tomato1236
Ninja Master
This article is talking about the last 40,000 years. I'm talking about roughly the last 200.
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Why has man never evolved?
- Thread starter MiniBoglins
- Start date
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
Thes aren't my definitions. They're from Dictionary.com.
In hindsight, this is not a very good definition of spirituality.
Merriam-Webster identifies "spirituality" as
1. something that in ecclesiastical law belongs to the church or to a cleric as such
2. clergy
3. sensitivity or attachment to religious values
4. the quality or state of being spiritual
C'mon, Brights! This shouldn't leave you scratching your heads.
painted wolf
Grey Muzzle
again, there is no evidence to back up your claim... one only has to look at recent disease resistance genes and their spread to discount it.
wa:do
jarofthoughts
Empirical Curmudgeon
I'm not scratching my head over dictionary definitions.
I'm scratching my head over what you could possibly mean by "spiritual evolution".
Now, if you would be so kind as to explain that term please...
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
When people begin to display spiritual qualities where these qualities (or virtues) did not previously exist in their lives, that process can be referred to as spiritual evolution.
These are the three basic theological virtues.
* Faith
* Hope
* Love
These are the Seven Contrary Virtues (they counteract the Seven Deadly Sins)
* Humility
* Liberality
* Chastity
* Gentleness
* Temperance
* Patience
* Diligence
Mind you, these are all abtract concepts but very real nonetheless.
The Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit are
*Love
*Joy
*Peace
*Long-Suffering
*Gentleness
*Goodness
*Faith
*Meekness
*Patience
*Modesty
*Temperance
*Chastity
And yes, there is some overlap between the Seven Contrary Virtues and the Twelve Fruits of the Holy Spirit. No, you cannot hold any of these virtues in your hand. You cannot put them under a microscope or into a graduated flask. They have no mass, no shape, no colour. Virtues are abstract concepts.
Autodidact
Intentionally Blank
Getting a bit OT here, but how did you decide that these were spiritual virtues? How did you decide that they're virtues? How are they spiritual, rather than regular old virtues?
For example, my life is entirely based on the loving relationships I have with other people. Love is the organizing principle of my life. And I'm an atheist. What makes my virtue of love spiritual, rather than just a virtue?
And I strongly disagree that faith is a virtue at all; quite the contrary. If not based on good evidence, I see it as a vice, even evil.
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
Faith based on evidence is not faith at all. 
It's knowledge!
It's knowledge!
jarofthoughts
Empirical Curmudgeon
Virtues are of course man-made concepts but I agree that within a society they can indeed be real in the same sense that other man-made concepts can be real.
But apart from "Faith" I don't see these virtues as having much of a connection with what you have defined spirituality to be and I do not see Religious Faith as being a virtue in any case.
So the follow up question would be why do you see these virtues (apart from Faith) to be connected to what you deem spirituality to be?
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
Yes, I know.
So spirituality is something that belongs to the church, or someone's sensitivity to religious values? Okay.
Faith based on evidence is not faith at all.
Faith based on evidence isn't called faith, it's called evidence. Because if you had evidence you wouldn't need to call it faith.
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
Agreed. But when I call it faith, it's not about having the evidence.
And why would you believe something for which you have no evidence for?
Midnight Pete
Well-Known Member
I have no evidence that the sun will rise tomorrow morning, but I know it will.
strikeviperMKII
Well-Known Member
Think of it in terms of survival. Do our look determine how we survive? Or is it more our ability to think? Only traits that increase or decrease our survival will change with natural selection. All changes are due to random genetic mutations, but only the ones that affect our survival will be 'selected' and either diminished or amplified.
painted wolf
Grey Muzzle
Really? None?
You don't have several years experience with the cycle of day/night on Earth? Or do you not have a general education on the movement of the Earth in relation to the Sun over days and years?
Do you also act surprised whenever you drop something and it hits the ground? :sarcastic
Honestly, I find the "I can't be sure the sun will rise" argument one of the worst of the supposed defenses of faith in a deity. It's laughable in it's appeal to ignorance.:cover:
wa:do
dust1n
Zindīq
Spiritual evolution is the challenge we face today, yet so overlooked in favour of technology.
When did they become mutually exclusive?
dust1n
Zindīq
Faith based on evidence is not faith at all.
You are right. The only leap of faith concerning evidence is whether we have faith in knowledge existing, and even if it didn't, we have repeatedly utilized to our advantage despite it's non-existence.
dust1n
Zindīq
Um.. you must be a late sleeper. Considering the sun has rose everyday for the entirety of my life, that serves as rather good evidence that chances are the sun will rise tomorrow morning.
dust1n
Zindīq
Also, you don't know it will, or else you could demonstrate exactly that it will happen before the morning.