tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251693339364322895.post5912702600538183792..comments2024-02-16T07:42:10.015-06:00Comments on SKEPTIC REFLECTIONS: WAITING IN LINE AT BURGER CHEFJOHN PHILLIPShttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06357524637192990158noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251693339364322895.post-33643908205926256232013-08-28T08:31:14.831-05:002013-08-28T08:31:14.831-05:00Lisa,
I don't think we are in disagreement wi...Lisa,<br /><br />I don't think we are in disagreement with the idea that both intellectual and emotional understandings can have value. I was only saying that in my personal experience, at least as it relates to religious beliefs, my intellectual journey has had a bigger role than any emotional one. I'm not arguing that that is or should be true for everyone; it just happens to be true for me. Moreover, I find that I "trust" it more, as my goal in that arena has been to find the truth rather than happiness. <br /><br />As you know, I am quite familiar with the parable of the sowing of the grain, and I like it a lot, actually. However, I really don't see how it relates to the question at hand.JOHN PHILLIPShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357524637192990158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251693339364322895.post-48544954055306849342013-08-27T21:09:49.881-05:002013-08-27T21:09:49.881-05:00Well, emotions have value...I guess they cause you...Well, emotions have value...I guess they cause you to search your heart and the world for truth that makes sense. But it's like this, we fall in love and have all these emotions involved that often get in the way of making intelligent decisions...rose colored glasses. The best decisions about a relationship are based on more than emotions, don't you think? If we are honest with ourselves we will try to really look at the character traits of the individual and make a decision based on facts as well...will this work for the future. Yet marriage without passion, emotional connection would be pretty lame. So God...many have head knowledge, but not relationship. Going back to Lucifer...he knows everything there is to know about God...but has not relationship...which causes separation. An eternal separation. He would hate to live in the Presence of God. <br /><br />An emotional experience can be many things...like the parable of the seeds... “A farmer went out to sow his seed. 4 As he was scattering the seed, some fell along the path, and the birds came and ate it up. 5 Some fell on rocky places, where it did not have much soil. It sprang up quickly, because the soil was shallow. 6 But when the sun came up, the plants were scorched, and they withered because they had no root. 7 Other seed fell among thorns, which grew up and choked the plants. 8 Still other seed fell on good soil, where it produced a crop—a hundred, sixty or thirty times what was sown. 9 Whoever has ears, let them hear.” ...I guess it's a question of really being willing we are to really to listen, "good soil"...not to man but to God.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17878921756248563809noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251693339364322895.post-91581816500830440502013-08-26T14:37:29.306-05:002013-08-26T14:37:29.306-05:00"Feel" was probably a poor choice of wor..."Feel" was probably a poor choice of words. It might have been clearer to have said "believe the same way about God."<br /><br />You raise a very interesting point about intellectual vs. emotional beliefs. My attitude toward religion has primarily been an intellectual one. I have felt that my best understanding of the world comes through scientific reasoning rather than traditional religious beliefs. And to be fair, those intellectual attitudes have, in effect, trumped any emotional ones. My intellectual attitude is saying that emotional beliefs do not have the same status (truth value) as intellectual ones. For whatever reason, I have never had an emotional religious experience. It just has never happened for me.JOHN PHILLIPShttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06357524637192990158noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7251693339364322895.post-18354990657361167482013-08-26T01:05:24.781-05:002013-08-26T01:05:24.781-05:00So you are basing your atheism on feelings? Georg...So you are basing your atheism on feelings? George said, "you feel the same way about God." Have you ever, to be fair, if He exists, given Him a chance... been open to His presence? Or is it just head knowledge that you reject?Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17878921756248563809noreply@blogger.com