drafterman

My plan was to unpack number three as the discussion went on a bit. I do think transcendent is the only logical conclusion when we see what it means to be a cause of the universe.

Why do you feel 1 and two are unproven?

What do you mean by prove to be exact?

Would that require 100 percent epistemic certainty?

Honestly, I think there are good reasons to believe one and two

These are poetic ways of describing relationship with God.

I am telling you what is meant by these things so as to help bridge the gap between what you think these things look like and the types and shadows of a deeper reality that these ways of describing point to.

Because of the paradigm difference, anachronistic interpretation is inevitable. You might have to think a little more poetically than you are used to doing to see what I am trying to point out.

There are certain difficulties that one invariably stumbles upon when we are using the medium of creation to witness to that which is Uncreated. 

Whatever The Ultimate Reality is, that is God. 

• That reality can be pleased
  
• That reality has a will and conscious sense of timing
  
• That reality can judge
  

If something exists, it has no existence apart from The Ultimate Reality. Therefore God has authority.

As God determines what is real and true, God's judgement is what gives existence.

If something exists, it ultimately comes from God. Therefore, whatever happens is God's will.

You've made quite a lot of base declarations. I am still awaiting the justification part. Bridge the gap between your assertions and the justification of their alleged truth.

The Truth is not man made.

The Ultimate Reality is God, and certainly has more authority than either you or I. 

If you deny the existence of my God, you are professing nihilism. If my God doesn't exist, nothing exists.

It is patently ridiculous to say, "The ultimate reality is ultimately unreal".

If nothing is ultimately real, then our experience would be impossible.

But nothing to do with with "pleasing" reality or reality "judging" me

Maybe not in the way that you think. Or maybe the way that you think isn't ruled out? I don't know. But it is no strange thing. No extraordinary claim that I am making.

Of course we will all be judged by The Light of Truth, and on the last day, all darkness, deceit, delusion, falsehood will be exposed by The Light of Truth. Could you not say, based on the judgement of God's Word which is The Truth that what God's Law banishes must be displeasing to Him? The darkness flees from The Light, just as those who hate Him flee from His face.

Truth is the highest good, and evil the natural consequence of deviation from The Truth.

The way of the wicked shall perish, their faith and identity is with perishable things. Their walk blind, their mind darkened. The end of their faith is in created things. The Eternal Way is to be made divine through unity with The Uncreated Energy of God. To abide in The Eternal Way of Truth.

The very light of heaven is the same fire of hell. The purifying flame of Truth.

See, I already said that when people deny your God they aren't denying reality. They are denying that reality has the extra attributes you've assigned to it. Atheism does not imply nihilism.

My position has and has always been that the vast majority of people who think they are atheist believe in a superstitious conception of God. That being the case, the atheist position is actually a negation of gods, not God.

The Ultimate Reality is God, all other "gods" are only gods in a nominal sense.

Let it be known that The Ultimate Reality is God, and God is not like created things that have attributes. God Is what God Is. The Eternally Existing One.

Knowledge is a justified, true belief. Justify your belief and only then can it be known. Also note that "eternal" and "existing" are attributes.

Yet, making choices that align with reality essentially lead to more consistent and positive results. While making choices that disregard reality consistently leads to subversion.

This has everything to do with the relationship a child of God has with God.

Nihilism implies atheism, yes. But atheism does not imply nihilism. I am an atheist but I am not a nihilist

As our God is The Ultimate Reality, to deny our God is to profess nihilism. If you are not a nihilist, maybe you aren't really an atheist either.

You say I assign properties to God, but the only thing I say about God is that The Ultimate Reality is God.

According to the way we understand things, to say there is no God is to say you are a nihilist.

"That there is no truth, that there is no absolute state of affairs—no thing-in-itself. This alone is nihilism, and of the most extreme kind." 

What Nietzsche says up there is very much in line with how we understand things. Nihilism is the denial of God. Atheism is nihilism.

But reality doesn't have spirit or cleansing power.

Sure it does. Much in the way darkness flees from the light. Like wax before the fire, delusion is melted away by the fiery heat of Truth.

But you can't "invite" reality into your heart or mind. It is a a thing, not a person or entity

If your heart and mind is directed towards The Truth, quite naturally you will find that your mindfulness towards reality will sculpt and shape you.

The purer your heart, the stronger the presence of Truth is in your heart and mind.

But reality isn't a person or entity that can be "pleased" or that can "humble" a person. It cannot be killed, rise, or judge people.

Quite naturally, humble students are better than proud students. Much in the same way, those who think they know already have a hard time learning from and being purified by God. Those who approach God with the humility and reverence that a young child has towards a good parent receive a grace that cannot rest on the proud.

So there is quite the gap between "reality" and this thing you call "The Truth." There are a lot of attributes and properties in the latter not present in the former.

As I hope my response reveals to you, the discrepancy is primarily a matter of paradigm.

You think God is offering you a service, selling you something, and that you can sit back and evaluate this offer as to whether it suits your preference.

If you don't believe that The Truth is God, then you don't know what God is. I don't believe in whatever superstitious conception you have of God either.

You can't please God without faith. That is just how it is. Extreme skepticism is not a virtue, quite the contrary, it keeps you from accepting what we mean by what we teach. You have to come to God like a child, ready to be taught. If you have pride, God will humble you. If you come with humility, there is grace.

The reason the faith takes the form it does is demonstrated by my work here. I speak very plainly about the faith, and it is still not believed. 

And so, all you get are parables because you won't accept the plainly spoken and lucid truth.

The plain and lucid truth is that Christianity at the core is about loving The Truth, and living it.

Because you can't accept this, all you get is parables.

There is no legitimate question or doubt about God's existence.

The question is really, "Who is God?"

The Ultimate Reality is God, and there is no reasonable doubt.

And the thing is, if you love The Truth, you don't look at the world and think, "Oh, Things are this way, but it would've been better if it was different."

This type of thinking leads to delusion. Making peace with the way things are in a great way is making peace with God.

Oh heavens no, that has nothing to do with our practice.

First of all, you have to understand that when we say heart, we are talking about The Nous.

Then you have yo understand that The Truth is God.

The discipline has nothing to do with hypnosis or implanting ideas in the head at all for that manner, it is about SEEING CLEARLY. It is moreso about looking at the influences and passions that enslave us, and being freed from these things so that we can better live as an Icon of The Truth.

I am not using the word "truth" arbitrarily. If you don't accept that I mean exactly that, it will only be confusing as you will be asking yourself, "What truth?". I mean, The Truth itself.

And directing oneself towards The Truth creates a very real "gravity" you could say. It creates movement. But more importantly, it opens you up, as Ron was saying to God so that the cleansing power of The Holy Spirt, which is The Spirit of Truth, works in you.

If it sounds mysterious, it really is. It is something to be experienced. It is known through the experience. Just as a scientist who performs no scientific experiments is hardly a real scientist, someone whose faith is absent of works is dead. Functionally, no faith.

That is really the faith that you have to have. That God exists. That if there is a way to see God, there has to be a right way.

There is nothing unreasonable about Orthodox Christianity, there is just a lot there, and even the things we do that look strange or illogical to the uninformed observer have very real and good reasons behind them. Point being, much of what the faith is about is presented in such a way as to give the opposite impression.

Why is this? It is to protect the faith. One can not come to the faith without charity and humility. The door is shut. All you will see is a bunch of weirdos wearing funny clothes burning incense with the thought creeping in your head "I know better than this".

But if what I am saying is true, and I can only insist that it is, there is a great deal more to it than meets the eye.

Scripture has more authority than ronjs.

Not to negate what he is saying.

But this is an absurd question...

"Among the billion or so Christians, who presumably have let god into their hearts and received a response, how long, on average, did that take?"

I say that not to be disrespectful, but because it is an impossible question to answer.

Ronjs gave the right answer when he said "His timing"

But I am giving you a better answer. Not better because it is more true, but better because it gives you direction. 

No one here is able to know whether you sincerely seek God. That is something only you can know. What I will tell you is that the faith is revealed in practice.

"Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God"

Orthodox Christian praxis purifies the heart. So as Jesus Himself said, "If ye continue in my word, then are ye my disciples indeed;

And ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free."

Without orthopraxis, one cannot truly be orthodox.

I don't doubt that, through rote repetition, I can slowly alter my own system of beliefs to be consistent with Christianity. A form of self-hypnosis if you will. It's certainly the tactic proposed by Pascal.

I'm disclined to use this method since it can be used for any belief, regardless of veracity and I'd like my belief system to be as closed to reality as is possible. Unfortunately this requires some method of validation of the truth of a statement before accepting it as true, which is not being offered here.

Imagine saying no PM exists

and then warning about displaying contents of a PM. By the way, the COC mentioned an exception of displaying mod PMs

If the person that leaked you this information was a mod, but that would have to be validated.

Klingons were larger and physically stronger than most species, they possessed a much lower tolerance to the cold. (VOY: "Displaced"; DS9: "Change of Heart")

All you have to do is sincerely invite Him in.

I will provide screenshots of these PMs if all the mods involved can promise to step down if I show them

Singularity, Speed, Supa, Zaradi, Oromagi, Lunatic

This is the dumbest wagon in the history of Mafia. All the scum are probably on it.