Why Do the Religious Reject Science While Embracing the Impossible?

[Dubious]

But facts are facts. I didn't make it up and can only go by what the science says. So what would be more rational? Accepting your metaphysical hogwash or going by what the science says!

Dubious, I do not enjoy merely beating up on you.

The ONLY way you can beat up on me, defeat me in effect, is with facts or the near probability of such. The kind rendered by research and observation. You'll never accomplish that with your dim-witted moronic metaphysical fairytales and mental strivings, their credibility being thoroughly nil. I suggest you tail-end your teacher and master of great learning, Immanuel Trump as the guide to follow since you both have a cultist mentality in common and all the qualities which keep those aberrations alive.

[Alexis Jacobi]

Duly noted...

[seeds]

Ah, the workings of the American psyche! An epic tale of the cataclysmically stupid!

Was my comment,...

...which was intended to be a criticism (a backhanded swipe) at AJ for praising IC's great store of knowledge which has done nothing to enhance his critical thinking skill as it applies to Christian mythology,...

..."...cataclysmically stupid!..." to you?

If so, please explain why?
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[Dubious]

Ah, the workings of the American psyche! An epic tale of the cataclysmically stupid!

Was my comment,...

...which was intended to be a criticism (a backhanded swipe) at AJ for praising IC's great store of knowledge which has done nothing to enhance his critical thinking skill as it applies to Christian mythology,...

..."...cataclysmically stupid!..." to you?

If so, please explain why?
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Sorry! My fault! I should have been more clear. It wasn't meant for you, but as a general statement in reference to the state of the American psyche. If I had meant it for any specific instance, I would have identified it through a quotation.

In spite of us having very different perspectives on the nature of what passes for reality, I would not ever have applied that phrase in reference to you.

[Alexis Jacobi]

You have a genuine fan, Seeds!

Alabado sea Alá, dueño de los destinos!

[seeds]

Sorry! My fault! I should have been more clear. It wasn't meant for you, but as a general statement in reference to the state of the American psyche.

Okay, thanks for the clarification.

Your comment came right beneath mine, so it seemed to be directed at me.

Anyway, you are spot on about the American psyche.

This ongoing "clown show" of the "...hobgoblin of little minds..."* that American politicians and their followers have devolved into, is not only embarrassing , but is extremely saddening when one considers the potential doom it portends for America's youth.

*(Emerson)
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[Alexiev]

Ah, the workings of the American psyche! An epic tale of the cataclysmically stupid!

"Psyche"? Don't you mean the utterly predictable firing of the American neurons? We can't help it if we're stupid! (Of course we're smarter than people from other benighted nations, especially whichever country Godelian lives in.)

By the way, Americans have won more Nobel Prizes than the next six countries combined, which, considering how stupid we all are, just goes to prove the corruption involved in Nobel selection. China has won 1/50th the number of Nobels we have, supporting IC's point about the horrors of socialism.

One more thing about American intelligence: Donald Trump is very, very smart. He says so himself.

[seeds]

You have a genuine fan, Seeds!

Alabado sea Alá, dueño de los destinos!

As do both you and Dubious.

This forum would be far less fun and interesting if either of you bailed on it.
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[Alexis Jacobi]

...which was intended to be a criticism (a backhanded swipe) at AJ for praising IC's great store of knowledge which has done nothing to enhance his critical thinking skill as it applies to Christian mythology,...

Here’s the thing: religious sentiment — let’s take yours for example — is not really supported by reason. We live in a time in which the reasoning mind (at an extreme of that is, to keep on the topic, the logic of BigMike that mimics mathematical formula) has for us an ascendent position. Intuited truth is discarded or seen as inferior, misleading. It has to be this way given the current of the time.

But the conviction that moved saints, mystics, Taoist sages, The Hyperborean Apollos, and certainty “people of faith”, is not rational. It is something deeply felt and realized. It can be extremely contaminated and convoluted to the degree that a man inclines in that direction (thus Dubious’ critique of the American mass-man), but it also has another, purer side. It can also be mere refuge, even escapism.

My view is that there are as many levels of religious conviction as there are sorts (qualities) of men.

IC’s religious conviction is intuited, not reasoned. You cannot dissuade him of his conviction. It would be like cutting something out from his being. Rationalism comes ex post facto to bolster the intuited conviction.

Same in your case. You cannot explain your conviction, or if you did it would be through symbolic pictures which (not a criticism) mimic reasoned arguments.

There is no reasoned argument for the manifest world, existence & being.

René Guénon refers to “intellectualism”: essentially intellectus) and all his exposition imitates reasoned exposition (the style of our age). But there has to have occurred an intuited plunge or deep realization to be moved by his expository argument.

[Alexis Jacobi]

moun·te·bank (moun′tə-băngk′)
n.
1. A hawker of quack medicines who attracts customers with stories, jokes, or tricks.
2. A flamboyant charlatan.

When I got over the deep pain this caused, I then thought: “Wait a sec! This is an opportunity!”

Thank you, Dubious!

[Dubious]

Ah, the workings of the American psyche! An epic tale of the cataclysmically stupid!

By the way, Americans have won more Nobel Prizes than the next six countries combined...

...and let's not forget the contributions of Europeans who immigrated en masse after the Nazis took power. Had Trump been the President, he probably would have returned these miscreants from whence they came.

One more thing about American intelligence: Donald Trump is very, very smart. He says so himself.

Indeed! Who could refute the integrity of an honest broker like Donald Trump? That would be equivalent to not believing in Jesus!

[Dubious]

Sorry! My fault! I should have been more clear. It wasn't meant for you, but as a general statement in reference to the state of the American psyche.

Okay, thanks for the clarification.

Your comment came right beneath mine, so it seemed to be directed at me.

Anyway, you are spot on about the American psyche.

This ongoing "clown show" of the "...hobgoblin of little minds..."* that American politicians and their followers have devolved into, is not only embarrassing , but is extremely saddening when one considers the potential doom it portends for America's youth.

*(Emerson)
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I read a lot of Emerson and Thoreau in earlier times. I really liked Emerson's style and most of his ideas but gradually leaned more to Thoreau who showed himself as somewhat more realistic. Emerson himself became less idealistic in his later years, which usually happens when you get older. I guess by that metric, I'd come across as 150 years old on this site, even though I too have some idealistic tendencies without which humans are nothing.

What I always found surprising is that Nietzsche loved Emerson and, as we know, there wasn't much that N admired among his contemporaries.

[seeds]

...which was intended to be a criticism (a backhanded swipe) at AJ for praising IC's great store of knowledge which has done nothing to enhance his critical thinking skill as it applies to Christian mythology,...

Here’s the thing: religious sentiment — let’s take yours for example — is not really supported by reason.

Are you kidding?

I have pretty much spent my entire adult life trying to use reason (scientific reasoning) to support my religious sentiment which was ignited five and a half decades ago as explained in my "Burning Bush" thread, here:viewtopic.php?p=685773#p685773

IC’s religious conviction is intuited, not reasoned. You cannot dissuade him of his conviction. It would be like cutting something out from his being. Rationalism comes ex post facto to bolster the intuited conviction.

Same in your case. You cannot explain your conviction, or if you did it would be through symbolic pictures which (not a criticism) mimic reasoned arguments.

There is no reasoned argument for the manifest world, existence & being.

I say you're wrong about that last part.

I feel that I have indeed presented a "reasoned argument" for the manifest world, existence & being. The only thing it lacks is some definitive suggestion as to how "it" (existence & being) initially began.

Now, of course, my argument may turn out to be pure horse crap, but you can't say that it isn't a "reasoned argument."

The problem is, my dear Hyperbolic Apollyon, is that you are speaking from a position that is still firmly located within the context of the "Old Paradigm."

I'm trying to reach down and give you a hand up, but, like our old buddy, BigMike, you're a stubborn little guttersnipe who seems to be having too much fun roaming around in and causing mischief in streets you are familiar with.

An anonymous Spanish philosopher once said:

El que se tira un pedo en la iglesia debe sentarse en su propio banco.

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[Alexiev]

I may have exaggerated American genius in my last post, bamboozled by Donald Trump's very credible claims. I have since discovered the result of an audit on the U.S. government's spending. Of course if the government spends billions of dollars, we expect it to misplace a few million. No problem. If they are missing cash, I suggest they look under the cushions of the couches in government offices, They could easily dig up a few extra million.

No. What concerns me is that the audit confirmed a missing missile launcher, two missing Navy fighter jet engines, and a missing tugboat. How does one misplace a tugboat? Did it sink, and the crew jumped overboard shouting, "Don't tell anyone about this. We might get in trouble!"

And what about those jet engines? I know Tom Cruise is a great actor, but is he expected to stand by his fighter jet and make jet engine noises with his mouth to scare commies and jihadists?

I looked in my shed (because I have no idea what's in there) but I didn't see any jet engines or tugboats.

[Dubious]

You have a genuine fan, Seeds!

Alabado sea Alá, dueño de los destinos!

As do both you and Dubious.

This forum would be far less fun and interesting if either of you bailed on it.
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...sounds like a Cheech and Chong relationship!