To me it's funny how Islam and Christianity both believe they are right. And I've heard the argument that Allah/God gives a chance to everyone to join the right religion at one point in there lives. Both Christians and Muslims think converting them to their religion is the only thing that can save them from hell. Both pray and receive answers and directions. There's the Quran and there's the Bible.
What is it that convinces you that only Christianity is right?
How would you convince an alternate Muslim version of yourself? (f.e. a twin brother who you really care for - assuming you wanted to convince him)
How would you react to his tries of convincing you / to him giving you the chance to refute your opinion? He'd use similar arguments to yours, citing the Quran.
Slightly unrelated:
Isn't it a valid way to get closer to YHWH if all women dressed up in veils (because they'd decide by themselves to do so) even from a Christian point of view? It makes it easier to follow the 10 amendments for our whole society.
About the last 10 minutes of that video (didn't watch more because he's talking so slowly): I'm sure lots of comparable material exists, only that it's pro-Islamic. Of course there is no proof for the resurrection of Jesus except if you count the Bible - only evidence. There's also evidence that he wasn't resurrected at the same time, so what makes you believe version A true?
A Muslim might say "Thank Allah, the resurrection of Jesus wasn't put in the Quran." The guy in the video says it's good that rubbish like Jesus forming birds out of clay (sorry if I'm misquoting) that then would fly away.
Also, being resurrected from the death, making birds appear and all other miracles is stuff that you see many magicians perform.
Is there any proof Jesus wasn't just doing that?
Don't you pick what you believe and what you don't believe in based on a kind of arbitrary basis?
@Omni: I was just trying to imitate a random Christian. It's nice that you noticed how I presupposed your unhappiness. Lots of Christians think that you can't be truly happy in the absence of God in your life. That's why I chose that wording.
As a counter to the meditation argument, I often hear from people how praying to God totally changed who they were - for the better. And they are glad about it and it's simply undescribable and so forth. Also, some claim their prayers have an effect on real life and they've often tested it. And God told them to do this and that and in hindsight it always turned out as the right decision. So it can't be the same as regular meditation.
I myself don't know how meditating (/intensive praying) feels because when I try, something in my brain (i.e. the devil) commands me to stop and do something more useful or sleep. I hate every form of waiting that exists in this world, lol. I often consciously communicate with my 'sub-consciousness' (/God?!) without meditation though. But I'm sure that's an entirely different experience.
Note: It's bad comparing a sub-consciousness to God because this is essentially a Satanic act. I still did it because I don't know if a sub-consciousness that is part of myself exists as well as I don't know if God exists. Also sorry if I'm starting to sound really weird again.
Well, Bisqwit's experience tells him there is a God and as long as he trusts in that I don't see logic changing his opinion. Besides, there are lots of logical arguments for the Bible too.
Omni, I can give you the advise that you should start to pray honestly and faithfully, then you'll know that there is a God. You just have to try it. Logic vs. experiment, lol. What would your counter-argument be? If you say there's no need to try because it's nonsense, then I might think you're a fool or that it's your own choice then. If you say you did, but YHWH didn't reply, I'd encourage you to keep trying and just have faith because I know so many people who got it to work. And none of them regreted it, yet many people who don't believe in YHWH live very unhappy lives.
If you follow the path of the Bible/YHWH you won't learn to abuse people for your own good. I think this is vital to reaching your goals though because we live in a world where lots of others act selfishly and this gives them certain advantages.
That's the main reason why I think it's not good if people totally and strictly follow the Bible. I think to bring good change to this world you have to also do some necessary evil. If you don't the changes are very likely to be minimal. To get the power to change the system you have to take advantage of the system first. That's my kind of sad view at least. :(
Well, I tried my best to formulate my thoughts clearly without taking too much time. I've decided not to try again because I even have trouble expressing those thoughts in my mother tongue. I haven't reread my post, but it isn't hogwash. I have never claimed any of what I've written to be true, I just said it was possible. I've explained it only very badly though and hoped people would understand it anyway. Maybe I've even worded something so that it's more probable to misunderstand than to actually get what I mean.
I don't think it's important enough to reformulate. All I was saying (or merely trying to say) was essentially that there are other explainations for striking evidence (including very personal experience) that any kind of religious belief is true. And there's no way to tell which of those possibilities is the 'real' or 'true' one for a human being at the point of total disbelieve, which I consider to be the only valid starting point for this kind of discussions.
Probably gens doesn't store stuff during a reset.. I'll check out hard mode using a different emulator. Hopefully it won't turn out to be more entertaining, or I think I'll have to stop working on this again. ;p
Thanks for your testing!
In any case, I've found what I think is the fastest way to input one of the level codes. It's done in 36 frames, the second fastest code would have been 40 frames long. (It was a bit complicated for this game since button presses get only counted if they're at least 2 frames long) ^^
Edit: Played through the game once in hard mode now. The passwords for normal and hard modes are unfortunately the same. Not much is different in hard mode, but there would be a very few more enemies (not even in every stage I guess and they're hardly noticable), which would make the run an itsy bit more entertaining. Meh. :/
Edit: I only wanted to tell that I stopped working on this only because my laptop crashed and I had been unable to boot it up for over a week. When it started working again, I had lots of work to do for my studies and I still have. I'll get back to it though.
Ok, I've found four passwords that will make you start on your second trial without no starting advantages.
Now it's time to figure out which takes the least time to put in, I guess. xD
Also, about the hard mode. I can't seem to access it at all. x_x I've read my old post and from that I concluded it would raise enemies' HP. But now I can't seem to be able to make the changes I make in the option menu influence the game at all.. Anybody having more luck than me?
Wow I would have liked Omega's choice better. The whacky chancellor represents us viewers being totally amazed at the whole thing.
And Magus in his cool pose represents inichi - he made them disappear. ;)
The other screenshot is quite cool too though. ;)
I've decided to finish this run. I'm lingering around at this place for far too long without having finished a single TAS that it's almost a bit embarrasing. ;)
So, I've finished the game for my first time now. There's bad news, you have to play through the whole thing twice to face the final boss. And for the second time through there are only minor changes. So essentially some levels would look exactly the same except for a different color pallette that is used. Now I'm wondering if it's ok to take slower routes the second time through as a speed/entertainment tradeoff, though I must say I only see the run getting rejected then.
Another thing I could do is make the first time through a glitchless run and only use them the second time through.
On another note, I've found the address for the killed enemy counter that only increments when I kill an enemy that can drop a key (00FF041B if you care). I have to kill 4 of those in stage one. I'm now positive that I can find the fastest routes through all levels with that knowledge.
Now, I'd need some feedback on these two questions:
What do you think I should do about the fact that I have to play through the game twice?
And do you think I should play in hard mode? The only difference is that enemies have more health and I don't see how this contributes to the entertainment factor.
Thanks
Elton John seems to be quite enjoyable. Not for me though, there's too little going on in the songs to make me interested in them. His voice is quite versatile, soulful and interesting to listen to. But just that and a piano, plus very ordinary and simple structuring of the songs just isn't enough for me.
I listen to music with words, but in a language I don't understand. I only look up the song meanings if I'm bored.
Lots of those I've looked up have quite philosophical meanings. (Probably what you refer to as garbage?)
My favorite music artist in the whole wide world is Elton John.
....
This is just my opinion of course, but as you all know, my opinion counts for a lot!
I've interpreted this as a fake display of narcism to come off as funny. And as an excuse for creating this topic.
Fabian wrote:
If all you like is techno and trance, this might not be for you, but if you do like actual music...
I've taken this as seriously as the first quote. And as a potential lure so that somebody who took the whole thing literally will make an honest reply to it making Fabian feel superior. ;)
Arbitrary categories can be fun. I also vote for [URL=http://tasvideos.org/2136S.html]Saturn's run[/URL]. Not because I like it that much, but because I think it's a superbly executed run that can definitely be entertaining to sombody who has watched the other runs and wants more. I'd add something like "This is geared more towards the hardcore Super Metroid speedrun followers audience." to descreption. It doesn't seem like a big deal to me.
Same goes for the [URL=http://tasvideos.org/2140S.html]Sonic hacks[/URL]. They're geared more towards hardcore Sonic fans and use widely accepted hacks. I don't see much reason to reject well executed and entertaining runs for really just secondary reasons. Newcomers won't be confused by too many categories if you add clear disclaimers. Rejecting runs with arbitrary goals seems like a strange cult. If the goals are arbitrary but well chosen to squeeze some more entertainment out of games, I don't see any problem with it.
So, I also vote for the [URL=http://tasvideos.org/1572S.html]SM64 CCC run[/URL]. Lots of repetition and similar stars to other runs, so I didn't like watching it at all, but I can see how others would.
so it is almost like YHWH and Yeshua really existed just because of the claim that they would
I'll have to admit that I don't understand the rationale behind this wording.
Let's take this example. I'm full of sin and have a bad conscious about it. I'm not able to forgive myself because I think what I did was wrong and I wouldn't be justified to be forgiven. I think I wouldn't be because I also wouldn't be able to forgive anybody else in society who did the things I did. I may even be unable to change and still do the things that cause my bad consious every now and then.
So, with only that there's no way I can live a happy life.
But then there's somebody who claims that all of my sins will be forgiven if I follow his path. If I chose to believe in him, I suddenly have a justification to drop my guilty conscious. That's the only way now for my which enables me to escape that misery, so why not try if it works? And it does work in most cases.
If you look at it from a Freudian perspective the superego isn't manipulatable by the conscious mind. So I need to get the rule that all sins will be forgiven if I have faith and follow Yeshua's path added into my superego. Only then I can think it's ok that my sins are forgiven and suddenly I can forgive others too on that basis.
Now, in the Bible Yeshua says something akin to that he is the light and all sins canl be forgiven through him. A presupposition in this sentence is that Yeshua actually exists. Since the person who has been used as an example experienced that his sins were forgiven, it seems reasonable that something has caused this. One reasonable and the most obvious explanation is that the Bible is actually true and Yeshua really exists.
So just by the claim that he'll forgive all sins, there is automatically evidence that he exists. Though I think there are lots of other possible reasons for why this works, I can perfectly understand that people come to the conclusion that he just has to exist. And then it's also understandable how they argue they felt him, and so they know he exists, that something happened to them and that he changed them.
Also, there's no reason to stop believing into him for them because then, they would need to go back to the life in which they are bedevilled by their guilty conscience all day again. This may easily be interpreted in that if you stop following his path, it isn't the right thing to do, and the path to darkness and despair.
So, again, just by the claims he made evidence for his existence is generated automatically. Of course he might really exist and that's why things work this way, but the whole construct also works perfectly without him ever having existed at all.
(By "existed", I always mean in this case that he also was the one he claimed to have been)
I hope I've explained this a bit better now. x_x
Thank you Bisqwit, it made me happy to read how having faith worked to make your life more enjoyable. I'm sorry if the rest of my post sounds a bit disjointed. :/
Some parts of what is said about YHWH or Yeshua in the Bible - that they will cleanse you of the feeling of guilt if you follow their path, for example - indeed have a lot in common with self-fulfilling prophecies. You feel guilty all day and cannot forgive yourself, but once you start believing into the Bible you can, so it is almost like YHWH and Yeshua really existed just because of the claim that they would. It is amazing in any case and as believing into the Bible won't do any harm to believers - it's more like the opposite - I see no reason to argue with them about it other than for the sake of being right (or honest in some situations).
I'm happy there's such a thing as religion and I agree believing in others, yourself and having faith that things will work out in your life are important, not only for a healthy psyche.
If YHWH existed, I'm sure he/she/it would have worded things slightly differently from how they were back then however. Of course the general message would be the same, but I often have the feeling people like to overinterpret the Bible. It's understandable because dealing extensively with YHWH's word is a way to incorporate him/her/it more and more into your life and follow the path of light. But arguing with others about what YHWH really wanted to say by totally overanalysing his/her/its words, I don't know... The holy spirit is present anywhere in any case, so sometimes I wonder if it wouldn't be better to focus more on getting more aware of it rather than on exact wordings in the Bible. I'm more for a symbolic reading of the Bible, and more on an emotional rather than a logical level.
As long as there's no tangible evidence of any other type of life, I have to assume that it's highly unlikely to exist. (If it were likely to exist, we would have noticed by now.)
I'm open to possibilities, but I don't base my views on what might be possible, without any kind of supporting evidence.
But apparently you also hold the view that every randomly made up thing is by default highly unlikely. I agree that the more arbitrary rules you add, the less likely it gets. In the case of extraterrial life, I don't think it's a very obscure thought at all. But in the end often the only thing one can do is admit that we just don't know.
Just because there's no evidence that we have souls, it doesn't mean it's highly unlikely that we have to me. I know nothing about it. On the other hand, you might argue there is evidence. But then, there's also evidence that life might exist elsewhere. The universe is big, there are lots of planets, and lots of time seems to have passed already. Evidence is always easily found.
I have to say I'm not a big fan of concepts like evidence, proof and truth anyway. We make up theories about the world and apply them to raise our standards. And it works. It might because those theories are true or for one of many other reasons. How probable any of these are, I don't know, because I know nothing about the creation of this world. Our concept of probability is based on the experience we make here on Earth. I don't think it's very appliable in discussions that are related to what happened before this world came to existence. That includes both topics, souls and aliens.
I don't know if our theories about the world are true, but I will still apply them because they help me live a happy life. But when it comes to discussions about what's the real truth about this world I admit that I don't know anything.
[URL=http://xkcd.com/384/]About calculating the possibility of intelligent life.[/URL]
Also, we don't know how probable it is that intelligent life evolves on its own in a solar system. The probability may lie anywhere from 0 percent, next to 0, to anywhere. You also have to take time and your definition of intelligence into account. Seriously, who are we to judge how probable a thing we know next to nothing about is?
If you take things like radiation into account, it seems you assume for no particular reason that every intelligent life has to be similar to that on Earth.
I'm afraid this quesion has been asked before in this thread, but I'm interested to hear what made you believe in YHWH? I'm asking because I don't see any proof for his/her/its existence, nor against it, so it would theoretically be my free choice to start believing in him.
I'm not even sure if I want to atm, it seems to have both advantages (like a longer life) and disadvantages (people thinking you're crazy). Of course stuff like getting into some sort of heaven isn't an argument for me considering my very sceptic standpoint.
However, even if I would come to the conclusion it would be good to start believing in YHWH, I still wouldn't know how to believe in something without any basis whatsoever. I hear the argument a lot that if I asked for it, YHWH would let me feel it and make me know he/she/it exists. Lots of believers tell me that's what happened to them.
But how would I know? I mean if I suddenly got a strange feeling and stuff, I still couldn't know if it was YHWH, coincidence, my brain or something else that caused it. And then I'd still have to believe without any basis which I guess I can't. If I did I could just basically believe in anything. x_x
I can trust people without questioning what they recommend me to do. Mainly because if they did, and I then followed their advice and something bad happened, in the end I could still profit from it because it would have enhanced our emotional connection. I just don't see how I could blindly trust ideologies..
So what was it that caused you to do so?
If your answer is that you felt it, please also discribe why you chose to interpret the feeling you had in this particular way.
Thanks.
When I was younger I had lots of dreams which seemed to take place in a world without the presence of any rules. Things would just randomly change from one abstract style to the next, rooms changed, time changed, one strange being morphes into the other, everything's possible.
Now, I often dream very detailed rooms or entire houses with obscure architecture. Or I dream songs where I usually mix ideas from different songs into one new melody and also add in entirely new stuff. I'm also very often able to fly in my dreams. I first need to remember how to do it, then after a few tries it finally works. I also dream landscapes that are more beautiful than reality or any computer animation, containing color schemes and reflection patterns that don't really occur in real life. I've also dreamt about new tastes, I can still remember one of them quite well.. I've never eaten anything so delicious! Also, I can dream feelings that I've never felt before, but it isn't really possible to describe them. They feel very, very real and intensive though.
I still have dreams of the kind when I was younger too. I'd often like to be able to tape them, they can get quite entertaining indeed.
I predict an unnecessarily high amount of short and unexciting posts in the workbench forum if the question was to be removed.
To prevent that I think following jimsfriend's suggestion would be most effective.
They're just doing this because they both feel insecure with their believes and are trying to find reassurement by testing if their believe systems can hold up against those of others. Kind of pointless. :/
The more we test things, the closer we come to the truth.
But we are talking about beliefs here. There is no truth to be gotten to. The truth is we cannot know if there is a God. We can only believe and have faith.
Also, if you truly believe in God there's no need for testing.
Sorry for posting this in the wrong thread. :/
Watching the first vid made me lose quite a few brain cells.
Saying "What you say is just laughable! Look, this is laughable too! Ahaha, your opinion is so hilarious." just has to be one of the best arguments against anything ever.
Although the creator of those videos was probably just trying to be funny, they still deserve those low ratings imo. Why do people keep taking these "debates" seriously anyway? One side keeps believing in Bible interpretations, the other in scientific theories, and neither acknowledges anything the other has to say. They're just doing this because they both feel insecure with their believes and are trying to find reassurement by testing if their believe systems can hold up against those of others. Kind of pointless. :/