Re: thoughts on Jesus

Vernon Balbert wrote:
On 5/18/2008 11:23 AM, alwaysaskingquestions went clickity clack on
the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text:
"Vernon Balbert" <vbalbert@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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On 5/16/2008 4:22 AM, alwaysaskingquestions went clickity clack on
the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text:
"Ilas" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
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"alwaysaskingquestions" <alwaysaskingquestions@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in
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"John Wilkins" <j.wilkins1@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:1ih1991.pgql7n1558fhyN%j.wilkins1@xxxxxxxxxxxx
If 3, then one wonders at the necessity for the gap itself.
Why, for example, think there is a "soul" if "soul" is never
investigable?
I don't follow your logic there, the belief is addressing the
gap, not creating the gap. People talk about the "soul" as an
expression for things we cannot otherwise explain, if we stop
talking about the soul that does not eliminate those things our
wonderment at what causes them.
You know as well as I do that the soul means something very
different to most Christians. It's supposed to be that
indefinable part of you that ascends to heaven after death (or
descends to hell),
It is more than that:

"The soul, according to many religious and philosophical
traditions, is the
self-aware essence unique to a particular living being. In these
traditions
the soul is thought to incorporate the inner essence of each living
being,
and to be the true basis for sapience, rather than the brain or
any other material or natural part of the biological organism"
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soul

and as such it is
religion creating the gap.
So you reckon that if there were no religion then Man would not
wonder where
his sapience comes from?
Religion was created primarily for this reason.

A bit of explanation would be useful about exactly *how* Man, unique
among species, created religion.

I thought I had explained it. It's called imagination and a desire to
explain how the world works.

What is this 'imagination' thing you are taking about, where does it come
from, how does it work?

When you're not very sophisticated you
imagine that things happen for a reason and if they happen for a
reason that means there's an intelligence behind that reason. And if
somebody is so powerful that he can make the sun come up every
morning, you're in awe of that power and you figure that he's
powerful enough to smite you and so you need to appease him. Other
animals do not have the capacity to think in such a sophisticated
way, or if they do, we haven't been able to detect it. (Do you speak
chimpanzee?)

This 'imagination' seems to be a very pwerful tool for survival, how come
man is the only species to have developed it to a significant extent?


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: thoughts on Jesus
    ... the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text: ... talking about the soul that does not eliminate those things our ... So you reckon that if there were no religion then Man would not ... What is this 'imagination' thing you are taking about, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: thoughts on Jesus
    ... alwaysaskingquestions went clickity clack on the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text: ... talking about the soul that does not eliminate those things our ... So you reckon that if there were no religion then Man would not ... What is this 'imagination' thing you are taking about, where does it come from, how does it work? ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: thoughts on Jesus
    ... the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text: ... talking about the soul that does not eliminate those things ... So you reckon that if there were no religion then Man would not ... What is this 'imagination' thing you are taking about, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: thoughts on Jesus
    ... the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text: ... talking about the soul that does not eliminate those things ... So you reckon that if there were no religion then Man would not ... What is this 'imagination' thing you are taking about, ...
    (talk.origins)
  • Re: thoughts on Jesus
    ... alwaysaskingquestions went clickity clack on the keyboard and produced this interesting bit of text: ... if we stop talking about the soul ... religion creating the gap. ... When you're not very sophisticated you imagine that things happen for a reason and if they happen for a reason that means there's an intelligence behind that reason. ...
    (talk.origins)
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