Another great chess player turns to Gods word

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Freedom from certain illusions.

No more following archaic moral guidelines from the 'holy' books.

No more wasting time practicing religion, going to churches, etc.

Freedom to do what is personally meaningful, rather than having a bunch of religious leaders tell you what should be meaningful to you.

yes i can understand this, but if you dont mind me saying its a bit of cold comfort.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes i can understand this, but if you dont mind me saying its a bit of cold comfort.

Well, it would be a mistake to expect Atheism to replace a religion. Atheism is just the absence of belief in gods.

Originally posted by SwissGambit
Well, it would be a mistake to expect Atheism to replace a religion. Atheism is just the absence of belief in gods.

its an absence of Gods but not of spirituality. Can we say that in all fairness?

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
its an absence of Gods but not of spirituality. Can we say that in all fairness?

Sure.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
One must ask however, what atheism would have to offer?

I always found that an odd question. I always assumed that a spiritual journey basically is a search for what is true, not for what sounds most comforting. Imagine you have a life-threatening disease - would you reject the diagnosis because it has little to offer? I'd rather face the truth.

Originally posted by Nordlys
I always found that an odd question. I always assumed that a spiritual journey basically is a search for what is true, not for what sounds most comforting. Imagine you have a life-threatening disease - would you reject the diagnosis because it has little to offer? I'd rather face the truth.

From what I can tell, the vast majority of "spirituality" is about finding that which can give one a sense of well-being, i.e. comforting. For example, look at how Christianity is "marketed": Don't you want eternal life? Don't you want peace and joy? Don't you want to go to heaven? Don't you want your salvation assured? etc.

Why would you want truth when you can have a sense of well-being? 🙂

Originally posted by ThinkOfOne
From what I can tell, the vast majority of "spirituality" is about finding that which can give one a sense of well-being, i.e. comforting. For example, look at how Christianity is "marketed": Don't you want eternal life? Don't you want peace and joy? Don't you want to go to heaven? Don't you want your salvation assured? etc.

Why would you want truth when you can have a sense of well-being? 🙂

Why would you want truth when you can have a sense of well-being?

-------------ToOne--------------------

The fact that the vast majority of your posts are directed in a negative , twisted and selective fashion against the beliefs of others suggests to me that you have neither the truth nor well being.

Just put down your grinding axe and your peace and well being will return.

Originally posted by Nordlys
I always found that an odd question. I always assumed that a spiritual journey basically is a search for what is true, not for what sounds most comforting. Imagine you have a life-threatening disease - would you reject the diagnosis because it has little to offer? I'd rather face the truth.

Yet the vast majority of humans would not rather face the truth. I know, I come from Zambia where AIDS is widespread, and until recently when treatment options became available it was seen as a death sentence and a significant number of people refused to deal with it. The same happens with religion, a large proportion of people are less interested in the truth than they are in what they can get out of it.

Originally posted by twhitehead
Yet the vast majority of humans would not rather face the truth. I know, I come from Zambia where AIDS is widespread, and until recently when treatment options became available it was seen as a death sentence and a significant number of people refused to deal with it. The same happens with religion, a large proportion of people are less interested in the truth than they are in what they can get out of it.

And mankind continues on the same merry-go-round of delusion it has always been on....

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes i can understand this, but if you dont mind me saying its a bit of cold comfort.

As human beings we have a tendency to look for ways to comfort ourselves. There are many options available to us, religion isn't the only one.
For example I tend to gain most of my comfort from family, friends, various computer activities both for work and recreation, others use philanthropy, money, sex, drugs, alcohol, psychiatrists, and others with varying degrees of success.

Originally posted by Nordlys
I always found that an odd question. I always assumed that a spiritual journey basically is a search for what is true, not for what sounds most comforting. Imagine you have a life-threatening disease - would you reject the diagnosis because it has little to offer? I'd rather face the truth.

yes it is a search for truth, but it should also have some consequential effect on the adherent, like making them more loving, more tolerant and yes more able to cope with trauma!

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes it is a search for truth, but it should also have some consequential effect on the adherent, like making them more loving, more tolerant and yes more able to cope with trauma!

To me, becoming more loving, tolerant and able to cope with trauma are all things that are meaningful in themselves and that we should and can work on no matter what our religious beliefs are.

Originally posted by Nordlys
To me, becoming more loving, tolerant and able to cope with trauma are all things that are meaningful in themselves and that we should and can work on no matter what our religious beliefs are.

you see some are naturally loving, some are naturally tolerant, others may need to work on it a little more, still others are conditioned by experience and up bringing. The problems of simply having self as a point of reference is that we are imperfect and make mistakes which hopefully we can profit by, secondly there are many conflicting theories which vie for our attention and thirdly we cannot always see ourself, objectively.

Originally posted by robbie carrobie
yes it is a search for truth, but it should also have some consequential effect on the adherent, like making them more loving, more tolerant and yes more able to cope with trauma!

Why should it? What do you do if the truth does not cause adherents to become more loving, more tolerant etc? Do you go with the age old philosophy of "I wouldn't believe in a God who...."?

Originally posted by twhitehead
Why should it? What do you do if the truth does not cause adherents to become more loving, more tolerant etc? Do you go with the age old philosophy of "I wouldn't believe in a God who...."?

if it does not then it has proven false to its own power, and is a non truth.