Studying Islamic beliefs is EVIL

[josephpalazzo]

It depends on what you think history is (the events ... not the propaganda).  If you think synchronically ... then time differences are irrelevant.  I would suggest that people in traditional or hyper-traditional societies think synchronically.  To them Muhammad is still alive, not dead at all.  Many Christians think the same way.  On the other hand ... if you think diachronically ... then time is of the essence ... and you fall into three alternatives.  Either the situation is declining, the situation is static, or the situation is inclining.  If one is teleological/Aristotelian/progressive ... then one will imagine that that situation is inclining (manifest destiny of the good sort).  One might even imagine that one's civilization, religion, ethnicity, nationality is the advanced cadre of this inevitable improvement.  Marx and Hitler had equivalent metaphysics in outline.  A traditional person however, when thinking diachronically, would be reassured by the timelessness of their situation on the ground ... every year is just like every other.  So taking a pair of synchronic/diachronic POV ... one can metaphysically categorize people ... in ways more subtle than just pessimist/optimist.

I see ways of thinking as tools, I am not idolatrously bound to one particular tool or one particular view ... because that wouldn't work with my overall empiricism.  Dogma overshadowing empiricism would be Procrustean.

So no, I am not laughing at hyper-traditional movements trying to resist hyper-modern juggernauts.  If one understands ... then one can only cry ;-(

Either you take your meds or you're going to the loony bin.

[Baruch]

Metaphysics too hard for a physicist?  Figures.

[josephpalazzo]

Metaphysics Baruchian bullshit too hard for a physicist?  Figures.

FIFY

[Baruch]

FIFY

I like it that I might be worthy of my own "named" school of thought ... now on to singing practice, and I can open my own Youtube channel!

[josephpalazzo]

I like it that I might be worthy of my own "named" school of thought ... now on to singing practice, and I can open my own Youtube channel!

Go ahead. See if I care if you make a fool of yourself...

[Baruch]

Go ahead. See if I care if you make a fool of yourself...

Been making a fool of myself for decades now ... too bad Comedy Club is on the West coast.

[Sargon The Grape]

Go ahead. See if I care if you make a fool of yourself...

Joe, lighten up. You're going out of your way to insult the guy, and he's obviously chosen to respond by trolling you rather than indulging your need to save face. Right or wrong, Baruch has always been civil and a good contributor to discussions. He's not some drive-by theist who proselytizes and runs. Don't treat him like one. =/

[josephpalazzo]

Joe, lighten up. You're going out of your way to insult the guy, and he's obviously chosen to respond by trolling you rather than indulging your need to save face. Right or wrong, Baruch has always been civil and a good contributor to discussions. He's not some drive-by theist who proselytizes and runs. Don't treat him like one. =/

Hey, I was civil (in that post). You should see when I'm not.

[Munch]

Joe, lighten up. You're going out of your way to insult the guy, and he's obviously chosen to respond by trolling you rather than indulging your need to save face. Right or wrong, Baruch has always been civil and a good contributor to discussions. He's not some drive-by theist who proselytizes and runs. Don't treat him like one. =/

I agree, also I like Baruch being here, as a theologian he makes for great conversation into another side of theistic study and understanding, so he deserves his due here.

[aitm]

To ignore the context ... is to miss the whole point.  Immigration is a bigger question than just the recent Syrian diaspora ... and ultimately is the real issue, not a few terrorists in the mix.  It is certainly that way in the US, with our Latin American immigrants.  Controlling the focus of the discussion, is a "facts on the ground" that I decline to give to Hannibal.

Because the of the dozen or so great "exodus's" to the US or for that matter any country in the past, there were people coming with them with the intent of killing innocent people to further a religious ideology. Oh wait...

[aitm]

Baruch has always been civil and a good contributor to discussions.

He certainly excels at ignoring simplicity for pompous verbosity.

[Baruch]

He certainly excels at ignoring simplicity for pompous verbosity.

I am Sheldon Cooper's daddy, not Joe ;-)  And I respect your desire to only deal with short posts in general ... though I am posting for myself first, the protagonist second and the general troll population third.  Let me match Joe's last post to say ... if I shared my 1000 page analysis of Revelations, then you too would know who will be in the coming Superbowl and who will win ... bwahaha.

[aitm]

if I shared my 1000 page analysis of Revelations,

if you wrote a 1000 page analysis of Revelations, where in which the writer suggests a winged dragon can come out of the earth and fling a third of the stars of the sky to earth using his tail, (mindful that already one third of the stars have received the same treatment previously) and cannot conclude that the writers firmly believe that the stars are simply little twinkly things just above the clouds, then you indeed would need 1000 pages of analysis to reconcile your whackadoodle religion with reason. If god can't do it to the satisfaction of a goat herder, you certainly can impress them with wordy charlatanism.

[Baruch]

if you wrote a 1000 page analysis of Revelations, where in which the writer suggests a winged dragon can come out of the earth and fling a third of the stars of the sky to earth using his tail, (mindful that already one third of the stars have received the same treatment previously) and cannot conclude that the writers firmly believe that the stars are simply little twinkly things just above the clouds, then you indeed would need 1000 pages of analysis to reconcile your whackadoodle religion with reason. If god can't do it to the satisfaction of a goat herder, you certainly can impress them with wordy charlatanism.

Back in the day they didn't have Twitter to amuse themselves with ;-)  And yes, drug use was common in the ancient world.  People who wrote "apocalypse literature" ... it was its own genre ... I have long concluded were on drugs.  So will having a beer help me cope with Superbowl stress, or do I need to use something stronger?

[josephpalazzo]

He certainly excels at ignoring simplicity for pompous verbosity.

Pompous verbosity if only, more like a bunch of unrelated comments strung out haphazardly...