Quintessence,
- I don't have a "hostile attitude" towards Pagans. If you regard my criticism of Paganism as an exhibition of hostility, it is not because I am actuated by the motives you impute to me, but because your religion is sensitive to you as touching upon your personal identity. I...
"Eternity" can mean an infinite duration within time, or a mode of being unconditioned by time. In religion, the word tends to assume the latter definition. It can also mean "self-sufficient," but that amounts to the same thing as the second definition above, for only something outside of time...
Riverwolf,
- I spoke of mythic time, not "mystic" time. Let's put it this way instead. A mythological symbolism that conveys a metaphysical truth is truer than an historical event deprived of symbolism. Truth consists not in the bare fact itself, but the effectiveness of the symbol as a vehicle...
Mestemia,
The above comments merely deal with the dating of the kali yuga, semantic disputes over the word "Pagan", personalisms, a couple of disagreements on the nature of the primordial religion, etc. -- nothing to do with the substance of my argument, which concerns the possible dangers of...
Quintessence,
It is true that the argument presupposes the existence of God. I also acknowledge the existence in a certain sense of the Pagan gods, but I prefer to call them elemental spirits, angels, devils, or the powers of the air mentioned in Ephesians 2:2 (the "air" denoting the etheric...
The problem with internet forums in general is that most of the members are casual readers who want to voice their opinion on everything but lack the knowledge or mental capacity to comment on anything except the most superficial aspects of the topic at hand. The present discussion offers a...
Those in the Neo-Pagan world who are attracted to the worship of elementals and nature spirits instead of the Divine Spirit may actually be seducing and corrupting those spirits, even if, to begin with, they are basically benign, or neutral. If you were being worshipped by thousands of devotees...
Above the rational mind is the Intellect, which is an infallible means of knowledge, because it is a direct vision of truth itself. Reason and emotion rely on the intermediaries of logic and feeling respectively, while the Intellect knows God by an act of direct perception. The Intellect can use...
You have missed the point entirely. The point is: there are some things that can be known without first conducting a scientific experiment. These include the existence of other minds, the laws of logic, and God. This isn't to say that these things don't prove themselves in other ways; it's to...
In order to accept the validity of such an experiment, you would have to assume the existence of an external universe to which the results of the experiment would apply, including the existence of minds other than yourself who can repeat the experiment, as well as the immutability of the laws of...
Only God is eternal, as well as His Paradise by virtue of its participation in the divine substance. The anguish of Hell consists in separation from God (Paul describes Hell as 'exclusion from the Lord'). As only God is eternal, and Hell is exclusion from God, the anguish of Hell cannot be...
Evolution within certain limits is compatible with a belief in God, but evolutionism as a universal principle that affects and determines all things within the created order is a false doctrine that is contrary to a true understanding of God, and contrary to all orthodox religions, including...
Free will does not exist. The preservation of the created order implies that God protects the general condition (i.e. illusion) of creaturely independence or personal autonomy. Man's independence consists not in his having his own free will, but in identifying with only a fraction of who...
You can only get to heaven if you love God with all your heart, all your soul, all your strength, and all your mind.
The creature is temporal and will pass away. Heaven is eternity; the 'complete day', not the day that passes.
The preservation of the created order implies that God protects the general condition (i.e. illusion) of creaturely independence. Man's independence consists not in his having a separate will, but in identifying with only a fraction of who he is. From the standpoint of the ultimate Unity, the...
From the standpoint of the ultimate Unity, equality is true in the tautological sense 1=1; from the standpoint of multiplicity, in which people consciously live, there is hierarchy, separation, and inequality. The truth is in the paradox of identity in difference.
It's not an argument. "Blackdog22" asked me what lead me to abandon atheism. I answered his question. I don't believe that mystical experiences (specifically, unity-type mystical experiences) are subjective illusions because they satistfy the same criteria by which we judge any phenomenon to be...