Maher's back!

He's part of the conversation again, our esteemed philosophy club president, here are my answers to your survey!

also, as far as christianity goes, i guess i'm like sara, was there a historical person named jesus, was he just a jewish version of the pagan godman, was he something else, a part of me thinks yes or no to all of these questions in different degrees depending upon what time of the day it is, that is really how i am on this particular issue. after reading 'the jesus mysteries' (probably the second most influential book in my life right now, besides schuon's) and other books about the ancient cults and how religion was in that part of the world at that time, i tend to think that if the Godman really did arrive and was really doing all the stuff jesus is suppossed to have done, he would have gotten A LOT more press then he did. these pagan godman cults had thousands of believers back then and they worshipped a godman just like jesus, but in different forms, since the time of ancient egypt, if that godman had actually appeared, in the flesh, i think it would have swept over this section of the world, these mystery cults, a lot faster then christianity spread and it just plain would have gotten more press but then i think, maybe not, and this maybe not is complicated and is tied up with how i view the ontological status of existence, it's a long story, but that's a matter for another time, i guess i just say that I think that it could have happened the way they say it happened, that's all. on to the questions

1. What religion is the truth and if any, is it the only truth? see transcendent unity of religion book for what i think about this, as far as it being the only truth, i don't know, i think it is, but i could be wrong, to me, it's just the best thing i've found and right now, the best thing i got.

2. what is your perception and beliefs about people who believe in no god, or believe in some other things like mother nature, natural selection, or any other things? i really don't know, you need to be more specific with this question i think, i don't have any problem with atheists, i think they are incorrect, but as far as salvation for them goes, i really don't know, i try to focus on my own salvation and not worry to much about others, that's between them and God, so i try to stay out of it, i figure i need to fix myself before i got around trying to fix others.

3. what do you think will be the consequence of people who do not believe in jesus christ as a lord, or doubt his existence in the first place for that matter? again, i really don't know, i guess i cannot believe that a infinitely omni-everything god would sentence any people to hell for anything, but if he does, he's gotta have a pretty good reason for it, but being sentenced to hell for not believing in another man's philosophy, which is ultimately what all this stuff boils down to, meaning it can be reduced to somebody's individual ideology (usually who your talking to at the time) which has certain shared features in common with other people's ideology and these features they have in common they call 'christianity' or whatever and of course, the variations of these christianities or whatevers are as different as the people you meet, although many will claim that there is a clear doctrine and that is what they are talking about, but even their clear doctrine is jaded by how they understand it and how they express it and i think on some level, by both the physiology of the person itself and the resulting 'mind' of the person. honestly, i really don't think that not believing in one of these individual christianities would be enough to throw you in hell and i think certain shared features of these beliefs are universal enough to where you don't necessarily have to believe in this specific version of it to believe in it. if we think of god as parent or teacher, which is how i like to think of It when I talk about it in thinking about this question, what parent or teacher would sentence their kid to hell? that is honestly the criteria i use to judge salvation, at least on some level, and this seems more certain and truthful to me than any individual persons criteria has ever been

4. What do you think of the muslims, jews, Hindus, and others? 'people...who need people...are the luckiest people...in the world' do you like my barbara streisand impression. i don't know, people are people man, they wake up, go to the bathroom, eat, read, play, have sex, eat again, find entertainment and art, go to the bathroom, have sex, eat again, have a cigarette and a drink, and go to sleep to start over again the next morning. more specificity please

b) think they belong to religions that were sent by god like christianity? or do you think they are gone astray and in need of some missionary work? see transcendent unity of religion book

5. Do you believe in hell and heaven, and if so, who will go to hell and who will go to heaven? i do believe in heaven and hell, although that's all i really believe in on this issue, they exist, in some way form or whatever, i don't know who will go where, i don't know what going there will mean, i don't even know what there is or is not, i guess heaven has something to do with god and hell doesn't that's about all i can say on this issue, i have my suspicions, but that's really all they are.

i don't know, the more i think about it, i think i'm becoming a more and more radical monotheist monist or something like that. a part of me thinks all we can know for sure about god is that It exists, that may be all god is, like a BEING IS, Existence of the universe itself somehow come alive in some way, and all these other stipulations about god are not about god but people's feelings expressions thoughts etc. etc. about god. i'm not saying they don't accurately describe their experience of god, whatever that means, but i don't think they can say anything about god from their experience other than what their experience of god is and that they think it somehow Exists, has some sort of existence to it. it's that negative theology of maimonides and some of the other medieval philosophers, even concepts like the oversoul, godsoul, love, unity, justice, oneness, paradox (a favorite of mine lately), omni-everything, which i really, really, really, want to ascribe to whatever It is, more and more i find myself not doing this, because i think it is incorrect and actually a form of idolotry.