Like any religion Buddhism has countless sects. I'm sure there are some sects, especially the sort that seem to be popular in Hollywood, that are more secular in nature. Just like there are sects of Christianity that are drastically different from the more common forms.
Exactly, so believing in gods is not one of the basic things that makes Buddhism Buddhism.
The many mythological creatures and beings that populate Mahayana Buddhism art and literature are often called "gods" or "deities." But, again, just believing in them is not the point.
I was an honest believer in Jesus as my saviour from 14 to ~24. And before that I believed in the existence of Jesus since I was a toddler.
I'm quite aware of what devout Christians consider to be a real Christian, ie anyone who believes Jesus died for their sins. Sure the bible doesn't say you have to read it and pray all the time to be a Christian, but it's widely regarded that if you are a Christian you will be doing these things because you want to. If you don't do these things people tend to think something must be wrong.
I'm not angry at all, you are generally presenting your opinions in a fairly respectful way, apart from the blind assumptions, which are a little arrogant.
I didn't get tired of going to church, I continued to go for many months even during the doubting phase that caused me to eventually stop going. A few months before I stopped going I was actually feeling more "spiritually alive" and committed than I ever had been. I was very used to going to church twice every Sunday, having done so since I was about 3. Sometimes I'd go along to the midweek prayer meetings, I was going to youth events on Saturdays, and going to help out at "Christianity Explored" courses when we ran them etc. I used to have discussions online even in places here like Slashdot arguing for Christianity being the one true faith, etc.
My enlightenment came not through becoming tired of going to Church, but through various doubts that developed over the years, and one relationship in particular that brought me down pretty low and in a state such that I was able to question my beliefs seriously. Everyone has "doubts", but most people never actually consider seriously that their god might not exist for example.. they just think that there must be something wrong with themselves rather than something wrong with what they're being taught. I appreciate your concern, but I seriously am happier this way, the last couple of years haven't exactly been perfect, but my outlook on life has been so much better since I've started to take responsibility and control of my own life rather than choose to believe that there is some deity in control of everything.
You still haven't given any evidence for what you're saying though.. I don't really see the point in it, trying to say that the commonly accepted ten commandments are not the "real" ten commandments, especially when you don't even believe the bible is true?
Sure sounds like worship to me. While I have respect for some stuff that dead people have done and taught, I don't make little statues of them and give them gifts.
It is of course just as stupid to deny that there could be a god as it is to say that your god definitely exists when there is 0% proof. But I was just pointing out that you can follow Buddhist philosophies without believing in any god (no, I'm not a Buddhist or anything else, I'm pretty agnostic).
I didn't say ignore the new testament, but why ignore all the rest? Anything that you don't understand you just automatically say "oh well God is definitely real and he's a good guy, so it must be me that's just not understanding here", instead of truly, really, honestly giving consideration to the fact that the bible might just be an entirely human fabrication.
Isn't that kinda what I said? Politics abuses anything as an excuse to get what they want. Abstract concepts are really popular, apparently.
My point is that I wish people would consider that everything about their religion may be man made. Not just the "politics". Now that I've managed to accept that this is the case with Christianity (very hard when you're brought up believing it as 100% truth your whole life), it's easy to see how it's just as much of a farce as all the other belief systems that people have around the world. There are millions of smart people out there who currently believe in stuff that they'd immediately dismiss as a fairytale if it was presented to them as some other belief system. It's amazing how many people try to poke holes in evolution, saying how statistically improbable it is etc. Just how is it any more probable that there is a god who has always existed with a fully formed intelligence, made of three parts who are apparently completely perfect and happy in each other, yet feel the need to create other beings to worship them to give them more sense of self worth or satisfy some narcissistic urge (very human), etc.. at least stuff like evolution is testable, while most religions word things so that there is no way to prove or disprove that their god is there (yet life for all these religious people is exactly as it is for non religious, etc, the bible even points this out in some places just in case people notice, while in other places it says how the lord will make the good prosper, blah blah.. meh sorry, ranting. I just wish there was a way to deconstruct everyone's thought patterns and beliefs and have them think logically through everything, realising that they're just falling prey to thousands of years of superstition. I'm not saying it's impossible that there are superior beings, or even gods or whatever out there, but I certainly think the bible doesn't hold water.
Okay so what are you trying to say the ten commandments are? And are you saying God made a different covenant just because the first set of tablets were smashed?
Killing all Christians and burning all churches = wet dream of every slashdot anti-theist
Don't be such a fucking clown. I think Christianity and all religions have it dead wrong, but I don't want to kill everyone who has beliefs. I can understand and even respect some religious beliefs, and I see that religion does provide positive influences in some people's lives, though on a larger scale it has many negative effects.
And they're all encouraged or glorified in religious texts. Funny that.
Now you are the one who is picking and choosing from the bible to try and support your points, making excuses for all the stuff that you are scared people won't agree with, or perhaps that you don't agree with yourself. I hate how compartmentalised people can be about this stuff, so terrified to consider that the whole of their religion might just be bunk.
You're picking and choosing very specific verses that suit your argument.
That doesn't make him wrong. Would you rather he picked versus completely unrelated to anything he was saying?
I've read the whole of the bible twice btw. God directly started wars in the old testament. That sounds like religion giving reasons for war to me, unless you're saying that the Israelite leaders were just pretending that God said something as an excuse for war? *gasp* Would humans ever do something like that, make up gods and beliefs to control people and get their own way? Surely not!
Science has a history of being wrong, and faith has a history of being misinterpreted. I am comfortable with worshiping God, without really understanding precisely what He is.
This type of thinking is exactly the problem with religion. A failure to accept that your religion may actually be at fault - when clearly there are hundreds of religions out there. They can't all be right. Billions of people out there have faith in something that we have just made up.
I don't actually believe any of the religions out there are anything other than something we have made up. I know it's incredibly hard to accept - as I've gone through that journey myself, it was one of the scariest times in my life. I know you'll also probably just ignore me because you *want* your religion to be true, and your confirmation bias will only let you process things that agree with your beliefs rather than allowing you to truly question them without going through the necessary life experiences first. Basically you need to be in a very open or "brainwashable" state to change your beliefs on such a basic level.. I wish I'd been able to accept the reality of the situation at a younger age though.. just because 2 billion people agree with you does not actually mean your beliefs are real. There are billions more who don't agree, and who believe in their own religions just as fervently as you believe in yours..
What the hell? There have been many, many discussions about this on/. before, but by your UID I guess you're new here. Google it. It's to do with the sun's solar cycles, ie Mars is warming too, but slower than earth.
I hate religion thought patterns too, though I only managed to de-brainwash myself from my religion a couple of years ago, and that type of thinking is pervasive in all walks of life, and probably naturally occurring in parts of my own life. The fact that global warming is occurring is not just a religious idea though, we've had plenty of cycles of ice ages and heat. It's retarded to suggest that these cycles are not going on.
I'm not saying technology is bad at all, and I think his views on tech and global warming are pretty naive, but I do think the film Idiocracy made the point pretty well when it pointed out the flaws in our society, especially with regards to breeding. It tends to be that the smarter people don't have many if any kids, and the dumbasses just keep churning them out without considering if they're able to support them etc.
I live in a country with a pretty low population density, and I'm doubting I'll ever have kids, so I am not a part of the "surplus population" problem - it's the families who have more than two kids that are contributing to any overpopulation problems, obviously.
What do you mean by that exactly? I know that there are plenty of individuals who don't like babies, or treat their kids like shit, but the majority of guys are hard-wired to want lots of sex, and many women are hard-wired to love/want babies. After the kids start growing up is when they are seen as the real pain in the ass.
Obviously he's a nut, but that doesn't mean that some (not all obviously) of his points are valid, and if he actually presented them in an acceptable way then people would be a lot more likely to listen.
If he said "the sky is blue", does that then make the sky not blue just because it was him that said it?
I wasn't saying the guy shouldn't have been taken down - taking hostages is unacceptable - just pointing out that if you want to have people listen to you, you have to present yourself in the right way.
I wonder what "the book" is that this guy is referring to. He's obviously very easily influenced by other people's ideas. "Reverse" global warming my ass, we'd be warming (albeit at a slower rate) even without any pollution..
Some of his points are valid, but I don't think telling any lifeform that their babies are disgusting is good marketing, considering any successful species is pretty much hard-wired to love babies..
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Like any religion Buddhism has countless sects. I'm sure there are some sects, especially the sort that seem to be popular in Hollywood, that are more secular in nature. Just like there are sects of Christianity that are drastically different from the more common forms.
Exactly, so believing in gods is not one of the basic things that makes Buddhism Buddhism.
I wasn't going by Hollywood, while I was checking what I was saying about Buddhism and Atheism I was using this link: http://buddhism.about.com/od/basicbuddhistteachings/a/buddhaatheism.htm
It does say:
The many mythological creatures and beings that populate Mahayana Buddhism art and literature are often called "gods" or "deities." But, again, just believing in them is not the point.
I was an honest believer in Jesus as my saviour from 14 to ~24. And before that I believed in the existence of Jesus since I was a toddler.
I'm quite aware of what devout Christians consider to be a real Christian, ie anyone who believes Jesus died for their sins. Sure the bible doesn't say you have to read it and pray all the time to be a Christian, but it's widely regarded that if you are a Christian you will be doing these things because you want to. If you don't do these things people tend to think something must be wrong.
I'm not angry at all, you are generally presenting your opinions in a fairly respectful way, apart from the blind assumptions, which are a little arrogant.
I didn't get tired of going to church, I continued to go for many months even during the doubting phase that caused me to eventually stop going. A few months before I stopped going I was actually feeling more "spiritually alive" and committed than I ever had been. I was very used to going to church twice every Sunday, having done so since I was about 3. Sometimes I'd go along to the midweek prayer meetings, I was going to youth events on Saturdays, and going to help out at "Christianity Explored" courses when we ran them etc. I used to have discussions online even in places here like Slashdot arguing for Christianity being the one true faith, etc.
My enlightenment came not through becoming tired of going to Church, but through various doubts that developed over the years, and one relationship in particular that brought me down pretty low and in a state such that I was able to question my beliefs seriously. Everyone has "doubts", but most people never actually consider seriously that their god might not exist for example.. they just think that there must be something wrong with themselves rather than something wrong with what they're being taught. I appreciate your concern, but I seriously am happier this way, the last couple of years haven't exactly been perfect, but my outlook on life has been so much better since I've started to take responsibility and control of my own life rather than choose to believe that there is some deity in control of everything.
You still haven't given any evidence for what you're saying though.. I don't really see the point in it, trying to say that the commonly accepted ten commandments are not the "real" ten commandments, especially when you don't even believe the bible is true?
Why would you subject yourself to reading the bible through?
It's what you're told to do - read the bible every day, as well as praying. It helps to keep you brainwashed.
Sure sounds like worship to me. While I have respect for some stuff that dead people have done and taught, I don't make little statues of them and give them gifts.
It is of course just as stupid to deny that there could be a god as it is to say that your god definitely exists when there is 0% proof. But I was just pointing out that you can follow Buddhist philosophies without believing in any god (no, I'm not a Buddhist or anything else, I'm pretty agnostic).
I didn't say ignore the new testament, but why ignore all the rest? Anything that you don't understand you just automatically say "oh well God is definitely real and he's a good guy, so it must be me that's just not understanding here", instead of truly, really, honestly giving consideration to the fact that the bible might just be an entirely human fabrication.
Isn't that kinda what I said? Politics abuses anything as an excuse to get what they want. Abstract concepts are really popular, apparently.
My point is that I wish people would consider that everything about their religion may be man made. Not just the "politics". Now that I've managed to accept that this is the case with Christianity (very hard when you're brought up believing it as 100% truth your whole life), it's easy to see how it's just as much of a farce as all the other belief systems that people have around the world. There are millions of smart people out there who currently believe in stuff that they'd immediately dismiss as a fairytale if it was presented to them as some other belief system. It's amazing how many people try to poke holes in evolution, saying how statistically improbable it is etc. Just how is it any more probable that there is a god who has always existed with a fully formed intelligence, made of three parts who are apparently completely perfect and happy in each other, yet feel the need to create other beings to worship them to give them more sense of self worth or satisfy some narcissistic urge (very human), etc.. at least stuff like evolution is testable, while most religions word things so that there is no way to prove or disprove that their god is there (yet life for all these religious people is exactly as it is for non religious, etc, the bible even points this out in some places just in case people notice, while in other places it says how the lord will make the good prosper, blah blah.. meh sorry, ranting. I just wish there was a way to deconstruct everyone's thought patterns and beliefs and have them think logically through everything, realising that they're just falling prey to thousands of years of superstition. I'm not saying it's impossible that there are superior beings, or even gods or whatever out there, but I certainly think the bible doesn't hold water.
It doesn't matter, if you believe the bible then the old testament is as much a part of who the Christian god (and therefore Jesus) is as the new.
I was a Christian until I was 24, moron. I've read the old testament through twice, and the new testament more times than I've counted.
Okay so what are you trying to say the ten commandments are? And are you saying God made a different covenant just because the first set of tablets were smashed?
Killing all Christians and burning all churches = wet dream of every slashdot anti-theist
Don't be such a fucking clown. I think Christianity and all religions have it dead wrong, but I don't want to kill everyone who has beliefs. I can understand and even respect some religious beliefs, and I see that religion does provide positive influences in some people's lives, though on a larger scale it has many negative effects.
Umm.. try counting them up. Those are the Ten Commandments that are being referenced in the passage you linked to.
The things you mention are all works of people
And they're all encouraged or glorified in religious texts. Funny that.
Now you are the one who is picking and choosing from the bible to try and support your points, making excuses for all the stuff that you are scared people won't agree with, or perhaps that you don't agree with yourself. I hate how compartmentalised people can be about this stuff, so terrified to consider that the whole of their religion might just be bunk.
You're picking and choosing very specific verses that suit your argument.
That doesn't make him wrong. Would you rather he picked versus completely unrelated to anything he was saying?
I've read the whole of the bible twice btw. God directly started wars in the old testament. That sounds like religion giving reasons for war to me, unless you're saying that the Israelite leaders were just pretending that God said something as an excuse for war? *gasp* Would humans ever do something like that, make up gods and beliefs to control people and get their own way? Surely not!
Buddhism doesn't involve believing in any gods (though some people worship Buddha apparently), so you can be an atheist Buddhist..
Science has a history of being wrong, and faith has a history of being misinterpreted. I am comfortable with worshiping God, without really understanding precisely what He is.
This type of thinking is exactly the problem with religion. A failure to accept that your religion may actually be at fault - when clearly there are hundreds of religions out there. They can't all be right. Billions of people out there have faith in something that we have just made up.
I don't actually believe any of the religions out there are anything other than something we have made up. I know it's incredibly hard to accept - as I've gone through that journey myself, it was one of the scariest times in my life. I know you'll also probably just ignore me because you *want* your religion to be true, and your confirmation bias will only let you process things that agree with your beliefs rather than allowing you to truly question them without going through the necessary life experiences first. Basically you need to be in a very open or "brainwashable" state to change your beliefs on such a basic level.. I wish I'd been able to accept the reality of the situation at a younger age though.. just because 2 billion people agree with you does not actually mean your beliefs are real. There are billions more who don't agree, and who believe in their own religions just as fervently as you believe in yours..
What the hell? There have been many, many discussions about this on /. before, but by your UID I guess you're new here. Google it. It's to do with the sun's solar cycles, ie Mars is warming too, but slower than earth.
I hate religion thought patterns too, though I only managed to de-brainwash myself from my religion a couple of years ago, and that type of thinking is pervasive in all walks of life, and probably naturally occurring in parts of my own life. The fact that global warming is occurring is not just a religious idea though, we've had plenty of cycles of ice ages and heat. It's retarded to suggest that these cycles are not going on.
I'm not saying technology is bad at all, and I think his views on tech and global warming are pretty naive, but I do think the film Idiocracy made the point pretty well when it pointed out the flaws in our society, especially with regards to breeding. It tends to be that the smarter people don't have many if any kids, and the dumbasses just keep churning them out without considering if they're able to support them etc.
I live in a country with a pretty low population density, and I'm doubting I'll ever have kids, so I am not a part of the "surplus population" problem - it's the families who have more than two kids that are contributing to any overpopulation problems, obviously.
What do you mean by that exactly? I know that there are plenty of individuals who don't like babies, or treat their kids like shit, but the majority of guys are hard-wired to want lots of sex, and many women are hard-wired to love/want babies. After the kids start growing up is when they are seen as the real pain in the ass.
Obviously he's a nut, but that doesn't mean that some (not all obviously) of his points are valid, and if he actually presented them in an acceptable way then people would be a lot more likely to listen.
If he said "the sky is blue", does that then make the sky not blue just because it was him that said it?
I wasn't saying the guy shouldn't have been taken down - taking hostages is unacceptable - just pointing out that if you want to have people listen to you, you have to present yourself in the right way.
I wonder what "the book" is that this guy is referring to. He's obviously very easily influenced by other people's ideas. "Reverse" global warming my ass, we'd be warming (albeit at a slower rate) even without any pollution..
Some of his points are valid, but I don't think telling any lifeform that their babies are disgusting is good marketing, considering any successful species is pretty much hard-wired to love babies..
Or maybe they just liked beer.. I'm pretty sure most people consuming large doses of beer these days aren't doing it for the health benefits.
I didn't claim at all that the graphics card would be seen as a secondary general purpose processor. Do you even know what a coprocessor is?