Becoming Free

[Isaac]

Another belief held in the absence of evidence.

They surrendered to the will of their religion's oligarchy and led many to misery.

I find the evidence of God actually overwhelmingly strong, but when you are determined not to see it, you will have an explanation to explain all of it away.

Interestingly, most scientists believed in god until recently. It has only very recently become fashionable not to.

Most people's emotional deference to current fashion is a thousand times stronger than their sensitivity to truth.

Believe me, surrendering to god and making jesus Christ your lord can give you the most joyful, peaceful life imaginable. It is a truly beautiful thing and open to absolutely everyone.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

(You can also consider prison, where totally straight men enter the prison one day, and eventually many of them willingly engage in gay sex, due to nothing more than continued starvation for sex and limited options - showing that the claim that orientation is fixed from birth, and the opposite orientation can never be desired or enjoyed, to be wrong).

You DO realize that ra**, in or out of prison, is about dominance and not about sex? The gender of the perpetrator and the victim are not at all significant. It is ALWAYS about power and domination.

I didn't say that biology doesn't factor into it at all,

But you DRASTICALLY underestimate its contribution.

Anyway, I'm not sure why we keep talking about gay people.

I return to discussions of gay people because of the scorn, hatred, and vile contumely projected against gays by "loving" Christians who aren't willing to let them live more openly gay. Christians want gays back in the closet, as far as I can tell.

Well, OK. I'm going to back down VERY SLIGHTLY on that. Muslims want them either closeted or dead, too, so Christians can't take ALL of the blame. It's just that it is rare for a Muslim to engage in these dialogs.

Judaism? Depends on whether you are talking Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform Judaism. My best friend from college (also an EXCELLENT bridge player) is lesbian, married, and of a Reform congregation of Judaism. I understand that Orthodox Judaism is tough on gays, though there are such things as Reconstructionist and Humanist divisions of Judaism that are also accepting of gays. The Conservative congregations are apparently internally split and it depends on WHICH Conservative congregation you attend.

So far as I can tell, Buddhism doesn't much care about being gay as long as whatever you do doesn't harm someone. (Definitely pacifists!)

 

[Galaxiom]

There is a kind of truth that is not subject to the physical world you see around you.

That "truth" is called "illusion".

Those that have had near death experiences have been given a glimpse of it, but most will not experience that part of truth until they have left their body and experience the spiritual side of themselves.

The mind stops working quite so well and gets confused when it's energy supply is failing during brownouts. Some people take drugs to get the same kind of effect.

 

[jpl458]

But who will take the cover off the cages that Christians place around gay people, who are told that they cannot be free until they accept someone from a book that describes them as abominations? Isaac, DON'T YOU SEE THE HATE? ARE YOU BLIND?

Bravo!

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Speaking of Near Death Experiences (NDE):

The brain is still lingering after NDEs.

What Near-Death Experiences Reveal about the Brain

A close brush can leave a lasting mental legacy—and may tell us about how the mind functions under extreme conditions

www.scientificamerican.com

Studies have even shown the tell-tale gamma-wave activity in dying rats. If a rat can have an NDE, is it going to Heaven? Even though it isn't smart enough to have made decisions regarding right vs. wrong? Was it a saintly rat that only at cheese from monasteries?

 

[Galaxiom]

I find the evidence of God actually overwhelmingly strong,

Such is the nature of delusion.