Comments on: Two dramas and a third

By: Charles

Charles — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 16:26:00 +0000

The consequence for soteriology is that if Jesus was only a man, why would his death alone redeem mankind, as opposed to the death of any other man?
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I think this part is right.

A man has no more power to save people from their sins than a sheep or a goat. For this reason the people in arian churches that hold to this view remain dead in their sins. that’s why arian churches lose membership.

By: Lifeofthemind

Lifeofthemind — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 13:40:57 +0000

Teresita,
Ancestor worship is atheism because theism is the belief in a personal Creator,

Sorry no, this is solipsism. Redefining the terms to win the argument is not a tactic I can support. While one definition of theism is the belief n a personal creator that does not mean that atheism is simply the rejection of that particular belief. We see this debating trick often used as a rhetorical device and it should be challenged.

Your underlaying point is interesting and there are philosophical links between Buddhism, Ethical Culture type New Age quasi religious philosophies and Unitarianism that may leave their adherents more receptive to Socialism then those who adhere to a belief in a personal god. My argument has been that the nature of the deity in Islam is also functionally different than that in Judaism or Christianity.

By: Fresh Bilge » Islam’s Civil War

Fresh Bilge » Islam’s Civil War — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 12:32:13 +0000

[...] other day I read a Belmont Club post that has stuck in my mind. Here is the apposite passage. Why would Muslims be bombing Muslims? Because they are involved in a [...]

By: Wadeusaf

Wadeusaf — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 05:00:01 +0000

Vets on the Hill

By: Knight1

Knight1 — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 01:15:33 +0000

For anyone interested in the actual documents of the upcoming Copenhagen Convention Treaty re Global Warming – here is the website – on the left are various components – I’ve set it to the page re countries in Annex 1 because it is not immediately obvious – note: you can actually click on the individual countries for their status and compliance:

http://unfccc.int/parties_and_observers/parties/annex_i/items/2774.php

By: Abe

Abe — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 00:13:53 +0000

Following up on my previous comment (#58), see the following article at Chicago Boyz:
http://chicagoboyz.net/archives/9801.html

By: Knight1

Knight1 — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 23:42:32 +0000

#76 – Wadeusaf – thanks for the link – just lost hours reading it – overall sensation is the heebie-jeebies.

By: Teresita

Teresita — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 18:45:54 +0000

RagnarD, I was in the Navy, I’ve been to Japan, I’m well aware of the Shinto shrines on every path, etc. Ancestor worship is atheism because theism is the belief in a personal Creator, and no one believes their ancestors were this Creator. Buddhism bypasses gods altogether, and becomes a system of good works and meditation which allow you to permanently step off the Big Wheel.

By: Charles

Charles — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:51:00 +0000

81. Teresita:

yup.

By: RagnarD

RagnarD — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 17:34:09 +0000

Teresita @ 80 said:

Japan, China and Russia are essentially atheist.

I cannot say for the last two but for Japan – WRONG! You cannot walk down the street of any town and not trip over a Buddhist temple, Shinto shrine or some sort of observance of a religion even in Tokyo. They are everywhere! The LDS has also had missions going in Japan for a long time and the church does well there.

Of course they are not Christian religions. And I probably miss that you are lumping them as non-believers just because they do not worship the same way as you do. My bad.