Greetings and Salutations,
I am a 53 year old mom and grandma (addressed as "ma" and "'a'ma, respectively), I was raised in a very fundamentalist Christian religion by a borderline fanatical mother, who was appalled when I told her that I wanted to study other religions, as, of course, ours was the only "true" church, and since I was there already I didn't need to know what other religions believed....
Nevertheless I have not lost my fascination for exploring various beliefs.
Greetings
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Zzyzx
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Re: Greetings
Post #2.
Hi Bonbon,
Welcome to the forum.
I am a male who is old enough to be your father. My daughter is four years younger than you. She has daughters who have probably reproduced. I do not keep track of such matters and do not regard genetic relationships between individuals as being particularly important.
What convictions will you present / defend?
By way of reciprocation, my position is "I have encountered no evidence to suggest that any of the thousands of "gods" or other proposed supernatural, invisible, undetectable beings exist – or that any worship practices of the tens of thousands of religions are based upon truth and accuracy. In the absence of evidence I reserve judgment (and do NOT maintain or attempt to prove that supernatural beings do not exist). My "arguments" are simple questions to supporters of "god" theories and "holy books" that they will not or cannot answer honestly and openly without admitting that their beliefs are purely OPINION based on nothing more substantial than emotion and desire to believe (sans evidence and reasoning)".
(Note: This "position statement" seems to change a little every time it is written).
Zzyzx
Hi Bonbon,
Welcome to the forum.
I am a male who is old enough to be your father. My daughter is four years younger than you. She has daughters who have probably reproduced. I do not keep track of such matters and do not regard genetic relationships between individuals as being particularly important.
What convictions will you present / defend?
By way of reciprocation, my position is "I have encountered no evidence to suggest that any of the thousands of "gods" or other proposed supernatural, invisible, undetectable beings exist – or that any worship practices of the tens of thousands of religions are based upon truth and accuracy. In the absence of evidence I reserve judgment (and do NOT maintain or attempt to prove that supernatural beings do not exist). My "arguments" are simple questions to supporters of "god" theories and "holy books" that they will not or cannot answer honestly and openly without admitting that their beliefs are purely OPINION based on nothing more substantial than emotion and desire to believe (sans evidence and reasoning)".
(Note: This "position statement" seems to change a little every time it is written).
Zzyzx
.
Non-Theist
ANY of the thousands of "gods" proposed, imagined, worshiped, loved, feared, and/or fought over by humans MAY exist -- awaiting verifiable evidence
Non-Theist
ANY of the thousands of "gods" proposed, imagined, worshiped, loved, feared, and/or fought over by humans MAY exist -- awaiting verifiable evidence
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McCulloch
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Post #3
Welcome 
I hope that your curiosity and the breadth of your experience will add to the discussions here.
I hope that your curiosity and the breadth of your experience will add to the discussions here.
Examine everything carefully; hold fast to that which is good.
First Epistle to the Church of the Thessalonians
The truth will make you free.
Gospel of John
First Epistle to the Church of the Thessalonians
The truth will make you free.
Gospel of John
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Fallibleone
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Post #4
Hi, bonbon. Welcome to the forum.
''''What I am is good enough if I can only be it openly.''''
''''The man said "why you think you here?" I said "I got no idea".''''
''''Je viens comme un chat
Par la nuit si noire.
Tu attends, et je tombe
Dans tes ailes blanches,
Et je vole,
Et je coule
Comme une plume.''''
''''The man said "why you think you here?" I said "I got no idea".''''
''''Je viens comme un chat
Par la nuit si noire.
Tu attends, et je tombe
Dans tes ailes blanches,
Et je vole,
Et je coule
Comme une plume.''''
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OnceConvinced
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Post #5
Welcome Bonbon. Glad to have you with us.
Society and its morals evolve and will continue to evolve. The bible however remains the same and just requires more and more apologetics and claims of "metaphors" and "symbolism" to justify it.
Prayer is like rubbing an old bottle and hoping that a genie will pop out and grant you three wishes.
There is much about this world that is mind boggling and impressive, but I see no need whatsoever to put it down to magical super powered beings.
Check out my website: Recker's World
Post #6
Thank you all for the warm welcome.
Zzyzx,
As for what convictions I will present / defend, I'm not exactly sure yet. In one respect I consider organized religions to be corrupt institutions, brainwashing and lying to their congregations while fleecing them, but in another respect I have seen that a number of christian churches also do great good for the communities in which they are established. If christianity were to be abolished, what would take the place of the christian church as a social organism?
When I was a teenager and began questioning the precepts of the church, my father told me that although he didn't think that the church had all the answers or was necessarily correct in all aspects, by adhering to the rules of the church he had stayed out of a lot of trouble. So that was one valid answer, although it had nothing to do with church doctrine per se.
Heavy emphasis was placed on the Bible as I was growing up, the Holy Book, it must never touch the floor, it must never have anything set on top of it, it was the word of god, everything in it was inspired by god, etc., etc. For a goodly number of years I used Bible verses as backup for various arguments, until I got into a discussion with a Catholic priest, who really threw me for a loop when he made one simple statement: "The Bible is an instrument of the Church, Divine Revelation takes precedence over the Bible." So I then began viewing the bible in a somewhat different light.
I have to go out of state tomorrow (It was supposed to be today, but I refuse to leave until I vote!) and will have no access to a computer until I return in about a week's time. I look forward to continuing discussions at that time.
Bonbon[/quote]
Zzyzx,
As for what convictions I will present / defend, I'm not exactly sure yet. In one respect I consider organized religions to be corrupt institutions, brainwashing and lying to their congregations while fleecing them, but in another respect I have seen that a number of christian churches also do great good for the communities in which they are established. If christianity were to be abolished, what would take the place of the christian church as a social organism?
When I was a teenager and began questioning the precepts of the church, my father told me that although he didn't think that the church had all the answers or was necessarily correct in all aspects, by adhering to the rules of the church he had stayed out of a lot of trouble. So that was one valid answer, although it had nothing to do with church doctrine per se.
Heavy emphasis was placed on the Bible as I was growing up, the Holy Book, it must never touch the floor, it must never have anything set on top of it, it was the word of god, everything in it was inspired by god, etc., etc. For a goodly number of years I used Bible verses as backup for various arguments, until I got into a discussion with a Catholic priest, who really threw me for a loop when he made one simple statement: "The Bible is an instrument of the Church, Divine Revelation takes precedence over the Bible." So I then began viewing the bible in a somewhat different light.
I have to go out of state tomorrow (It was supposed to be today, but I refuse to leave until I vote!) and will have no access to a computer until I return in about a week's time. I look forward to continuing discussions at that time.
Bonbon[/quote]
Post #7
Welcome to our odd and sometimes dysfunctional but always interesting family/forum. I look forward to seeing your participation.
What we do for ourselves dies with us,
What we do for others and the world remains
and is immortal.
-Albert Pine
Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one persons definition of your life; define yourself.
-Harvey Fierstein
What we do for others and the world remains
and is immortal.
-Albert Pine
Never be bullied into silence.
Never allow yourself to be made a victim.
Accept no one persons definition of your life; define yourself.
-Harvey Fierstein
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justifyothers
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Re: Greetings
Post #8Welcome!! We are nieghborsbonbon wrote:Greetings and Salutations,
I am a 53 year old mom and grandma (addressed as "ma" and "'a'ma, respectively), I was raised in a very fundamentalist Christian religion by a borderline fanatical mother, who was appalled when I told her that I wanted to study other religions, as, of course, ours was the only "true" church, and since I was there already I didn't need to know what other religions believed....
Nevertheless I have not lost my fascination for exploring various beliefs.
I also enjoy the religous perspectives of others - and defintely do not believe one church is the right church!!
Hope you enjoy the forum.
Karen
