erraticwisdom

Comments

1. Wait…what is your question?

   Andrew

   Jun 21, 08:12 PM #
2. That’s just it. I have no clue whatsoever. I feel like I’m missing something but I don’t know where it fits.

   Thame

   Jun 21, 08:23 PM #
3. You may want to check out “Misquoting Jesus : The Story Behind Who Changed the Bible and Why” by Bart D. Ehrman. It’s been one of the most profound books that I’ve ever read regarding my faith. It has just about hammered the last nail in the coffin for my faith as a Christian. More than ever after reading that book (and from much contemplation, pondering and truth seeking before reading that book) I am ever so closer to becoming agnostic. There are just too many things that a thinking person cannot ignore, and I’m tired of making excuses for a religion that is riddled with holes, superstition and exaggeration.

   Jon Henshaw

   Jun 21, 08:47 PM #
4. The truth, that’s it.

   arturo

   Jun 21, 09:24 PM #
5. If you are seeking the comfort of religion, find a religion you are comfortable with. If you are suffering a spiritual crisis, seek help. To borrow from a certain hospital, if you don’t get help from my religion, get help somewhere. When someone has a medical emergency you don’t ask, “is there a cardiovascular specialist in the house?” If you are having a spiritual crisis, find a spiritual person.
   But your question seems to be, “what religion?” There I’m afraid I’m going to seem less than helpful.
   I hope at 18 you find yourself just at the beginning of a long love of wisdom, but I am certain you must have found by now that if you read any great philosopher and find no fault in their work, you probably need to reread it. If this is true for “the love of wisdom”, shouldn’t the same go (double?) for the worship of a higher power (or, if you prefer, Higher Power)? Because you cannot agree entirely with one philosopher’s writings does not mean you can not learn from them. Because you cannot accept on faith everything a relgious group says does not mean you cannot learn from their faith.
   Religions are communities of faith. If you can’t accept anything on faith, ask yourself why you are seeking comfort in religion. Without faith, religion is a set of stories and practices with no cohesion.
   What I find interesting, as one who has faith (somedays more than others), is that it doesn’t have to be my own religion to be comforting. I really enjoyed studying various religions in college and I think I am more comfortable with my own because of it.
   Some religious leaders have cautioned against “buffet-style” religion. I say, what’s wrong with a buffet?
   My personal relationship with God is rather informal, but I take a great deal of comfort in the ritual of the Catholic Church.
   This is not to say you have to subscribe to an organized religion. (I’ll skip the sectarian humor about relative organization.) You can rely on your personal relationship with God. You have to acknowledge that community is powerful, though, and we all need a little help now and then.
   Here I transition from philosophy and religion to biology and psychology. Intending not the slightest condesention, if your 18 and suffering a crisis of faith, that’s good. Hopefully you are having a crisis of consience, and a political epiphany, and an awakening to music and art, and are seriously examining your lifestyle, too. These are consequences of spiritual and intellectual growth. Don’t get discouraged, if the questions were easy, we’d have settled this by now. It’s not just okay to question your faith, worry when you stop seeking the answers.

   Eric

   Jun 21, 10:45 PM #
6. If you are leaning towards being Agnostic, you may want to do some research on Deism. Also, check out my blog at: http://www.inthenameofreligion.blogspot.com/
   
   I would be interested in your comments.

   Bishop Rick

   Jun 21, 11:03 PM #
7. Maybe for you, your faith was more than a dry theological position, but a grounding for morality, goodness, truth, the profoundness of life and so on. Now that you have lost your faith, where do you ground all of those good things?
   
   It might be helpful to observe that, just because you stop believing in God, that doesn’t mean you no longer have faith in Christianity. Christianity is not just belief in God, its a complete metaphysical system that defines and interprets an individual’s life, from before birth until after death. You’ve challenged and rejected the existence of God, but you still believe in the system of thought that only exists to support and justify belief in God, and doesn’t make sense without that final puzzle piece. In fact, without the final conclusion/first assumption that God exists, the whole thing is quite depressing.
   
   Atheists make a big deal about whether God exists, but I think what really matters is if you accept Christian metaphysics. By way of contrast, there are a number of positions and theologies that are technically theistic, such as Spinoza’s pantheism, but rely on vastly different metaphysics, which don’t rely on supernatural beliefs. I suggest learning about those to realize that Christian beliefs go much further than just believing in God.

   Mike

   Jun 21, 11:08 PM #
8. Thanks for your responses everyone especially given the vagueness of my post.
   
   Jon:
   That sounds like an interesting book. Maybe I should have clarified somewhere that I’m not Christian but I think the problems are similar across all religiouns so I’ll try to get a hold of that book.
   
   arturo:
   I knew it!
   
   Eric:
   Thank you so much. It’s comforting to know that I’m simply experiencing a phase like any other. I’m not sure how I will be when I exit it but in any case I think I will learn something about myself and how I want to live my life.
   
   Bishop Rick:
   That’s an interesting site and I’ll definitely be subscribing (espicially if you flesh out those interesting stubs :D).
   
   Mike:
   That’s a really great point. I definitely associate religion as dealing entirely with god so it’s interesting to look at it from a different point-of-view.

   Thame

   Jun 22, 04:35 PM #
9. First, let me say I am a Christian who subscribes to the Bible as the Word of God and am in full agreement with the 1689 London Baptist Confession. (just so you know where I am coming from)
   
   Ok, now that I have gotten that out of the way…
   
   Your search seems to be the natural search for Truth, a desire we all share regardless of race, creed, or evolutionary state. For every one book that attempts to disprove religion there are others that claim to prove it. Case in point, “Misquoting Jesus” relies heavily on the writings of the Gnostic Gospels, claiming early scribes ruined the authenticity of the Bible by purposely leaving out Gnostic writings. However “Canon of Scripture” by Fredrick Fyvie Bruce argues that the Bible we hold in our hands today contains essentially the same text as what the Christians had in the second century.
   
   Who does one believe? How can I judge which book, or religion, is right and which is wrong?
   
   While it is true that the essence of Christianity is based on faith (I have really pissed off God, but lucky that Jesus fellow took my punishment and let the crap get kicked out of him so that I wouldn’t have to, and all I have to do is honestly say I’m sorry and thank you) it is not irrational and unreasonable. The scientific debate over Genesis does not disprove the Bible as much as it challenges the popular interpretation of how scholars have attempted to date the earth. Evolution currently does not have an answer for the Cambrian Era, where vast quantities of highly evolved fossils suddenly appear without their previous evolutionary stages, nor does it explain the Anthropic Principal, the forces that sustain life in the universe are so precise that if one were off by the smallest measurement, life could not exist.
   
   If you are searching for what is “truth” can I recommend that you study sources that support a topic, because in doing so you can use your rational mind to determine if what you are reading is consistent, reasonable, rational, and true. When you read a book whose stated purpose is to disprove an idea or opinion you will more often than not be reading simple straw man arguments.
   
   For Christian Apologetics I would recommend anything by Cornelius Van Til.
   http://www.vantil.info/
   
   For who Christians are, what we believe, and how we relate to God, and the piece/joy that results, I would recommend anything by John Piper.
   http://www.desiringgod.org/
   
   PS. As a software developer, whose preferred development environment is ANYTHING but Windows, I love the photo’s of the Mac stuff on this page.

   Brian

   Jun 23, 08:26 AM #
10. I would encourage you to keep searching. Just a thought…why don’t you read the Bible without the commentary of those with biased opinions/findings first. I would recommend ‘hearing out’ this teacher as well…
    
    http://www.oneplace.com/ministries/let_my_people_think/Archives.asp
    
    (Note: The above speaker is a Christian)

    Allen Mercer

    Jun 23, 02:59 PM #
11. I wonder how an agnostic/atheist behaves in the face of death?!

    Conn

    Jun 24, 05:16 AM #
12. “I wonder how an agnostic/atheist behaves in the face of death?!”
    
    They shit their pants, just like everyone else.

    Tim McCormack

    Jun 24, 07:39 PM #
13. Hello everyone,
    
    Brian: You make some very interesting points about the Cambrian explosion and Anthropic Principal, I obviously need to look at both sides. Thanks for giving me somewhere to start.
    
    Also, I’m glad you liked the Mac pics. I’ll try to add some more. Maybe even some OS switching fun :D
    
    Allen Mercer: Good point Allen. Like I mentioned, I should definitely be more even with my research.
    
    Conn & Tim: I think dying is going to solve alot of these questions I’m having.

    Thame

    Jun 25, 08:41 PM #
14. All I can say is if there is only one true religion, then why would God let all the other religions exist? And why would God wait so long in the history of the earth and mankind to reveal the “truth”? That would be counterproductive. I believe there is a God because this universe is too well thought out to be random, (and so is life).
    
    As for people who say their God is better than the God of another religion, it’s the same God! Otherwise I could start a new religion tomorrow and there would be a new God.
    
    I think you’ll find the eastern religions to be very open in allowing you to believe and worship as you wish, but then there’s no need to associate yourself with a religion to believe in God.

    Atul

    Jun 26, 11:51 AM #
15. All systems, be they religious or scientific are based on the irrational; each and everyone has that one single element that must be accepted a priori, i.e., on faith. Once this is accepted, the system develops.
    
    Science and religion are competing forces, they declare a monopoly over truth — whether there is such a thing I don’t honestly think actually matters — and set forth their view of it.
    
    I don’t believe in creationism because I don’t need to – aside from the fact that it seems utterly absurd to me. I believe some of the things science offers, because they are more probable, but in the end science is a creation of man. It can be argued that science alike religion, invents and not really discovers anything. Religion and science are ultimately, and quite honestly, interpretations reached through the deeply biased eye of man.
    
    We cannot take things too seriously. Religion takes itself too seriously and herein lies its flaws. Science too takes itself seriously believing in ‘objectivity’.
    
    I think the situation is that you have a desire for something — e.g., belief — and ultimately you will find that which you seek and be content with it — one hopes. Belief offers comfort… truth or the quest for ‘truth’ is a a road of suffering and pain.
    
    In the end we all reach the same destination.

    Juan

    Jun 27, 02:44 PM #
16. I just stopped by to check out the great site design, but since the discussion is something near and dear to me I thought I would chime in on a few thoughts (dare I say words of wisdom?)
    
    I have been on the “path” for about 15 years now and started much like yourself… with a lot of questions. I started off trying out Christianity as we know it today and I refused to believe that I was suppose to throw out my questions on the belief that they were “wrong” or that I lacked faith. I believed that I had more faith because I wanted to keep searching instead of giving up. My journey has taken me in some great and interesting areas. I do believe I have found truth finally and all I can say is that there is a common thread among all religions and when you find it you will know it’s truth. You have to realize that all religions started as the 7 philosophies of the earth to bring people into communities. We had to have a common belief to come together to begin our evolution of society and internal growth. The reason religion was used for this is because we are all part of and ARE God as soul and spirit so we naturally are drawn to looking for something beyond the physical.
    
    If you want direction, go within. Learn to meditate as Jesus, Mohammed, Buddha, etc. have done. When you start having “inner experiences” you will realize what was written in the Bible and other religious books. It is all about the Masters of the past and metaphors for their inner experiences. Read books written by the mystics that have had high experiences themselves. If you manage to find a copy, read the Mystic Bible. Find anything on the science of the Soul. The truth is out there, but it’s hidden to the common person because most aren’t ready for it. They are still at the stage where they would rather be lead than to find their own path. The people that are high up in the chuches know this truth as I have witnessed it myself.
    
    It all leads to God and when you find the truth you will not settle for anything else and nobody can tell you otherwise. Keep looking, but the answer is in spirituality, not religion, although God works in great ways within religions as well. It’s all necessary to fill the need of each individual. Just don’t ever quit searching. It’s part of who you are… and with that I will leave you with my two favorite quotes…
    
    “They say religion is for people who are afraid to go to Hell, and spirituality is for those that have been there.”
    -Unknown
    
    “I do not feel obliged to believe that the same God who has endowed us with sense, reason, and intellect has intended us to forgo their use.” – Galileo Galilei
    
    God bless.

    Jonathan

    Jun 29, 09:17 AM #
17. Atul:
    You’re very right, I think that finding a personal way to believe in god is much…cleaner as I wouldn’t have to worry about the politics that have likely scarred every religion (although you’re right about Eastern religions being less affected).
    
    Juan:
    Hello Juan,
    I am probably looking for something that cannot be a part of a religion…or science. But what will I find, I have not really considered that this thing could be found elsewhere.
    
    Jonathan:
    Thanks for stopping by, and remember, anyone can have, at least erratic words of….forget it :)
    
    Thank you for your help, I have tried and continue to meditate but I must say my experiences have been becoming increasingly less profound. Perhaps I am not focusing well enough, but I remember much more moving experiences only a couple months ago. I will definitely try to revive my efforts as I recall it was a fascinating experience.
    
    Also, thanks for the book suggestions, I’ll try to get a hold of them.

    Thame

    Jul 1, 08:05 PM #
18. Don’t be discouraged by the lack of “experiences” in your meditations. I have a very high spiritual teacher and has had experiences that are beyond imagination. He said to only focus on the spot about 1/2 inch above your third eye and try to pull the energy back to the middle of your head from there. This activates all the proper glands and energy centers to make you more “conductive” for spiritual energy. Some of the greatest Masters have gone years with no experiences at all, but they kept it up and recieved it all due to the dedication. I rarely have them as well so that makes me feel better. Also, before you meditate, do this breathing exercise… breathe in to a count of 8, hold for 12, exhale on 8, hold for 4 and repeat. When you breathe in imagine blue light looping down your spine (through your chakras) and on the 12 count imagine white light mixing with the blue light at the base of your spine. On the last 8 count bring the mixed light straight up your spine and out your third eye. Push it out on your 1 count and just hold for the next 3, then repeat everything for about 10 to 15 minutes. Also, say to yourself (silent or aloud) SO eight times on your first 8 count and HUM 8 times on your out breath with a small force of air in or out on each one. This slowly activates kundalini energy in a safe way. Make sure your nostrals are balanced by doing alternate nostril breathing right before it, otherwise you will be out of balance. If you do this every day then I guarantee a major change in your life.
    
    If you ever decide to go on the search for a teacher keep in mind that if they require money for any reason then they are stuck in a lower energy. You can still learn from them, but know there are higher teachers to find. I think that’s enough for now. Feel free to email me if you would like. I love to help in any way I can. I know all this works from experience, so I feel very confident sharing this with you.
    
    Good night and God bless.

    Jonathan

    Jul 1, 11:33 PM #
19. But there is no doubt that you shall find. He who seeks, finds. For now, travails.

    Juan

    Jul 2, 09:38 AM #
20. if you really want to do some research i’d recommend you a nice book. you’ll find lot of answers to your questions in it with great level of detailed explanation.
    
    Title: The Creation of the Universe
    Author: Harun Yahya
    ISBN : 1-894264-38-X
    
    best,

    anonymous

    Jul 2, 02:57 PM #
21. Jonathan: Wow, thanks. I’ll definitely try those out as I’ve been getting a little frustrated recently.
    
    Juan: Good, that’s what I wanted to hear :)
    
    anonymous: That looks interesting. I guess I have alot of reading to do.

    Thame

    Jul 2, 04:29 PM #
22. We will always search for something. It’s a primal urge. In fact I don’t think we’ll ever be satisfied. That is life. It always finds a way to grow. One thing I’ve realized is that, there are somethings that we’ll never know the answer to. We are always limited in someways. We have always been. Humans are larger than themselves because of their mind. But even that has it’s limitations. The trick is to understand there is no one solution. No one answer. The answer evolves, just as our understanding of the world evolves. :)

    BawangMerah

    Jul 5, 03:28 AM #
23. I stopped in to visit our post on beginning programming. The title of this one naturally caught my eye.
    
    I am not a philosopher so this will not, I hope, be metaphysical and “deep” sounding. To draw from many of the other posts, you are on a search for the truth. It is actully easy to find. For this I draw on another of the above comments. Read the Bible, cover to cover, using a copy that is not annotated. Whle you are in this process, do not bother reading other comments either.
    
    You see, the truth is not a vague statement, but is God. God has elected to allow us a peek into His life and kingdom. That peak comes via the Bible. I have to disagree with one of the early comments about being able to follow Christianity with God (or at least that is the way I read the post. You see Christianity is Christ. He is the Creator. He can do whatever He likes. What He desires is that we believe on Him by faith—not by fact. As such, He allows us to use science to “prove” whatever our heart desires. The same is true for other religions. The Bible is the history of the struggle of man-made relgions against God.
    
    Your post demonstrates this struggle. You want to know answers and you apparently don’t really want a God to tell you mankind is wrong. Allow the Bible to speak to your heart. Ignore all of the comments of those who would divert you from the truth. This is not about whether creationism is right and evolution is wrong. It is about God’s existence and His directions for the life of men. In the end, you will answer to God whether you believe in Him or not. If you do not give Him a chance in the first instance, how will you expect to benefit when you come face to face with Him?

    James G Arthur

    Jul 5, 04:24 AM #
24. I am like the last guy I came by to look at a some tips on beginning programming I thought may interest a young man I know from church. Anyway, relax man God is not a vending machine you do not put in some effort and get something back, God is a relationship. You just get still and listen keep your eyes open and you will get your illumination. You just have to be willing, open minded, and honest. My suggestion is talk to a professional – to a priest in the Orthodox Church they can tell you what you need to know about God.

    Ted Sbardella

    Jul 5, 06:32 AM #
25. I know I grew up understanding the inherent good nature of the people in the church I went to. I knew that the reason religion made sense to me was because these people read the Word and followed it to the best they could (we’re all human).They were demonstrating a way of life that has always seemed right to me. Moving to another state in late high school, combined with a lot of time to do whatever I wanted in college, left me with a distance between God and myself that I had trouble bridging on my own. That’s when I realized that it wasn’t up to me to bridge that gap. God was working on the other side and would probably meet me more than halfway.
    
    Anyways, I think typing that out helped me clarify some things (Funny how you don’t know how to put because you’ve never said it aloud). You have to put forth an effort to seek Christ. It’s the whole sowing and reaping thing. Sow some effort to understand Christ, reap a crop of understanding through Him. Take care.

    Burton Posey

    Jul 5, 11:12 AM #
26. Isn’t it simpler to give yourself over to something bigger that offers all the answers to everything in the world? I think you have it backwards. It takes more effort to accept that answers don’t come so easily.

    Litel Macster

    Jul 5, 11:34 AM #
27. I’m glad some people decided to step aside from the mess to check out this article.
    
    James: I think you did a great job of boiling down my problem. While I may have been complaining about Creationism in this article, I think you’re right in saying that my issue runs deeper. I need help :)
    
    Ted Sbardella: That’s an excellent analogy. It reminds me of something a professor talked about in the Bhagavad Gita.
    
    Litel Macster: Good point. Perhaps I should have worded things differently. It is difficult to leap over ‘science’ and believe in God.

    Thame

    Jul 5, 06:14 PM #
28. Thame said: “I am searching for something: what is it?”
    
    Your own path to spiritual enlightenment, which is a separate endeavor from science. No one can dictate it; no one can indoctrinate it; no one can describe it. Spirituality and science are two entirely different things. Treated as such, they co-exist very peacefully.
    
    Spiritual answers come from within. I’m convinced (and so have been all the great teachers) that the path to God lies with each individual soul.
    
    Christianity: “Personal” relationship with God. (Forget the ‘died for our sins’, TV evangelist stuff. Jesus never said that.)
    Buddhism: Oneness with the Cosmos
    Hinduism: We each contain a divine spark. Together we make up part of a much larger whole.
    
    Science explains ‘how’ the physical universe works. ‘Why’ is the province of God. At least I think so….
    
    I’m sure He’ll let us know the answers to everything we are unable to either discover or understand ourselves. We’re still quite young to take it all in, no?
    
    As for creationism, it is nothing more than shaky faith. Some people (for some ungodly reason) feel threatened by scientific discovery, as if scientific knowledge somehow denies (or, perhaps, treads upon) the existence of God himself (or His territory)... or is it their’s they’re worried about? Hmmm….
    
    Pretty sure He’s not worried about it at all. “I am.”
    
    Science seeks and reveals the method or machinations by which physical reality is governed, but not its reason for being. Science isn’t concerned with that aspect at all. Spirituality – a life-long, personal journey of discovery – covers a completely different realm of existence.
    
    Could be wrong. Sorry if that sounds like a rant. It’s actually just my very quick two cents. :)

    Lori

    Jul 5, 07:59 PM #
29. Hey, I found your site through some weird trail of links today and can’t help but reply to this interesting post! My personal view of this conflict is that basically there isn’t one. I, as a religious person, struggled with this same dillema as I was becoming more religious. I don’t know what religion you are (you said you aren’t christian). I, however, am Jewish, andm ost of my problems were resolved by a fantastic book called “Mind Over Matter,” whch is specifically about Judaism and Science but can be applied to many different religions. It is a fascinating read but I’m afraid it is old and slightly obscure, so I will relate to you a few interesting points to ponder.
    
    The first is that to a person of faith who believes fully, without a doubt, in the precepts of his or her religion, science should never pose a threat to their fate.
    
    Science describes WHAT the world is and HOW it works. Religion does this as well, but also deals with the fundamental question of WHY. Science is a practice of observing nature and deriving general principles from that observation, principles that are ever-changing, while religion teaches principles from G-d that never change.
    
    Through this perspectives, no scientific find can shake my faith in anything I know from my religion—mainly because science doesn’t actually prove anything. The two are not a contest. Further differences include the fact that Religion teaches ho to live your life, while science teaches you about the nature of the world.
    
    These ststements are clumsy and very, very far from encompassing, but I hope they’re somewhat helpful.

    Hyde

    Jul 7, 12:04 PM #
30. I would not recommend you reading any book. Please go to a park and closely OBSERVE the beauty of a flower: the shape, colours, scent of a flower. The truth is hidden in the most ‘plain’ thing. If you pay an attention to details of a flower, you cannot explain how this flower is formed. Anyone can tell you what he or she thinks, but this is the human’s thinking; no one can really explain the beauty of a flower. Human beings can only puzzle what we find, but it will never be the whole picture. The faith is not a thing to be proved, otherwise it would not be called ‘faith’: it is a matter of whether you believe or not. Even Jesus’s disciples had doubts when accompanying Him more than three years. Pray to God and ask Him to help you strengthen your faith. If you can decide what is the truth by reading someone’s speculation, then you are playing God (I was a software developer and now an MBA student, I know what it is like to act like God ;-)). Please find a beautiful flower, enjoy the grace of God, thank Him with your prayers and He will lead you.
    
    God bless you!

    Richard Chuo

    Jul 8, 03:37 PM #
31. I hate to bait flames; but why is it the beauty of a flower that gives passage to the glory of a god? Is a mollusk or acne or mildew any less appropriate? If there is a glorious god even remotely akin to anything these comments or any books you might read would offer, then finding the beauty in something not conventionally beautiful might provide more appreciation.
    
    Also, take note of Brian’s language regarding the Cambrian Explosion and the Anthropic principles: there is the conflation of incompleteness to relative impotency. That is, it should be accepted that a theory will be almost certainly incomplete in some manner, but that does not necessarily preclude its power of explanation. I admit I’ve never read the Bible, nor am I particularly well-versed in Biblical or other religious teaching; but I’ve never heard tell of their successful explanation of either of those historical phenomena, either.
    
    Remember those multiple choice questions that had more than one potentially correct answer, from which you were to pick the best answer? Welcome to life.

    Daniel

    Jul 10, 02:19 PM #
32. Hi,
    my simple answer would be to just pick up the Bible and start reading it. read with a very open mind. Be will to accept and even challenge what you are reading. Also remember that the bible is THE most hyperlinked document in existense. Almost all the books are connected in someway.
    
    check it out. You can start here:
    
    www.ebible.com
    
    Yorkali

    Yorkali

    Jul 10, 10:52 PM #
33. Dear friend:
    
    I stumbled across this guy on google video, his name is Kent Hovind and he has some great arguments for creation.
    
    http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=8141887480656996234&q=kent+hovind
    
    As you will see, there is no real competition between biblical teaching and science. Incompatibilities only arise when science starts to make claims that are not based in fact, or are total fabrications (lies).

    Ryan

    Jul 17, 08:33 AM #
34. As my undergraduate degree happens to be in biblical studies it seems it would be appropriate if I add to this conversation.
    
    When reading the Bible (or any other ancient literature) it’s important to keep in mind the author(s) frame of reference. Were the author(s) of Genesis really concerned with Scientific Method? Probably not. The Bible’s primary purpose is to communicate humanities relationship with God.
    
    Likewise, the Scientific Method is somewhat limited in it’s ability to ‘test’ what would be considered ‘spiritual’ or religious.
    
    It’s unfortunate that each side feels they have to attack each other, rather than determining how each discipline might inform the other.
    
    While I understand your question isn’t concerning Christianity or the Bible specifically, should you have any ‘bibley’ related inquiries in the future feel free to shoot me an email. I’ll try to make it short and sweet as it seems you’re got plenty to read!
    
    For what it’s worth, I am a practicing Christian.
    
    ..also, please read Bart Erhman’s text with a pinch of salt. His research is solid, but his personal conclusions are misguided. He began as a hxc christian fundamentalist and now carries quite a chip on his shoulder – imho.

    Scott Lenger

    Jul 18, 10:10 PM #
35. Scott,
    
    I expect that it is the very fact that the logical inquiry which underpins the scientific method cannot hope to assail “spiritual” claims that is the point of its application to “spiritual” claims. That is, the scientist claims no special domain over logical scrutiny, but rather expects that logical scrutiny would be the foundation upon which any person would make assertions. Given that any discussion of god is generally held to be outside the realm of logical scrutiny, it is therefore outside not only the scientist’s range but the range of any person as well. It therefore fits in with U.F.O.’s and ghosts and all other manner of agent, entity, or phenomenon for which there can be no gathering of evidence (strictly technical or merely observational).
    
    I find that the scientific method, or more basic logical scrutiny, is far more often employed to disassemble assertions of the existence of one or more god(s) rather than to actually assert nonexistence of such. The blood can really boil when incomplete bits of scientific results are paraded as either proof of one or more gods or proof against scientific theory.

    Daniel

    Jul 21, 03:45 PM #
36. You might be searching for a single theory to answer all your questions. Try to remove this limitation from your cognitive process. Try to embrace many different views and ideas. It might be quite difficult to accept two competing theories at the same time, but this is the key to finding the ultimate truth.

    D3NIS

    Jul 25, 09:20 AM #

37. Indeed, poetry and science are valid, and our world is rich with the existence of both. I struggle with questions, too, and I find comfort in making peace with the questions, and living a life with Love as the main motivation.

    Ebeth

    Jun 25, 01:16 PM #

38. Dear Tom,
    I believe that you are intelligently questioning the existence of God and you will only have your answer when you become stirred enough to hear from God himself and He will answer you or anyone else who seeks Him with all their heart., otherwise faith is required.
    Tom, this is a quote from the Bible and speaks to how God will answer you.”…anyone who comes to me must first believe that I am and that I am a rewarder of those who dilgently seek me.” Go ahead Tom…go and get your reward, He will not fail to live up to His word!

    Dave

    Jun 26, 01:55 PM #