Neapolitan

That's true, but I think GeddyBass2112 has better understand what it is about the Siddur and Tanakh that is true, then say someone who doesn't read them.

Guybrush

Why?

__________________
Something Completely Different

The Batlord

Indeed. Drugs also release endorphins into your system and can give you a "deep sense of peace and calm".



True, I have not read them. I have read other religious texts though (not a great many of them tbh), and they always strike me as just philosophical common sense interspersed with a few profound truths that don't really need a god to reveal them. And of course there's the pillars of salt and fire and brimstone...

__________________

GeddyBass2112

Partially because of the influences of Jewish friends I have and also the local Jewish population round here (mostly Orthodox). But partially because of my own personal study of Torah- I believe that Orthodox Judaism is the 'right' form of Judaism as given by the Torah.

Maccabbe

Without a question or doubt, I completely believe in the existence of God.

Now I have arrived at this conclusion after been exposed to information that many people all around the world were not exposed to. Many unfortunately were exposed to scientific theories that try to deny his existence, and they have bought into the Darwinian idea that somehow we humans and everything that we see around us, were sprung up out of utter emptiness and for no purpose. The greatest devastating idea in the world is that Great things have no real ultimate value, and therefore everything is eventually meaningless.

I refuse to see my existence in this world as a meaningless phenomenon, were I live a certain frame of time in this universe, and then I return to the elements that my physical body is made of. I feel within myself something that is not only physical, but completely spiritual. Animals on the other hand, never have these kinds of thoughts. They don't contemplate about spiritual things, they don’t search for meaning, spiritual fulfillment or spiritual enjoyment, what drives them is their physical bodily instincts that are aimed at one thing, survival.

Humans are completely the opposite, yes we do want to survive physically, but we seek recognition, appreciation, gratitude, and personal relationships. All these aspects are the fruits of our spiritual soul that exists within us, for we are made of two things, the physical body and the spiritual soul, where animals have only their physical bodies.

Alexander the Great, for example was a young warrior from Macedonia, his lived a short life, but his actions were world famous and vast. His entire objective was 'how history will remember me'?

His actions were designed for heroism and the immortality of his name. What kind of an animal cares about what other animals will think or say or remember it? the only motivation it has, is physical survival, it lacks that human soul that puts a staggering difference between the Human and the animal.

So remembrance of name and accomplishments is solely a human character and ambition, and this urge can never be out of any animalistic instincts, but its root is from the spiritual soul that is eternal.

The Wisest of all men, King Solomon famously declared :" There is no difference between the Human and the beast, save The Soul that is destined to give account in front of the King of Kings".

Physically yes, we are like the animals, but God had bestowed within us a heavenly soul, and that soul is so holy and so lofty that it comes form the highest of spirituality, and with it, human beings can rise above the angels and become even more powerful and holy.

Other distinctions would be justice, the search of truth and Logic.

Only human beings have these concepts, and actually care for them and try to uphold them and even die for them. Animals don't care for them , in fact they don't even enter in their thinking process, for all their mind is occupied with how to survive. Humans have compassion, they are willing to do amazing things for the other, to help, to assist, all these traits are universal to all humans, no matter what nation or background, therefore there had to be a first Master Creator with unlimited wisdom, knowledge, and Genius, that had to first envision in his mind a creature like the human, and then set its course to bring it from vision in to reality, and give this human a gift so great and so powerful that it will raise him up to be the Ruler of this Universe, even though many others might be quicker and powerful then him, still this gift ' The Soul' made the human so astronomically superior then all other creatures, that he can rule this world.

That Master creator, had also given instructions to humans by telling them what he wants from them, and what he expects from them.

3300 years ago within The Thunders of Sinai, the God of Israel had revealed himself to millions of people in a national revelation and he gave them his most precious thing, the Torah, the Book of Life.

The Jews must follow all the 613 Commandments mentioned in the Torah, and the Gentiles have to follow only 7 , they are called the 7 laws of Noah, some of them include, not to murder, not to steal, and to establish legal and judicial systems.

We have a clear record, every single civilization in history that didn’t adhere to the Voice of Sinai, and ignored God’s message, were eventually destroyed, such examples are Greece, Babylon, Persia and Rome.
These ancient kingdoms were all pagans, who believed in idols made of stone and wood, they ignored God and his message, and they created their own many gods void of anything divine, and serving only their selfish needs, and not God.


Regards,

Saul

RVCA

I don't understand. Why is it so critical that humans have some sort of higher spiritual purpose?

Guybrush

As a biologist, I see a general philosophy here which becomes rather weak because it's very dependent on the assumption that animals only act on instinct in order to survive. It is your proof that they do not have souls which is what makes humans so special. Yes, the behaviour of animals is generally easier to explain, but clearly there is a physical reason for this. Having great brains is the evolutionary strategy which sets us apart and so we have a much greater capacity for thought and hence abstract thinking. This doesn't mean we're the only animals to ever adopt this strategy. There were many other human species, the most famous of which is Homo neanderthalis. We're not direct descendents of the neanderthal man, but they lived at the same time as our species did. Do you believe they were incapable of having a soul as well?

You can't really know what animals think, but I think you'd probably have to stretch your definition of "behaviour simply to survive" if you want it to encompass all the things animals do in nature. Would you consider this something they only do in order to survive?



In biology, we talk about fitness - it's something we and other animals generally evolve over generations to maximize over time. Fitness is a measure of how much of your genes you are able to perpetuate in the next generations. So, animals evolve to maximize fitness, not survival. For example, I'm sure you've heard of the praying mantis female who famously eats her mate after or during sex. Clearly, survival was not the goal of the male praying mantis, having sex was. Hence, your basic assumption that animals behave only in a way which promotes their own survival is wrong. You could adjust your statement and say that animals only behave in a way to maximize their fitness while humans don't, but I don't think I would agree with that either. Clearly, the human brain makes us capable of adapting to new environments and find solutions to new problems and so on. We have evolved a capacity for abstract thought and that let's us plan for the future and so on which is good for fitness, but as a side benefit, it also let's us have thoughts which are not directly fitness related. There are analogues to this in nature as well, for example it could be that a capacity for enjoyment out of sex (which has a definite fitness benefit) has enabled the homosexual behaviour of the lions in that video up there.

If you know and accept how animals are able to reproduce (animals have babies), change but also retain traits through heritance (we're not exact copies of our parents, so that's observational evidence right there) and compete for finite resources (there's only so much food to go around, for example only so many rabbits on a farm), then evolution simply emerges as a consequence of those things put together. Basically, if you want to say that we haven't evolved in our history on this planet, that is a pretty fantastic statement which should require some extraordinairy evidence. Evolution as a theory is lovely in that besides from being empirically true, it also explains humans very well, even the capacity for abstract thinking and seemingly non-fitness related behaviour that you seem to think of as something unique; a soul.

__________________
Something Completely Different

Janszoon

Since Tore as already addressed your wild assumptions about the animal kingdom, I'll address the claims in your closing paragraph. First, how do you reconcile what you are saying here with the fact that by the time Rome fell it was a Christian empire not a pagan one? Second, would you care to explain how China, one of the world's oldest civilizations, has managed to be around for so long, to prosper, and to grow into the most populous nation on Earth without "adhering to the Voice of Sinai"? Please feel free to explain India and Japan to me while you're at it.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm

Maccabbe

Animal procreation is an act of instinct, there are no ceremonies, marriages, commitments, these are just physical impulses, largely attributed to the instinct to survive, both on an individual and on the entire specie basis.

As to humans, the notion that humans evolved from an ape, or from a fish as some others suggest is erroneous in the most fundamental way.

The main reason is that the assumption is wrong to begin with, why should we believe that he is an evolutionary creature? Because some choose not to believe in God, and therefore they want to explain all creation through an evolutionary process that took billions of years?

Yes, some in the scientific community chose not to believe in God, even though there is no evidence to suggest that God doesn’t exist, furthermore, it is not the business or duty of science to become theologians and to preach to all of humanity to forget about God.

If some scientists choose not to believe, then that’s their choice, but they have no right to formulate unfounded and unproven ‘theories’ that try to brainwash humanity on a grand scale believing that these ‘theories’ are facts. But they are not facts, the word ‘Theory’ is not ‘fact’ its speculation and hypothesis, but not logical irrefutable evidence.

Our entire life on this planet rests on one thing, the distance of the sun from our planet. Any change in that distance will either freeze us or burn us, what are the odds that this distance was so perfect accidentally to enable life on this planet?

Zero.

There are no chances with things like that, there is only will, purpose, and that creates meaning.

The will is from The Master Creator, the purpose is to have life in this world, with the emphasis to the Human Race, the highest of all creations, and the meaning is to follow God’s plan and instruction in this world. We are not here for no purpose, every intelligent design that we human beings posses, like cell phones, computers, calculators, watches, ovens, airplanes, cars and so on, were designed by intelligent people for a specific purpose. All these human creations pale in comparison to the greatest creation in the universe, the human being, pure genius on the highest level, how can anyone claim that he wasn’t created by a master designer and creator, and how can anyone suggest that this creation has no purpose.

For without God in our lives, there is no purpose.

And please don’t think of science so greatly, science is still very very very primitive in our understanding of our planet, its great wisdom, and its great secrets that are hidden within nature, let alone the entire Galaxy that we are situated in , and let alone the entire universe that we live in.

The scientists are sitting on planet earth and they think that they have all the answers in the world about the secrets of existence, so it would be proper to be a little humble and accept that there is way more that science doesn’t know , then what it knows.

As to China been a superpower now, well China never attacked Israel and the Jewish people militarily, in fact in ww2 it supported Jewish refugees escaping Nazi Germany, and they gave them shelter. But those nations that I have mentioned all attacked the Nation of Israel, and as the Bible so clearly says in many places, that those nations that attack Israel will be punished greatly.

But China today is a secular country, with lots of Pagan religions and pagan ideologies, and because of that China does have lots of problems, been economically strong is not a guarantee for survival in the long run, the United States was also very strong economically, but now its not, with economy things go up and down, and nothing is for certain. Japan, who sided with Germany in ww2, got two atomic bombs, and the Emperor was outset, and thus Japan and its Kingdom ceased to exist, today’s Japan is a western country, its not the same Japan that it used to be.

As for Rome, by accepting Christianity they didn’t completely let go of Paganism, because the Christian religion is strongly associated with Pagan motifs, such as the belief in virgin births, divine physical gods, and Christmas trees, Halloweens, Santa Claus, Easters, and all these things that have nothing to do with monotheism.

Ultimately, all of humanity in the end will believe in the one true God of Israel as the Prophets of Israel say in many places, with the coming of the Jewish Messiah, spreading the knowledge of God to the four corners of the world.

In the messianic visionary world of the future, there will be no place for those who will not accept God, no more scientific theories that discredit and wage a war against him, no more atheism and the bible is very clear about that in many places.

Regards,

Saul

Janszoon

Nice job avoiding the questions.

__________________
A Night in the Life of the Invisible Man

Time & Place

25 Albums You Should Hear Before the Moon Crashes into the Earth and We All Die

last.fm