Ironically, the piece of rubbish in the O.P. could be regarded as evidence of a false religion trying desperately to justify itself.
Why would a true religion need to attempt to deceive naive minds in such a way?
Because they know that naive minds can be deceived by simplistic, pretty little stories that can be swallowed whole without much thought. Kinda like sitcoms or pop songs or news sound bites or self-help books.
Yeah, you can relate to them a little bit, possibly, and you can ponder the message for a few minutes and then have a "deep revelation" without really digging all that deep and then congratulate yourself on your own depth without looking into anything that might contradict this revelation. And when confronted by contradictory evidence you can be smug in the fact that you have something over someone else. No one can take away your "revelation." Personal experience is powerful. It doesn't matter if contradictory evidence is staring you in the face, you
know what you saw or felt or experienced (especially if someone else spells it out for you in a way you couldn't express...like preachers, self-help authors, talk-show hosts, etc). And that is what people like those who passed along the OP in an email think.
I dunno..it kinda reminds me of delusional stalkers. Pretending that every wayward glance holds significance, holding conversations in their heads about their intentions and pretending that the other person is talking back to them and even fantasizing elaborate scenarios and being offended when the stalkee doesn't remember what "they promised."
All the while the stalkee is throwing out all kinds of evidence that they want nothing to do with you. The negative evidence is just "playing hard to get" or "s/he didn't get my flowers" or "s/he didn't mean it when she said 'get bent creep.'" But the stalker twists everything around and omits the negative evidence to make themselves look good.
Funny thing is that many people won't get the hint unless they get hit over the head (literally or philosophically). The evidence is right there for you to see but you are so blinded by emotion that you can't. You want to believe in something that is not there so much that you will not recognize the police officers outside the door as having any authority. You have an invisible authority that no one else can see unless they believe your delusions. Whether it be your invisible god or your invisible "permission" (based on delusional conversations...sometimes based on a book or a movie or a music video, etc) to invade someone else's life.
Yes, I am comparing some creationists to some stalkers. The criteria is the same. Confidence in the face of mountains of contradictory evidence. The delusion is the same. Even when it's thrown in their face they refuse to recognize it. Their "feelings" top everything else. It's creepy. And it is all too pervasive. That is why chain emails like this work. People believe what they want to believe unless they actually do some work and look it up. If it is presented to them in a palatable manner and they agree with it, they won't bother. It's (the OP) just another cute, yet slightly thought provoking email from their co-worker or cousin or whoever. No need to
really think about it.
Or expect real, rational debate. Because if fishie really wanted to debate he would have posted his own argument and not a chain email designed to trap people in OT discussions.
"You are metaphysicians. You can prove anything by metaphysics; and having done so, every metaphysician can prove every other metaphysician wrong--to his own satisfaction. You are anarchists in the realm of thought. And you are mad cosmos-makers. Each of you dwells in a cosmos of his own making, created out of his own fancies and desires. You do not know the real world in which you live, and your thinking has no place in the real world except in so far as it is phenomena of mental aberration." -
The Iron Heel by Jack London
"Hazards exist that are not marked" - some bar in Chelsea
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