Om Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 Please take this in the spirit intended:<br /><br /><a href="http://uplink.space.com/2/OpenTopic?q=Y&a=tpc&s=874094803&f=684094803&m=1783076834" target="_blank">Aliens in the Bible.</a> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /> Now that is a different theoligical discussion there. I wonder if inmate or mardie may have some input on this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardi gras skin Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 While its true that Ezekiel was an Israelite, it is a little known fact that he immigrated to the Middle East from Roswell, New Mexico. His move East was prompted by an operation gone wrong by Janikiah Reno in 1992 BCE. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Om Posted March 21, 2002 Author Share Posted March 21, 2002 At the risk of changing the tenor of the thread ... I treat the whole UFO phenomenon much as I do the stories/parables/histories (trying to cover my bases here) in the various religious texts handed down from ancient times ... and that's with the approach that "extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof."<br /><br />Not grainy photographs, not personal accounts of alien abduction, not words on a page telling of miraculous events millenia ago. Evidence. Faith alone, for better or worse, has never worked for his particular human being, not when it comes to the Big Questions.<br /><br />Perhaps the Missourians said it best. Show me. <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardi gras skin Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 I read a Ray Bradbury book when I was in elementary school. There were two guys (astronauts I believe) who had an ongoing debate on the reality of existence. One of the characters, very smart guy, questioned whether anything really existed. He began by asking if anything existed that was beyond his own senses. But he reasonably extended that line of thinking to include the things that were a part of his senses. Sure he had a broken nose, and it hurt, but his mind would convince him that the illusion of a broken nose hurt, wouldn’t it?<br /><br />In the end, the guy left the space station or the rocket or whatever and he exploded in space. If he was right, he didn’t really die, he just left the illusion. Depends on wether or not you believe the "facts."<br /><br />Now I think HE was from Missouri.<br /><br />In the end, none of us accept anything Big based on pure fact. The evidence suggests that my wife loves me a whole lot, but there are really no hard facts. The evidence suggests that something radical and amazing happened 2000 years ago, but I can’t prove Jesus is God. I can't prove either, but I live my life as if both are true...and that's reasonable.<br /><br />If the Big Questions are answered based solely on fact, they've stopped being Big Questions. <br /><br />So yea, the tenor of this thread has officially been changed. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Razz]" src="tongue.gif" /> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Om Posted March 21, 2002 Author Share Posted March 21, 2002 Aw, mardi, that's too easy. Do we really have to break down the "is this table really here" question first? <br /><br />Chances are we'd both agree the leaf I'm holding is green, and that neither of us would feel the need to prove it. We could even agree to call it a "fact," even without "proof." We have similar enough senses to perceive it roughly the same way. We might differ on whether it's Lincoln green or Forest green, but I think we'd both agree it was green (unless of course one us is color blind, at which point I guess he'd have to take the other's word for it on faith <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /> ), and that it is, in fact, per our shared perceptions and accepted definitions, "there."<br /><br />And yes, I do accept my wife's love, if we want to call it that, somewhat on faith. But there is a mess of proof, too. Just ask my 3 kids, my dog, my mortgage holder, my wallet ... the proof is in the proverbial pudding (which is outfreaking=standing, btw -- her custard is killer). <br /><br />Let's not equate such with the Truly Big Questions, though. I would hope that we could at least start from a reasonably close common baseline as to what you and I both consider "real" without starting at the extreme outer edges of the issue.<br /><br />If not, we're going to spin our wheels here, and I'm not strong enough to write full-blown research papers any more. That's Inmate's forte. <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /><br /> <br /> <small>[ March 21, 2002, 04:37 PM: Message edited by: Om ]</small> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mardi gras skin Posted March 21, 2002 Share Posted March 21, 2002 I think our differences on the Big Questions may come down to reality perception (is the universe ordered or chaotic), but I understand not wanting to go there. <br /><br />To me, the truly Big Questions include "am I loved, is there a God, and why the freak can't we beat the Cowboys," so I guess you'll have to set the paramaters.<br /><br />And i cringe at the effort of responding to more full blown essays...thank you for your weakness <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /><br /> <br /> <small>[ March 21, 2002, 05:31 PM: Message edited by: mardi ]</small> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PCS Posted March 23, 2002 Share Posted March 23, 2002 Hello? (peeking head in door). Cool, no essay battle here. K, I'm not sure how this fits in but it does mention UFO's. <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /> I am not, repeat not expressing my opinion on whether or not they exist. <img border="0" title="" alt="[smile]" src="smile.gif" /> Now, if I can just keep the little #*&&**'s from coming to pick me up while I'm asleep...... <img border="0" title="" alt="[Roll Eyes]" src="rolleyes.gif" /> <br /><br /><a href="http://www.cosmiverse.com/paranormal03190201.html" target="_blank">http://www.cosmiverse.com/paranormal03190201.html</a><br /> <br /> <small>[ March 23, 2002, 08:34 PM: Message edited by: Park City Skins ]</small> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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