I am an Atheist and always have been.

[gruntlabor]

I think a lot depends on whether the thread goes downhill because someone disregarded the rule. Harmony is the goal here.

Yes, harmony.
I think we're all very much alike. Our angry disagreements stem mostly from misunderstandings or untruths or rephrasing of reasonable ideas to the point of farce, my opinion.
Unfortunately, we also have dishonesty.

 

[Vida May]

Touche.

I meant my post as a simple question though.

I am sorry. The simple answer is that politics are taboo, and I can appreciate that, but I am also obsessive/compulsive, and when something triggers a thought about something I really care about, I feel like I'm going to die if I don't immediately tell the whole world what I think.

Nothing is simple to me. Everything is connected to everything else, and I have such a hard time following the rules. As you said, "It's a difficult subject to avoid w/some topics so I get it." Especially for me.

Hmm, maybe that struggle is part of my spiritual journey that I should reflect upon? At the moment, I am realizing I have a lot of anxiety tied up with this issue of me being political. Especially when we are in a war, I go nuts! The Second World War had a strong impact on me and then Vietnam. It is like being on a terrifying roller coaster as we move in and out of wars. I have worn nothing but black since our most recent war. I will be so glad to stop wearing black when the killing and destruction stops.

 

[Vida May]

Yeah, I was having too much fun getting carried away with politics as a mental disorder. But now that I think about it in a more rational way, I'm thinking I might be on to something.

Is that mental disorder also a spiritual disorder?

 

[Vida May]

I reread my post of yesterday and realized that I let emotion overtake me. I do not agree with abortion. Every life is precious. The context was that Gov does not belong in moral issues. Enough said. I need to step away from this topic. To all.........may God bless.

OMG Morals are the most important part of citizenship and government. We had education in good moral judgment until 1958, when our domestic education was replaced by education for technology. There can not be a democracy with liberty without good moral judgment.

 

[gruntlabor]

OMG Morals are the most important part of citizenship and government. We had education in good moral judgment until 1958, when our domestic education was replaced by education for technology. There can not be a democracy with liberty without good moral judgment.

I don't think anyone will argue with that.
Not all the institutions in the world, not all the positive intentions can do a speck of good without a foundation of decency.

 

[rbtvgo]

Decency and respect. Compassion, patience and an ability to try and understand the world we live in. The older we get, the harder it is to understand. One can only step back to our own 20's and try to understand what it was like for those in their 60' and 70's to understand us. Now we are THEM. We look at the world with pretty much the same eyes as our parents and grandparents did then. Scary thought.
Will we survive? will we find a way?
I believe we will only because I know God is in charge.
Have a nice evening

 

[Messy]

Decades ago in Brazil or Colombia they went door to door and asked people if they had something they could pray for. The only thing they asked them was to call them if the prayer had been answered, so they knew they could stop praying for it. A woman said: I lost my cat. They prayed. At night they got a call: Guess what? He's back!

I had a colleague. She couldn't get kids and she wanted to adopt, but they said they were too old, so she saw the cat a bit as a replacement for a kid. She just said that. One day the cat was gone. They lived near a big road. Here cats are mostly outside. After 3 days he hadn't come back. I thought he got hit by a car.
I sat in the bus. God said: Pray for that cat. Why? He's dead. Pray for that cat. Okay. I prayed for the cat.

Next morning her husband called her at the office. I heard it. The cat came back. But they were so sad that she had instantly replaced him with 2 others, so now they had 3 lol.

 

[Vida May]

Decency and respect. Compassion, patience and an ability to try and understand the world we live in. The older we get, the harder it is to understand. One can only step back to our own 20's and try to understand what it was like for those in their 60' and 70's to understand us. Now we are THEM. We look at the world with pretty much the same eyes as our parents and grandparents did then. Scary thought.
Will we survive? will we find a way?
I believe we will only because I know God is in charge.
Have a nice evening

That was a beautiful explanation. I think that seeking understanding is important to our life purpose and spiritual growth.

However, the word "God" is problematic for me because religion is so divisive, and I think the mythologies can lead people to harmful notions and bad behaviors, such as burning people and not understanding the importance of cleanliness, slavery, and war. Most of us are not superstitious today but we have too many people denying scientific truths. Like, there are some good reasons for being an atheist.

The science of consciousness is leading us back to an understanding of God, but the new understanding of God is not the humanized God of the bible. Arguing against the existance of God, is like a puppy chasing its own tail, but believing we know God is problematic. AI says...

The Bible presents God as both knowable, through his revelations and personal nature, and fundamentally incomprehensible (or "unknowable") because his infinite nature exceeds finite human understanding.

If we kept this in mind, perhaps we could be more open-minded and work to find agreements instead of disagreements.

 

[gruntlabor]

... If we kept this in mind, perhaps we could be more open-minded and work to find agreements instead of disagreements.

You would force me to adopt your opinions of God, mythology, cleanliness, slavery, war, superstition, and science if you could?
Are you sure that by "working to find agreement" you don't actually mean "working to find agreement with you"?
No offense meant, it's easy to fall into error in that way.