Today, I keep opening threads which are full of contempt for others. Christians judging non-Christians, Non-believers judging believers. Pick a topic and someone is being scornful of another. I lost my temper in just such a thread, a moment ago....
It is said that above the gates of hell is a sign, "Abandon hope, you that enter.". I know that losing hope is destructive of life. It strips people of the ability to care....Why not steal, maim, rape or kill you? Nothing matters. There is no hope.
Sometimes everyone needs a good rant, a thorough venting but to spew forth venom and poison all over everyone and everything.....does not good and contaminates all.
If there is ever to be peace, people must learn to be respectful of the ideas and beliefs of others. I can listen to someone who is speaking to me respectfully of their beliefs. I can accomodate myself to a different opinion. I can learn to do things differently if I am not having to face a withering, resentful attitude. I can even chage my mind and conduct when reason and compassion are leading the discussion. I can handle anger and even rage but not the derisive vomit of contempt.
There are so many things I want to explore, so many ideas which have been interesting to me that have been lost in the muck.
Today, I keep opening threads which are full of contempt for others. Christians judging non-Christians, Non-believers judging believers. Pick a topic and someone is being scornful of another. I lost my temper in just such a thread, a moment ago....
It is said that above the gates of hell is a sign, "Abandon hope, you that enter." ...[text shortened]... ch have been interesting to me that have been lost in the muck.
Just rambling....respectfully
i agree strongly with you that contempt for others is generally not good. i do not have a contempt for other debaters, but i do harbor contempt for ideas that i think are blatantly absurd, wrong, or irrational because i believe such ideas can be dangerous. as such, i usually lash out at these ideas with some vigor, and i fully expect my opposition to do the same toward my ideas that they disagree with. if my strike misses the idea and hits the person (happens sometimes), it is either unintentional or due to my own weaknesses; and i always end up regretting it in such cases.
i sure do like to debate though! which reminds me...i'm not sure hope is such a good thing as you imply. for example, hope for some flowery afterlife is what propels many people to escape into the comfort of faith rather than confront reality. in my estimation, it would do many well to trade a lot of hope for even a pinch of reason. also, how could a sign hang above hell if hell doesn't exist?
Today, I keep opening threads which are full of contempt for others. Christians judging non-Christians, Non-believers judging believers. Pick a topic and someone is being scornful of another. I lost my temper in just ...[text shortened]... that have been lost in the muck.
Just rambling....respectfully
I have no respect for idiocy. And I don't think I should have any.
Along those lines, the of in the subject doesn't belong to someone. Surely you should use there not their?
Today, I keep opening threads which are full of contempt for others. Christians judging non-Christians, Non-believers judging believers. Pick a topic and someone is being scornful of another. I lost my temper in just such a thread, a moment ago....
It is said that above the gates of hell is a sign, "Abandon hope, you that enter." ...[text shortened]... ch have been interesting to me that have been lost in the muck.
Just rambling....respectfully
Agreed. So many times I have seen good questions and equally good answers lost in a turmoil of muck and disrespect. Here's hoping that a way can be found for people who truly wish to respectfully converse thoughts and ideas to do so without getting buried.
Originally posted by Aynat To LemonJello and XanthosNZ,
*sigh*
Disheartened and discouraged
i am not really sure what you expect of RHP. my take is that this is not necessarily the place to come for encouragement. XanthosNZ is right -- debate is not about holding hands in a circle and singing in unison.
if you want to search out the bad in the RHP posters, ye will surely find it. personally, though, i think a lot of them are clearly intelligent and do encourage constructive debate. you can always ignore the ones who don't.
are you planning on answering my questions about 'hope'? i actually do find hope to be a rather odd entity.
Today, I keep opening threads which are full of contempt for others. Christians judging non-Christians, Non-believers judging believers. Pick a topic and someone is being scornful of another. I lost my temper in just such a thread, a moment ago....
It is said that above the gates of hell is a sign, "Abandon hope, you that enter." ...[text shortened]... ch have been interesting to me that have been lost in the muck.
Just rambling....respectfully
I agree, I like Debating, but before I post I always try to think on the other side, why they think the way they do, and usally I can understand why they do, so I never call (or think) somone as an idiot, and I try not to judge anyone, It saddens me though when people dont understand my veiwpoint, and they think and call me names. but I guess thats just the way life is,
Originally posted by LemonJello i sure do like to debate though! which reminds me...i'm not sure hope is such a good thing as you imply. for example, hope for some flowery afterlife is what propels many people to escape into the comfort of faith rather than confront reality. in my estimation, it would do many well to trade a lot of hope for even a pinch of reason. also, how could a sign hang above hell if hell doesn't exist?
Not that I encourage anyone to hide or escape into faith, but what good does it do then to "confront reality" as you put it? How many of us truly live in reality? Is it not only easier but more constructive for any individual human being to wrap himself in the image of self and the surrounding world that serves him best to propel him into success? To imagine a world that did not lead you to something great or at least better (that is to live without hope) seems to me clearly crippling and even pointless.
Originally posted by thesonofsaul Not that I encourage anyone to hide or escape into faith, but what good does it do then to "confront reality" as you put it? How many of us truly live in reality? Is it not only easier but more constructive for any individual human being to wrap himself in the image of self and the surrounding world that serves him best to propel him into success? ...[text shortened]... (that is to live without hope) seems to me clearly crippling and even pointless.
... --- ...
how would believing in the imaginary propel one to success? my contention is that by adopting faith (thus abandoning reason and rational thought), one cannot know that he is doing anything more or less than deluding himself. i think one could only profess such an undertaking to be constructive if one places little value on truth. it cannot be rational, for then one would be arguing in contradictions: in effect saying that it is rational to be irrational.
i agree that it is more comforting to imagine (and hope) that a great afterlife awaits me. but if i believe this, i cannot call my own beliefs rational, and i consider that even more discomforting than uncertainty.
Originally posted by LemonJello how would believing in the imaginary propel one to success? my contention is that by adopting faith (thus abandoning reason and rational thought), one cannot know that he is doing anything more or less than deluding himself. i think one could only profess such an undertaking to be constructive if one places little value on truth. it cannot be rational, ...[text shortened]... nnot call my own beliefs rational, and i consider that even more discomforting than uncertainty.
I would contend that you have adopted faith but have not realized it. There is no true separation between faith and knowledge. To assert that faith is the abandoning of reason reveals your personal prejudice against things you consider "religious". But you can not escape the fact that we all have faith - the question is "in what". What is you answer to epistemology and metaphysics? What is you "world view" or philosophy? If you can answer those questions, it won't take long to reveal what you put your faith in. And you will see that faith does not mean irrational.
Originally posted by Coletti I would contend that you have adopted faith but have not realized it. There is no true separation between faith and knowledge. To assert that faith is the abandoning of reason reveals your personal prejudice against things you consi ...[text shortened]... r faith in. And you will see that faith does not mean irrational.
here again you are chameleon-like with respect to your arsenal of definitions. there is a separation between faith and knowledge because faith entails believing in something that you cannot possibly fully know or characterize. for example, as a christian you believe in an unknowable god. in fact, you cannot characterize him whatsoever because any positive characteristic you can apply only limits him and you also claim that he is limitless.
there is no reason to think that faith is necessary and there is no reason to think that everyone necessarily has faith.
Originally posted by LemonJello here again you are chameleon-like with respect to your arsenal of definitions. there is a separation between faith and knowledge because faith entails believing in something that you cannot possibly fully know or characterize. for example, as a christian you believe in an unknowable god. in fact, you cannot characterize him whatsoever because any posit ...[text shortened]... ink that faith is necessary and there is no reason to think that everyone necessarily has faith.
Let me make sure I have your train of thought down. According to you, faith in the Christian God is unfathomable therefore faith is untenable. I'm sure you logic experts out there can show us how this is a fallacy.
And there is reason to believe that everyone, or a good many people anyway to avoid the universal, not only have faith but practice faith. I find that reason in another word, a word all us chessplayers should be familiar with. That word is "intuition." We can never follow all the lines of moves to their conclusion, an act that would be somewhat pointless anyway, so we move on intuition, on gut feeling. Anytime a human follows intuition he is practicing faith, for he has come to a conclusion based not on what he knows or has ponderously calculated, but instead on what he feels. This is faith, and everyone (or most everyone) uses it.
Respect and the lack their of...
27 Jun '05 00:43
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