i just haven't spent much time on technical mail lists that start going off on spiritual matters. ;-)
You haven't spent very much time on the UUG then ;-)
Oh well. At least I didn't start this off-topic thread. (Normally I start them, not keep them going. Maybe I'll do the reverse this semester.)
On Tue, 31 Aug 2004, Andrew Jorgensen wrote:
On the contrary, agnostics are agnostic _because_ it's the easiest explanation for them to accept. They find it remarkably fun to entertain the idea that they have no accountability to a supreme being. Why else would they believe it? If they say that they're some kind of martyr for "accepting the cold hard truth" it's a load of bull.
I agree that it's the easiest explanation to accept, but not because it's "fun" or because they don't like the concept of accountability. They've just never seen any worthwhile evidence to the contrary.
All of the most famous anti-christs in scripture were believers who were deceived.
If we're still talking about agnostics or atheists, I think that Korihor is a gross portrayal of one. If your idea of atheists is that they've had Satan appear to them and tell them to teach that God doesn't exist, well, I'm not sure you're giving them enough credit.
On a related note, I don't believe in atheists. I've met several who claimed they were but not one who wasn't really just upset about something (usually an injustice of some kind).
Isaac Asimov, Richard Feynman, Douglas Adams, Richard Dawkins--some of the greatest minds of this century and you're claiming they're just upset about something?
I may not agree with atheists, but I believe that they exist, and I believe that many of them are simply doing what they believe to be right.
One major problem is that it's both. I met many a missionary in New York who felt the "spirit" while doing things they clearly should not be doing. I imagine they really thought they did. My guess is about half the time people feel the spirit it's really just adrenaline. (Not half the time for all people, nor half the people all the time, but some mix where many people mostly feel the spirit and many others mostly feel adrenaline or some other hormone).
How do you know they *weren't* feeling the Spirit? Why is it put upon you to judge? Often people say, "Nobody can tell you that you don't have a testimony, because it's a personal revelation from the Spirit." So if you don't feel like others can tell *you* that *you* weren't feeling the Spirit at a particular time when you felt like you were doing what was right, that you can tell others that they're not "really" feeling the Spirit because they're obviously doing something "they're not supposed to be doing"?
~ Ross
--
This sentence would be seven words long if it were six words shorter.
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