What do you think is the purpose of life/ what keeps you going?

Your ambition for money and respect are male specific behaviors and yes, they are driven by the evolutionary imperative to spread your seed.
(Psycology 101, chapter 2, The Id)

 

Well maybe his religion has let him down. This goes back to my Christian meat consuming thread. Meat eating Christians are the cause of starvation and death, not the answer to it. You are asking him to run the wrong direction.

http://www.ianprattis.com/pdf/apinegatemay2002z.pdf

Industrial animal-based agriculture depletes the essential resources of the surrounding ecosystem. In a world of endemic water crisis, it takes over 3,000 litres of water to produce 1 kg of U.S. beef. Furthermore, animal waste contaminates drinking water systems, pollutes rivers and reservoirs, and kills humans. The deaths and illness from the E.coli disaster in Walkerton, Canada are a graphic demonstration of what happens when animal waste gets into drinking-water systems. The vast proportion of an ecosystem’s protein, carbohydrates and fiber are lost as feed cycles through livestock.

It takes 16 kg of grain and soy feed to produce 1 kg of US beef, plus the 3,000 litres of water mentioned above. In Canada, 77 per cent of cereal crops grown in the country go to feed livestock. Sixty per cent of the catch by the world’s fisheries ends up as fishmeal destined to feed livestock. Twenty times more energy and 100 times more fresh water are required for meat production than for vegetables, fruit and cereal production. The “ecological footprint” created by our dietary preferences is huge, costly, and damaging.

This potential effect of mindful food habits is at drastic odds with the world we presently live in - full of hunger, malnutrition, and 40,000 children dying every day from starvation. When we realize that the vast amount of cereals that could feed starving children is used instead to make alcohol and to feed livestock, we must deeply examine the consequences of consuming alcohol and meat.


crazyguypete,

There is some free will but not complete free will. It's not an either/or, but a mix of both.

From Karma, by Ajaan Thanissaro:
http://www.accesstoinsight.org/lib/authors/thanissaro/karma.html

For the early Buddhists, karma was non-linear and complex. Other Indian schools believed that karma operated in a simple straight line, with actions from the past influencing the present, and present actions influencing the future. As a result, they saw little room for free will. Buddhists, however, saw that karma acts in multiple feedback loops, with the present moment being shaped both by past and by present actions; present actions shape not only the future but also the present. Furthermore, present actions need not be determined by past actions. In other words, there is free will, although its range is somewhat dictated by the past. The nature of this freedom is symbolized in an image used by the early Buddhists: flowing water. Sometimes the flow from the past is so strong that little can be done except to stand fast, but there are also times when the flow is gentle enough to be diverted in almost any direction.

So, instead of promoting resigned powerlessness, the early Buddhist notion of karma focused on the liberating potential of what the mind is doing with every moment. Who you are — what you come from — is not anywhere near as important as the mind's motives for what it is doing right now. Even though the past may account for many of the inequalities we see in life, our measure as human beings is not the hand we've been dealt, for that hand can change at any moment. We take our own measure by how well we play the hand we've got. If you're suffering, you try not to continue the unskillful mental habits that would keep that particular karmic feedback going. If you see that other people are suffering, and you're in a position to help, you focus not on their karmic past but your karmic opportunity in the present: Someday you may find yourself in the same predicament that they're in now, so here's your opportunity to act in the way you'd like them to act toward you when that day comes.

 

Mewogi --

meat eating christians???

do you think meat eating is reserved for Christians??

oh wait, you totally don't...BECAUSE YOU EAT MEAT!!!

stop forcing your religion down my throat, you intolerant, dogmatic zealot.

 

Christians do not have the same reverence to all life as other faiths. That is why there is starvation. Your advice to crazyguypete was very harmful.

 

We get it, Meowgi. You don't like Christians. It's tired now. Tinman likes VY. You don't like Christians. Kam likes the Disney Channel. Got it.

Could you be any more judgmental? Could you be any more of all you claim to hate?

Let it go. Put down the hate and move on.

 

I will hate that which deserves it.

 

And pretend you're enlightened along the way. Awesome. I look forward to more of your hate mixed with self-righteousness.

 

I won't claim to be enlightened, but I know enough not to be deceived. And you can definitely look forward to me doing my best to stop it from causing more harm. Like you said, I took a stance on the issue.

 

Wow. You're like on another plane or something, dude. Like a yogi or a swami, somekind of superguru. Like the wise King Solomon and Yoda all wrapped into one. Do you sweep the streets with your broom as to not harm the insects in your path? And you eat only fruit that has fallen from the tree? Oh, holy one, you are the messenger for whom we have been waiting. All hail Mr. Meowgi! He is wiser than his years, more sagacious than the Buddha, able to leap tall building with a single bound. He is Superuberspiritman! Satguru Subramuniyaswami. Ommanipadmihommmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

 

hypocrite. you eat meat. you smoke and you expose other people to it. you drive a car that pollutes our environment. and then go on about your reverence for life. stop pretending to be something you aren't. stop judging other people.

 

ok..good luck.

 

Someone could start with "do unto others as you would have them do unto you," if that is accurate. You don't have to believe in religion to attempt that. It's not easy, but it's a place to start. I'm not very good at it.



D&D. Impeach the Living Embodiment of the Peter Principal.

 

It may sound rather simple as a concept, but for someone like myself, who tends to have a far different view of what should be done unto me, and therefore what's cool to do to someone else, the results can be surprizing. You may end up in a "box" filed under "Excentric Blade Runners."



D&D. Impeach the Living Embodiment of the Peter Principal.

 

I've been there and done that, too. Studied the I Ching, the Tao Te Ching, the Upanishads, the Vedas, Buddishm, Hinduism, became a Rastafarian, ate with Hare Krishnas, meditated in the Shiva temple, been to the synagogue, was a vegetarian for seven years, had kids. Now I eat fish and am not allowed in the shiva temple, celebrated Rosh Hashana yesterday, do yoga, mission work when I can, building dental & med clinics, serve in the community, knowing I'm not perfect, but far from it, try to be a great dad and a good person and believe that Yeshua Ha Mesiach was God. I believe in the Holy Trinity, the Father, Son and the Holy Spirit. That's it in a nutshell. Whether a coconut or a pistachio, both are healthy and good for you. There's truth in that.

 

Hatred doesn't follow in line with buddhist principles. You might have to start letting go a little of your past and also letting go of your current vices if you want to emulate or give the impression of emulating the people you quote in your replies.

 

crazyguypete- I usually don't think seriously here in D&D, just like to post, but your questions should be taken seriously.

Bible verses-
Matthew 11:27"All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows the Son except the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him.

Luke 10:22 "All things have been committed to me by my Father. No one knows who the Son is except the Father, and no one knows who the Father is except the Son and those to whom the Son chooses to reveal him."

James 4:6 "God opposes the proud but gives grace to the humble."

I will try not to sermonize and I won't give other verses to explain even though there are many verses that would help.

Your questions are very good, your doubts about God are important, I have shared your quest for answers to these basic questions. Is there a God? What is the meaning of life? Where does a God fit in to all of this? How can we see the logic and rational reason for God?

God revealed Himself to mankind in various ways in history. God revealed Himself in the most significant historical event through the life and death and resurrection of His son Jesus Christ.

He didn't reveal Himself to everyone. He resists the proud of heart. He reveals Himself to the humble. We are all proud of heart.

Quite a dilemma.

Most circumstances in our lives offer us the opportunity to humble ourselves.
Jesus can reveal God to the humble. In fact pride conceals what Jesus desires to reveal.

You cannot know the existence of God unless it is revealed to you. But you are nothing special at all if Jesus reveals God to you because you have humbled yourself. Christians sometimes talk of sinners, well I am the worst in our church.

I think without God's help it is impossible to have a truly humble heart. That is the meaning of grace- God's help.

God asks us to seek Him for this reason, He wants to reveal himself to the humble. It's just about impossible to seek God with a proud heart and get anywhere.

I am a very proud person. I am amazed by grace (God's help)

I would encourage you to humble yourself, ask Jesus to reveal God to you.

Instead of wrestling with the questions, come to Jesus like a spiritual beggar, realizing only He can give you the answers.
Jesus said blessed are the poor in spirit, God's kingdom belongs to them.

Once God reveals Himself to you, your quest will be over, but you will not have an answer to give. You will believe. That is what faith really is- what we experience with God that we cannot explain. (remember only Jesus can reveal God)

Pride is tricky. It makes us think we know, it exalts our own importance, it makes us more valuable than others, it causes us to believe we are equal with God, it deceives our own mind, - that is why people starve and wars are fought- we think we are better than most people in the world. We Americans think we are better than the people of Iraq or India or Africa. We Christians think we are better than the prostitute, the drug addict, the homosexual, the homeless.

God's love is never shown through man's pride.

pride is actually a self-exaltation, thinking we are equal to God. Deciding for ourselves if there is a God. All the same thing- human pride.

It is believing we can live independent of God, it is the blinder over our spiritual eyes.

We are like blind men through pride groping for meaning in this life that only comes when we can see what is not seen.

 

are you in houston??