Phat writes:
I am personally curious why some people are so resistant to belief...
It's not resistance to belief
per se - it's resistance to
dependance on belief. Belief should never be anything but a fall-back position - it should never try to trump knowledge.
...as if they are afraid they will look stupid or something.
It's not fear of "looking" stupid so much as fear of
being stupid.
A stupid person can have the strongest faith in the world. Does it make him less stupid?
Santa Claus is one thing. The idea of a Creator who interacts or has interacted personally with humanity is quite another, at least in my acceptance.
"In my acceptance", there is no difference whatsoever between belief in Santa Claus and (some people's) belief in God. Go ahead, start a topic. I dare ya.
What makes you think that communing with God is in any way dysfunctional or promoting willful ignorance?
Once again, it's the
reliance on "communion with God" that is "dysfunctional".
The typical Christian
modus operandi is to "ask God for guidance" and "consult the scriptures" before making a decision. But in what way did that decision not come from your own mind?
If the results are good, you give God the credit. If the results are bad, you blame yourself - you weren't listening hard enough. How is that not dysfunctional?
I think that people look for too many answers in test-tubes and secular psychological paradigms...
The question is, "Do the test-tubes and psychological paradigms
work?"
... instead of praying and meditating...
And how does praying and meditating
work in comparison?
When your car won't start, do you pray or do you open the hood? When you have a pain, do you pray or do you go to the doctor?
There's nothing wrong with praying
while looking under the hood or
while on your way to the doctor - but prayer is not a substitute for practical action.
... allowing the human subconscious to intermingle in Communion with the Divine...
'Twas brillig and the slithy toves.....
... answers unobtainable through secular humanism and scientific empiricism.
Do you decide the answers are "unobtainable" before or after you try to find them?
Edited by Ringo, : "unattainable" --> "unobtainable".
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