The Faith Poll

[PYroMaNiaC]

Originally Posted by Cheese

Heres a small list of Gods...how bout you pick one....

Major Gods and Goddesses of the world

This looks like it might be an okay choice...Quetzalcoatl.

Good, strong name. Taught science.

[Cheese]

Originally Posted by PYroMaNiaC

This looks like it might be an okay choice...Quetzalcoatl.

Good, strong name. Taught science.

or this one...

Xochiquetzal -

Patroness of erotic love, maize, vegetation, artistry, and prostitutes. She is said to have been taken to the Underworld by Xolotl and to have eaten forbidden fruit.


Seems to be a lot of the eating forbidden fruit stuff going on! I mean...did someone hand out a list of what could and what could not be eaten?

[Cheese]

for the people who want the poll on Christianity

[sadora]

I was baptized Catholic and after doing my time in Catholic schooling for 12 years my belief is simple. One's belief system is personal. For this reason, even if you happen to disagree with someone's belief system you should simply respect it without trying to impose your opinion or belief system on them. And it goes both ways, a religious person...any religious person should respect the fact that people need to find religion/faith on their own terms and if they choose to.

If you CHOOSE to believe in a God, good for you...do what you do but leave others to CHOOSE their own way.

And if you CHOOSE not to believe in a God, good for you too...but have respect for the ones that do for making their 'CHOICE' just as you made yours.

Oh, and even though I was baptized Catholic, I choose to believe in Spirituality without church and personally, without following the definitions of any set doctrine or dogma.

[socalwingfan]

agnostic

[flames_fan_down_under]

atheist

[Daradon]

Other. I'm a Wiccan in the pagan earth tradition. I believe in a higher power and a strong spirituality, however I believe that science has the possibility of explaining everything. Though we are far from that now, and the quirk of energy will figure strongly into a lot of things we wonder about now. IE premontitons, sixth sense awareness, etc.

I worship nature and the love of human brotherhood. I KNOW religions stories including my own are that. STORIES. Used to illustrate larger truths. However I believe in the power of energy behind all things, that all energy (and therfore us) are connected. (Isn't matter just energy condensed? Doesn't even empty space contain energy?) And I believe in a sort of global consciousness/awareness. If you call that God, then there ya go.

While I believe strongly in many of the scientific truths we have now, I cannot follow all of them blindly. I believe in evolution, but still wonder about the mising link. I believe in many space theory, but do not completely buy into the big bang theory. I believe as we get smarter we will fill in the holes. Wicca is not about mumbo jumbo and spells. Early pagan cultures were very advanced. Look at the calendar of the Mayans, the precise astrology of the stongehedge and heads of Easter Island, the positioning of the pyramids. The lessons of sacred geometry and Phi. These people knew a lot about math, patterns, and the world around them.

It's a shame they got largely beaten down by monothesistic and oppressive religion. Pagan religions evolve and change, accepting they can be wrong and there are many answers. One god religions stagnate and tend to cause wars.

I think that's the big lesson. Learn even believe what science and faith teaches you. But DO NOT BE BOUND BY IT. Always question, always learn, always be open to change.

[troutman]

[quote=FireFly

Ever asked a person who was clinically dead what happened? Most of them will tell you they saw something....[/quote]

My dad's friend was clinically dead for a time after a heart attack. He reports seeing nothing.

http://www.skepdic.com/nde.html

One study found that 8 to 12 percent of 344 patients resuscitated after suffering cardiac arrest had NDEs and about 18% remembered some part of what happened when they were clinically dead (Lancet, December 15, 2001). However, the researchers believe that neurophysiological processes must play some part in NDE.

The term 'near-death experience', or NDE, refers to a wide array of experiences reported by some people who have nearly died or who have thought they were going to die. There is no single shared experience reported by those who have had NDEs. Even the experiences of most interest to parapsychologists--such as the “mystical experience,” the “light at the end of the tunnel” experience, the “life review” experience, and the out-of-body experience (OBE)--rarely occur together in near-death experiences. However, the term NDE is most often used to refer to an OBE occurring while near death.

What little research there has been in this field indicates that the experiences Moody lists as typical of the NDE may be due to brain states triggered by cardiac arrest and anesthesia (Blackmore 1993). Furthermore, many people who have not been near death have had experiences that seem identical to NDEs. These mimicking experiences are often the result of psychosis (due to severe neurochemical imbalance) or drug usage, such as hashish, LSD, or DMT.

Some people who are thought to be dead, but are actually just unconscious, recover and remember things like looking down and seeing their own bodies being worked on by doctors and nurses. They recall conversations being held while they were "dead." Of course, they weren't dead at all, but they feel as if their mind or soul had left their body and was observing it from above. It is possible that a person may appear dead to our senses or our scientific equipment but still be perceiving.


At this point in our knowledge, to claim that NDEs provide proof that the soul exists independently of the body seems premature.

[Bobblehead]

Originally Posted by troutman

My dad's friend was clinically dead for a time after a heart attack. He reports seeing nothing.

I thought there was a medical explanation for that? Something about brain synapses firing because of the lack of oxygen? Any doctors in the house?

Edit: fixed the quote

[troutman]

Originally Posted by Bobblehead

I thought there was a medical explanation for that? Something about brain synapses firing because of the lack of oxygen? Any doctors in the house?

Edit: fixed the quote

See my edited post #209 , with links . . .