No I haven't ever seen anyone walk on water, but I still believe its possible. Seeing isn't believing, if you haven't seen a comet hit the Earth, does that mean it never occured or that it cannot occur? As for not seeing ascetics walking on water all the time, its rare occassion for some to reach that level, and if they do and become fully enlightened, they will either become a world-teacher of some kind or they will remain unknown.
130 years ago the numbers of people who had seen or heard of electrons were quite small in number. In fact even today the numbers of people who have performed the necessary experiments to directly verify the nature of an electron are also quite small in number - in otherwords you would hardly lay as a condition for knowledge that it must be self apparent to the joe on the street before it is accepted as factual Besides this, there are still places you can go to see ascetics perform amazing things - (Even if you don't want to leave the comforts of your arm chair philosophy, I recall one televised documentary from maybe 10 years about shaolin monks in china - although their feats were more to do with physical resistance rather than lightness of body - there are also fire walkers which are quite a common, even in the western world, and they are performed by relatively ordinary persons bereft of ascetic merit) If you ever travel through rural bangladesh and west bengal its not uncommon to encounter snake tantrics (persons who can cure snake bite victims and control snakes) While I have never seen a person walk on water I have seen enough to suggest that walking on water, while certainly unique, is not an impossibility. I can hazard a few guesses about their practices, but because they are not inherantly spiritual I never really got in to it. At the very least it indicates there is a relationship between mind and matter that is unknown to modern modes of thought. There is however this but I am not sure how credible it is (some other parts of this documentary, aside fromthis part, were not credible ...... whether it all is I cannot say)
Au contraire, it is you who appears confident they were created by a conscious entity, undemonstratively so. I would not dare to suppose what supports the physical axioms, as that supposition would only be supported by the imaginative. Complex structures come from simple ones, not the other way round.
But you do when you take a positive stance on the view point of the non existence of god - thats why your claims about religion/god are not tenable, since it appears you ar e only assaulting what you deem "imagination" with imagination.
I believe Jesus existed, and was a spiritual teacher. I think much of what was spoken about him was exaggerated, but some some might not be. If we are to subject the claims to the standards of modern scientific rationality, we might come to more profound conclusions than we would otherwise have known.
Jesus fulfilled all scripture about Him. The "Sea" is a type of everyone that has already lived and died. Like the rivers...water being spirit......all flow into the Sea. The "water" He walked on wasn't just water, it was a Sea. He fulfilled a type. He walked on all that was dead, on it, alive and above it. "Walking on the ashes of the wicked dead" Thats one example. Natural types are laid out to the spiritual. Sometimes it's what brings them to pass.
It's interesting how LG turns HIS claims for the existence of gods into others claims for the non-existence of gods, a positive stance, no less. The simple fact remains, LG, that it is everyone else who waits for you to demonstrate beyond the imaginative, the gods you claim to exist. Citing links to the definition of ontology is pointless, for example, as it does nothing to demonstrate your position. Perhaps it's necessary for us to cite a link to the definition of 'demonstrate?' But, to comment on my imaginative assault, it would appear that my imagination must be blocking the endless parade of gods, spirits, angels and demons swirling about me on a daily basis, the ones you appear to see and I don't. Perhaps they merely exist outside the visible light spectrum and your eyes can see into other ends of that spectrum?
And I suppose that making your body lighter, light enough to walk on water, as light as a mosquito in fact...and by sheer will power at that, I suppose that wouldn't be breaking any laws of physics? The incredulous statements you make, 'It's just a common symptom of ascetism...nothing new or special,' can only exist in fantasy comics. you are either very gullible, believing everything you read, or you are fooling with us.
Walking on water is physically possible - you just have to look at the common pond-skaters to see that. The trick is not to break the surface tension of the water. So far only insects have shown the capability. But I'm sure we don't all think Jesus was an insect?? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
Now let's find scientific explanations for how Helen of Troy's mum was impregnated by a goose masquerading as Zeus....
Christianity: a metaphor taken literally. Look how things are simply stated as factual, without evidence. Jesus did this and Jesus did that. How do we know? A book told us. Does my personal experience support these claims? Have I ever seen men walk on water (ice does not count) or raise the dead? No…but I believe this Book, I have faith, because it was taught to me by another from childhood and it tells me things I so desperately want to believe in. Who wrote this Book? Why…humans. Humans with indubitable divine inspirations; with a direct link to the absolute. Did these humans have flaws and were they motivated by ulterior motives, were they perfect or all pure? No…because well I have faith that they weren’t. When faced with reality, as my senses expose it, and reality as another tells me, I, of course will choose what the other tells me. Reality once removed - an interpretation of an interpretation of a hypothesis. Do religions produce their ideals? Never. Show one man that has lived up to Christian ideals – except the dead and buried whose flaws are dead and buried with them and now life in infamy.
Why doesn't ice count? That is my point. Why are naturalistic explanations any less impressive than supernatural ones?
Perhaps Jesus was a scientist who had a device that produce electromagnetic waves so powerfull enough to lift a body.
Deserts can get very cold at night because there is little water vapor or clouds to hold in the heat. The research shows a period of cooler weather swept what is now northern Israel from 1,500 to 2,600 years ago. Sub-zero temperatures could have caused the formation of ice thick enough to support the weight of a man. Did you read the article?
I don't think it makes me gullible...I came to this conclusion through my own thinking and own search for the truth...where as you all just believe whatever modern science says....even though it will undoubtedly change greatly in the future....
It probally is a metaphor which expresses the way he could do things that people thought was impossible. Theres no such thing as magic.
Similar to many early Xians - I do not believe a Jesus character actually existed. As such, there are two meanings: 1) The general meaning a common Xian practitioner would get from this parable - an act of supernatural power which is meant reassure the common uninitiated Xian that Jesus was special and they in trun take some sort of walk-away-with-moral about having "true" faith in God. 2) The initiate of the inner Xian mysteries would have learned of some sort of underlying geometric meaning (numbers were magic back then). So by adding the values of various characters names etc... we get to some secret meaning. (incidentally this is, to me, the damning reason why the Qur'an simply can not be correct [not that there is a God anyway, but if one were so inclined….]) - The numerical “true” meaning of the NT is only found within the Greek alphabet using the Greek names. Each letter is specific for it’s numerical value. All of the numbers in the Bible are special. As Mohammed was never a Xian initiate of the inner Mysterys he would have only had access to the very simplistic general meaning. When he, or whom ever, copied the NT stories into the Qur'an they obliterated the true underlying geometric meaning of the parables - just some food for thought….) The best of the NT parable are written as such. Here’s a little of what I was getting, take a look at The Gospels seen as Sacred Geometry Plays Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image! Name or Title Gematria Value Common Factor 74 Product Jesus 888 74 x 12 888 x 10 = 8880 Christ 1480 74 x 20 1480 x 6 = 8880 John the Baptist 2220 74 x 30 2220 x 4 = 8880 Son of Man 2960 74 x 40 2960 x 3 = 8880 The raised Jesus 8880 74 x 120 8880 x 1 = 8880 Does that help with the walking on water story? There is no need to look for a physical explanation – it’s simply an allegory with geometric significance locked somewhere in the words... We should also remember that MANY, if not ALL, Greek parables of significance were written as such. Michael
I read somewhere - the Bible, maybe - that he did it by hiding behind a tree and strapping penguins to his feet. Don't know if it's true or not.