The problem however with this thread is that it’s title suggests that it is only for Christians, and therefore uninviting to those with other beliefs. I think it would be better if everyone just moved to my thread.
Me thinks you overestimate the power of suggestion.
I think you underestimate the power of suggestion, if the suggestion is the first thing one knows about something. That is a very big problem amongst society, because often times the first thing someone hears about something will be what determines the individuals opinion on this thing for the rest of his/her/it’s life. It’s easy to get an idea in someone’s head when there’s no idea there already, but getting an idea out of someone’s head or replacing it with another idea can often times be very very difficult. It is convenient for people to believe themselves to be certain about something, so when they are introduced to an idea they often immediately form an opinion and decide that they KNOW all about it and KNOW that they are right. It is then very hard to reason with them, and show them that they have been misled, because it would always be a nice self-esteem boost for them if they think they know something to be true, and have been right all along. People often try their best to convince themselves that they were right all along, until a certain breaking point where they can no longer convince themselves, and they realize that it was an absurd idea, sometimes maybe damaging their fragile self-esteem. So you see Billy, suggestion can mean everything, because a mere suggestion if given at the start can quickly turn into a statement of fact in an individuals mind.
Should I assume knowing all this makes YOU immune from this problem?
It makes me more aware of this problem, causing me to be more conscious of my psychological actions and steering clear of this disease to the best of my ability.
Great!
Innoculate everyone!
I’m praying right now. And Matt, you know I’ll never give up. I think you post stuff like that because like to hear me say I’ll never give up. 
Great idea. Why dont we just create a designated all purpose world religion while were at it?
Oh wait, maybe that’s the dumbest idea ever, it wouldn’t make anybody angry at all now would it?
So much for not arguing… 
Create one? Just create one? Just like that?
If a religion were to be created that was sure to be true, let me tell you, that would be the greatest idea in human history. That is what many scientists are trying to do actually. They are trying their best to bounce off possible ideas off of one another about things in general, and then test them out through experimentation. There are plenty of scientists out there who’s goal is to discover more and more about the general nature of everything, eventually spreading their discoveries throughout humanity. Once all is discovered, their discoveries would become the world’s religion, as long as all are willing to accept the ideas.
With science it’s very different though than most religions. Most religions nowadays glorify absolute faith, and discourage the consideration of ideas that oppose it, and discourage any doubts in the specific religion. Science is very different. Science, in theory, does exactly the opposite, it encourages a constant change in theories as new evidence is shown that disproves what was thought to be true. Science is on a constant quest for completion as well as accuracy, while religion claims to be complete and correct in all aspects, and to have always been correct from the beginning. This is a dangerous state of mind to be in, because the nature of conscious life is that as more experiences are had, ideas become better developed and more accurate, as there are more pieces of evidence to consider. Thankfully, one of the aspects of human nature is that these ideas often are shared with one another, more and more is recorded, and more and more is known. The more experiences taken into account, the bigger the sample of experience and that almost always leads to higher accuracy. Since knowledge can be passed on in humanity to the future, and recollected from the past, as time rolls on, and more experiences and ideas are recorded, there’s more and more to work with, and more and more oppurtunities for finding out the nature of things. I absolutely love how when I look back at my past, and think of my ideas back then, and how they sort of morphed as I had gained more experience as well as had more time to think about them. It’s one of the most beautiful things in the world when people adapt there previous theories and ideas to match there experiences as they come to them, in my opinion. I love it when I experience something that causes me to think differently than I have before, it gives a great feeling of advancement, and higher accuracy. So it saddens me when so many religions out there discourage such evolution of ideas, dooming the human race from any further inspection, any improvement in accuracy, and any furthering of knowledge. The ideas shown in many of today’s religions were likely very advanced for their time, and worked well with the common knowledge of the people. The people of the time came up with wonderful theories as to what may be the case, why everything is the way it is, and that is truly beautiful. However, so much more has been discovered since then, so many religious ideas can be adapted to be more consistant with what we now believe to be true, but the idea that one needs absolute faith is what stops us from any adaptation towards further accuracy. It’s a shame, it’s very depressing, and causes nothing but problems. Why must we trick ourselves into thinking that we were right all along? Why can’t we accept all of our ideas as what they are, simply theories that are consistant with all of what we had considered, which can change as soon as more is considered. If only people began to realize that they aren’t gods, they don’t know anything for certain, and they cannot treat anything as certain, this world would be so much better.
Joseph Smith created Mormonism. L. Ron Hubbard created Dianetics. Bobby Henderson created The Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster.
It’s not a far-fetched concept… some people will believe just about anything if you sell it to them well enough.
As I said, if you sell it well enough, most any religion could be packaged as “true” and people will buy it.
No. Hell no. I understand what you’re getting at, but no. Science is but a method. Religion is an all-encompassing philosophy. Big difference there.
Dude, seriously, you could crush an elephant under that monstrosity of a paragraph. I know you’ve found the “Enter” key. Learn to use it more. It’s impossible to read what you write sometimes.
yet another argument threadin the making 
i’m asking for prayer to keep a few of my friends safe as they do thier free designated driver service tonight.
and for everyone who’s in school that they may do well
and that those who do not agree with another’s theology not be angered by it, or let it bother them perpetually.
I’ll pray for all those things.
Pray that all the people headed home this Easter weekend would drive safely and that those they are driving near would also drive safely. No accidents would be good.
+1
for arguments on Pele’s ideas please go HERE
Except when they’re f’cking AWESOME!!!
Science, as distinct from atheism, glorifies Faith in the Scientific Method.
Some scientists may glorify faith in the Scientific Method.
Science, however, is a method, a practice. You cannot personify science. FAIL.
Being the grammar nazi isn’t enough? Now you’re the personification nazi too?
Sorry, maestro8.
But you can have Faith in a path to Truth, in a method. All persons of Faith including Scientists claim they have a path to Truth. Like persons of Faith, not all Scientists are as arrogant about their path.
Billy