tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8225855.post110541255218085943..comments2023-10-18T16:25:13.593+01:00Comments on Famous for 15 megapixels: Write post about Judaism, light blue touchpaper and stand well back ...Stefhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01467757421113856218noreply@blogger.comBlogger3125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8225855.post-1105487273482775102005-01-11T23:47:00.000+00:002005-01-11T23:47:00.000+00:00Yes, good fun but we probably have overloaded this...Yes, good fun but we probably have overloaded this post's comment-bearing capacity. A few thoughts though ...<br /><br />Will check out Roots Manuva - accessing Soulseek means you need never pay for an album you discover that you don't like ever again<br /><br />Agree with the organised religion comment. Organisation = power = corruption. In that regard the Celtic Church was a very beautiful thing and consequently was unable to stand up against the Catholic Church and doesn't exist anymore.<br /><br />Yes, people can easily be spiritual and moral without a conscious religious influence. It's often better as they're not putting an act on in search of some expected Heavenly Reward. You can buy into concepts such as a soul and decency without swallowing anyone's book.<br /><br />Knowing the true name of things is the key the several magical systems which is one the reasons why some people in the past have associated Judaism with witchcraft.<br /><br />People of yore being the same as us? Absolutely. Arguably they were smarter and more subtle than us as they had lower tech and none of the brute force available to us in the way of internal combustion engines and dynamite. Pyramids anyone? But then you get onto the question of 'If we've been around for x00,000 years what were we doing for most of that time?' But you're right, another post.Stefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01467757421113856218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8225855.post-1105475306682204812005-01-11T20:28:00.000+00:002005-01-11T20:28:00.000+00:00Yes, there are more than a few ropey (very ropey) ...Yes, there are more than a few ropey (very ropey) ideas in the Talmud but I consciously left those alone because all beliefs have similar skeletons in their closet. And not just classic religions either. Scientists have supported racial discrimination, sterilisation and euthenasia in the not too distant past on the basis that they were helping evolution by purifying the human gene pool. If it's OK to criticise religions for the sins of the past the same should apply to science.<br /><br />Religion and science are the work of humans and as such are subject to human flaws and weaknesses. Just because someone says such and such a daft law is the will of God doesn't mean that it actually is the will of God and reflects badly on that person not God. The same caveat applies to the occasional Nazi scientist who thinks it's OK to vivisect retards or hack their knackers off in the name of Darwinism.<br /><br />Even though all religions are flawed it doesn't mean that belief in a Creator itself is a flawed concept. Personally, my heart and my mind suggest to me that belief in ...<br /><br />- a creative force<br />- a purpose to existence<br />- the existence of right and wrong<br />- viewing life's challenges as an aid to personal development<br /><br />make for a much more workable life framework than belief in ...<br /><br />- a random, purposeless universe<br />- no such thing as right and wrong<br />- no such thing as love or beauty, other than as evolutionary tricks<br /><br />whether you believe in an afterlife or not. And aren't proponents of the second value set capable of being just as shifty as fundamentalist religious types? We hear a lot in our media about how crap religion is but virtually nothing about the implications of atheistic science. How dissonant are some of those guys? Jamming needles in rabbits eyes at work then going home to a family life based on a complete different set of values.<br /><br />I have a background in earth science, follow no particular belief system and am intensely cynical by nature. Yet, for all that, and maybe because of that, I see evidence of design and purpose all around me. Beyond what is permitted by existing naturalistic beliefs.<br /><br />Also, I'll stand by my individuality comment. The monotheistic relgions stress that the individual is created with a conscience and is free to make decisions and, usually, promise the survival of individual personality. Eastern religions, as a generalisation don't. That's why concepts such as destiny, fortune telling, lucky numbers, magic etc. carry a lot more weight in the East than the West. This has probably got something to do with historic population densities in the countries in which each religion arose but that's another story.<br /><br />PS It's not just Judaism that places store in the maternal line, lots of other cultures have done similar with their inheritance laws for exactly the reason you hint at. You can always be pretty sure about the identity of a baby's mother.Stefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01467757421113856218noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8225855.post-1105467274883489572005-01-11T18:14:00.000+00:002005-01-11T18:14:00.000+00:00But it was such a lovely picture!
Yes, I didn't m...But it was such a lovely picture!<br /><br />Yes, I didn't make the point clearer enough in the original post. Judaism covers both the people and the religion. I don't have any figures to hand but I would suggest that not many people convert to Judaism and those that do probably do it for practical reasons like marriage.<br /><br />When I said that they might be onto something I was suggesting that they really might be a chosen people. They were around at the begining and probably will still be around at the end. Hard-core fundamental Christians certainly believe that and are pumping cash like crazy into the Israel, specifically to lay the table out in accordance with Biblical prophecy in time for the End Time.<br /><br />And, yes, you could argue that pagan beliefs are older but let's be honest about this - how many people calling themselves druids, or witches, or Wiccans can claim an unbroken link with those that came before? I'm not rubbishing these beliefs but in their current form they are largely a modern invention based on idealised picture of what those religions were originally about. And even if you would argue that there is an unbroken link that's good as well given that, like Jews, they too were persecuted by younger, paranoid cultures.<br /><br />The Buddhist thing? Again, I'm not rubbishing Buddhism or other Eastern religions but they do place an awful lot less emphasis on the individual and even encourage followers to suppress their individuality. Speaking as an individual I can't buy that. Wherever we came from, a Creator or sludge, we were gifted with uniqueness and I believe that to deny that is to deny yourself and the reasons for your existence.<br /><br />Bagels good. Cameras good.Stefhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01467757421113856218noreply@blogger.com