Certain people can't ever get it right

[mentalgymnast]

Tell me I am...a binary thinker.

OK. You’re a binary thinker. Just like the rest of us. That is our natural condition/default. No shame in that. The concern we ‘moderns’ have is that binary thinking doesn’t serve us well in all situations. Especially when it comes to placing things into categories. Just where do we draw the line between one category and the next? My placing you in a certain category without really knowing you is a bit foolish, and yet I do it. I’m sure that you, at times, may find yourself doing the same thing. We’re all prone to doing so.

It's more than amusing how everyone who disagrees with you eventually gets called a binary thinker.

There seems to be a tendency towards the default position of binary thinking without looking at the possibility that there may be something more to it than meets the eye. I actually find myself going, “what?...” when I read stuff about me that just ain’t so. And I’m sure that I fall into the same trap and judge others without really knowing what makes that person tick. Black and white thinking. And in your case, not really knowing the first thing about you, except that you have issues with a certain belief system, makes it difficult to ascertain what makes you tick. So I find it sort of funny and a bit disingenuous on your part that you and others think you can play armchair psychoanalyst and determine what traits (often negative) a believer must have...simply because they are a believer.

Pigeonholing.

Regards,
MG

[mentalgymnast]

gods that teach and exemplify principles of good behavior and loving other people and creations of this earth.

I've never seen a deity doing that. People, sometimes, yes.

Why can't you just get on and teach us yourself, MG? Why do you need a stuffed deity as a ventriloquist's dummy? We can see your lips move ...

Perfect example of what I’m talking about.God belief of any kind automatically makes one suspect.

Regards,
MG

[Gadianton]

Are there are a lot of other things He does differently? So to say that God is in and through all things and ‘lives’ in the eternal now is not an unreasonable idea to put out there.

I think I see what you're saying, MG. We can't define the eternal now, because what things are like for God are so much different than for us. In fact, it would be the fallacy of equivocation to even try a definition, given "eternal" "now" in our language has nothing to do with "eternal" "now" in God's language -- just as golf for us and golf for God are totally different things. It was quite helpful of the prophet to use words that have ordinary meanings in our world, but when used together, have nothing to do with anything that we can conceive of. Maybe next time he could call it "Jtlekn qelsp", so we aren't tricked into trying to make sense of it?

That being the case, I’ve always found it interesting to watch people take dogmatic positions when it comes to religious, theological, and even scientific positions. I’ve mentioned this before a number of times.

How open are you to ISIS, MG?

[mentalgymnast]

How open are you to ISIS, MG?

Where would you say they fall on the spectrum that goes from ‘love thy neighbor’ to ‘hate thy neighbor’?

On the whole would you say that ISIS members always try to treat others the way they they would want to be treated?

Personally, I’m not open to the views and practices of those who are members of this extremist group.

Regards,
MG

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

There are hundreds of billions of galaxies that are observable in the night sky.

Our galaxy has a hundred billion stars or so.

It most likely has a hundred billion planets or so

And somehow a creator has time to make a bipedal race of creatures on one planet fight for 2,000 years over a small postage stamp sized piece of beachfront property by the mediterranean.

Makes perfect sense to me.

- Doc

[Chap]

gods that teach and exemplify principles of good behavior and loving other people and creations of this earth.

I've never seen a deity doing that. People, sometimes, yes.

Why can't you just get on and teach us yourself, MG? Why do you need a stuffed deity as a ventriloquist's dummy? We can see your lips move ...

Perfect example of what I’m talking about.God belief of any kind automatically makes one suspect.

What's this about you being suspect? Suspect of what exactly?

I'm just asking why, instead of getting on and teaching your fellow human beings "principles of good behavior and loving other people and creations of this earth" you feel you need a deity to do it for you.

[mentalgymnast]

There are hundreds of billions of galaxies that are observable in the night sky.

Our galaxy has a hundred billion stars or so.

It most likely has a hundred billion planets or so

And somehow a creator has time to make a bipedal race of creatures on one planet fight for 2,000 years over a small postage stamp sized piece of beachfront property by the mediterranean.

Makes perfect sense to me.

- Doc

Oh Lord my God
When I in awesome wonder
Consider all the worlds
Thy hands have madeI see the stars
I hear the rolling thunder
Thy power throughout
The universe displayedThen sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great thou art
How great thou artThen sings my soul
My Savior, God, to Thee
How great Thou art
How great Thou art

God doesn’t create us to fight. We choose to do that. Same with sin, injustice, and all the rest. God has given us commandments to actually avoid all the crap we manage to get ourselves into. And he has a fail safe in place. The Atonement of Christ.

Have faith man. You are puny. God is great.

Regards,
MG

[Gadianton]

Where would you say they fall on the spectrum that goes from ‘love thy neighbor’ to ‘hate thy neighbor’?

On the whole would you say that ISIS members always try to treat others the way they they would want to be treated?

Personally, I’m not open to the views and practices of those who are members of this extremist group.

I think they would rank themselves very high on that spectrum. But does that matter? You're just going to count ISIS out without even giving them a chance. Just like those who slam the door on LDS missionaries. You even call them "extremists". Have you ever been to Syria, or are you just going by what you've heard from anti-ISIS press?

Pretty dogmatic and binary, MG. Your rejection of ISIS is right out of the same playbook as fundamentalist Christians who have "heard all about the Mormons" from their Pastor, friends, and media, but without ever having known any members or studied it from the source.

[Doctor CamNC4Me]

MG,

Way to miss the point spectacularly. Of course.

Not that this will have any chance in hell of penetrating your thick skull, but the Bible contains 32 commandments on slavery. There are rules for beating slaves, dividing slave families, buying slaves from heathens and strangers, enslaving entire cities in war, inheriting slaves as property, and selling a thief to pay for his theft. There are even rules for selling you daughter into slavery. But there is not a single commandment against slavery in the entire Bible. Even the New Testament commands slaves to honor, serve, and obey their masters.

The Bible's basic rule for war is this:

Kill everything that breathes without showing any mercy or pity (except for beautiful women, which you can take home for sex-slaves/wives). And don't be afraid, because God is with you.

tl:dr - We must secure the existence of our people and a future for Jewish children.

100,000,000,000 galaxies and your dumb crap racist god is pro-slavery.



- Doc

[mentalgymnast]

Where would you say they fall on the spectrum that goes from ‘love thy neighbor’ to ‘hate thy neighbor’?

On the whole would you say that ISIS members always try to treat others the way they they would want to be treated?

Personally, I’m not open to the views and practices of those who are members of this extremist group.

I think they would rank themselves very high on that spectrum. But does that matter? You're just going to count ISIS out without even giving them a chance. Just like those who slam the door on LDS missionaries. You even call them "extremists". Have you ever been to Syria, or are you just going by what you've heard from anti-ISIS press?

Do you have any clue as to how silly you sound?

Pretty dogmatic and binary, MG. Your rejection of ISIS is right out of the same playbook as fundamentalist Christians who have "heard all about the Mormons" from their Pastor, friends, and media, but without ever having known any members or studied it from the source.

False equivalency.

Regards,
MG