Looking for people who have some aim or purpose in these forums

[Jim]

What do you believe is a method by which more people in general, as well as less scientifically inclined and more religiously/mythologically inclined persons can be more readily taught about scientific findings; even when those findings conflict with the person’s own religious teachings?

Maybe, sharing articles and news about science discoveries that might appeal to different people according to their interests, so they think of science as interesting and fun to learn about.

 

[Jim]

My aim in this forum is to demonstrate that the separations or divisions between so-called religions are artificial and that we should rather focuss on what people or their spiritual or religious cults put into actual practice.

E.g. I do this with Christianity by demonstrating how the practical spiritual cult of the mission of Jesus was changed or shifted into the much more theoretical religious cult of Christianity by comparing their respective scriptures.

After you compare them, what do you do to help people focus on the current actual practice of following Jesus?

(edit) Actually, what I was wondering was, how is comparing their scriptures focusing on the practical one, any more than it is focusing on the theoretical one?(end edit)

 

[Jim]

My aim in this forum is to demonstrate that the separations or divisions between so-called religions are artificial and that we should rather focuss on what people or their spiritual or religious cults put into actual practice.

E.g. I do this with Christianity by demonstrating how the practical spiritual cult of the mission of Jesus was changed or shifted into the much more theoretical religious cult of Christianity by comparing their respective scriptures.

Do you do it with other religions also? If so, if you’d like to tell me about that, I would be interested.

 

[Jim]

Just now, reading someone’s post to try to see what they’re thinking, I caught myself speculating about their motives. I might want to consider possible motives, but if I do that I want to learn to do it in a way that doesn’t interfere with seeing clearly what the person is thinking.

 

[Daemon Sophic]

If you mean what I think you mean by “scientific findings,” that is not part of the light in science that I’m thinking of. It’s part of the clouds that I think are hiding the light from people, and repelling them away from it.

One possible way I see for people to see the light is by reading or hearing some of the human stories behind the revolution in physics.

I thought about this some more, and the first thought that came to me was for people to stop defaming science by dragging its name through the mud of factional feuding.

Maybe, sharing articles and news about science discoveries that might appeal to different people according to their interests, so they think of science as interesting and fun to learn about.

Thank you @Jim for your thoughtful replies.

I agree with you in general, particularly with the 2nd and 3rd posts.
Yes, appealing to an emotional/personal aspect is usually much more successful when teaching about one’s own field of study and/or interest. Bring them in and make them see how this actually applies to them.
Unfortunately, as you mention, the “other side” has been working to the contrary for decades, and has gotten very good at it.

 

[SomeRandom]

I’m looking for people who have some aim or purpose in posting about religious or anti-religious topics in these forums, that you might possibly be willing to discuss with me. I’m not saying that anyone should, just asking, because that would interest me.

I’m generally aimless, but I’ll still discuss with you what you want. I like challenging myself

 

[Jim]

I’m generally aimless, but I’ll still discuss with you what you want. I like challenging myself

See this post.

 

[Milton Platt]

I wanted to remind all of you that if ever you would like to have people to talk to about what you’re doing in these forums, I’m volunteering to be one of them. I also want to bring you up to date on what I’ve been doing.

I decided to try doing what other people are trying to do in these forums, so I can be a better listener for them. Here are some things that people said that they’re trying to do:
- Help improve relationships across religious divides.
- Educate and inform people about a religion or way of life.
- Correct misinformation and misunderstandings about a religion, or about science.
- Share some knowledge and understanding.
- Tell people about something they might need or want to know about.
- Improve their own ideas and ways of thinking.
- Some other kind of personal development.
- Personal research.

I decided to try doing some of those things, that I wasn’t already doing:
- Tell people about something they might need or want to know about. I’ve been trying to tell people about a light that I see in science and some religions, behind clouds of contending beliefs that are hiding it from people and repelling them away from it. Also, I started a thread to tell people my ideas about the gospel of Jesus.
- Educate and inform people. I’ve tried some different ways to educate and inform people about that light that I see.
- Correct misinformation and misunderstandings. I’ve started trying to correct misinformation and misunderstandings about science and religion.
- Share some knowledge and understanding. I’ve been trying to share knowledge and understanding about that light that I see.
- Help improve relationships across religious divides. I think for now that will just be trying to be openly friendly to people on all sides.

I’m also trying to practice and promote a kind of love, and a kind of community life, that I think the world needs, and learning not to think of people as being divided up into groups and categories defined by what they believe or don’t believe.

I’ve also been trying to learn how to see through all the smoke, dust and mirrors of words being used for other purposes besides communication, to see what people might be thinking, the way they see it. Some examples of smoke, dust and mirrors are virtue signaling, stigmatizing people, and debating between factions using words that everyone knows mean something completely different on side from what they mean on the other.

Hey, Jim...you'e probably feeling a bit neglected about now. I spent the last two weeks in central Mexico and forgot to bring my tablet along for communication. Yeah, I had an iphone, but it kinda sucks except for short texts. So, anyway, I will peruse this email and try to make comments, Sorry again for the post-and-run, but it was unintentional.

 

[Jim]

Hey, Jim...you'e probably feeling a bit neglected about now. I spent the last two weeks in central Mexico and forgot to bring my tablet along for communication. Yeah, I had an iphone, but it kinda sucks except for short texts. So, anyway, I will peruse this email and try to make comments, Sorry again for the post-and-run, but it was unintentional.

No worries. I’m taking a break from forum discussions for now.

 

[Jim]

I thought of starting a science literacy program here, but I decided against it. Now I’m thinking about another kind of literacy program, to educate people about the kind of love that the world needs, and to not think of people as being divided up into groups and categories based on what they believe and don’t believe. Some things might need to happen in each person’s life, to learn those things, that can’t happen only in these forums, but maybe what happens in these forums can be part of it.

 

[Peter Sawrie]

I gave up Christianity due to being hurt many times by the Christian community, by wolves in sheep's clothing. I had objections to Christianity but upon taking a look deep within, I just had a lot of hurt. That hurt came before the objections. Now that I've vented it out, I want to give it, Christianity, another shot.

Can I suggest you forget about churches and do what the first church did in Jerusalem and follow the teaching of Jesus and discard the rest.

Today's churches are followers of Paul, not Jesus and you will never know the difference until you abandon Paul and commit to Jesus and him and his words alone. If you are not willing to do this then you are not looking for Jesus, but a corrupted version of him. Churches don't follow Jesus, they follow Paul: who is their leader.

You may be looking for a social group that is accepting of you and while some churches may provide such a place, where they will fail will be found in their acceptance of their faults, as they are not committed to practicing loving their enemies and all the other teachings Jesus taught, but rather they practice their own form of religion: which is contrary to what Jesus stated.

Don't bother giving churches another try, that will be a total waste of time, give Jesus a try instead by becoming a follower/practicor of him and his teachings instead.

 

[Jim]

been here ten years
sorting through what people believe
what they don't believe

I have no doubt.....I am an influence

Thief, seeing this post aroused my curiosity again, about what you’re doing here. From one of your posts, I thought that it might just be hoping to have a beneficial influence. For a while I thought of what I was doing as trying to light up the place a bit. This is more or less just idle curiosity, but if you wouldn’t mind telling me, I’d like to know more about your aims and purposes here.

 

[Shakazuluuuuu]

I’m looking for people who have some aim or purpose in posting about religious or anti-religious topics in these forums, that you might possibly be willing to discuss with me. I’m not saying that anyone should, just asking, because that would interest me.

You want truth, bro? Masonic Temple. Hammer and nail all in one. Truth@

 

[Thief]

Thief, seeing this post aroused my curiosity again, about what you’re doing here. From one of your posts, I thought that it might just be hoping to have a beneficial influence. For a while I thought of what I was doing as trying to light up the place a bit. This is more or less just idle curiosity, but if you wouldn’t mind telling me, I’d like to know more about your aims and purposes here.

well....I am walking a fence

this is an odd place.....and at first I got wrote up and even kicked off
as many people thought I was preaching
that would be against the rules

for clarity the mods insisted that I post in saying the content is....WHAT I BELIEVE

hence my signature

so....
I post what I believe
while at the same time....NOT trying to belittle the other guy
omg

but hey.....my belief is actually quite simple
and sharing it happens to be very important

I believe we end up alongside others that think and feel and we do
How else to be happy?
How else to be fair?

and yeah.....over the years I find my fellowman to be anything but logical
and that would be BOTH sides of the fence

so here I am......walking on the fence
trying not to fall off

but hey.....you were asking for a mission statement?
as if I belong to congregation?

I do not

 

[Jim]

I think now that if I want to have friendly conversations with people on all sides of all divides, the place to it is not in threads where they are feuding.

 

[Jim]

well....I am walking a fence

this is an odd place.....and at first I got wrote up and even kicked off
as many people thought I was preaching
that would be against the rules

for clarity the mods insisted that I post in saying the content is....WHAT I BELIEVE

hence my signature

so....
I post what I believe
while at the same time....NOT trying to belittle the other guy
omg

but hey.....my belief is actually quite simple
and sharing it happens to be very important

I believe we end up alongside others that think and feel and we do
How else to be happy?
How else to be fair?

and yeah.....over the years I find my fellowman to be anything but logical
and that would be BOTH sides of the fence

so here I am......walking on the fence
trying not to fall off

but hey.....you were asking for a mission statement?
as if I belong to congregation?

I do not

Sorry it took me so long to respond to this. Sharing what you believe. Maybe hoping to do somebody some good? Maybe also hoping to see some fellow travelers sometimes? Walking a fence. That could be about how to share without crossing lines, or it could be like me, on my own side against everyone else.

My aims and purposes here have changed and changed again. Mostly now I want to just have friendly conversations with people on all sides of all divides, as one way of practicing and promoting the kind of love that I discussed in one of my threads. At the same time, until a few days ago I was on a crusade against some popular ways of using the words “science” and “evidence. Then I realized that what I was doing was like going to the front of a Christian church and denouncing Jesus and the Bible! Also I learned that if I want to have friendly conversations with people on both sides of some feuding, the place to do that is not in threads where the feuding is happening!

Possible new directions if I continue posting here:
- Discussing beneficial ways of using the words “science” and “evidence.”
- Helping to bring people up to date on evolution theories.

 

[Jim]

...my belief is actually quite simple
and sharing it happens to be very important.

Your posts have been a friendly part of the environment here for me.

 

[Jim]

Random thoughts:

It looks to me like it’s popular in these forums to be opposed to trying to help improve the world, and as a result, sometimes people might deny to themselves that they’re trying to help improve the world even when they are. I am trying to help improve the world, and I’m not ashamed of it. Denying and repressing that impulse might be unhealthy, and obviously it impedes progress in solving social problems, including the ones associated with animosities across religious divides. Stigmatizing, denying and repressing that impulse doesn’t keep people from acting on it. All it does is abandon it to the dictates of other impulses, and manipulation by others.

It looks to me like there’s a widespread feeling that anyone who is not participating in some massive campaign of denunciation and intimidation is not being socially responsible. I think that those campaigns do more to help perpetuate and intensify all social problems, than to help improve the world for all people. I think that it’s better for healthy living and for a better world for all people, for people to distance themselves as far as possible from those campaigns.

It looks to me like it’s popular to build speaking, writing, storytelling and performance careers around vilifying some group or category of people, and helping people excuse and camouflage their animosities and hostilities against those people. I think that it’s better for healthy living and for a better world for all people, to be aware of that and avoid encouraging it.

I think that people are being influenced a lot by propaganda, from one faction or another, that is designed to stir up alarm and anger against some group or category of people, for fundraising purposes. I think that it’s better for healthy living and for a better world for all people, to be aware of that and avoid reading that propaganda.

One healthy way I see of trying to influence decisions and policies of governments and other institutions is by promoting better attitudes and behavior among their decision makers. One place to do that is at conferences, including international conferences, where they come together to discuss economic and social issues.

Some other healthy ways I see of responding to problems in the world around us:
- Continual efforts by each person to improve their own character and the way they live their lives, with the aim and purpose of helping to improve the world for people around them and for all people everywhere.
- Learning to be a better friend to more people.
- Helping with the growth and spread of healthier, happier and more loving communities, at the level of neighborhoods and villages.
- Learning to use storytelling to inspire people to do all of the above.
- Learn to have more conversations with more people, about how to respond to the world’s problems and help improve the world.

Possibly one reason for the popularity of opposition against trying to help improve the world is the harm that has been done by people who say that they’re trying to help improve it. That’s something to consider and learn from, but not a reason not to do it at all.

 

[Thief]

Learning to use storytelling to inspire people

the Carpenter is waaaaay……..ahead of you

 

[A Vestigial Mote]

the Carpenter is waaaaay……..ahead of you

Maybe... but he's dead.