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Goodbye Jesus

Who Knew


themonkeyman

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Hey

 

I wonder do any of our more mature members here ever think how badly the internet has damaged religious systems.

 

The internet as I see it is the earth going full circle where eventually it will all be one language.

 

Its funny that the internet in 30 years has damaged Christianity worse than any other attempt in the last 3000 years.

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"The internet, where religions come to die".

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God should have never made computers...... He is so stupid?? Would you allow that as part of your game plan?

 

Unless, he has allowed Satan to trick us......silverpenny013Hmmm.gif  

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Daniel 12:4   But thou, O Daniel, shut up the words, and seal the book, even to the time of the end: many shall run to and fro, and knowledge shall be increased.

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Yep, that is where I found out about the scholarship dedicated to the historical critical approach to religion. And that led me to a number of scholars and the results of their research. That also allowed me to download their books and both read and store them in private away from prying eyes and unwanted questions.

 

The internet has certainly changed the world, but it is also a dangerous place and if they don't figure out a way to provide adequate security to protect individual privacy people will eventually become afraid to use it and it's potential will be severely damaged. Recent hacks have shown how vulnerable the internet really is and how unsecure personal information actually is.

 

Anything that can be engineered can also be reversed engineered and that makes security a significant problem, but the internet has definitely changed religion and I think religious leaders are becoming aware it poses a significant threat to their survival or at least their stability.

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Yeah, I had to do my research the hard way -- at the library.    But it was worth it!   GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif

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Yeah, I had to do my research the hard way -- at the library. But it was worth it! :HaHa:

I agree.

 

It seems like i take information in different, using the internet opposed to books. I think the internet changes the way people study and store information. I wonder if us dinosaurs worked a different part of our brain compared to the younger folks. Anyone have any research about this?

 

It seems like what took a week now can be done in a day because of this. I could also be wrong. :)

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The BBC did an article about it younger minds store less knowledge but store a link to it. Where as older minds remember the knowledge.

 

Its like filling your head with 100meg of books vs 1,000,000,000,000 links which when looked up gives us a finely tuned highly accurate view point

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The internet has made a huge difference.  It's so much easier to find relevant information, and to compare answers to questions between apologists and atheists and decide for oneself which answers make more sense.

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The BBC did an article about it younger minds store less knowledge but store a link to it. Where as older minds remember the knowledge.

 

Its like filling your head with 100meg of books vs 1,000,000,000,000 links which when looked up gives us a finely tuned highly accurate view point

 

I'm 41 years old, and my brain works like the younger minds. I find myself remembering fewer facts as I get older, but I know how to find them (and support for them) quickly when required.

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I was thinking a couple of months ago how easy it would be to start a cult in the time before internet. if you were the priest of a medieval village, you could convince the populace of whatever the hell you wanted, and no-one could double check what you say. hell back then only priests could read bibles because they were all in Latin, also peasants weren't really allowed to leave their towns. the average person would be completely unable to find other religious ideas and concepts (for example another denominations beliefs, yet alone another religion.

 

I would say that the more information a society has, the more unstable a religions position is. today we have opposing viewpoints to what the pastor is preaching at our fingertips. even in the last couple of hundred years, atheism or alternative beliefs have increased with the use of publishing houses and newspapers. the internet gives us information on things we would never have the patience to borrow a book from the library and research, for example the sciences. also the internet connects us and allows us to talk with types of people we wouldn't really meet in real life, such as other ex-Christians (for those who live in heavily Christian areas).

 

also the internet records that bad stuff religion does. you can ban a book through public outcry but you can't censor the internet.

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The internet is one great invention and one that has seriously helped the world.

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Agreed on the good effects of the Internet.  That said, I will state the obvious and point out that this works both ways.  Evangelicals have never shied away from using modern communication to propagate Jesus, and they have very quickly adopted electronic media.  Yes, the Internet is a wonderful resource for learning about the arguments against Christianity.  But how many of us previously used the Internet to listen to sermons or to read texts both modern and ancient on Christianity?  During my years as a Christian I absorbed material from all of my favorite Calvinist pastors, and consumed the entirety of the ante-Nicene church fathers, all without paying a dime since it was available online.

 

I certainly don't fear knowledge or seek to censor it, and I'm glad these things are available online.  But know that Christians use the Internet to preach Jesus, just as their predecessors used street corners and soap boxes.

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Agreed on the good effects of the Internet.  That said, I will state the obvious and point out that this works both ways.  Evangelicals have never shied away from using modern communication to propagate Jesus, and they have very quickly adopted electronic media.  Yes, the Internet is a wonderful resource for learning about the arguments against Christianity.  But how many of us previously used the Internet to listen to sermons or to read texts both modern and ancient on Christianity?  During my years as a Christian I absorbed material from all of my favorite Calvinist pastors, and consumed the entirety of the ante-Nicene church fathers, all without paying a dime since it was available online.

 

I certainly don't fear knowledge or seek to censor it, and I'm glad these things are available online.  But know that Christians use the Internet to preach Jesus, just as their predecessors used street corners and soap boxes.

 

Very true. There is a concept in mass communication known as the gatekeeper theory. In the pre-internet days, in order to reach a mass audience, you had to pass through a filtering mechanism. For news, it was the editors. For books, it was the publishers. The list goes on. There is a good side as well as a bad side to such a system. With the internet, anyone can have access to a huge audience at no cost. The main problem for the unaware is vetting the quality of a source. Websites can look quite legitimate and be completely fraudulent, and with current methods of keeping domains private, you have few ways to discover the true backer of a site. About all you can do is trust sites that are up front about their ownership.

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The BBC did an article about it younger minds store less knowledge but store a link to it. Where as older minds remember the knowledge.

Its like filling your head with 100meg of books vs 1,000,000,000,000 links which when looked up gives us a finely tuned highly accurate view point

 

 

I'm 41 years old, and my brain works like the younger minds. I find myself remembering fewer facts as I get older, but I know how to find them (and support for them) quickly when required.

I guess what i was trying to get at is absorption. Do you think that either way is just as good? If you used both methods which way would you do better on a test? Below is a good article about this.

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

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The BBC did an article about it younger minds store less knowledge but store a link to it. Where as older minds remember the knowledge.

Its like filling your head with 100meg of books vs 1,000,000,000,000 links which when looked up gives us a finely tuned highly accurate view point

 

I'm 41 years old, and my brain works like the younger minds. I find myself remembering fewer facts as I get older, but I know how to find them (and support for them) quickly when required.

I guess what i was trying to get at is absorption. Do you think that either way is just as good? If you used both methods which way would you do better on a test? Below is a good article about this.

 

http://www.scientificamerican.com/article/reading-paper-screens/

 

 

I personally think that just being aware that the information exists and how to access it is sufficient. But that's really just my opinion. So I do absorb information, but I absorb how to find it more than I absorb the actual data.

 

I would do poorly on a test today if I had to just go by memorized information. If it were an "open book" or "open Google" test, I think I'd do very well.

 

I find that being able to actually point people toward sources of information is more helpful than saying, "I read [x] in a book ten years ago."

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Seems to me the internet is basically a method of communication.  It is quicker, more readily adaptable to both visual and audio and can communicate greater amounts of information more conveniently than in the pre-internet age.  But it still boils down to no more than what the title says it is - an interconnected network.

 

Therefore it is merely a tool - for good or ill depending on how it is used.

 

I do not agree that it spells the end of religion.  It may spell the marginalization of certain older ways of communicating religion.  But, speaking in particular of monotheistic evangelical religions, the believers will still believe and the disbelievers still disbelieve.  The only difference will be the ease with which information can be obtained - either to cement on confront the relevant prejudices.

 

I would also point out that, away from Christianity, some religious paths have greatly benefited from the internet.  I can't think of any better resource to learn about modern paganism or to research esoterica or the alternative belief systems of other parts of the world in general.  True, the quality of much of what is out there suggests that quite a few bulls have been eating an awful lot of bran flakes, but it's still the most accessible source of information and there are probably a lot of pagans who owe their current belief systems to what they learned online.  After all, where a non-evangelical religion is in view, those interested need some way of actually finding stuff out for themselves.

 

Same with atheism, I suspect.  Particularly for those in areas where monotheism is endemic and entrenched, the internet is a lifeline.  But that doesn't prevent it also being a means for the propagation of the ideas of preachers.

 

So, it is a benefit; it is a curse.  Depends on your viewpoint and the vista before you.

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I'm 41 years old, and my brain works like the younger minds. I find myself remembering fewer facts as I get older, but I know how to find them (and support for them) quickly when required.

 

That's just because you thought 2 much. ;)

 

By the way, I'm 41 too, but only for another week.

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I'm 41 years old, and my brain works like the younger minds. I find myself remembering fewer facts as I get older, but I know how to find them (and support for them) quickly when required.

 

That's just because you thought 2 much. wink.png

 

By the way, I'm 41 too, but only for another week.

 

 

Happy birthday for next week...

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I was thinking about this the other day, and as usual, making the topic more complicated than it needed to be.

 

Maybe it was Michelle Bachman saying that Islamists invented the myth of global warming to help them take over the US, or whatever it was she said.

 

The large amount of whacko stuff that's out in the mainstream now never would have gained much attention back in the days when a few media outlets controlled public discourse in most developed countries (and less developed countries didn't have much media).

 

Widespread revolt against the public school system for teaching evolution? Widespread denial of scientific consensus? Widespread growth of "bubbles" where people get all their news from sources that push narrow ideologies? (I know, CBS, ABC, NBC were capitalist tools...)

 

At the same time, yes, lots of people discovering the means to look more critically at religion and similar systems.

 

So I wonder whether the internet is promoting a "hollowing out of the middle." That seems to be happening in politics and in Christianity (mainline denominations losing clout, fundamentalism and unbelief growing on the poles of the spectrum).

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Well, if it wasn't for the wonder-working power of the Internet, we wouldn't be able to witness the incredible moving of the Friendly Neighborhood HolyGhost seen in the video below unless we happened to be in attendance. Ficino, I think this is some of the "whacko stuff" you were speaking of? GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif (Hopefully I figured out how to embed videos . . .)
 

https://youtu.be/_hZm-vId1xM

 

 

(Edit: trying again to embed before I say to fuck with it and just post the link . . .)

(Second edit: To fuck with it. Try the link. Stay in school, kids, and learn about cumpooters. It'll come in handy one day.)

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The embed video function has always been a finicky, fickle beast on this forum. It's not just you.

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Well, if it wasn't for the wonder-working power of the Internet, we wouldn't be able to witness the incredible moving of the Friendly Neighborhood HolyGhost seen in the video below unless we happened to be in attendance. Ficino, I think this is some of the "whacko stuff" you were speaking of? GONZ9729CustomImage1539775.gif (Hopefully I figured out how to embed videos . . .)

 

https://youtu.be/_hZm-vId1xM

 

 

(Edit: trying again to embed before I say to fuck with it and just post the link . . .)

(Second edit: To fuck with it. Try the link. Stay in school, kids, and learn about cumpooters. It'll come in handy one day.)

 

 

The embed video function has always been a finicky, fickle beast on this forum. It's not just you.

 

It's actually not tricky at all. The problem with the link above is that it has "youtu.be" instead of "youtube.com". If you click the link and then copy the normal URL from the actual youtube.com page and paste it in the text box here, you get:

 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hZm-vId1xM&feature=youtu.be

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I'm 41 years old, and my brain works like the younger minds. I find myself remembering fewer facts as I get older, but I know how to find them (and support for them) quickly when required.

 

That's just because you thought 2 much. wink.png

 

By the way, I'm 41 too, but only for another week.

 

 

Happy birthday for next week...

 

 

Well, thank you, sir! I'm formally doing away with birthdays, though. I will have no more. ;)

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Thanks, Thought2Much and Citsonga!

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