So Yuyutsu... what do you think penguins taste like?

>>Purity, cleanliness of mind and body, is an important spiritual principle and one who seeks to come closer to God should not burden his/her system with things that are not meant to be there.<<

Do you mean chemicals like these: soleucine, leucine, lysine, methionine, phenylalanine, threonine, tryptophan, valine and histidine. They're obviously not meant to be in your body: they can't be produced by de novo synthesis and have to come from outside sources. You had better stop burdening your system with them right away or God will be cranky with you.

>>if one plays with ouija boards, has dirty thoughts (for example thinking badly of others) and takes on a regular basis drugs (illicit or prescribed), meat, tobacco and alcohol<<

Ouija boards as a spiritual impurity? You crack me up Yuyutsu. Ouija boards were a harmless parlor game back when people had parlors. The trademarks and patents are held by Hasbro. God really doesn't care if you play with ouija boards. And what is impure about tobacco? A tobacco bush is as natural as any other farmed plant. Are carrots and tomatoes impure too? Or are plants only impure if you smoke them instead of eating them? Alcohol is also quite natural: ethanol is the byproduct yeast fermenting sugar. And cows don't smoke, don't drink and they are strictly vegan so their flesh must be some of the must spiritually pure food in the world.

>>Such formaldehyde is natural, in the sense that it is not produced willfully, and therefore I cannot see why it should be of spiritual concern.<<

Oh okay: things which are natural aren't of spiritual concern after all. So obviously you didn't really mean to say that tobacco, alcohol and meat were of spiritual concern before. That's okay: we all make mistakes sometimes.

>>Yes, but the aim is not to be spiritually pure<<

Well in that case it doesn't matter what you take into your body unless it's toxic, malnutritious or just unpleasant. Glad to see you're finally starting to see some sense. Now go vaccinate your kids.

Cheers,

Tony

Dear Martin

'If spiritual "purity" is that boring, then I'd rather not bother.'

Eventually Martin you may find it boring to be incarnating again and again until you 'get it'. We are all at different stages of ascension and purity. Where you are is clearly evident by your inability to accept the validity of another's view without feeling the need to mock.

There are many reasons for our impurities but it's not a competition. We are all where we are supposed to be in our spiritual growth and no one is 'better' than anyone else. I didn't see anywhere in Yuyutsu's post that he claimed to be 'morally superior' to you. I wonder where that assumption came from? Let it go, you will get there.

Oh, and I expect penguin tastes like chicken

<<Yuyutsu, this article has nothing to do with religion, so why bring it up? @ Martin B>>

""Because the question whether or not to vaccinate is a religious one, at least for many of us.""
Posted by Yuyutsu, Friday, 1 June 2012 4:58:05 PM

It almost seems to be a category error to imply vaccination is a religious decision.

"No scientific research has, or ever can, study the spiritual implications of vaccinations, only the medical implications."

What do you propose or hypothesis are the "spiritual implications of vaccinations"??

""I give facts their due respect, where they belong, I don't argue facts, but this is a question of religious values and therefore is independent of the facts.""

What specific 'religious values'??
.

"Eventually Martin you may find it boring to be incarnating again and again until you 'get it'. We are all at different stages of ascension and purity."

You have to be able to PROVE claims like these if you expect people to accept them as truth. The fact that I am aware of only one lifetime, the one I'm currently living, means I'm not bored of reincarnating at all, and what I 'get' is that without evidence to prove what you claim then it cannot be verified. So why should I be made to believe what you believe if it can't be proven, and why should the interests of public health answer to any given set of beliefs when there are so many that can't be proven? Public health has to be a matter of policy that is inclusive of everyone based on what can be proven, not what is merely believed. Belief and faith are self-defined by a lack of evidence: faith is faith because it doesn't need proof to be belief. But in turn, that belief you have does not then go and make what you believe a fact, just because it's what you believe. Therefore, there is no reason for public health policy to account for matters of faith, and religion.

But they do it anyway. Because faith and religion, the right to believe, are rights that can't be taken away from you. However, rights come with responsibilities, and you have a responsibility to ensure that in exercising your rights, you don't impede the rights of others. A child, for example, suffering from cancer, who is denied treatment because her parents believe it will damage her spiritually, still has the right to that treatment because the proven facts of the treatment overrule the postulated beliefs.

Ascension - how does that work?