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He was reading something and this quote hit him and reminded him of my struggle over the truth claims of the Church and the path I've walked to my new way of thinking/believing:

“To act in a manner designed to catapult you into one heaven or another would seem transparent to a god, any god, for if one’s heart is not in alignment with the creator of that heaven, then…what is the point? … and so I salute true seekers who put aside the ethereal, the easy answers, and climb courageously toward the honesty and beauty of a greater harmony…and recognize the strength of [their] armor against curses of the incurious and the cries of heresy from less enlightened and more dogmatic fools.”

My friend followed it by saying,

"Just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you've had to walk your journey alone--please know that I respect you immensely and appreciate your candor, your honesty, your heart, your friendship..."

You have a good friend.

You are lucky.

mms wrote:He was reading something and this quote hit him and reminded him of my struggle over the truth claims of the Church and the path I've walked to my new way of thinking/believing:

“To act in a manner designed to catapult you into one heaven or another would seem transparent to a god, any god, for if one’s heart is not in alignment with the creator of that heaven, then…what is the point? … and so I salute true seekers who put aside the ethereal, the easy answers, and climb courageously toward the honesty and beauty of a greater harmony…and recognize the strength of [their] armor against curses of the incurious and the cries of heresy from less enlightened and more dogmatic fools.”

My friend followed it by saying,

"Just wanted to tell you that I'm sorry you've had to walk your journey alone--please know that I respect you immensely and appreciate your candor, your honesty, your heart, your friendship..."

I have a friend at work who's an older gentleman and extremely religious. We talk often about our different worldviews, and the last time we talked, I told him I have no fear whatsoever in facing a god after death, should I find myself in such a situation. I said that I would tell god, "Well you made me... surely you would know I would react this way to the information I was given."

He responded that he doubted god would be upset with me since the last thing that could be said is that I'm indifferent to the question of his existence.

Needless to say, I like this guy. I like anyone I can amiably disagree with.

Thank you SS

you gave me much to think about in very few words.

Methinks it's a habit of yours.

I had a believing friend, an older guy, once ask me how it's possible that I don't believe in a God.

I asked him, "How is it possible you believe in one?"

He said, "Well, I just do. It doesn't make any sense not to believe in God."

I was like, "Bob, what kind of sense does it make that, let's say you believe in Jehovah, a god would make the entire universe, and then kill Himself to atone for his “F” up?"

"You have a point.", Bob said.

So I asked him, "So, do you still believe in God?"

He looked at me like I was crazy, "Of course I do! Why wouldn't I?"

We're still friends.

That's a good quote. What's the source of the quote?

In this part of the quote:

...their armor against curses of the incurious and the cries of heresy from less enlightened and more dogmatic fools.

who are the "less enlightened"? Would this include people that don't have access to higher education? Maybe they didn't happen to live in an area that provides seminary? Or maybe they chose to be less enlightened by not putting their armor on?

quark wrote:In this part of the quote:

...their armor against curses of the incurious and the cries of heresy from less enlightened and more dogmatic fools.

who are the "less enlightened"? Would this include people that don't have access to higher education? Maybe they didn't happen to live in an area that provides seminary? Or maybe they chose to be less enlightened by not putting their armor on?

The "less enlightened" are the "incurious" and "dogmatic fools" that cry "heresy" to those who put aside the "easy answers" in search for something more. I don't think it has anything to do with education. You can be curious without being educated. Lots of examples of uneducated people who simply did not accept the dogma of their parents and searched for something more meaningful. It's a great quote, and I'm a little surprised a TBM would provide it to someone who was struggling with their faith as an act of support. What a cool friend.

Still, it seems we set the bar pretty low for the friend to be "cool". While I think this friend is trying to be nice and somewhat understanding, the undertones carry a smug attitude toward a generalized group of people.

To me, a cool friend would say, "meh, whatever floats your boat. I'll be your friend no matter what you believe or don't believe." Then, for the friend to really be cool, he would need to walk that talk.

Do I ask too much?

quark wrote:Do I ask too much?

Yes.