yes. i understand that. it still vexes me that people can lie to themselves so easily. why odnt they just tell themselves that they have won the lottery and all their dreams are coming true? nah just kidding that is exactly what they are doing with the heaven business. kinda hard for me to respect folks that are so emotional that they can will themselves to believe lies. and for the record i am not some kind of loony drunk. i dont really drink except for weekends, and i only get hammed a couple times a month. thats crazy. i would mock the hell out of him, or at least i would to the extent it wouldnt ruin our friendship. there is no evidence that such a thing exists. i like to substitute the words "fascinated by" for "obsessed". i cant help it. the idea what people worship ghosts and believe in sorcery and wizards and magic, it is comically tragic and spectacularly interesting. most of the great books in history are an examination of the human condition. thats what i am doing.
If "clearly nobody could possibly know for sure that there is no God", then how can you be so sure (as evidenced by nearly every single one of your posts) that religious people's beliefs are lies? If you truly don't know whether or not God or a god exists, then you have no ground to stand on concerning what is true and false.
speaking of books..... martin, i read "mayada: daughter of iraq". i found it to be quite tedious to read. i have liked the other jean sasson books i read, but that one was difficult to get through. fwiw, the other two books in the princess trilogy, "princess sultana's daughters" and "princess sultana's circle" i liked as much as "princess". i read each one in one day. and now, back to your regularly scheduled religious discussions.
my local library imports books from other libraries when i request them. the daughter of iraq one is still "in transit". so i havent wasted my time yet. what i am looking for is a story of what is like to be kurdish or otherwise oppressed in iraq. it doesnt matter to me about the female perspective. any ideas?
the "love in a torn land" by sasson was a very good perspective of oppression in iraq from a woman half iraqi half kurd. "mayada" told a lot about oppression in iraq, it was just very tedious and got too much (imo) into the story of one person. "price of honor" by jan goodwin is very good. and one of the chapters is on iraq. tho it deals with oppression of women throughout the middle east and by the rising islamic extremists. im hoping to find time in the next few days to go to the library and just cruise the stacks. i'll let you know if i find anything worthwhile.
i can explain my relentless desire to bang carano with simple biology. symmetrical face, inviting breasts, mesmerizingly wonderful eyes, many other desirable healthy genetic attributes. as a hetero male i am programmed to desire these traits. our children would be fit survivors, with incredible brains and beauty. because i cant say for certain something isnt true, that doesnt mean i have to pretend is it really likely. if red says "the universe exits, and it might have a creator", that is just an idea not supported by anything. but yunno, it isnt totally absurd. my experience is that most things that exist have a creator. that doesnt mean that all do. perhaps the universe always existed and has no creator. i dunno. but red's idea is only based on one assumption, which while unproven, is not wildly absurd. now the christian, he goes alot further, not only does he know about the creator ,he knows lots of details. crazy, stupid, outlandish details. he knows that god has a son that is also a god kinda, and this cosmic zombie wants you to care that he was nailed on a stick, so that you can go to magicland, or else go to burntown. see how we have piled on extra assumptions, each of which makes the scenario more absurd? an understanding of how legends work in concert with human nature helps explain why these myths work, why some stories persist and others are unappealing and boring. so our job is to sort the wheat from the chaff. i am sure you have read forwarded emails and urban legends that you know are not true. and technically you dont actually know for certain that they are not true. but they arent true, right? know what i mean?
the hot librarian at my local library is always really into what i am reading and curious. i dunno how i could keep my dignity with sexy librarian by checking out "love in a torn land". perhaps you could find me a book about cool outlaw bikers or something intellectual sounding, but still about kurds or iraqi oppression.
aww, come on. use it to your advantage. show her how youve got a sensitive side by not being afraid to read about a strong woman who both falls in love with a kurdish freedom fighter and who also fights for her people to be free. yada yada.... the hot librarian will go all goofy for you.
sexy librarian: hi witty and handsome martin, what are you reading this week, faulkner, dostoevsky? are you busy tonight? i got some new schoolgirl skirts and i need an opinion on which is the shortest. me: oh yeah, well, i am reading "love and sweet gayness or whatever in iraq". its about .. librarian girl: oops gotta go, i got a text from an outlaw biker. also cancel tonight i remembered i have to do...something else.
nah obsessed is more fitting. maybe all this spirit and god business communicates to us through emotions or feelings that are indescribable. like intuition or love. (how many times do i have to use such examples before you acknowledge it) yet you dont even allow the possibility. like the bible? maybe our maker speaks to us intuitively; though we have not yet evolved to that level of understanding. especially not you. maybe youre a defect. Maybe once this whole metaverse thing is sorted out it will explain this unrelenting feeling of a higher being thats been programmed within so many people for millions of years.
