Trey

I've searched long enough.
Damageplan: "My search for answers only left to more questions"

As far as it being healthy, well that all depends on how you look at it. In a way it's healthy. people feel safe and find comfort in the fact that they know someone is always there for them. Everything that goes right and everything that goes wrong, it doesn't seem to matter as much cause they feel god has it all planned out. All these reasons, for a Christian, is healthy. For an atheist it's blind and false hope. Then again for those like me who just don't know what is goin' on; it's a double edge sword. it's easy to feel wrong for all the things you've done and you have all these mixed emotions on the subject.

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mr dave

that forces the assumption that there actually is an answer to everything as opposed to life being a constant learning process.

it's a whole hell of a lot simpler to swallow once people stop giving a crap about being 'right'. as if their emotional reaction channeled through their personal perspective on a situation or stimulation is somehow truer than anyone else's.

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i am the universe

SATCHMO

I'm sure situations like what you described occur in churches and other group oriented situations, however I must say that most of my experiences weren't contingent in any external influences as I was alone.
I understand your train of logic, but I was more gearing toward an understanding of how our subconscious mind, collective or individual, effect our perception on a seemingly spiritual level.

cardboard adolescent

it's all very simple really...

lucifer_sam

i am so hard right now.

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first.am

cardboard adolescent

that's godel's symbolic logic version of anselm's ontological argument, in case anyone actually cares

CAPTAIN CAVEMAN

i think thats a negatory

Guybrush

I don't understand what it says which makes caring kind of hard.

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Something Completely Different

Trey

I don't mean to sound stupid but I don't really understand that. Everything requires some sort of answer doesn't it? I know life is a constant learning process and there are several approaches to every situation and all this and maybe no one has it figured out at all. Maybe it's just so complex that it just can't be imagined. I don't know but whatever it is there has to be some sort of answer?

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Whatsitoosit

it seems to me the need to be right has been the backbone of our progression as humans. Science, theory, etc... are all dismissed until somebody is persistent enough to prove it right. I know what you're saying though, some people are just stubborn even when the writing is on the wall to how wrong they truly are. I guess the kind of people who make a difference with persistence are intelligent ones.

on a different note, my fiancee and I are both Catholic but we were both brought up differently in that I was raised more with the fear of God as she was raised with the love of God. You can certainly tell the difference between the two of us, I act more out of guilt and she acts more out of kindness. I struggled with the idea of raising my kids catholic because of my own experiences but I must say being with somebody that has a healthier take on religion has made me reconsider this. We have discussed it a lot and I told her I will never raise my kids to believe the stories in the bible are fact, I will just allow them to grasp the morals and meaning within' the stories. When they are of age to make up their own minds I will do nothing to persuade them either way, I will just support whatever way they decide to go.

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"It takes 43 muscles to frown and 17 to smile,
but it doesn't take any to just sit there with a dumb look on your face."