Jonathan H. B. Lobl

Member
  • Posts

    10,734
  • Joined

  • Last visited

Everything posted by Jonathan H. B. Lobl

  1. Alright. I have nothing to contribute in the way of insight. Enjoy the search.
  2. Just Dan being Dan. Telling Atheists what we believe, what we think and what we feel. You know. Christian humility. Nobody bothered to respond at the time. He's not worth arguing with now.
  3. Where are you going with this? Is it simply a favorite quote?
  4. In the best of all possible worlds I would love that. In the real world I live in New York City. That is one difficult and expensive commute.
  5. I suppose that is a matter of interpretation. I am not a Buddhist, but I have incorporated some basic Buddhist thought into my life. It helps me a lot.
  6. Spirituality is where you find it or declare it. In loose terms you are talking about a path of the body sacred. Running and walking are both calming practices. They are forms of meditation, calming and soothing mind and spirit, releasing stress while enhancing the health of the body. Consider the fruits of other religious cultures. Yoga means to "yoke". To attach oneself to God. Stretching, slow deep breathing, etc. It's a path to health and enlightenment. A product of Vedic traditions. Taoism has given the world Qi Gong and Tai Chi. Slow graceful movements that stretch muscles and joints with calming deep breath. Of course there are other traditions.
  7. I have waited too long for an edit. So an addendum. My current understanding of Apatheism: A God that cannot be demonstrated to exist isn't worth arguing about.
  8. Humor? Alright. Dan would see it that way. He thinks that what we believe about God is important. A reality check. Do you think that an Apatheist is "an Agnostic with an attitude"? I don't think it's funny, but alright.
  9. The last few years have been a remarkable ordeal. Well, I wish you a happy and healthy new year. Jonathan.
  10. Play nice. She meant well. May the goddess Apathea continue to ignore you. 🙂
  11. Don't worry. Autocorrect gets all of us -- and your intent was clear.
  12. Welcome back. Of course the board is "insecure". It wouldn't be much of a forum if people can't read it. 🙂 If someone posts -- they've active. People wander in, they wander off. Feel welcome.
  13. I have discovered that there is no such thing as a perfect label for me. A label that answers all questions about me, at all times, under all circumstances. It comes down to context and what question is being asked. I'm a human being. I'm an American. I'm a man. I'm a senior. I'm an arthritic I'm a mammal. These and many more labels apply. In like manner, I have an ethnic and tribal identity. I'm Jewish. Because in a world suffused with antisemitism, how others see me still matters. In like manner, I have my religious labels. I'm an Atheist, because I lack piety and I don't believe. Because I need a reason to believe but I don't need a reason to not believe. Because I actually read the Bible -- both the Hebrew and Greek sections. I'm an Agnostic, because we have no objective verifiable facts about God. Nothing at all. It is silly to argue in a compete absence of facts. Because I would rather talk about what I know instead about what I believe. Because I don't actually know if God exists, I'm not going to find out and I don't worry about it. I'm an Apatheist, because of all the silly pointless things to argue about, God's existence heads the list. A God that cannot be demonstrated to exist is meaningless. Even if that God does exist -- so what? Leave the possibility open? It doesn't matter. In my view, there is no supernatural. If something exists, it is part of the natural order. I despise metaphysics. I have always found prune juice to be a strong enough physic. (That was a joke.) That's enough for now.
  14. I made the foolish mistake of posting something from a "messianic rabbi". It was one of my dumber moves. I thought it might lead to interesting conversation. Imagine my disappointment. I posted some stuff from Jews for Judaism. Another mistake. In loose terms I suppose the subject is the old -- "what is a Jew?" It could be interesting. This has proven to be a bad place for it. It's good to see you again. I have missed your presence on the board. Good Shabbos.
  15. I see that you are still averse to making distinctions. There are many things in life that are worthy of great passion. God is not one of them. Apatheism is for people who are tired of silly and useless arguments about God's existence. A God that cannot be demonstrated to exist is not worth arguing about. Even if that God actually exists. No more arguing about faith or belief. No more arguing about knowledge. It doesn't matter. This is NOT "void of substance". It is an awakening. 😃
  16. I like the word. It fills a need. It's a small need, but a need. When I don't want to argue about belief or knowledge.
  17. Job 17:12 They change the night into day: the light is short because of darkness. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations
  18. Job 12:22 He discovereth deep things out of darkness, and bringeth out to light the shadow of death. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations Job 12:25 They grope in the dark without light, and he maketh them to stagger like a drunken man. In Context | Full Chapter | Other Translations