That's not very respectful, is it? More so in light of the fact that I have pm'ed you with a clarification of what you can and cannot do in the Spirituality forum. If anyone else had mentioned the "deafening silence", then fair enough - they haven't yet received an answer to Access Denied's excellent question. You, however, already have. What's more, I also shared private details of some of the things that are going on in Ryan's life at the moment, the tip of the iceberg being the life-threatening illness of his sister. Ryan has not yet experienced the awful reality of what it means to lose someone very close to you, and as a result is having a very hard time dealing with it. In addition to that he is also working most of the hours in the day and night just so he can get through the financial mess he finds himself in at the moment. I know he shares that particular predicament with an unhealthy amount of people right now throughout the world, but that and the situation with his sister means his priorities lie elsewhere at this particular moment in time.
The silence is deafening? I would say the silence is
defining where Ryan is concerned. He knows he could get through this and come out stronger at the end, but he has to get through it first. Cut the guy a little slack before demanding answers next time, ok? You may well be strong enough to deal with everything life throws at you and carry on as normal, it doesn't mean everyone else is the same.
Anyway, here is the answer to the original question.
Let's look at what was written:
Access Denied wrote:ryguy wrote:Look at my first post in this forum:
Considering the sensitive nature of this subject matter, there will be much tighter controls on attacks and insensitive or derogatory remarks toward other members related to their spiritual beliefs within this forum.
If someone comes in HERE, the spirituality and religion forum, and claims that they believe they met an alien, I'd leave them alone.
You know why? Because they're admitting that it's a religious/spiritual belief.
I'm sorry you don't comprehend the difference.
P.S. - read that quote a few times before you click "reply" again.
I think we could all use a little more clarification on this Ryan, are you saying if someone admits something is only a belief (or speculation) then they shouldn’t be questioned?
I just want to make sure we’re not discouraging anyone from engaging others in a healthy and open debate on these topics.
The simple answer is that anyone is free to question and debate others, even in this, the Spirituality section of the RU forums. What Ryan was getting at, was this:
Considering the sensitive nature of this subject matter, there will be much tighter controls on attacks and insensitive or derogatory remarks toward other members related to their spiritual beliefs within this forum. {emphasis added}
He posted that particular section for a reason, the following comment being one of them:
Nope I see someone running for an excuse
Ryan has made a number of comments in this thread in an attempt to clarify what is different about spiritual beliefs and the rest of the subject matter disscussed on this site. It appears he hasn't been all that successful in this case, so let me try.
As most people are aware, a spiritual belief is not based on hard evidence or facts, it is based on
faith. The following definition of faith from
The Free Dictionary really does say it all:
2. Belief that does not rest on logical proof or material evidence.
Yet here you are demanding it! Surely you can see that is never going to work? A person's faith is a deeply personal thing. In essence, when you question a person's faith you are telling them they are not allowed to decide for themselves what works for them. What it all boils down to is no one has yet provided a detailed or proven explanation that answer the most fundamental questions that exist: Where does all of
this come from? Where did it start? WHY did it start?
Can you answer those questions? Maybe you are satisfied with one explanation or another, or maybe you are satisified with not knowing. The bottom line is, regardless of what it is you believe to be true, no one actually does know the truth.
Chorlton wrote:Im not the one making the claims about a God existing.
You are, therefore YOU provide the proof he exists or consider your argument destroyed.
As far as I am aware, ScarZ is not the spokesperson for all of the religions in the world and as can be clearly seen from his posts, he has no desire to be either. Telling him "his" argument should be considered destroyed if he can't prove the existence of God is not only arrogant, it is absurd. His faith, and that of everyone else who believes in a higher power is not based on facts, it is based on their interpretation of something that is unknowable. If you feel so strongly about the subject as to why there is no God, offer an alternative. I'd be surprised if you had any evidence to back it up with, mind.
Liking a person's spiritual, faith-based beliefs to the activities in UFology land is quite a stretch, if you ask me
Now, questioning the origins of Christianity and some other religions, that is an entirely different kettle of fish. There is enough material on both sides of the fence to make for a rather interesting discussion, in my opinion...
Cheers,
Steve