A vocation in a vocation

Quote: Evenbob

Let's use this analogy. I don't collect
stamps. What's my position on collecting
stamps? I don't have one, I don't collect
them. Why would I have a 'position' on
something I'm not involved in.

There is a big difference in not collecting stamps and then saying to some one who collects stamps they are foolish because there is no such thing as a stamp. You tell me and anyone that listens that there is no God at all. You don't just say that you don't believe in God or that your not interested or even that you don't know if there is or not. You make it very clear over and over again that there is no God and you say this with such conviction even though you have no evidence to support you. You really are like someone who tells a stamp collector that there is no such thing as a stamp and that what I have in my book is nothing but a figment of my imagination.

Quote:

As far as your life being soooooo superior
to mine because you're a believer, how would
you know.

You are reading into something I've said and I don't know why. I just got through saying we are in the same boat on the same big and turbulent sea. I view the atheist position as related to the theist position, except for the fact that I have never seen anything or heard any argument that would support the atheist position.

Quote: FrGamble

Well I guess this thread is derailed for a bit so I'll join in by pointing out your inconsistency Bob. You seem to be saying that if science can't explain it you will wait for an answer.

No, it's just like anything else. Sometimes you don't know an answer to something. Eventually you or someone figures something new out, no one knew before

Now when we finally see in the news, scientist exhaust all possibilities and decide it could only be god, then you'll have something.

Not sure what your boat is full of. Possibly full of your imagination.

I don't think science, if it's doing its job, would or could say anything like that. Just like religion would or should never say that they have discovered string theory or understand dark matter. However, what science can do, and does is discover things like an expanding universe and that the universe had a beginning. Philosophy and logic show that this is consistent with the principal of contingency and the impossibility of an actual infinite regress and that the logical conclusion is that something outside of space and time, non-contingent, and omnipotent created all that exists. This is what the theist has in his or her boat - science, logic, the beauty of creation, art, poetry, music, math, personal experiences, conscious life, objective morality, etc.

I can easily admit the ability for humans to conceive the imaginary is very real. But the ability does not make the things in the imagination real.

You give special relevance to the ability to conceive. I don't. Except in the fact as they are tools. Like math. Or art.

I can even conceive of a supernatural event like a resurrection, whereas you go too far and claim evidence where there is none. Your boat is full of nothing.

You mistake tools for imagination as proof that something material exists in your boat for which there is no evidence.

Sorry for the late arrival.

My vote is stay where you are. I, of course, only know you through your many posts here and at WoV so take everything I say with a big heap of salt. That said, you seem like a social person who might get lonely or bored in a monastery. I keep hearing about a shortage of priests and it would be all the worse shortage with one more vacant position.

If I were a god, and I hope to be someday (running forums is my training), I would judge a soul by what did he contribute to life on earth less what did he consume from it. Granted, there would be exceptions made for the handicapped. My point being, I don't see what monks being confined to monastery are contributing to their fellow man outside the monastery.

Finally, can you quote any bible passages that support the monastic lifestyle? In my reading of the bible I didn't see any.

That's my two cents, and overpriced at that.

Quote: Wizard

If I were a god

You're a god among licence plate collectors.
There are even shrines to you in various
DMV offices.

Quote: Wizard

My vote is stay where you are. .

Yes. Stay awhile while you reflect more on your options. Plant those dogbud lilies and garlic so as to feed the poor. Think awhile before committing yourself to any particular path.

>>Finally, can you quote any bible passages that support the monastic lifestyle? In my reading of the bible I didn't see any.
In the Middle Ages a cloistered residence was often kept on a strict 50:50 ratio between the sexes. The Bible is too full of begetting and warfare to support a monastic lifestyle.

Quote: Evenbob

You're a god among licence plate collectors.
There are even shrines to you in various
DMV offices.

Thanks but I'm pretty small in that world. There are probably about 500 to 1,000 people with better collections than mine.

Quote: Fleastiff

>>Finally, can you quote any bible passages that support the monastic lifestyle? In my reading of the bible I didn't see any.
In the Middle Ages a cloistered residence was often kept on a strict 50:50 ratio between the sexes. The Bible is too full of begetting and warfare to support a monastic lifestyle.

If there is an option to give it a try for three months or so, I would go that route. Personally, I would get bored silly contemplating my navel all day long.

Quote: Wizard

Personally, I would get bored silly contemplating my navel all day long.

That's why it's a lifestyle that few embrace.
It sounds good on paper, in reality it's a
snoozefest..