"If . . ?"

Oh, I've been watching very closely...entertaining indeed !

and yes, well done on the name! Tell me you knew that and didn't google it! (and yes I've read quite a bit of JRRT, some of it more than once)

I first read The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings more than forty years ago. Later, i read it aloud as bed time stories for my younger cousins. About 20 years ago, i read the serises again, and added The Syllmarillion (sp?--can't be arsed to dig the book out). I lost/gave away those books, but My Lovey bought them for me as a gift a few years ago, so i've just recently re-read them.

JRRT was an Anglo-Saxon scholar, and a scholar of ancient "Teuto-Norse" languages (don't know if that's a word, i just made it up for the occassion), and there's heaps of references in all that he wrote. Good example: In Snorri Sturluson's Norse mythology, Gandalf is a name in the list of dwarves. All very fascinating, but shouldn't be placed here--i've taken up too much space with it already.

Yes, borrowed a hellava lot thematically from Beowulf by all accounts (I've not read that yet).

First read the books about 25 years ago (probably at the same age you did )

Anyway, 1:10am and I'm still at work Seeya.

See ya round, Boss, like a doughnut . . .

For more insights, see Snorri Sturluson, an early 13th century Icelandic skald, who provides the only complete source for Norse myth--all other sources are fragmentary and brief.

How do your individual cells know you exist and are real? They don't. And they can't. Its all a matter of scale. Likewise, I do not "know" there is a God. I can absolutely concede that I am dead wrong in saying that there is or isn't one.

How do we define something as being "God"? A creator? (Who created *him*?) Omnipotent? Omnipresent? All-knowing? (These are rife with logical impossibilities) I cannot think of one attribute applied to a concious deity that can both be worthy of worship and not contradictory to reality in some way.
http://www.philosophersnet.com/games/god.htm

So am I an agnostic? No. I'm open to the possibility that there may be a "something" out there that is bigger that us and guides our purpose, but I have strong doubts if it is worthy of worship. Would it then be a "God" or just an undiscovered element of reality?

Am I atheist? Well, I do have things that I hold extreme reverence for. Reason, justice, integrity, honor, love. I would say that these are the elements of the philosophy (or religion) I subscribe to. So maybe I'm a religious atheist with an open but critical mind.
Maybe I'm just stupid.

But I like the concept of being a part of a huge system that I contribute to by merely obeying my nature.

Thanks pinchehoto, that's very generous of you. I enjoy trying to understand others' world views and I like your honesty, especially towards yourself. It's refreshing 'round here!

The issue of discourse from the perspective of many of the discussants is rather interesting. However, if god is an entity to which man is the image then he (God) is highly likely to make the same number of mistake as we continuously do in order to comprehend the existence of our soical world in a context of its physical identity. Secondly, why did god create man knowing that he/she would sin within the context that sin is perilous and its payment is destruction? Finally, if we are minute models of a god, why is he omnipresent and we are not?

p.a.b. speak for yourself.

I can't recall a single instance of not being omnipresent....and I've travelled a bit too! No matter where I went, there I was!

eorl




Great!

Evolution and sex
Terry, you comment, "Evolution is the only logical explanation for our less-than-perfect bodies and minds, and especially all of the species of parasites." has a couple holes in it.

First in a preflood time many of the diseases that are here today would not exist. Higher oxygen levels would eliminate many of the if not all of the diseases. Our bodies were created to last a lot longer than they do today and that is in the bible when God wipes the face of the earth because he is disgusted with his creation that they have chosen to go another way, (hence the whole free will thing).

Second which is more important because if you believe darwin, you don't believe in the flood all that means nothing. If we evolved from a single cel organism that came from a "soup", how do you explain sex. Random mutation,(evolution) cannot randomly create two organisms totally separate that procreate. Just something for you to think about. I thought the same way you are thinking for 26 1/2 years. Darwin has been disproven hundreds of times yet he is still being taught in school. He himself in his writing stated that if certain parts of his theory were proven false then the entire theory is false. Those parts have been disproven. Go to Creation Science.com