Jonathan H. B. Lobl

Yes. Of course. The numbers are impossible. All of those animals. Pooping and peeing every hour of every day. In enclosed space. Think of the fumes. Think of the food storage needs of one elephant. Or one lion. They all need water. People want to believe.

Yes. The size. The distances.

You get the night sky without light pollution. It sounds glorious. :-)

Toxic Religious Preaching https://www.patheos.com/blogs/rolltodisbelieve/2020/01/02/christian-lies-were-so-brave-for-being-christian/?utm_medium=email&utm_source=BRSS&utm_campaign=Nonreligious&utm_content=364

Yes. It can be difficult to find quiet spaces. Churches are useful.

Yes. One of the things that does it for me, is a night sky full of stars. It is a feeling of great awe. Or a great thunder and lightning storm. Or a deep contemplation of a mountain. There is no element of worship.

Yes. Defining the word as spirit or soul is useless. What do they mean? All of these esoteric words break down, to invisible assumptions about metaphysics. The deeper we look, the more useless it gets. What happens if we take a shallow look? Defining spirituality as spirit is no help at all. Some of it is pure fluff. Some of it is spirits. More religion. Soul is a religious argument -- like God.

I don't trust this distinction, between Spiritual and Material. Donating blood, which is physical, is a spiritual act. Working hard for money, then donating that money, is a spiritual act. I don't have even a working definition of Spiritual. I do have a disdain for false binaries -- which this definition clearly is. Further, I think that religious people, like Dan, have so poisoned the word -- that it is now useless.

In the current state of physics, the speed of Light is an absolute speed limit. That means that nothing can travel through space, faster than light. I am being careful with my phrasing. It seems that space itself, can expand faster than the speed of light. This is why distant galaxies seem to be moving away from us at such speeds. These galaxies are not moving away from us -- through space -- at faster than light speeds. The intervening space itself, is expanding, at such speeds. In a black hole, a field of space where gravity is so strong, that even light can not escape -- space collapses into a singularity. In the space between galactic clusters -- gravity is weak and space expands. I had to specify. Within Galactic clusters, gravity is strong enough to prevent space from expanding. Also, within galaxies. That is why galaxies can still collide. In about four billion years, our Milky Way galaxy will merge with Andromeda. Science is just beginning, to find out, how weird the Universe is.

You're right of course. On both counts. I don't want to argue over obvious reality, with Dan. Life is too short. I'm too bored. Happy New Year.

Yes.

You could surmise that. You would be wrong. Still, feel free to make your baseless assumptions.

An addendum: Dan, this is what you said to Mark. "You certainly can share some of the same moral values. My only point was that it seemed illogical to disparage and denigrate a person who personified many of the same moral attributes that they claim to embrace?" If you want Jesus to be a personification -- you are agreeing that he is mythology. Just like Thor.

Allow me to clarify. It is not the Bible verses that Pete is sick and tired of. It is you -- quoting the Bible -- at him -- that Pete is sick and tired of.

This entry has become the current point of contention. Jesus as the personification of various virtues and qualities. Jesus as the personification of love, peace, charity, etc. To my understanding, All of the gods are personifications. I think a good example would be the Mighty Thor. As a Thunder god, Thor personifies the chaos of the storm. Thor is also a war god. Thor personifies the chaos of battle. Is there an actual Thor? Running around the Earth with his mighty hammer? No. Which brings us back to Jesus. I have no objection to saying that Jesus personifies love -- in the same way that Thor personifies chaos. Neither one of them actually walked the Earth, in physical reality. That is what personification means.

Just so.

Does it matter?

I'm aware of that. In the past, scientists have found ways to do the impossible. They may yet find a way to do FTL. Possibly by warping space. That does not mean FTL will be practical.

I went back looking for exactly what Dan said and what he was responding too. This is what I found on page 7. ." So stop reading here if your bored with biblical references that substantiate my position, its the dogma Jonathan warned you about" "3. since Pete is so offended by the bible," Dan twists things around. I was explaining to Dan, that Pete was not offended by the Bible. It was Dan's use of the Bible that offended Pete. Look how Dan twisted that. Only in Dan's mind, would I be warning Pete about Dan's winning dogma. It's all there on page 7. If you can sift through Dan's manure.

I'm considering the possibilities. Without faster than light travel (FTL) -- a simple visit could take hundreds of years. Tough on organic life. Not so much for A.I. Even if FTL is possible, it might be so costly or difficult, that it would only be used for high need. Nothing routine. Even for an alien culture with super high tech; not everything that is possible will be practical.

What kind of evidence is God sending us?

Just so.

Pete: There are many fictional characters -- from literature and legend -- who personify various characteristics. Jesus is on that list. Along with Captain Ahab, Robbin Hood, King Arthur, Dracula, Batman, Superman, Mosses, Spiderman, Long John Silver, Moby Dick, etc. Do we need to repudiate any of them?

1. All my life, Christians have been preaching at me. I have heard. Why do you suppose I never joined up? 2. Yes. 3. Pete is not offended by the Bible. Pete is offended by your use of the Bible. 4. Pete and I are both aware of the many contradictions in Scripture. There is no need to assemble them for us. 5. Yes. More of God not knowing. 6. Back to the perfect plan. I read the Book. They all fail.