How do magnets work?aprilmarie said:
OT: I put myself down as Jedi on the census once
Although I don't follow a religion at all, I see that I follow my moral compass trying not to get to many points in the wrong direction.
I am a Gnostic Jedi, what are you?
- Thread starter Laurie Barnes
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OT: I put myself down as Jedi on the census once
Although I don't follow a religion at all, I see that I follow my moral compass trying not to get to many points in the wrong direction.
I suppose you could call me a semi-gnostic Catholic here. I believe there are things we can and can't understand about God due to the entire nature of God being beyond our understanding. I also believe that proof of God's existence is entirely in the hands of one's individual experience. For each person, their evidence, or lack thereof, of God's existence will be different, and it will probably be more circumstantial or ancedotal evidence, experiences one can recount or write down, rather than a thing that can be scientifically analyzed. My own proof of God is something I will never be able to explain unless someone has lived my life and had my exact experiences. Likewise, I believe this to be true for anyone. One finds their own belief system through their own life's journey. I don't believe in something just because it feels good or it sounds cool. I believe in it because it has a major impact on my own life in some very meaningful way. And that's not something that someone can simply wrap their head around and rationalize. Belief, faith, transcends human logic and also human emotion. In a way, one could say it is a combination of the two into some conscious idea that you have such strong certainty in that you are willing to defend it. And I believe that if you truly believe in something, you should also believe that it is an idea worth defending. If you can't muster up any sort of defense of your idea whatsoever, did you even believe it in the first place? I would hazard a guess at no, no you did not.
But one thing I do like about the Catholic Church is something that Benjamin Moore pointed out above, that it contains over 2000 years worth of tradition and faith, and yet it is remarkably open to change and dissent when compared to some of the Protestant faiths today. The Church, especially since the Reformation and the Renaissance, is ever open to new knowledge and discovery, and as new things about our world are brought to light, our understanding of the world, our place in it, and God's plan for it is also ever changing. We don't believe that the Bible should be taken absolutely word-for-word in a literal sense, but in a sense of moral guidance and the real deeper meaning behind what the words say. The Bible is not a science book, nor is it a history book. There are some historical facts that can be found from the Bible, but one should not read it to learn a history lesson. God did not create the world in seven sets of 24 hours. It took thousands and even millions of years to do so, and the Church understands this. We are even relatively accepting of the idea of evolution. I, for one, believe that God created the world and evolution was how he did it. But anyway, that's how I go about things. Learn and understand what is possible to be grasped by the human mind. The rest is up to your own experience. My experiences tell me that God exists. Yours may not. It's up to each of us.
But one thing I do like about the Catholic Church is something that Benjamin Moore pointed out above, that it contains over 2000 years worth of tradition and faith, and yet it is remarkably open to change and dissent when compared to some of the Protestant faiths today. The Church, especially since the Reformation and the Renaissance, is ever open to new knowledge and discovery, and as new things about our world are brought to light, our understanding of the world, our place in it, and God's plan for it is also ever changing. We don't believe that the Bible should be taken absolutely word-for-word in a literal sense, but in a sense of moral guidance and the real deeper meaning behind what the words say. The Bible is not a science book, nor is it a history book. There are some historical facts that can be found from the Bible, but one should not read it to learn a history lesson. God did not create the world in seven sets of 24 hours. It took thousands and even millions of years to do so, and the Church understands this. We are even relatively accepting of the idea of evolution. I, for one, believe that God created the world and evolution was how he did it. But anyway, that's how I go about things. Learn and understand what is possible to be grasped by the human mind. The rest is up to your own experience. My experiences tell me that God exists. Yours may not. It's up to each of us.
Humanist antitheist here. Represent, yo. This Jedi lark seems nice, except for the fact that it's a religion based on a franchise.
Isn't Gnostic Jedi an actual class in the Star Wars Tabletop RPG? And it seems it's not just New Zealand, most people in the UK will write Jedi as their religion.
I'm a bit of everything, taking things from nearly every religion/belief to make my own version. After all, I do believe they're all about the same thing.
I'm a bit of everything, taking things from nearly every religion/belief to make my own version. After all, I do believe they're all about the same thing.
When I said Gnostic, I was referring to it in the definition given at 2:40 on "The Big Picture" episode to which I provided a link. Being that I believed in the ideals but not necessarily the material expressing said ideals because it is clearly fiction.Benjamin Moore said:
I assume you interpret hostility through your guilt at being so adamant to be otherwise. Let me try something else, Take a murderer as my new example. The threat of jail time prevents him from murdering, but he still wants to do it, it is my belief that it is better that he chooses not to kill because it is wrong, and not because he is threatened with violence for acting out his urges. You are right when you say I am against extortion, but to a degree that extortion for any reason is wrong, even if it keeps my aforementioned example from killing people, but however that said, extortion is sometimes necessary.ultrachicken said:
Also, your attitude is not welcome here.
Yeah... THe only thing I can say to saying you're a "Jedi" is the same as this:
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/02/joshua_lee_joehlin_porter_mans.php#
TL;DR? Basically a Man in Texas got arrested and said he was Redneck for his religious beliefs. So thats pretty much how I view this entire New Zealander thing.
While yeah, you can say you're a "Jedi" and call it a religion, thats more insulting to it then praising it. Jedi is a philosophy, taken from other religions, so that George Lucas didnt have to come out and say that Luke was a Christian in this space opera. At its core, its lacking what would make it "mainstream" religion in the sense of (a) key focal deity(-ies) and that there's just no logical founder (I'm pretty sure Lucas doesnt call himself Jedi). Its basically the new Scientology if you want to get right down to it.
As for what I am... well, I write down Roman Catholic, cause I was baptized as it, and went to the youth group (that I still sometimes participate in). I still ask my priest for advice if I need it (he's cool, doesnt rape little boys, doesnt get in your face about not being Catholic, doenst go out on atheist hunts that people seem to believe Catholics go on, etc.) so yeah.
HOWEVER! I believe that religion can not be an organization thing, cause then its a business. Religion is something that is self found and self described based on whatever a person wants to put into it. Thus, I learn what I can from each religion (really any have the same basic message outside Satanism) and apply to my life and my idea of religion and what it means. So I would also align my self with Judeoism, Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu, Tao, Buddism, and Shinto. Thats not to say I only take my other views from the above, but I what I would write down if someone asked me my religion.
http://blogs.houstonpress.com/hairballs/2011/02/joshua_lee_joehlin_porter_mans.php#
TL;DR? Basically a Man in Texas got arrested and said he was Redneck for his religious beliefs. So thats pretty much how I view this entire New Zealander thing.
While yeah, you can say you're a "Jedi" and call it a religion, thats more insulting to it then praising it. Jedi is a philosophy, taken from other religions, so that George Lucas didnt have to come out and say that Luke was a Christian in this space opera. At its core, its lacking what would make it "mainstream" religion in the sense of (a) key focal deity(-ies) and that there's just no logical founder (I'm pretty sure Lucas doesnt call himself Jedi). Its basically the new Scientology if you want to get right down to it.
As for what I am... well, I write down Roman Catholic, cause I was baptized as it, and went to the youth group (that I still sometimes participate in). I still ask my priest for advice if I need it (he's cool, doesnt rape little boys, doesnt get in your face about not being Catholic, doenst go out on atheist hunts that people seem to believe Catholics go on, etc.) so yeah.
HOWEVER! I believe that religion can not be an organization thing, cause then its a business. Religion is something that is self found and self described based on whatever a person wants to put into it. Thus, I learn what I can from each religion (really any have the same basic message outside Satanism) and apply to my life and my idea of religion and what it means. So I would also align my self with Judeoism, Muslim, Wiccan, Hindu, Tao, Buddism, and Shinto. Thats not to say I only take my other views from the above, but I what I would write down if someone asked me my religion.
I'm agnostic, in that I concede that there could be a god, but if an omniscient, omnipotent being exists, it has far better things to do than worry about some little heaps of biomass on a tiny lump of rock, and I am absolutely 100% certain that we have no way of even guessing what it wants from us. So, I have no use for organized religion.
(Although I'm pretty cool with sun worshipers. They at least picked a deity that has a measurable effect on us.)
Otherwise, I simply follow the First Rule of Humanity, according to a middle-aged Firefly geek I once knew: Don't be a dick.
(Although I'm pretty cool with sun worshipers. They at least picked a deity that has a measurable effect on us.)
Otherwise, I simply follow the First Rule of Humanity, according to a middle-aged Firefly geek I once knew: Don't be a dick.
I'm an Atheist, though technicially an agnostic one. I think the existance of a god/gods is very unlikely, but I am not willing to just say "There is/are no god/gods", because I do not have the necessary information to prove such a statement. Still, I find the possibility unlikely enough that it does not factor into my decisions in life. Basically, I'd be a 6 on Dawkins' Scale.
I'm also a Secular Humanist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism].
I'm also a Secular Humanist [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Secular_humanism].