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User	Blue Monk | 2008-03-09 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I don’t know if I’d agree with a general statement about life forms going from complex to simple, but it’s an easy matter if you’ve studied biology to view any "higher" form of life as being made up of a collection of simpler ones working together in symbiosis. The term "evolution" basically refers to the adding, subtracting and/or modification/mutation within those collections over time. Given the billions of years and the many trillions of individual life forms having been evident on this single planet alone, anything at all can and does happen. This process continues ongoing although the pace for major changes generally takes place over a longer period than our written history has been available (which is a relatively very short time). The fossel record, however, is a very accurate recordation of the facts - provided that we are able to properly understand what we see, "dragon bones" notwithstanding. And that is exactly how God (the giver of life) made it and continues to make it happen! Scientists have learned to manipulate the stuff of life in many ways, but actually creating it or even properly explaining the actual "process" is another matter, still way beyond our understanding. Which brings us back to faith.

User	mae | 2008-03-09 |
Subject	untitled
Message	In essence, faith must be present in order to know anything. In other words, one must assume, believe, or have faith in the credibility of a person, place, thing, or idea in order to have a basis for knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_faith This is true for any unproveable idea, even evolution. And despite all the protests to the contrary, evolution cannot be proven. It takes a great amount of faith to accept that life began in primordial soup and developed in consistently more complex ways, especially when current evidence would indicate that life goes from complex to simple, not the other way around. (Really, this was not a comment against evolution, but for the existence of faith in other than religious arenas.) mae

User	Blue Monk | 2008-03-09 |
Subject	Key to a Key
Message	Why Believe? Known as one of his key contributions to philosophy, the idea of "faith seeking understanding" was set forth by St. Augustine in his statement "Crede, ut intelligas" ("Believe in order that you may understand"). This statement extends beyond the sphere of religion to encompass the totality of knowledge. In essence, faith must be present in order to know anything. In other words, one must assume, believe, or have faith in the credibility of a person, place, thing, or idea in order to have a basis for knowledge. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religious_faith

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-28 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I believe that a moderate amount of alcohol each day is heathful. Whether that is a placebo effect or not, I seem to feel better anyway. Besides, there is "scripture" to support that belief: http://www.hsph.harvard.edu/nutritionsource/alcohol.html

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-18 |
Subject	untitled
Message	I guess you do, mine goes right to it.

User	latentlylyrical | 2008-01-18 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Monk--I’ve been trying to load that link for two days. ~scowl~ I really need a different internet connection...

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-15 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Back to the God/Placebo thing, what category would this sort of thing fall into? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5lvU-DislkI Perhaps something different altogether. Good music though.

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-15 |
Subject	untitled
Message	If by having the innocence of a child you mean a trusting nature, a complete lack of pretext with no assumption or presumption of guile and having a natural affection and unconditional love towards the parent figure (in this case God) then yes, the door to the Kingdom of Heaven is open to such as those. That said, you’d be surprised how "non-ignorant" many of them are regardless of their age. There’s also a "special reward" in store for those who would lead such "children" astray. That too is written (millstone, etc.)

User	latentlylyrical | 2008-01-15 |
Subject	untitled
Message	"This does not mean that one should not study the scriptures, but doing so without already a having "childlike" faith often leads to confusion in the absence of (supernatural) understanding which does become a stumbling block. Scripture is not written for the unfaithful, and understanding does not come to fools who enter seeking errors." If I understand this correctly, then it is the innocence of the child, not the ignorance, that makes the faith so strong. Eh?

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-15 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Mar 10:15 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein. Luk 18:17 Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein. To see how some other translations read, see: http://www.blueletterbible.org/cgi-bin/versions.pl?book=Mar&chapter=10&verse=15&version=KJV#15 and so on. In any case, these words are attributed to Jesus, and whether recognized as the Son of God, a prophet or just an extraordinary philosopher, depending upon the particular faith of the reader, I think it pretty well self explanatory, although it may not jive too well with some members of the religious elite. This does not mean that one should not study the scriptures, but doing so without already a having "childlike" faith often leads to confusion in the absence of (supernatural) understanding which does become a stumbling block. Scripture is not written for the unfaithful, and understanding does not come to fools who enter seeking errors. Depending upon which books of the Bible you are studying and when and where they were written, it may have originated in any of several different tongues. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hebrew http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aramaic_language http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_language These same books have been widely translated to most, if not all of the world’s languages. The question of how much understanding might have been lost in this process is best left to God and his will (and power) that the people shall know the truth. The above is no reflection on the tenents of Islam or any other system of belief, each of which has its own place. God did not create a billion Muslims without good reason.

User	cabbalistic | 2008-01-15 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Blue Monk: "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." - which is probably better relayed as, "I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." Does this mean there is such a thing as excessive analysis, something that will detract from the experience of believing in the existence of superior being, a God? What part of the Bible is this verse from? Is there a reliable online documentation of the Bible I could refer to? Also could anyone tell me what language the Bible was written in originally? Thanks! x

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-07 |
Subject	untitled
Message	No, no, and no... If knowledge means having learned something, that much is good: Rom 10:17 So then faith [cometh] by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. Gal 3:2 This only would I learn of you, Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? Gal 3:5 He therefore that ministereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among you, [doeth he it] by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith? As I mentioned earlier "faith" in this case is not restricted to being specifically "in God" in order to find a positive force which actually works. It is important to acknowledge the source of what you believe your strength to be, but I think it’s even broader than that. But if you’re asking about the religious side of "power", when in doubt check out what Jesus had to say about the kind of faith you need: "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child shall in no wise enter therein." - which is probably better relayed as, "I assure you, anyone who doesn’t have their kind of faith will never get into the Kingdom of God." If I defer to this understanding (and I do) it would seem that "expert" knowledge in the ways of God (such being a curious concept, at least to me) would be more likely to serve as a detriment to one’s experience of the actual power of God, while a simple faith would serve best. You might recognize my feelings of such in my most recently posted poem, and then again you might not. Parts of an earlier work "Sky Blue" touches on this subject as well: ... The guarded gate would beckon thee whose knowledge thought beyond his kin, yet guarded to such kind it be with force beyond tranquility... ... Many have strayed for the sake of confusion, innocence lost from child, youth to adult, faith in the Father, Spirit and Son fall way to selfishness, lies and illusion... ... Pieces of truth are no better than tales, puzzles and darkness many traps bear, Only faith in the True Light guides the beliver past madness when knowledge and false wisdom fails. From the foot of the cross a saint leads the way, your Lord and King walks the water to bear you, all else is sealed, no such water is parted, as a child on the ground to such glory you’ll pray. Obviously some religious overtones are going on here, but the point is to not become so enamored with "Sophia" and self empowerment that you forget to honor and defer to the actual source of same (if that’s what you profess to believe). http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sophia_%28wisdom%29 It is the humble servant who serves his master well.

User	latentlylyrical | 2008-01-07 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Monk...you said: "The strength is in the not knowing, it is the power of expectation that is at work." then went on to say: "If someone takes the statement, "God is just a placebo" literally, even suspecting that such might be true gives some damage to the very real effects both mental and physical which are attributable to actually having faith in God." If it is the not-knowing that is the positive force of the placebo, then is having in-depth knowledge of the placebo going to give the affects more force? In medical terms, would it mean a person who has been informed in detail of the biological and chemical processess that the ’drug’ will induce on the body more likely to believe in the placebo and make it more effective? Or in religious terms, does the priest or reverend (who is highly trained in the ’god effects’) get more positive effect from their faith than an ignorant peasant who has only a broad, general concept of god? I ask because this seems logical, but does not sit right with me in heart or mind. I cannot believe in a god who will bless and accept only those who know ’the right way’. The divisions among religions who say their own way is ’right’ and all others are wrong seems to me to dilute the positive effects of faith...in a big way. (the negative effects being seen throughout history from the Crusades to modern Jihad) So, in essence, I guess my question is, do you believe that a deep, specific knowledge and faith in god is the root of the positive force of faith?

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-04 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Humans are strange animals. They can know that placebos have been proven to work in many cases, yet if they "know" the medicine that was given to them is "only" a placebo, the effect is gone. The strength is in the not knowing, it is the power of expectation that is at work. The same could be said for the religious side of the equation. If someone takes the statement, "God is just a placebo" literally, even suspecting that such might be true gives some damage to the very real effects both mental and physical which are attributable to actually having faith in God. Thus said, it always pays to be a firm believer in whatever it is that you expect to receive miracles from. Besides, God expects and appreciates that. If God or nature has already given our mind and body the ability to heal itself in many cases, does it matter through which door you enter such wellness? That depends whether you would rather hold your faith in the medicine of man (even if it’s sugar pills) or in an incomprehensively all powerful being who loves you. But some people will find yet other explanations, perhaps because "God" is just too primitive a concept or because the idea was already taken.

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-03 |
Subject	untitled
Message	"Faith" in this context does not always refer to anything religious. Some people have nothing more than faith in themselves or lack of it.

User	latentlylyrical | 2008-01-03 |
Subject	untitled
Message	HA! There are soooo many people that I know who really really need one of those slaps that are divinely delivered! :D

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-03 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Thanks. I might also offer that it is a rare person who will venture any step in the full faith that it will fail. For any action or expectation whether concious or subconcious, there must be faith of some degree for germination. That is of course unless God just walks up and slaps you in the face.

User	latentlylyrical | 2008-01-03 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Beautifully phrased. :)

User	Blue Monk | 2008-01-02 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Yes, yes and yes... faith/purpose yielding/action Yin/yang two equal, balanced parts of a whole, each leading and yet following the other I am reminded of The Tide As does a surging tide righteousness seeks inward but that which comes in must at length receed to once again expose the lone naked beach of the soul

User	latentlylyrical | 2008-01-02 |
Subject	untitled
Message	Do you believe that faith brings a sense of purpose? I mean, is faith a function of belief only, or is faith a catalyst for action, in your opinion?