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a developmental BLOG_1 for self-quoting

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*(: Prov_The_UnOpened_Gift.txt

Life is like an Unopened Gift,
. . . like a song to be sung.

Why do we hurry through the day,
. . . and worry through the night.

We should make time to sing His song,
. . . and we should dance to His music.

LIfe is like an Unopened Gift,
. . . the un-sung song,

from Glen Ellis 110214 to Sid Woodard.

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On Wed, Jul 22, 2015 at 7:59 AM, email received :

*** start of Scott's blog ***

From a Melbourne International Airport posting:
What it seems to us and what it seems to others - - - What we see of ourselves - and - what other people see - - -
looking from the outside to the inside. . . . .            What the author of DILBERT cartoon found:

Scott Adams' Blog

Hedging Your Bets on the God Hypothesis                   Posted July 3rd, 2015 @ 4:48pm

Business Insider has a an interesting article on 22 surprising facts about Americans.
Some of those facts sure surprised me.

For example, here are two bits from the same article.

70% of Americans identify as Christian, although the number has been decliing in recent years.

That sounds about right to me. Then add the other religions and you’re probably above 80%.
Maybe as high as 90% according to other surveys I have seen.
But in the same article we see this statistic.

54% of Americans are "very confident" in the existence of a supreme being.

Source is AP-Gfk 2014 poll

I’m no religious scholar,
but I thought being “very confident in the existence of a supreme being”
was a requirement for most religions in America.
But according to these statistics, assuming I am reading them right,
one can be a Christian without being 100% sold on the God part of it.

By my reckoning,
over a third of our citizens are wasting time
with religions that will doom them to eternal Hell for their doubts alone.
I might be heading there too, but at least my Sundays are free.

Am I reading the statistics wrong? I’m baffled.
Scott

*** end of Scott's blog ***

My response to Scott Adams ( this is where I sign my name ) :

Is this some contest between

statistical pre-destination vs. statistical free-will ?

I don't think Scott Adams' approach to religious truth has a place in the Real World

... only in parlor games.

I have the feeling that there is a logical fallacy with Adam's view

... perhaps the assumption that Protestant religion requires

the persuasive force attained by the threat of heaven-vs-hell.

If I remove the influence of beneficent promise and retributitive punishment,

then the picture becomes so very much clearer, although less comforting.

...

If we have no rules or guidelines to follow,

then we are left to wander through life with no music.

vs.

If we have rules to follow, then we can see our position in God's sight.

We will know where we stand ... very comforting in a fluid world.

On the one hand,

If there is a rule to follow to attain God's favor,

then we have the pharisaical paradox,

in which we build our own salvation through our own good works.

... which implies , additionally,

that we are saved from experiencing something "else".

On the other hand,

The Jewish tradition wisely avoids what 'else' it is that we avoid experiencing,

and places emphasis on the many rules we can follow to express God's way.

They seem to miss the real issue.
...

*****************************************************************************
In itself ... Godly Living is a benefit without consequence.

I can hear God laughing at us, and saying,

" I gave you one law and you made ten, then a hundered, then a thousand.

I gave you my soul to live a good life, and you play parlor games.

I gave you my name and now you want a 'sign' that I AM ? "

*****************************************************************************

...
I am not willing to sit here, just wondering about life,

waiting for the experience to pass and say "ciao!".

My sundays are free, now, for reflection and chosen activities.

We enjoy the WEVL sunday morning music.

I enjoy and am moved by occasional visits to a church

that feeds the poor every day,

that embraces the odd and lame into fellowship,

that speaks open-ness in thought

and practices sharing with the outcast.

What did Jesus do ?

( Try making a list of what activities Jesus chose to do. )
...

Protestantism is a political freedom from Roman Catholicism

... and should not be seen as a solution to the God vs. Man problem.

Protestantism and the established church of today is not a solution.

What I see is that nothing has ever changed between God and Man.

As a human culture, we are more often too blind

to see the truth that has always been ,

and we want rules to follow, an institution to validate it all, a SIGN!

... and we make a game of it, make laws, and keep score,

... then believe that our scoring tells us the truth about ourselves.

So, my long winded response should be summed up with

In itself, Godly Living is a benefit without consequence.

The quoted stats sound like more of a trivia topic for parlor games to me.

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Page 0

Fellows,

" FAITH
and the decades of my Probably Ordinary Time"

For the six decades that I can recall
I have had trouble defining 'faith' as anything
... anything !

One day it came to me
... 'Faith' and 'Belief' and 'Facts'
They are not all in the same dimension.
Three dimensions of thought are needed to capture it all.
1) Facts : measurements, and nearly measured facts,
devoid of moral concern.
2) Beliefe : opinion mostly based
on measured facts and ingesting cultural influences.
3) Faith : a choice, often moral,
which might fly in the face
of measurements and opinion.
Facts take care of themselves ( approximately ).

Beliefes are born of facts and culture.

But 'Faith' is a matter of choice,
choice about the possibility of morality
and God ( by any name )
... about what 'Really' makes the universe
into something other than
sterile facts and cultural beliefes.

To bring this personal synopsis closer to home ,
I can share that I cast my 'Faith'
on the Rock of my Christian upbringing.
This is a matter of choice.

I still have problems 'defining' my 'Faith' ,
and always have conditional comments,
... but that is the best I have been able to do.
Obviously, 'Faith' is life-long and important and moral concern of mine.
Kant had a similar problem,
and a conclusion with less dongling dissonance.

My 'Faith' is not something that
my study of apologetics has measured,
nor is it some mount of theological
/ philosophical rendering,
nor something logical from Kant's wonderful mind ,
nor clearly supported by my cultural experience.

My 'Faith' is based on the language I have grown with,
and based on the sense of right
that was instilled in my mind.

So, my 'Faith' in a moral universe is not totally 'me'
... but it is my best 'choice' .

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