Dear James,
Thank you for your polite and well-reasoned post. I shall attempt to respond to your points. . .
"If you truly viewed Christianity as inferior to your Church of the Mind, why then all this aggression?"
It is not meant as aggression, but shock therapy. The 'Church' of the Mind is in each individual.
"Why does the genius demean himself to mock the idiot, if this is truly the case?"
You may consider me a genius -- if you do, thank you -- although I have never claimed such. I do not believe any man is intrinsically an idiot. If one is a fool, it is only to the extent that he or she has chosen to blank their mind to reality and embrace fantasy, wishful thinking or irrational mysticism. Millions have fallen to the sirens of irrationality and the promise of illusion. Perhaps if I can save one thinking mind on this thread all the effort will be worth it.
"Back to your cave? Well, it seems like this thread is our cave."
This thread is only a cave -- a sanctuary for mystical illogic -- if you allow it to be.
"There is a misconception of modern man as this enlightened being, while those humans in early history were far inferior intellectually to us. (or at least, You, esteemed F.T.)"
You are correct. Most modern men are driven by animal instincts, or mysticism, or power. Few are rational. As in the case of all history (and I suspect pre-history as well) few humans are ever truly rational. The mass depends on those few individuals to lead the way into the future. When those men and women are of the mind, great are the scope of the accomplishments. When they are driven or controlled by mystics or Atillas you have despots like Hitler and weapons like ICBMs and nerve gas.
Although the mass in days of old were irrational, frightened mystics like most people today, there were men of the mind in every century: from Middle Eastern poet kings, to some of the great leaders of China, to Aristotle and later Galileo (persecuted in the name of God) and DaVinci.
"You judge the man's mind by the culture into which he is born. Egypt, Rome, Greece - Superior because of their sophistication. Similar in the speed of their decline."
I judge individuals and the fruits of their minds -- not the cultures that sprang from them or the mystical-altruistic-attilla triad that served as their cancerous destruction. Their "decline" was an illusion -- much of the best that they created lives today in the United States of America.
"You trumpet catch phrases constantly..."A is A", "
That is not a 'catch phrase" but an axiomatix principal -- a foundation in philosophy.
". . .reason, ration, but I seldom see any of these things in your posts. Mostly hostility and defensiveness. Your disproofs of God consist of "If God exists he wouldn't do X, therefore there isn't a God, or at least your God isn't him." Those may be valid questions to ask, but to discount God because of my own personal definition of what He should be is definitely not rational."
You would be right if I do that, but I do not.
"I do not wish to alienate you Terrence. I would like to discuss things with you at a deeper level than rhetoric flinging. But God is not waiting in the balance hoping he is proved here on this thread. Go to him with your questions Terrence, honestly. Seek Him truly, and He will be found."
The shamans of Mozambique sing the same song.
Father Terrence
But he will not force himself on you. I believe He has left the window open for the hard-hearted to thrust Him away, and believe themselves right. He has given you the choice - humble yourself before your creator, or reject Him. It is not a matter of Reason...it is a matter of the Will. |
