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.
. . And a Little Common Sense:
T.L.C.
That certainly does give an uncommon
perspective of God.
Big
D
That's because most people have
never seriously questioned the content
of their religion. Those
who were
raised by parents practicing
Christianity, Judaism, or Islam were
told that God was a superhuman
being. They have
accepted that belief as if it were
true. And
as I've shown you, the evidence
doesn't support such a belief.
T.L.C.
This
sounds like we're back to the
distinction between Christian
one-life-ism and Universal
Spirituality.
Big
D
Yes,
and that distinction revolves around
this question: Is
the consciousness we refer to as "I" or "me" a
function of the physical body or is the physical body a function of the
"I" or "me" consciousness?
T.L.C.
Then the practical question
for us as humans on earth is not about in what form the source of creation is or
isn't. It's about what a human being actually is or
isn't.
Big
D
Yes.
There appear to be only two
possibilities. Either
you are a physical body that
produces a
consciousness? Or
you are a consciousness living
temporarily in a physical
body?
T.L.C.
So
how do I answer that
question?
Big
D
By examining the
evidence. Christian
one-life-ism teaches that God is
a fickle, angry,
jealous, vengeful, intolerant, displeased, needy, and violent super-human being sitting on a cloud
somewhere in the sky where the birds fly. ***ps-54-8
That belief is, at best, an archaic and dysfunctional perspective of the
source of everything. It doesn't take an atheist to reject
that perspective.
All
it takes is a willingness to look at the physical evidence, a
willingness to question the stories you accepted as real when you were a
defenseless little child, and a little common
sense.
Atheism
-- What it Isn't:
T.L.C.
What about atheism?
Big
D
Many
of those who say they are atheists have not thoroughly analyzed
the issue other than to say that they reject the traditional,
Christian definition of a weird, bizarre superhuman being separate from
His creation (described above as The False Face of God).
Simply rejecting such a definition of God is not atheism.
Real
atheism is based upon a belief that consciousness is a function of the physical
body and the that one's consciousness dies with the death of the
body. Such a belief does not stand up when tested against the
evidence.
T.L.C.
Why do you
say that?
Big
D Because science
can find no evidence whatsoever that indicates that consciousness is in
any way a part of the physical structure. Millions of people have
had personal experience that have taken them outside their
bodies. Over the centuries, hundreds of thousands of people
have been able to leave the physical body at will. Hundreds of
thousands of people have been able to see into a realm of reality that is
invisible to the rest of us. Hundreds of thousands of people
have been able to hear sounds, and carry on intelligent conversations
with beings in realm of reality the rest of us do not have access
to. Famous inventors, master musicians, Nobel Prize winning
scientists have all brought wonders to us from that part of reality the
skeptics say is merely one's imagination.
Skeptics
T.L.C.
Skeptics
say that
all this non-physical stuff is just a person's
imagination.
Big
D
Well, they're technically correct, but
what the skeptics ignore is the evidence which indicates that physical
matter is not real -- that everything is energy -- that energy is
controlled by consciousness -- that imagination is the core of
consciousness.
One
simply cannot use physical evidence to prove or disprove the existence
of something that is not physical. Atheism is simply another
religion in which believers reject the existence of God.
And they do it in the
same way religious true believers accept His/Her/It's existence
-- by a Leap
of Faith***ps-54-9
T.L.C.
You're telling me that declaring Atheism
as "The
Truth" is equally as unprovable as what the
fundamentalist Christians claim.
Big
D
Is that what the evidence
tells you?
T.L.C.
Yes.
Big
D
Then the evidence is telling
you and not I.
T.L.C.
Oh that
again.
Big
D
Yes, that again, until you
get it. Do you recall
that only a few minutes ago, I said
you'd soon be back under the control
of your old beliefs, programming,
and conditioning? (Chapter
forty-nine)
T.L.C. I
do recall
that.
Big
D
And what is the essence of
that message I gave you at that
time?
T.L.C.
To examine the evidence and
not the evidence giver.
Big
D
Have you got it this
time?
T.L.C.
Yes.
Big
D
Do
you want to bet on it?
T.L.C.
My answer's still
"no."
Big
D
Then Back to atheism. A far healthier way
for a self-declared atheist to state his/her opposition to fundamental Christianity is to say,
"I really don't know what created the universe, but there's one
thing I can say with certainty, the fundamentalist Christians
have it wrong."
T.L.C.
Now
bottom-line this discussion for me.
Big
D
Regardless of what you or I believe, the
Universe had a source. What that Source is, what the nature
of that Source is, and how He/She/It functions are
still the world's greatest mysteries.
The practical question for humans on
earth is not about in what
form the source of creation is or
isn't. It's about what a
human being actually is or
isn't. Is a human
being a function of his/her physical body or is the
human, physical body a function of
consciousness?
________________________
The
Story Continues in Chapter Fifty-Five`
Interview
with The Devil -- Table
of Contents`
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