wobbles

you may equate Jesus with Mohammed and the doctrine of the humanist High Priest may also. The weight of abuse towards Christ and His followers does not match their rhetoric. They would have far more credibility if it did. Just watch the usual scoffers on the ABC and you will get the drift. I suspect strongly the High Priests at the coming 'love 'fest will aqlso bear out my observations.

Yuyutsu

You make some good points in regards to ruling Egypt. It is however darkness that flees from light rather than the opposite.

Also as God is my source my supply I don't believe in being 'self' sufficient. He has and will always provide what His children need.

I do appreciate your sentiments.

Dear Bonmot,

Humanism is any doctrine that places the human-race at the center of the universe and aspires to forward its survival, progress and science AS A PRIMARY PURPOSE.

Humanism may be joined by most things you mentioned: secularism, Christianity, Judaism, Renaissance, Marxist, etc., except I do find odd the combination of "Religious humanism": Either God is at the center of aspiration - or humanity is. It is impossible to serve two masters simultaneously.

Dear Houellebecq,

I was moved by your question:

"I am much more interested in whether I really exist."

My answer can only satiate your intellectual bewilderment, but I sense that you are after more than this, and to truly resolve that thirst you will need to experience for yourself directly who you are - keep looking inside for nobody else can answer you from without.

Now for my worthless answer:
No! Existence is an illusion and you are not - You are TOO GOOD TO EXIST!

"In fact it bemuses me that so many have moved on to some higher power, when I am stuck with this more fundamental question."

God is thought of as a "higher power" only by those who do not know themselves. Your question is more worthwhile than theirs - find yourself and you will find God.

Dear Runner,

I do apologize. In my struggle to keep within 350 words I did not mention the obvious that our source and supply comes from God. Self-sufficiency is only in relation to other men.

Darkness flees from light when it is dawn-time. It seems like for now we need to wait patiently for the dawn.

Houellie,

I'm a little disappointed to learn that you don't exist....but nothing is what it seems.
I was reading, for instance, that if a person jumps out of a high-rise window and proceeds to plummet earthward, that that person is in fact "not" accelerating, floating instead in free space. Yet, a person sitting quietly at their desk watching the falling person "is" accelerating because they are attached to the earth.

Why did nobody inform me of this?

I've made it my life's mission to insert the word "gallimaufry" wherever it fits in conversation. I came across it last year and was amazed I'd never encountered it before. It's quite a stunner don't you think?

@ Houellebecq

You question if I understand the point of faith because I call for evidence.

Faith is belief in the absence of evidence. I won't believe something unless evidence for that thing is compelling because I think faith isn't a good way of determining whether or not something is true.
You can't use faith to work out whether Zoroaster, Yahweh, or Allah are real. So many faith claims are made, many of them mutually exclusive that if you choose to believe one when they are all equally valid, you've become a hypocrite for rejecting all the others.

How can someone who rejects the teachings if Islam because they don't find the evidence for its claims compelling blithely hold similarly unsupported beliefs arising from Bahai on faith? I know that it's possible, but I can't see it as ethical or philosophically satisfying. Faith seems to be an excuse to believe, rather than a reason.

As an atheist I'd just like to say that Mohammed was a dick. I've even drawn a crude cartoon depicting him as such but there's no way to upload it. I'd also like to say that Jesus of Nazareth seems like he was a nice enough bloke if the stories are anything to go. It's just unfortunate that so many bad eggs like to justify their gutless tripe by invoking his name.

Are you happy now, runner? Stupid question: runner's never happy. You want to get that sorted out, mate: stress kills.

Cheers,

Tony

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"If God did not exist it might be necessary to invent him, or her" !

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That is exactly what we did at the time we did it. We did it through fear and ignorance. It seemed like a good solution because it provided a temporary solution for our anxiety.

Since then we have complemented the cure with alcohol, drugs, sex, violence and various other expediencies.

A more satisfactory, perennial solution remains to be found for those of us who do not have the means to discover (or invent) it for ourselves.

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