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Post by matte on Aug 27, 2021 19:38:40 GMT 10
He has absolutely no business being a chaplain. It is the equivalent of a transsexual wanting to compete in female sport.
Harvard’s new chaplain is an atheist — and ‘Good Without God’By Hannah Frishberg 27 AUGUST 2021 NEW YORK POST  This spiritual leader doesn’t need a higher power. Harvard University’s organization of chaplains is getting a new president to coordinate the campus’ Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and assorted other religious communities. Only the new president, 44-year-old Greg Epstein, does not identify with any of those traditional religions himself. He is an atheist. FULL STORY: nypost.com/2021/08/26/harvards-new-chaplain-is-an-atheist-and-good-without-god/ |
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Post by Gort on Aug 27, 2021 20:47:30 GMT 10
Though originally the word chaplain referred to representatives of the Christian faith, it is now also applied to people of other religions or philosophical traditions, as in the case of chaplains serving with military forces and an increasing number of chaplaincies at U.S. universities. In recent times, many lay people have received professional training in chaplaincy and are now appointed as chaplains in schools, hospitals, companies, universities, prisons and elsewhere to work alongside, or instead of, official members of the clergy. The concepts of a multi-faith team, secular, generic or humanist* chaplaincy are also gaining increasing use, particularly within healthcare and educational settings ... en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaplain* Humanist chaplain Humanism is the belief that you can lead a good life without god. A Humanist Chaplain provides pastoral care based on Humanist principles. ... The Humanist Chaplain gives information, advice, and consultation about existential questions. What is a humanist chaplain?Humanism is the belief that you can lead a good life without god. It is the belief that we only have one life and that we should make the most of it, for ourselves and for our fellow human beings. Humanists make sense of the world by means of reason and evidence while rejecting superstition. Humanists have a positive outlook on life, guided by rational thought and focus on the importance of human cooperation and compassion for solving problems. |
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Post by matte on Aug 27, 2021 21:55:43 GMT 10
The atheists need to keep out of the business of faith.
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Post by Gort on Aug 27, 2021 23:52:50 GMT 10
Business is right! 
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Post by fat on Aug 29, 2021 22:04:08 GMT 10
The atheists need to keep out of the business of faith. Why is that Matte? |
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Post by pim on Aug 29, 2021 23:43:46 GMT 10
There was a very wise and erudite French Jesuit who went by the splendidly French name of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. I doubt that Teihard de Chardin is a household name over at Hillsong but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Fat had heard of him as a theologian. He was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philosophical books. He took part in the discovery of Peking Man. In short he was a bit of a polymath. He would have rejected out of hand Matt’s grandiose claim that “atheists need to keep out of the business of faith”. If anything Teilhard de Chardin urged Christians to reach out to atheists whom he referred to as “our brothers and sisters”. His exact phrase was « nos frères les athées » which translates as “our brothers the atheists”.
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Post by Occam's Spork on Aug 30, 2021 10:54:45 GMT 10
"Praise nothing. You are a mistake. You will die and face oblivion.
Here endeth the message."
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Post by Gort on Aug 30, 2021 11:07:23 GMT 10
I reckon I will die and not " face" oblivion. Being dead is to exit the space-time continuum. Complete loss of awareness.  So oblivion can't be "faced" by definition.  |
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Post by fat on Aug 31, 2021 3:24:42 GMT 10
There was a very wise and erudite French Jesuit who went by the splendidly French name of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin. I doubt that Teihard de Chardin is a household name over at Hillsong but it wouldn’t surprise me at all if Fat had heard of him as a theologian. He was a French Jesuit priest, scientist, paleontologist, theologian, philosopher and teacher. He was Darwinian in outlook and the author of several influential theological and philosophical books. He took part in the discovery of Peking Man. In short he was a bit of a polymath. He would have rejected out of hand Matt’s grandiose claim that “atheists need to keep out of the business of faith”. If anything Teilhard de Chardin urged Christians to reach out to atheists whom he referred to as “our brothers and sisters”. His exact phrase was « nos frères les athées » which translates as “our brothers the atheists”. I have not heard of him but I resonate with his saying. Thanks pim |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Aug 31, 2021 9:34:21 GMT 10
I reckon I will die and not " face" oblivion. Being dead is to exit the space-time continuum. Complete loss of awareness. So oblivion can't be "faced" by definition. I disagree with your definition. Squares have faces, but they lack awareness. |
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Post by pim on Sept 1, 2021 14:21:54 GMT 10
It's not often that I find a reason to make common cause with Trickles but I do find myself agreeing with his characterisation of death as an exit from the space/time continuum and therefore not just the loss of awareness but the annihilation of awareness. I use "annihilation" in its Latin sense. "Nihil" is Latin for "nothing" so to annihilate is to reduce to nothing.
That figures as an atheist take on death and quite frankly I don't see how for an atheist death can be characterised any differently.
But this raises an interesting point. I get it that for a Christian, the atheist take on death is rejected. That's understandable. But if death is a portal to another state rather than an exit from the space/time continuum, then what's on the other side of this portal but just a different space/time continuum?
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Post by Gort on Sept 1, 2021 14:26:56 GMT 10
Make the most of your 90 years or so (if lucky) because you're dead for a long time. |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 3, 2021 21:30:44 GMT 10
It's not often that I find a reason to make common cause with Trickles but I do find myself agreeing with his characterisation of death as an exit from the space/time continuum and therefore not just the loss of awareness but the annihilation of awareness. I use "annihilation" in its Latin sense. "Nihil" is Latin for "nothing" so to annihilate is to reduce to nothing. That figures as an atheist take on death and quite frankly I don't see how for an atheist death can be characterised any differently. But this raises an interesting point. I get it that for a Christian, the atheist take on death is rejected. That's understandable. But if death is a portal to another state rather than an exit from the space/time continuum, then what's on the other side of this portal but just a different space/time continuum? I always understood heaven being outside of the constraints of time/space. Difficult to fathom for a finite mind. But what were the laws of the universe prior to the natural laws?-- Heaven is that. |
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Post by pim on Sept 3, 2021 23:26:26 GMT 10
That’s kinda the point isn’t it? If the Big Bang is accepted as the beginning of space/time then there was no “before” because there was no space/time.
Which is as far as I’m prepared to go this late at night! The “before’s” and “afters” of space/time are not matters that I want to think about as space/time in south Australia ticks inexorably towards 11pm on a Friday night and I’m supposed to be winding down to enter the realm of Nod - or as they say more poetically in French, to sink into the arms of Morpheus (the god of sleep - which gives us “morphine”).
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 4, 2021 7:58:35 GMT 10
That’s kinda the point isn’t it? If the Big Bang is accepted as the beginning of space/time then there was no “before” because there was no space/time. Which is as far as I’m prepared to go this late at night! The “before’s” and “afters” of space/time are not matters that I want to think about as space/time in south Australia ticks inexorably towards 11pm on a Friday night and I’m supposed to be winding down to enter the realm of Nod - or as they say more poetically in French, to sink into the arms of Morpheus (the god of sleep - which gives us “morphine”). I'm not ready to just accept: "In the beginning there was nothing... and then it exploded and made everything." The Laws of Causality don't leave room for it. One should consider the probability that there are a lot of known unknowns outside of our universe that the rules of natural law don't apply. ..But now we are delving into Metaphysics. |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 4, 2021 8:09:08 GMT 10
Make the most of your 90 years or so (if lucky) because you're dead for a long time. You won't even notice the time go by... But if there is an afterlife, it'll seem like an eternity. Make certain you choose wisely .😉 |
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Post by Gort on Sept 4, 2021 11:49:00 GMT 10
Make the most of your 90 years or so (if lucky) because you're dead for a long time. You won't even notice the time go by... But if there is an afterlife, it'll seem like an eternity. Make certain you choose wisely .😉 If there was an afterlife, I won't be in it. Who wants to live forever?  Forever is our today.
Who waits forever anyway? |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 5, 2021 12:24:45 GMT 10
You won't even notice the time go by... But if there is an afterlife, it'll seem like an eternity. Make certain you choose wisely .😉 If there was an afterlife, I won't be in it. Who wants to live forever? Forever is our today.
Who waits forever anyway?It isn't something you choose, it is something you are. -Eternal. You can only decide where you spend it. |
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Post by Gort on Sept 5, 2021 12:47:26 GMT 10
Nah, I ain't buyin' it. |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 9, 2021 11:34:56 GMT 10
Nah, I ain't buyin' it. I know. It's a gift, freely given. All you need to do is receive it. |
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Post by Gort on Sept 9, 2021 11:51:06 GMT 10
Some "gift" ... eternity stuck with sanctimonious entities? A fate worse than death. |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 10, 2021 2:23:16 GMT 10
Some "gift" ... eternity stuck with sanctimonious entities? A fate worse than death. They wouldn't seem 'sanctimonious', if we weren't living in a fallen state. |
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Post by Deleted on Sept 10, 2021 9:02:58 GMT 10
I always understood heaven being outside of the constraints of time/space. Difficult to fathom for a finite mind. But what were the laws of the universe prior to the natural laws?-- Heaven is that. If heaven is outside the constraints of Space/time, then how can it or its 'Residents' be part of have influence over it? Or is it a bit quantumish, whereby merely observing changes the outcome? |
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Post by Occam's Spork on Sept 10, 2021 11:18:53 GMT 10
I always understood heaven being outside of the constraints of time/space. Difficult to fathom for a finite mind. But what were the laws of the universe prior to the natural laws?-- Heaven is that. If heaven is outside the constraints of Space/time, then how can it or its 'Residents' be part of have influence over it? Or is it a bit quantumish, whereby merely observing changes the outcome? 1. We are eternal, or rather we were made that way when God 'breathed' into Adam... If God is eternal, and we possess a part of him, it follows that part too is eternal. 2. Philosophically, logically, it follows that God, being the Creator, must necessarily be outside the laws of His Creation, thus the same would be true of His realm and those within it. Yes, my explanation is Metaphysical... But looking for a natural explanation for an event that existed prior to nature, is going to be illogical. So it's all we are left with, I'm afraid. |
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So oblivion can't be "faced" by definition. 
