 'white noise'. It seems a lot of their words have very little practical meaning, application or result, besides convincing the person involved that they are doing well.
I have once heard a shorthand version of a theory ascribed to Terence McKenna that Gods love flows through the universe in ever increasing quantities, raising the potential of evolution in it. I do believe it may be possible we are in such a time of transition to new, better realities.
bobo0100 wrote:
welcome again to the forum.
Thanks again.
I'll respond to the other questions in a new post below.
