Monday, July 30, 2012
Tuesday, July 24, 2012
Tuesday, May 29, 2012
Sunday, May 27, 2012
Monday, April 30, 2012
Monday, April 23, 2012
The Force
Force (Star Wars)
The Force is a binding, metaphysical, and ubiquitous power in the fictional universe of the Star Wars galaxy created by George Lucas. Mentioned in the first film in the series, it is integral to all subsequent incarnations of Star Wars, including the expanded universe of comic books, novels, and video games. Within the franchise, it is the object of the Jedi and Sith monastic orders.
Lucas has attributed the origins of "The Force" to a 1963 abstract film by Arthur Lipsett, which sampled from many sources.
One of the audio sources Lipsett sampled for 21-87 was a conversation between artificial intelligence pioneer Warren S. McCulloch and Roman Kroitor, a cinematographer who went on to develop IMAX. In the face of McCulloch's arguments that living beings are nothing but highly complex machines, Kroitor insists that there is something more: "Many people feel that in the contemplation of nature and in communication with other living things, they become aware of some kind of force, or something, behind this apparent mask which we see in front of us, and they call it God." When asked if this was the source of "the Force," Lucas confirms that his use of the term in Star Wars was "an echo of that phrase in 21-87." The idea behind it, however, was universal: "Similar phrases have been used extensively by many different people for the last 13,000 years to describe the 'life force,'" he says.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
Saturday, November 26, 2011
In response to ...
In response to ...
The "LORD__PROVIDES"
I'm thankful for "HIS__PROVISIONS & CARE" !!!
We determine our own fate to the extent which we can control it. Hundreds of millions of people died from wars during the 20nth century. I am sure that many of them prayed to a god but perished anyway. I do not believe that God intervenes in our behalf. To say that he does is to say that he chooses to help some people while allowing others to suffer and die. "God's chosen people" died by the millions at the hands of the Nazis.
<Here followed a very long response full of religious references and scripture.>
I am sorry that you wasted your time on such a long response. Empty platitudes do no make something true. I understand that you want to argue for your viewpoint, as I often do. I see a harsh reality, and we are better off understanding the world as it is, rather than to believe that some supernatural force is looking out for us or is on our side. If you drive your car too fast around a curve, the laws of physics are not going to care if you hit a tree. Best wishes, John
It's a matter of belief John,& nothing more.
As my Uncle's close friend would say all the time..."We shall see what we shall see".
It is not a question of one belief versus another. I am a pantheist,
but not with any conviction because there is no credible evidence for
any religious belief. Religion is a matter of philosophy.
It is a question of do we trust the world as it is presented to us and
try to survive using the evidence of our experience and knowledge , or
do we believe that some supernatural force is going to provide for us,
for which we have no evidence?
People can choose to think rationally, but that means that they make a
distinction between those things that are speculation and those things
that are fact. People believe because they want to believe, which
means that their reasoning is based upon emotion.
Best wishes, John
<Here followed a very long response full of religious references and scripture.>
I am sorry that you wasted your time on such a long response. Empty platitudes do no make something true. I understand that you want to argue for your viewpoint, as I often do. I see a harsh reality, and we are better off understanding the world as it is, rather than to believe that some supernatural force is looking out for us or is on our side. If you drive your car too fast around a curve, the laws of physics are not going to care if you hit a tree. Best wishes, John
It's a matter of belief John,& nothing more.
As my Uncle's close friend would say all the time..."We shall see what we shall see".
but not with any conviction because there is no credible evidence for
any religious belief. Religion is a matter of philosophy.
It is a question of do we trust the world as it is presented to us and
try to survive using the evidence of our experience and knowledge , or
do we believe that some supernatural force is going to provide for us,
for which we have no evidence?
People can choose to think rationally, but that means that they make a
distinction between those things that are speculation and those things
that are fact. People believe because they want to believe, which
means that their reasoning is based upon emotion.
Best wishes, John
Thursday, November 17, 2011
Capitalist vs Socialist vs Creationist
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14C-H3W03VI&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Monday, November 14, 2011
Re: Where is Steve Jobs now?
Dean wrote: Where do you think Steve Jobs is now?
(After some discussion ...)
John wrote:
|
1. Steve is rotting in his grave. There is no afterlife.
2. Steve is part of God like everything else. He has reunited with God.
3. He is part of some unknown afterlife.
I do not think that it is possible to know. All I do know is that I don't believe in the traditional religions, parts of which are evil.
Mardawna wrote:
|
John wrote:
Dear Mardawna,
It is debatable if Steve Jobs was a good person. I am sure to his friends and family he was a good person. Maybe to others not so much. What is certain is that made possible products that benefited millions of people, so much so that huge numbers mourned his passing. At the very least, tens (if not hundreds) of millions of people noted his passing with some regret. To the extent that he benefited others, we can say that he was a good person.
It is clear that Steve Jobs did not believe in Christianity. He wasn't sure if he believed in anything at all. I have known many good people who didn't.
I believe myself to be a good person. I have helped many people whenever I could. I have been generous and I have an enormous amount of empathy for my fellow man.
Dean quotes scripture that says that no one is good except God. I disagree. My mother is a very kind hearted and loving person, and my inspiration.
I feel a little angry and frustrated that some people say that God would send good people to hell. Ask yourself if I am a good person? If you think that I am, then ask yourself if I deserve to go to hell? Do other good people deserve to go to hell? Do you known anyone who is a really good person but not a Christian? Do they deserve to suffer for all eternity? Do you think that God would make people suffer for just being wrong?
The Christian concept of hell is illogical because it says that God would make people suffer for all eternity for no other purpose other than to make them suffer. This concept says nothing of punishment for reform or redemption. This is the same god that supposedly loves us. I am frustrated with this Christian concept of God because it says that God is evil and vindictive. The bible is full of examples of an evil God, who for example punishes children for the sins of their parents, or kills children himself, or commands the Israelites to murder children and pregnant women. This same god commands that people who work on the Sabbath be stoned to death (which is reported to have been carried out in the Bible), and commands that raped women be forced to marry their rapist.
In short, the Christian concept of god is blasphemy, because it says that God is evil.
Your talk of believing in evidence struck a nerve with me. Evolution is supported by overwhelming evidence from several different sciences, yet many people choose to stick their head in the sand not believe it. I'm O.K. with people believing what they want to believe, until they make absurd scientific claims that they have no real understanding of, as some of them do.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
Friday, November 11, 2011
Family Guy - Jews in Egypt
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xRi8maT6gQA&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Christianity in a nutshell
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n16PpvdpMXo&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Futurama Explains Religion
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XK7ZDSUvB6E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Monkeys Talk About Religion
Check out this video on YouTube:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MyxmTGt9H2E&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Friday, October 7, 2011
Steve Jobs: How to live before you die
This inspirational video is well worth watching...
http://www.ted.com/talks/steve_jobs_how_to_live_before_you_die.html
If you have a slow Internet connection, the way to watch a video like
this, or any other video, is to hit play, pause it, and allow at least
a minute for the progress bar to indicate that the video is mostly
loaded. If your Internet connection is really slow then you might
want to go away for five minutes and cone back.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Religion and career
Suppose someone believed that they were doing "God's work" and had the
power to influence other people and make a living doing this work.
Not only would their entire identity be absorbed by this work, but it
would also serve as an excuse not to go into a more difficult and more
productive profession.
It should be noted that when I was around 16 to 17, I desired nothing
more out of life than to serve God. However, this would have been a
poor use of my talents. I am too left brain, not verbal enough, and
too much of a loner to be a successful preacher. The ideal preacher
is someone who is less logical, strongly verbal, and a strong people
person. These are also good qualities for a car salesman.
power to influence other people and make a living doing this work.
Not only would their entire identity be absorbed by this work, but it
would also serve as an excuse not to go into a more difficult and more
productive profession.
It should be noted that when I was around 16 to 17, I desired nothing
more out of life than to serve God. However, this would have been a
poor use of my talents. I am too left brain, not verbal enough, and
too much of a loner to be a successful preacher. The ideal preacher
is someone who is less logical, strongly verbal, and a strong people
person. These are also good qualities for a car salesman.
Friday, August 26, 2011
Fwd: Sounds familiar :)
From: <larry.r.trout
'William Wollaston's 1722 book The Religion of Nature Delineated describes the "truest definition" of "natural religion" as being "The pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason and truth.'
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Life,_liberty_and_the_pursuit_of_happiness
Re: FW: Proper Role of Government
From: Coston, Cory P
Doug,
The attached essay explains the foundation of my political viewpoints:
Rights only come from God. Rights include life, liberty, and property (or stewardship over the earth). We are authorized to defend our life, liberty and property with force, even lethal force should it be absolutely necessary. Proper government is simply an institution whereby the governed delegate the protection of these rights to their government officials. Dept. of State, Dept. of Defense, and the Federal Court System are clearly the type of institutions that fit the role of a proper government.
Collective action has no moral authority. What is wrong for 1 person to do is still wrong for 300 million people to do. If it is wrong for me extort money from another with the threat of force, then it is wrong for my government to do the same. Government taxation to pay for anything other than protecting our God given rights is immoral. Endowment for the Arts, Food Stamps, Unemployment, NASA, Welfare, Medicare, and too many others to list do not protect rights. If the funds collected to pay for this charitable giving were optional then that would be fine. However the IRS extorts money from people every day to pay for these programs.
Charity is an individual responsibility which will yield blessings from God. We do not receive benefits when compelled by force to be charitable.
Thanks,
Cory
From: John Coffey
To say that Rights come from God is to say that we know what God wants. I claim that we can't know that, nor can we be sure that God exists. I see very little in the Bible that supports rights, instead quite the contrary.
Therefore the concept of Rights is largely a human construct. I prefer to live in a society that respects my life and my property and my freedom, and so does everyone else. Therefore it is to every one's mutual advantage to form a compact to maintain such a society.
However, that opens the door to for people to interpret what is a right. One person might think that he has an absolute right to property while another person might think that he has an absolute right to eat even if he can't provide that for himself. In practice, society defines rights.
If there were such a thing as a natural right then I think that it would be the Libertarian principle: Everyone has a right to do what they want so long as they don't interfere with the same rights of others. i.e. My right to swing my fist stops before it gets to your nose. Even that can be a little vague. The reason why I think that there is a natural right is because humans for the most part have a strong desire to be free.
However, as Milton Freedman said, I don't think that freedom is the natural state of man. Most of the human experience has been some form of oppression. I think that we are experiencing some form of oppression right now. This doesn't necessarily have to be limited to the government. It can happen if some people become too powerful and have too much control over other people, but for the most part I think that government is the culprit.
Best wishes,
From: Larry Trout
I do believe it is governments role to protect property rights.
'The Fifth Amendment and Fourteenth Amendment to the United States Constitution declare that governments cannot deprive any person of "life, liberty, or property" without due process of law.'
Unfortunately governments can deprive us of happiness without due process J
From: Larry Trout
'The seventeenth-century cleric and philosopher Richard Cumberland wrote in 1672 that promoting the well-being of our fellow humans is essential to the "pursuit of our own happiness."[2] John Locke, in his 1689 "A Letter Concerning Toleration," wrote that "Civil interest I call life, liberty, health, and indolency of body; and the possession of outward things..." Locke wrote in his 1693 Essay Concerning Human Understanding that "the highest perfection of intellectual nature lies in a careful and constant pursuit of true and solid happiness." [3] Locke never associated natural right with happiness, but in 1693 Locke's philosophical opponent Gottfried Wilhelm Leibniz made such an association in the introduction to his Codex Iuris Gentium.[4] William Wollaston's 1722 book The Religion of Nature Delineated describes the "truest definition" of "natural religion" as being "The pursuit of happiness by the practice of reason and truth."[5] The 1763 English translation of Jean Jacques Burlamaqui's Principles of Natural and Politic Law extolled the "noble pursuit" of "true and solid happiness" in the opening chapter discussing natural rights.[6]
The first and second article of the Virginia Declaration of Rights adopted unanimously by the Virginia Convention of Delegates on June 12, 1776 and written by George Mason, is:
That all men are by nature equally free and independent, and have certain inherent rights, of which, when they enter into a state of society, they cannot, by any compact, deprive or divest their posterity; namely, the enjoyment of life and liberty, with the means of acquiring and possessing property, and pursuing and obtaining happiness and safety.
Benjamin Franklin was in agreement with Thomas Jefferson in downplaying protection of "property" as a goal of government. It is noted that Franklin found property to be a "creature of society" and thus, he believed that it should be taxed as a way to finance civil society.[7] The United States Declaration of Independence, which was primarily drafted by Jefferson, was adopted by the Second Continental Congress on July 4, 1776.'
Wednesday, August 24, 2011
The Flash Mob Mentality of Scientific Inquiry
This is how religion leads to false scientific thinking ...
http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=45747
Interesting how she refers to Dawkins as an idiot. He is one of the
most learned people I can think of. It is not such a good idea to
tie religion to politics.
There are two basic facts for which the evidence is overwhelming ...
1. The earth us very old.
2. Simpler lifeforms came before more complex ones.
No matter how impossible people say that evolution is, based on these
things we know that it happened. So if it really is impossible i.e.
if we can't explain how it happened (we can), then we would have to
assume that God made evolution happen. I would prefer to look for a
more scientific explanation rather than assume that a miracle
occurred. The purpose of science is to explain how things happen and
not assume that magic made it so. You could assume that at the time
of creation God made the laws of physics, but everything that happened
after that has a mechanism that usually can be determined by science.
Best wishes,
John Coffey
Monday, August 22, 2011
Re: nihlism
Good article, but one does not have to accept false and evil religions blindly to have values. Most atheists I have known have a strong sense of values. I tend to believe that our values choose our beliefs and not the other way around.
Sent from my iPhone
On Aug 22, 2011, at 10:44 PM, Larry Trout <utahtrout wrote:
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Friday, June 3, 2011
Sunday, April 3, 2011
Henry VIII's Divorce and the Bible?
http://www.indepthinfo.com/extended-quotes/brother-widow-marriage.htm
Been watching "The Tudors" which is a highly risqué political soap
opera about King Henry VIII. It is not as risqué as "Rome", but
close. I enjoyed both series quite a bit.
Friday, April 1, 2011
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