Awesomelyglorious wrote:
WilliamWDelaney wrote:
Alright, so it pertains to altruism. I always did think that altruism was a false idol in the first place, though. The fact that I do altruistic things is just that: I relieve a certain pressure in doing it. The fact that I take a degree of personal pride in fulfilling an obligation is exactly that: I have a degree of pride, and I feel very ashamed if I don't live up to what I expect of myself. Unadulterated altruism, though, is a false idol.
Probably more complicated than just altruism. A lot of moral systems have rules for the sake of rules.
Actually, those can be the most interesting kind. Take, for example, the "water of purification" written of in Numbers. I have this hypothesis that it's a fairly good soap recipe, and the dye used in the "scarlet wool" might actually play an active role in it, thanks to some of the antimicrobial effects of madder. You see stuff like this all over ancient religions. They were mostly very smart people, and they made the best use of the things in their environment that they could manage...which really wasn't half-bad, sometimes. History and historical religions are a virtual rainforest of medical and scientific ideas if you know how to look for them.
Quote:
Quote:
So what was your religious experience, then? Why was it important to you?
The opposite of the irreligious experience? I get the feeling that you're asking questions without a clue of where to go or how to go about this.
I'm actually doing a lot of probing. You don't mind being dissected alive, do you?
Quote:
Edit: Would theological beliefs help?
Yes!
Quote:
I was a Calvinist with conservative leanings. I was sucked into presuppositional apologetics, which claims that most of the necessary claims about existence depended upon God.
What did you find to be its point of weakness? I mean, you had to go through the process of subverting it, so can you remember how you got from one point to the other, starting from being a Calvinist with conservative leanings?
Quote:
I believed something like divine command theory ethics. I also identified somewhat with the emergent movement as well. Given the Calvinism and presuppositional apologetics, God's existence was seen as providing a necessary unity to the workings of the world.
Do you know the theological roots of the idea that "God provides a necessary unity to the workings of the world?"
Quote:
But I never focused on revelation, and really did not focus on eschatology.
Creditable, I think. Thomas Jefferson didn't seem to approve highly of that book, I understand. It reads annoyingly lot like pulp fantasy.
Quote:
In other words, it's something like what the musical structure of Handel's Messiah leads us to feel as a result of hearing it, especially the "Hallelujah" part. It's not just pretty music, but it is music that tells a religious point of view.
Quote:
An answer that vague is pointless. I mean, yes, but you could say the same about any other religious song.
Yes! You could! Handel takes advantage of a variety of musical techniques to weave a certain picture of what the Church should ideally be. He expresses a point of view.
I understand that the Calvinist view of God is that the "elect" are somehow "on a mission" or "called upon." It must be a thrilling sensation! To go out into the day with a sense of purpose and meaning, to feel that one's every action is in the service of something grander and better than yourself. There must be something exhilarating about the sense that everything one does is being evaluated somewhere, that IT MATTERS!! I can understand the appeal.
Now, knowing about that appeal, I have no idea why I continue being an atheist. I spend a lot of time trying to understand myself, really. I tell my s.o., "if you ever figure me out, let me know, because I have never had any luck with it."
Anyway, gonna be occupied for a while. Cya!
30 Apr 2012, 12:29 pm
