NOM

What does everyone think of this and how it might apply to the paths in and out of the LDS church? About "hearing the still small voice" and "a burning in the bosom?" For those who are still believers of some kind, just know this is an argument for the non-existence of god; I don't want anyone to think I'm ambushing them:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-j8ZMMuu7MU

Wow, that really made a lot of sense to me. When I was in my faith crisis, it was a difficult thing to grapple with to try and figure out where my past metaphysical experiences fit into my new found fact finding about the lies and false history and failed truth claims of the LDS church. There were other videos like this one about social behaviors that helped me see what my feelings/spiritual experiences were really about. Two different videos in particular showed people of different faiths and backgrounds bearing their testimonies of their beliefs and you could not tell if they were LDS or some other cult or religion because the descriptions were all so very similar.

The God = Self equation definitely rings true for me. Now God is simply not known to me. He's not the old man fighting with a devil for my soul, but he's somewhere way back beyond the big bang, perhaps just some force or thing that nudged a cosmic egg to crack and make our universe and reality all happen. I've even talked to this God while I was out shooting night photography under dark skies. I never assume he can hear me, it's just me telling the universe that I'm grateful to be looking at it and contemplating what it's all about. If that falls on deaf ears I'm totally okay with that because I think the gratitude enhances my existence, be it temporal or eternal.

Lots of food for thought here. Is self reflection a act of prayer?

Could be prayer is a complex psychological method of seeking answers within oneself.

Mad Jax wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2017 8:34 am Could be prayer is a complex psychological method of seeking answers within oneself.

It works like this for me.

My uncle was NOM but I didn't realize it until after my faith crisis. Unfortunately he had already passed away so I lost the chance to talk to him about it directly.

He believed "we" the collective we..are god. Praying is quiet reflection/meditation and every time your prayer is answered it's by people-hence, we're God.

I agree with just about every point the guy in the vid makes except for one. He states, as if it is a demonstrable fact, that God is your self. Don't get me wrong. I'm a naturalistic non-theist. But, I can't demonstrate there is no God, god, or gods or that God is the believer. For the sake of discussion, let's assume there is an intervening deity. The point about the theist feeling rejected by the atheist still stands. A believer is still likely to feel rejected because of someone not believing in God.

Regarding our core beliefs, my understanding is that we tend to identify ourselves with them. Take a person who's a big fan of a sports team. If their team loses, they feel dejected. If you talk smack about there team, you're likely to catch some smack coming back at you. It's not because the team is the person. It's because the person identifies themselves to some extent with the team.

Sorry, this atheist get's a little put off by atheists who seem dogmatic.
Zack

RubinHighlander wrote: ↑Wed Apr 26, 2017 7:37 pm Now God is simply not known to me. He's not the old man fighting with a devil for my soul, but he's somewhere way back beyond the big bang, perhaps just some force or thing that nudged a cosmic egg to crack and make our universe and reality all happen. I've even talked to this God while I was out shooting night photography under dark skies. I never assume he can hear me, it's just me telling the universe that I'm grateful to be looking at it and contemplating what it's all about. If that falls on deaf ears I'm totally okay with that because I think the gratitude enhances my existence, be it temporal or eternal.

Rubin, it sounds like we have found the same religion.

I call my version The Great Big Universal Church of Cosmic Everythingness (and then some). I have even created scripture for it, and it only took 2 pages of bullet points to say everything that needs to be said. Actually, I could probably improve it by cutting it down to one page: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1EFc ... sp=sharing

It sounds like some of you guys might be down with this sort of thing:

http://truthcontest.com/

OMG So Adam is God. Brigham Young did get it right.

Zack Tacorin Dos wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2017 4:19 pm Sorry, this atheist get's a little put off by atheists who seem dogmatic.

Darkmatter is one of the better youTube atheists in this regard. The worst idea of all for me comes from Richard Carrier and "Atheism Plus" which is just plain obnoxious in its dogma.

Hagoth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:02 pm The Great Big Universal Church of Cosmic Everythingness (and then some).

Love that description! Instead of the coexist bumper sticker, we need something we can use for this new non-religion...oh wait, we don't preach to people about it, so never mind.

RubinHighlander wrote: ↑Mon May 01, 2017 10:09 am

Hagoth wrote: ↑Sat Apr 29, 2017 5:02 pm The Great Big Universal Church of Cosmic Everythingness (and then some).

Love that description! Instead of the coexist bumper sticker, we need something we can use for this new non-religion...oh wait, we don't preach to people about it, so never mind.

The time-honored procedure for joining is to speak aloud the sacred word: "giddyup!" You are instantly authorized to append or delete (your copy of) the sacred text as suits your needs.

I'm going to have to add Carl Sagan to the new found non-religion...although he does lean Hindu:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BBCFQtDLPA0#t=21.948179