JAK wrote:Moniker stated:
JAK, You copy and pasted an article (changed a few words) straight from a website (or book) and didn't put it in quotes and didn't say where it came from. The article was incorrect -- and I already pointed that out a few pages back. I wonder if you even read my replies?
Moniker,
Old though it may be, we have in our library a 1985 edition of the World Book Encyclopedia from which I collected information regarding Shintoism.
While you may believe your comment, it’s wrong, and it’s inaccurate. I never saw the website which you found.
But you do not dispute the information.
YES I DID! You don't read my posts. There were statements made that were incorrect. I commented on it many, many pages ago and then again just a few pages back!
If you can’t attack the information, you attack the source.
I attacked the information, JAK! I attacked the information BEFORE I even realized you had copy and pasted it. I replied about the moral codes and something bothered me after I replied -- so I pasted a few of those words in your post in Google and up popped the same words (that you tweaked). I attacked the information BEFORE I even realized you had just copy and pasted them!
If you can’t attack the source, you attack the source or the information, you attack the one who provided the information.
Whatever JAK. I attacked the information. Not the source and not you. I said what you did after I realized it. And I thought I was fairly kind about it as I said this: "Tsk! Tsk! JAK -- cite your sources". It's after you started calling me disingenious and accusing me of straw men that I sort of got fed up with this whole shebang!
But you do not attack the information with any countervailing source.
Well, I said in the reply to your original copy and paste that it is not accurate to say Kami are Gods. I also stated that there is no moral codes to Shintoism. Want a source?
Here's the first one that popped up when I typed in "Shinto moral" into google -- I'm sure there are MANY more:
http://www.japan-zone.com/omnibus/shinto.shtml
Unlike the world's major religions, Shinto has no fixed dogma, moral precepts, or sacred scriptures.
Your copy and pasted article said Kami were Gods -- I mentioned they were better understood as "spirits". Here ya go:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kami
Kami (神, Kami?) is the Japanese word for the spirits within objects in the Shinto faith. Although the word is sometimes translated as "god" or "deity," Shinto scholars point out that such a translation can cause a serious misunderstanding of the term (Ono, 1962). In some instances, such as Izanagi and Izanami, kami are personified deities, similar to the gods of ancient Greece or Rome. In other cases, such as those concerning the phenomenon of growth and natural objects, the spirits dwelling in trees, or forces of nature, translating "kami" exclusively as "god" or "deity" would be a gross mischaracterization. In this respect it is more similar to the Roman concept of the numen.
You give example of personal attack. You denied making personal attack. That was false.
You quote where I made a personal attack -- you said you were going to not comment on the personal attacks that I made. Okay, where are they? What about saying I was disingenuous or that I was insulting my intelligence? That sounds like a personal attack to me!
You attempted to shift the topic to attack a person with information.
Where? I REPLIED to the information and you IGNORED my post!
That multiple sources for Shintoism would have essentially the same information is not surprising.
If you can find a 1985 edition of the World book Encyclopedia, you can confirm the same information there as was on the website which you found and which I did not see.
The fact is that the information is established. That is the critical point. Your contradiction of two sources does not give you credibility. The fact that essentially the same information came from at least two different encyclopedia sources is in no way refuted by your rejection of that information. Wishful thinking is self-deception.
It is NOT established! On my FIRST reply to you (when your copy and paste was put in this thread) I showed how some points were incorrect!
So just continue on your ignorant merry way, Moniker.
JAK
Is that another personal attack? I think it is. Why? Seriously. I am completely baffled. I think I've handled myself fairly well in this thread. When others on this website shove their credentials down my choking throat or just say I'm "ignorant" or "stupid" I should take it at face value and slink off? Here's the thing JAK -- as much as you want to say I'm ignorant I can still refute your points and have a reasonable debate with you. You decided to attack me personally in this thread and not counter many of my statements!