romansh

No it's not.

That does not mean his chemistry cannot be influenced, should you have the chemistry to wish to influence.

The Blank Slate by Steven Pinker is a good resource for Nature versus Nurture. What I took away from it was, if I wanted to influence my child's non inherited traits, I would look to place him in a teen peer group that reflected the values I wanted him to have.

To answer your question … no we don't have free will, … in the sense we could have done otherwise. The sense of control we have is an illusion. It stems from us being completely (more or less) oblivious to the underlying chemistry/physics. Basically arguments for free will are either semantic in nature or based on humans being magical in some way … being able to act independently of prior (or even current) cause. Nature and nurture … definitely. But they both are our environment (universe) but dislocated in time. There's already a thread you may wish to skim through here ps INTP

And dessert

Siblings with different parents perhaps? This whole thing gets very semantic very quickly, but that is another thread. I like arguments … ie the logical ones where we have premises well defined and the logic follows. Quarrels are not so hot. If you like having your terms defined, then the ignosticism thread is for you

Welcome intuition I too am retired … sort of. Anyway I sort of enjoyed Hazleton's book … you can find my review of it here. To me it was not really about agnosticism … more its subtitle. And we do have a thread on agnosticism and it is sort of a hobby of mine. But I do agree it is not about some mid point but more about how we handle knowledge and understanding in general. And most importantly it is not just about god or the lack of. It is about the universe. Of course your Kant touches on this with his phenomenon and noumenon. Welcome again. rom

Well Seeker, it would appear you were seeking an opinion that reflected yours. I hope you find a place that reflects your opinion, if that is truly what you want. To me that would be an anathema

Food for thought.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/untangling-lifes-complexities/201109/jungs-explosive-visit-freud Perhaps there are perfectly normal explanations for all the other stuff Deadworm professes. Perhaps Deadworm's recollection is not what it should be? I know mine is not.

I would agree with the mental illness aspect. The problem here of course is that low cost community mental care isn't low cost. The problem is there are a variety of needs that people need: from a full psychiatric institution to just a neighbourly helping hand. Drug addiction might compound the problem, certainly does not make it any better.

Last week I created a blog … just to jot down my take on various aspects If anyone is interested here it is. I noted some aspects of what religion means for me. Still a work in progress. And my closing summary: Comments welcome.

https://www.google.ca/search?q=anglican+mystic,+Agnes+Sanford,+has+written+several+books+on+prayer+and+spirituality.+In+her+classic,+"The+Healing+Light,"+she+tells+the+story+of+her+dying+baby+grandson&ie=&oe=

It's actually skepticism. The method is scientific study, this will provide a more accurate understanding of what is going on. Also by now I would have hoped when dealing with real world explanations we don't deal in proof but in evidence. It is a rookie mistake. I suggest you read up on ketamine and accept that as a more likely hypothesis. Maybe check your favourite book for: as for being a curmudgeon, I take my lead from you Burl.

This is sad https://www.theguardian.com/books/2015/jan/21/boy-who-came-back-from-heaven-alex-malarkey But not the point … Believing you have experienced the afterlife is not the same as the afterlife.

My fellow admin on my home forum had a NDE … never discussed the details but it was enough to make him lose his faith as an evangelical Christian. Go figure. Interestingly I have read the NDEs that people experience reflect the culture they come from. Also ketamine can induce near death like experiences and apparently ketamine is released into the blood stream when people are near death. Could all be a coincidence.

There are not many people playing here. I have been busy setting up my new blog post … but I would be interested to here where you think you lack integrity.

Well I am going to come to the defence of the Progressive Christians here. Depicting the conversation as not engaging is more of a reflection of your psyche than the actual conversation. As for PCs lacking integrity (in a certain aspect) could well be true of all of us. But before going around pointing out the motes in other people's eyes, perhaps you could give me a list of aspects where you lack integrity? I will find that refreshingly honest and engaging. As for the actual subject under discussion I don't particularly care. Regardless of the provenance of the Gospels, there are plainly errors in them.

I was listening to this on the way home the other day. The relevant bit of the radio article starts at about 4:30 min and finishes at 21 min. It discusses awe. I could not help but think of this thread.

With age comes wisdom and with wisdom comes respect. At least I am hoping.

I agree too … but this boils down to … some blokes two thousand years ago wrote down stuff, that might be partially based or not all, on their take on what some fellow may or have done and said. We today jump through some hoops and try and interpret the writings as some guide as how we might behave today. Miss Eden (yes my kinder garden teacher) could summarize it as be nice to one and other and strive to be honest. Well to be fair it is his job. And there seems to be academic interest and here I would stress academic. Whatever worldview we derive from these anonymous scribes might be interesting, but I personally would go for something a little more contemporary, in that we don't have to debate how the ancient Aramaic got transcribed into Greek and Hebrew and what the idiom of the day actually meant.

As does obfuscation Burl.

Thinking about it Burl: I would not even wish such a curse on you either. God save us from such blessings.

I would not wish this on my best friend, but thanks anyway.

While I understand this a "wishing well" Burl and thanks … I do believe it is a complete nonsense. This universe is chaotic in nature and no amount of blessing on God's behalf is going to change that.