tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935639699252343081.post5487150640847894382..comments2023-11-05T03:56:30.685-08:00Comments on The Worrywart: ListenUnknownnoreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935639699252343081.post-30399425383792659832010-04-12T16:50:28.468-07:002010-04-12T16:50:28.468-07:00Oh and as always thanks for the comments. They are...Oh and as always thanks for the comments. They are always helpful.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10155314394083789255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935639699252343081.post-27077608148774442272010-04-12T16:39:02.601-07:002010-04-12T16:39:02.601-07:00Huston Smith uses the idea of a stainglass window,...Huston Smith uses the idea of a stainglass window, which when light shines through it creates numerous different ("conflicting") colors.<br /><br />I also like the idea in the Koran that says, "And We (God) never sent a messenger save with the language of his folk, that he might make (the message) clear for them." 14.4 It allows for some sense of univerality and shows some understanding of the importance of context and language when it comes to belief<br /><br />As far as the room goes I admit I was just dealing with the analogy head on accepting certain assumptions of the author in order to demnstrate at least a few of the weakness of the idea. I just did not really want to get too far into all the problems I see with it. Your question would of course be an important one to ask. First what is the room? and second why should we think we want to get out of it? There are of course others but I did not want to get side tracked from the issues of my post. Plus I was in a hurry. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10155314394083789255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935639699252343081.post-70402895930058043362010-04-12T06:46:27.346-07:002010-04-12T06:46:27.346-07:00Zach, excellent post. To listen is a skill that we...Zach, excellent post. To listen is a skill that we all possess (it is innately human, I should think), and yet hardly use. On your struggles with plurality, consider what the Amritabindu Upanishad teaches: "The milk of cows of any hue is white. The sages say that wisdom is the milk and the sacred scriptures are the cows." We can acknowledge that the cows differ, while still drawing something of the same form and substance (the wisdom-milk) from them.<br />With regard to the room-full-of-doors analogy, how do we know that to leave the room is the ultimate goal?nuclear.kellyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18218956177203199577noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935639699252343081.post-77404150645247721922010-04-12T00:54:30.821-07:002010-04-12T00:54:30.821-07:00Good to hear from you Jarrod it has been a long ti...Good to hear from you Jarrod it has been a long time. The difficultly created by that is of course that neither of us has any real clue about what is happening with the other person. I will not spend a lot of time hear responding to your claims we can do that on facebook or through email if you want. <br /><br />I will point you to an older post of mine in my blog titled Pride and Humility. Your accusation of arrogance cannot help but remind me of it. Just note that you are the one saying atheism cannot be true not the other way around and you are the one saying there is only one true Door even though in your own analogy finding one door out of a room by no means gives you any bases from which to claim it is the only way out of the room any more than it gives another person the bases to say there is no way out. The fact is the only difference between you and the atheist you described is that you have opened one more door then he has. Honestly if a person only bothers to look behind one door and accept what they find there their escape from the room is based upon luck and laziness as much as anything else. A person's beliefs will always be true if they never bother to learn and allow them to be challenged. (Check out a post of mine in February called Faith and Reason) <br /><br />It is also worth noting that there are various types of atheism so not believing in the Abrahamic God does not mean you must be a materialist who believes there is nothing out there. And while you will not agree atheism does not trap you inside of the "room" you describe instead it is also one of the doors that might lead out. Feel free to take a look. I know what is behind your door and your "Door" is just a door to me. Valuable yes but by no means superior.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10155314394083789255noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-935639699252343081.post-15347510337071234472010-04-11T23:07:50.983-07:002010-04-11T23:07:50.983-07:00Zach, while I share your thirst for knowledge and ...Zach, while I share your thirst for knowledge and understanding I can't help but be reminded, by your questions, of the very dilemma that faces atheism and ultimately discredits it. I'll choose to explain myself this way; if I am in a room surrounded by a presumably infinite number of doors and my desire is to get out of the room I need only find one door that is an exit and use it. An atheist says, "i know that there is no God" and in the case of the room, "i know there is no way out of this room" and therefore stops looking. this is different from your assertion in that you continue to look for exits, but is the same in the sense that both require a great amount of arrogance to assume that one could know everything (or whats behind every door). but thats not even the biggest problem with it. you have effectively changed the desire to get out of the room to a desire to explore where the doors lead and you your self said thats too much for one lifetime. it is a fact that so many religions are contradictory to one another, it stands well to say that they cant all be right. Blaise Pascal might even say that your pursuits are spiritually suicidal, that is if what you say is true that other voices have led you away. zach, i love you man and i say all this to say, please be careful how far you let your curiosity take you away from the one true "Door"Jarrod Wheelernoreply@blogger.com