*back!*

[alexr_rwx]

So I'm back in Atlanta, and I think these next few days are going to be busy indeed... compilers is due on *shudder* Thursday, and I need to get stuff done for research Really Soon, and I need to get going on that dad-blammed NLU project (but that's going to be really cool, actually -- we're totally going to do machine learning techniques and train our agent on Atlanta Latino so's it can do automated translation...)... and ...

"It's not where you come from -- it's go and go get it."
-- The Mighty Mighty Bosstones, "Where You Come From"

I feel good. I'm ready to get down to business.

And I think it turns out that my mother dramamamalama is more tolerant than I am -- particularly when it comes to people whom I view as having destructively smallminded and Patently Wrong viewpoints -- but that might just mean that I'm 22 and more than a bit paranoid. This came up when we were discussing her new job, which is helping out with the music department at the local Baptist church...

Comments

Re: "You've just got to have <i>faith!</i>"

[oniugnip.livejournal.com]

I can't see wind. But I can feel it, and smell it, and hear it, and I can see its effects. And it fits with my general worldview, my (cursory) understanding of air pressure...

And love? Okay, love, sure. Same thing. How about gravity?

Would you say to a Buddhist that s/he hadn't thought enough about a belief simply because it may not make sense to you?
Part of Buddhist doctrine that you may not be familiar with, interestingly... is that you're not supposed to accept Buddhist doctrine without very thorough examination. Also: generally speaking (like according to the Dalai Lama), where something in scripture is contradicted by experience or current scientific thought regarding the matter, it's A-OK to take the earlier teaching as metaphor, or just "eh, that was the best we knew at the time". Which is a pretty reasonable standpoint, if you ask me.

Alright. Please handle this:
I like the idea of God knowing what I'm going to do before I do it, but still giving me the ability to make my own choices.
- You're still held accountable, even though you can't surprise God.
- God knows everything you're going to do, because you're totally created by God -- in effect, God chose your actions ahead of time and already knows them (or at least, out of time, in an atemporal fashion)
- Where, then, is your free choice? Nothing's left to be determined. If God chose/chooses all of your actions for you, how do "you" figure into all of this? And if God chose that you aren't one of the elect, then you're Going To Hell. To be punished. For acts that you couldn't avoid and a lack of faith that was denied you from the get-go. And God is totally benevolent -- in the light, there is no darkness.

Re: "You've just got to have <i>faith!</i>"

[falun.livejournal.com]

I think the thing about ... eh, anything ... relating to God as an omnipotent being is that anything goes and is a valid[0] belief because in the base belief in one (das uber being) is almost[1] completely inane and unsupported by any scientific evidence (the _lack_ of evidence or understanding should not be taken as 'proof' of any sort that one exists) [2][3]

[0] to someone

[1] i would strike the almost but maybe somewhere out there there's a shred of scientific proof of God, I make no claim to know

[2] Alex, quit reading live journal... that should be left to those of us that have nothing better to do with our lives than rant on inane things

[3] I'm listening to The Music That Died Alone by The Tangent and it's wonderful, and I want that everyone should know this

Re: "You've just got to have <i>faith!</i>"

[child-herald.livejournal.com]

Part of Buddhist doctrine that you may not be familiar with, interestingly... is that you're not supposed to accept Buddhist doctrine without very thorough examination.

Taking World Religions in college and having a few Buddhist friends, I'm familiar with it. I also know people of other religions, including me in mine, who didn't accept their beliefs until they thoroughly waded through teachings and decided what they believed and what they didn't. I, for example, have quite a few differing beliefs from what their church mainly teaches.

My idea of free choice is God knowing what I'm going to do, but still giving me the freedom to make that decision. Reply to your question? Not reply to your question? God knew I would, but I didn't feel Him pulling me one way or another.