Out of body religious experiences

[Rhabbi]

Ok, truth. All methods of finding the truth aren't equally as good. When people say that science can't find all the answers and that just because nobody can fit god into a beaker doesn't invalidate it.

I have to agree with you here Tom. Science has been working on the holy grail of a unified field theory for a long time, yet are further away from it now than when they started because our understanding of the universe is more complex.

A major problem in science is that you often don't know what you're looking for until you've allready found it. People seldom find what they hoped they would. And often they think they find it and then 150 years later somebody turns the model the right way up. As they did with the now extinct creature Hallicinogensis.

That is one of the amazing things about science, so much progress is made through accidental discoveries.

Isn't the plain and painful truth is that we have no better method than science? We can't trust our senses or common sense. We can't trust our feelings either.

Why can"t we?

A problem that religious research faces is off-course that it's impossible for anybody to verify. So the Bible says that god and the angels communicates with to people. What is that based on? How do we know that the people who had these visions weren't just plain crazy or hallucinated? What I don't understand is under these circumstances anybody can take the leap of faith? I can understand if somebody wonders about freaky shit they've seen and can't explain. But that's all it is. Things that can't be explained. To extrapolate from this the extremely complex system of belief that Christianity is, is extremely far fetched.

I understand that we like seeing meaning in things happening. We all have the compulsion to create narratives for everything happening around us. So we like to be able to explain things. But that doesn't mean we really can.

If I hear my now dead grandmothers voice calling out to me in my head and telling me stuff I can from that draw very little conclusions This has actually happened to me.

It may indicate that somehow her spirit survived and is floating around and is trying to tell me things. Maybe. It may also be that she's become an angel and is communicating with me from heaven. Maybe. It may also be that she was reincarnated as a fly on the wall and because of our close connection she can somehow communicate with me. Maybe. She may have entered a dimensional rift and can speak to me through a rip in the space time continuum. Maybe. It may not be a supernatural occurrence at all. Maybe.

There really is no point for me to try to come up with my own scientific theory for how this happend since I'm not half as good at neuro science or psychology to come up with an explanation. I haven't asked any religious authority figure about it, but I doubt they could say anything convincing. How did they come to their insights? How do they know that what they're saying is the truth? My point is that I don't see any fault in admitting that I don't know. And I'm also totally open to the fact that it could be a third possibility, and whole paradigm of thought that hasn't sprung into existence yet.

The major problem with all the religions is that there's really no reason to believe any of their theories. And if there's no reason to adapt a theory then why do it? If it's only guesswork then why? Why have faith in something when it is blind faith?

Here is where you are making a mistake Tom. You are focusing on objective truth. You admit that you are unable to explain that you heard your dead grandmother's voice, and I admit that I cannot. But I do not try to convince you that it did not happen. This is because I recognize that there is subjective truth also.

Just because I would do everything in my power to prove that any manifestation of a ghost is an absolute hoax does not mean that I do not recognize that, for some people, they are real. You call this blind faith.

Let me explain the difference to you between blind faith and faith.

Blind faith is what you do use every time you eat food that you did not see prepared, or it was not prepared by someone you trust implicitly. You trust that everyone who had contact with that food followed all the proper procedures for handling food, that they are healthy, and that they do not have any reason whatsoever to do you harm. this would include just being pissed off at the world in general and not deciding to take it out on some random customer, or just not liking the way you look. That is blind faith.

My faith is based on study and questioning everything that I come across. I believe in God not because someone told me too, but because after years of study and research I determined to my satisfaction that He exists. This does not mean that I claim to have the answers, because I do not. My faith is not blind.

I will admit that most people who believe in God did not go through the process I did, but I can show you a number of people through history that did. Blind faith is out there, but not all faith is blind faith.

Isn't interesting that the greats of science and religion should think so alike?

Amen Alex!