*dryheave*
You should hang your head in shame spreading that twaddle, even in jest. I cannot believe that person has a job in the sciences.

First claiming a 20 watt charge of energy is our consciousness is absolute nonsense, that's simply the power it takes to run a consciousness, your neural pathways in operation are that consciousness. It's like claiming the electricity from the socket is your computer's operating system, and when your computer crashes all your programs and data are safe somewhere in the socket. *facepalm

Second, he seems ignorant of entropy, the process through which most energy eventually degrades to heat. No distinctive or recognizable patterns are retained in that metamorphosis....heat is heat.

As to these "near death experiences", studies were done because people kept claiming to come out of their body to hover above it and watch it be saved before returning, but when a scrolling lighted message was put on top of the cabinets in multiple emergency and operating rooms, only visible from above, not a single person who claimed to have been out of body ever saw the messages blinking at them, because it's a delusion.

Made me throw up a little there, thanks.

Yes, and no.
Psychedelic, sure. Total ego death infinite out of body experience, nothing close.
Edibles, smoking flowers, smoking or eating concentrates, no. Trust me, I've tried. ;-)
There's a huge difference between somewhat psychedelic and his description. HUGE.
Is it possible, probably yes, but imo only if he's extraordinarily susceptible to thc (or another cannabinoid)or psychotic episodes (which I think I read can be triggered by marijuana).
It's far more likely if the story is true that he unintentionally took lsd, pcp, or some other long lasting psychedelic (I think dmt wears off too quickly to include it).

Here's a hint: in order to create life, you don't need a seven. If you did you wouldn't be reading this. We exist, therefore by definition life in the universe is possible.

That's simply the fallacy of false equivalence. Yes, life in the Universe is possible, but that doesn't mean your favored theory about how life arrived in the Universe is possible.

Now, I'm perfectly willing to grant that it might be extraordinarily improbable.

The probability has been calculated, more often than not, at many, many times greater than the number of atoms in the Universe. There has been no scientific proof provided showing that abiogenesis is possible. It is simply a faith that many scientists and atheists have that it *must* have happened that way because of evolution. Abiogenesis because evolution is not a theory of origins, it is blind faith.

And as for god? Well, we know for certain that life exists, so it's not unreasonable to assume it might exist elsewhere. But we have zero empirical evidence for god. None, zip, zilch, nada. Does that mean god definitely doesn't exist? No, I can't prove that.

You know that life exists but what you don't know is how or why. To rule out at the least a possible designer is simply personal bias; there isn't a logical reason to do so. There is plenty of positive evidence for Gods existence, there isn't any for abiogenesis. Faith in God is reasonable, faith in abiogenesis is simply blind faith.

Is it probable that god exists? No, it would violate everything we know about the universe. That doesn't mean we're not wrong, but you'd think that something as powerful as a literally omnipotent entity would leave some evidence of it's existence.

As Dawkins said when asked what he would say if he died and met god, "why did you go to such trouble to hide yourself?"

A God existing does not violate anything we know about the Universe. I think you're confusing mechanism with agency. Just because we understand the mechanics of something does not rule out an agency behind it. It would be like taking apart a car and then saying that because we understand how the car is put together that gasoline does not exist.

The bible says that everyone is provided evidence of Gods existence, and that people suppress the truth because they love their sin. It's not really about evidence; I know atheists who have had out of body experiences who deny they have a soul.

What the hell am I supposed to learn from this? I often mix my drinks with the Out of Body Experience

Thank you for your gracious words. Merry Christmas to you too! Today is the day the Lord has made so I try not to dredge up the past too often, and I can tell you that I appreciate what you've said either way. I am growing in grace, and only in grace. As you said, it is a prayer for wisdom and grace alone which allows me to interpret scripture. Certainly, when I first started to pursue God, I had no earthly idea of where I would end up or what I would have to go through to get there.

What I am doing is essentially, submitting myself to God and allowing Him to remake me into the image of His Son. This is a process that is initiated, executed and completed by the Spirit of God. It is not my whim but the very real intervention of the Almighty in my life, whereupon the old me is extricated and the new me is molded by the Potters hands and seasoned with fire.

If there was anything I objected to in your words it was the implication that Christianity is like spiritual training wheels for those who can't hack it in the real world. This was simply my flesh, objecting; a spiritual pride that ironically came from my journal into the occult. I don't have that notion anymore; I have no trouble admitting that I am nothing and can do nothing without God, and that there is nothing in me which is of any value unless God put it there, and that for His glory.

I have volumes of things I wrote on esoteric spirituality, abstract thoughts, poetry, philosophy, life the universe and everything. I churned this stuff out as if my mind was a computer spitting out lines of code, I excelled at it, Enoch; as it seemed to me I was ascending the very heights of being, a kind of godhood, tapping into the very beating heart of it all. But God brought me crashing back down to the ground and He offered me a choice:

either crawl back into your darkness and reconstitute your construct or give up everything and follow My Son into the Light.

I didn't want to do it. I preferred my reality. Yet, to go back would mean to purposefully delude myself and that was what I absolutely refused to do. I was interested not in what I preferred but the truth. That's why I am a Christian.

Either way, I see that you are pursuing God, and I respect that. There is a difference in personal revelation, and we both have our opinions of that. That's fine and I think the truth can and will speak for itself. Even Buddha said, there are three things which cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon and truth. Yet, there is something he missed which is that we can supress the truth. I could have rejected Gods revelation and reconstructed my reality, but thankfully I chose not to do that. Not everyone makes that choice. I have spoken to an atheist on this very website who denies he has a soul even though he has had an out of body experience. Sometimes people will take that rejection to their grave, which is why Christians are so urgent about letting people know about Jesus Christ. I don't know what your view is on the afterlife, but, the bible says we only have one shot and then the judgment. This is why I preach the gospel here, and everywhere. Not for myself, but because God loves these people and He wants them to know it before it is too late to do anything about it.

Thanks again for everything and I am praying you have a wonderful day tomorrow with your friends and family. I pray the Lord will give you a deeper revelation of His love. God bless you and yours.

I'm extremely sympathetic to anyone who upon rejecting Christianity was rejected by their family or community. My heart goes out to anyone in that situation. It's wrong and it's extremely hurtful and its a violation against everything Jesus taught. I too am sick to my core in regards to the ugliness which has been done in the name of God.

What's wrong however is turning that into an indictment against Jesus, who taught people to do the exact opposite. What I should have said is this..that I am sure there are many atheists here who were raised in dead religion and whose parents never taught them how to have a personal relationship with Christ. That's on their parents because that was their entire job. I don't blame people for walking away from that because it is pointless. If there isn't a real God you can be in relationship with then why bother? Even Paul said that:

1Co 15:16 For if the dead are not raised, not even Christ has been raised.

1Co 15:17 And if Christ has not been raised, your faith is futile and you are still in your sins.

1Co 15:18 Then those also who have fallen asleep in Christ have perished.

1Co 15:19 If in Christ we have hope in this life only, we are of all people most to be pitied.

He said that if Christ is not raised we are of all people most to be pitied, and he is right. I don't blame people for seeing it that way because I agree with Paul.

However, there is the other side of the coin where a lot of these atheists did know the Lord, and they turned away from Him because of sin. They went out into the world and the world got ahold of them and they turned their back on God. God has given some people some extraordinary evidence, from visitations from angels to out of body experience yet they still deny Him because they prefer to have their personal autonomy. Sin is extremely deceitful and they forget all of the things God has shown them to justify their rejection of Christ.

It's a complex issue in some cases and I am sorry for being obtuse. If you're one of those you described I am sure you have your reasons for believing what you do. What I can tell you is that Jesus never wronged you and He still loves you as much as He did then. He has been knocking at your door your entire life but it's up to you to answer it.

We're definitely happy to improve the readability of the Sift.

Because there is so much content on any given page, it would help if you might point out specific bodies of text that are particularly troublesome.

The video points out; "believe or go to hell." Your own words say; "repent or be eternally punished." Sorry, I don't have "blinders" on, they ARE the same sentiment.

No, they are not. The sentiment of the video is that you go to hell because you didn't believe in something that had insufficient evidence. What scripture says is that everyone is given sufficient evidence and that the people who refuse to stop doing evil are the ones who are punished. Much like the criminal who hits the third strike on the three strikes and you're out law. It also says that you are not held accountable to revelation you did not receive. It is not a lack of belief that is the problem, is a deliberate denial.

As for truth; faith is NOT truth, it is blind hope and has no basis.

You are very confused about the definition of faith. For instance, you have faith that the physical world is real and that there are other minds than your own; can you prove either of those with empirical evidence? Faith is not "blind" hope; faith is based on evidence, but not absolute proof. God has made promises which haven't happened yet; so they cannot be absolutely proven. I have faith that they will come to pass. You don't need absolute proof to believe something, or someone. If you are married, while you might not have absolute proof of your wifes fidelity, you have faith that she will not cheat on you. In the same way, I trust that Gods words are true.


No, I have not had a revelation, nor do I need to repent.

You have already admitted you have had a revelation; you know you have a spirit, that there is a spiritual reality, and that logically God gave you that spirit. You are in denial. You have a choice to repent, but you will face judgment for your sins.

I think of myself as a caring, decent, thoughtful human, and that is ALL one can try to be.

How many times would you say you've broken the 10 commandments? In the low thousands? Trying to be good doesn't make you good.

Your assumption that atheists are irrational is amusing considering that ALL faiths are based upon irrational, illogical, contradictory myth from the bronze age.

What I said is irrational is to deny the evidence you have been given in favor of continuing to live as you please. You prefer your personal autonomy to the truth.

Finally, I don't deny god because I don't want change. I deny god because I live in the real world where thoughts of a psychotic deity, who wants nothing but praise for eternity, are childish. Please, feel free to be a brainwashed slave in private, but leave the rest of us, including politics and schools, out of it.

God is worthy of our praise, but that isn't all God wants from us. God desires relationship with us, and for you to know His love. You have no idea how deeply God loves you, or even why you're here. You've said it yourself: you deny God, and that is irrational. You support your denial with this mischaracterization you have of God in your mind, supported by fallacious ideas from other atheists such as from this video, one that is convenient for your denial and has prevented you from actually learning the truth about God.

Let me ask you this question. If God is undeniably perfect as I claim, would you repent from your sins and turn your life over to Him?

>> ^A10anis:
>> ^shinyblurry:
>> ^A10anis:
I leave it to others to read your diatribe and see for themselves that you actually concur with the video. Suffice to say; "Believe in me, and be saved. Or, reject me, and burn in hell for eternity." Why anyone would choose to be a slave to such a sick concept is beyond rational, free thinking, educated, 21st century humans. Here is another sick concept; A person can be good all his life but still damned for eternity for not accepting god. Yet a murderer, rapist etc, will be accepted into heaven if he repents and takes god as his saviour. God/gods are man made, if you cannot see that, you are a lazy thinker who does not deserve the brain nature bestowed on you.

If you could remove the blinders you have on then you would see that what I said is quite different than what the video maintains. I'll leave it to those who are interested in the truth to see what that difference is. You are actually the perfect example of what I was talking about; someone who has been given revelation but refuses to repent. You had an out of body experience and you know you have a spirit, yet you irrationally remain an atheist because you don't want to face the music. You know in your heart there is a God, but you deny Him because you don't want to change.

The video points out; "believe or go to hell." Your own words say; "repent or be eternally punished." Sorry, I don't have "blinders" on, they ARE the same sentiment. As for truth; faith is NOT truth, it is blind hope and has no basis. No, I have not had a revelation, nor do I need to repent. I think of myself as a caring, decent, thoughtful human, and that is ALL one can try to be. Your assumption that atheists are irrational is amusing considering that ALL faiths are based upon irrational, illogical, contradictory myth from the bronze age. Finally, I don't deny god because I don't want change. I deny god because I live in the real world where thoughts of a psychotic deity, who wants nothing but praise for eternity, are childish. Please, feel free to be a brainwashed slave in private, but leave the rest of us, including politics and schools, out of it.

>> ^shinyblurry:

>> ^A10anis:
I leave it to others to read your diatribe and see for themselves that you actually concur with the video. Suffice to say; "Believe in me, and be saved. Or, reject me, and burn in hell for eternity." Why anyone would choose to be a slave to such a sick concept is beyond rational, free thinking, educated, 21st century humans. Here is another sick concept; A person can be good all his life but still damned for eternity for not accepting god. Yet a murderer, rapist etc, will be accepted into heaven if he repents and takes god as his saviour. God/gods are man made, if you cannot see that, you are a lazy thinker who does not deserve the brain nature bestowed on you.

If you could remove the blinders you have on then you would see that what I said is quite different than what the video maintains. I'll leave it to those who are interested in the truth to see what that difference is. You are actually the perfect example of what I was talking about; someone who has been given revelation but refuses to repent. You had an out of body experience and you know you have a spirit, yet you irrationally remain an atheist because you don't want to face the music. You know in your heart there is a God, but you deny Him because you don't want to change.

The video points out; "believe or go to hell." Your own words say; "repent or be eternally punished." Sorry, I don't have "blinders" on, they ARE the same sentiment. As for truth; faith is NOT truth, it is blind hope and has no basis. No, I have not had a revelation, nor do I need to repent. I think of myself as a caring, decent, thoughtful human, and that is ALL one can try to be. Your assumption that atheists are irrational is amusing considering that ALL faiths are based upon irrational, illogical, contradictory myth from the bronze age. Finally, I don't deny god because I don't want change. I deny god because I live in the real world where thoughts of a psychotic deity, who wants nothing but praise for eternity, are childish. Please, feel free to be a brainwashed slave in private, but leave the rest of us, including politics and schools, out of it.

>> ^A10anis:
I leave it to others to read your diatribe and see for themselves that you actually concur with the video. Suffice to say; "Believe in me, and be saved. Or, reject me, and burn in hell for eternity." Why anyone would choose to be a slave to such a sick concept is beyond rational, free thinking, educated, 21st century humans. Here is another sick concept; A person can be good all his life but still damned for eternity for not accepting god. Yet a murderer, rapist etc, will be accepted into heaven if he repents and takes god as his saviour. God/gods are man made, if you cannot see that, you are a lazy thinker who does not deserve the brain nature bestowed on you.


If you could remove the blinders you have on then you would see that what I said is quite different than what the video maintains. I'll leave it to those who are interested in the truth to see what that difference is. You are actually the perfect example of what I was talking about; someone who has been given revelation but refuses to repent. You had an out of body experience and you know you have a spirit, yet you irrationally remain an atheist because you don't want to face the music. You know in your heart there is a God, but you deny Him because you don't want to change.

I'm no fan of Fluoride or Prozac, but what Prozac has is a molecule containing three Fluoride atoms that act as a way to keep the body from taking in all of the drug at the same time. I'm not sure how Prozac breaks down, but I doubt it breaks down into the "oh no, it's Fluoride" setup. It most likely stays in that three bonded form and passes out the body. I'll have to look around and see if I can prove myself wrong (remember a molecule setup of Fluoride atoms behaves far differently than that of just the plain atom version--much like Oxygen, the O₃ version of Oxygen is Ozone and is much different than its standalone cousin).

You had better get right with God and stop messing around. You know God exists, and you're rejecting Him. A very unwise position to be in. The only reason we move and breath is due to His providence and mercy. He is patient with you, because He desires you come to repentence. But you aren't guaranteed a single day. Don't count on His patience to last forever.

>> ^A10anis:
>> ^shinyblurry:
So, you had an out of body experience and you know you have a spirit, yet you keep denying God anyway. Incredible. This is what is meant by this verse:
Romans 1:18-19
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Do you realize that when you stand before God you will have no excuse?
>> ^A10anis:
Oh dear. Another "near death" experience. Near death means exactly that. You may appear dead but, you're just near it. At times of great stress neuron activity increases, this is simply the body trying to survive. I had an out of body experience when hit by a car, all sorts of weird thoughts went through my mind in slow motion. I attributed my survival to many factors, none of which were god. Of course the gullable will be rejoicing and saying; "see, god exists." So, how long before the book, cult following, and his evangelical ministry? Ignorance is not a blessing from god, it's a debilitating disease.


I am truly sorry for you. you are a brainwashed moron.Get educated, and try to think for yourself.

>> ^shinyblurry:

So, you had an out of body experience and you know you have a spirit, yet you keep denying God anyway. Incredible. This is what is meant by this verse:
Romans 1:18-19
For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.
Do you realize that when you stand before God you will have no excuse?
>> ^A10anis:
Oh dear. Another "near death" experience. Near death means exactly that. You may appear dead but, you're just near it. At times of great stress neuron activity increases, this is simply the body trying to survive. I had an out of body experience when hit by a car, all sorts of weird thoughts went through my mind in slow motion. I attributed my survival to many factors, none of which were god. Of course the gullable will be rejoicing and saying; "see, god exists." So, how long before the book, cult following, and his evangelical ministry? Ignorance is not a blessing from god, it's a debilitating disease.


I am truly sorry for you. you are a brainwashed moron.Get educated, and try to think for yourself.

So, you had an out of body experience and you know you have a spirit, yet you keep denying God anyway. Incredible. This is what is meant by this verse:

Romans 1:18-19

For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who by their unrighteousness suppress the truth. For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them.

Do you realize that when you stand before God you will have no excuse?

>> ^A10anis:
Oh dear. Another "near death" experience. Near death means exactly that. You may appear dead but, you're just near it. At times of great stress neuron activity increases, this is simply the body trying to survive. I had an out of body experience when hit by a car, all sorts of weird thoughts went through my mind in slow motion. I attributed my survival to many factors, none of which were god. Of course the gullable will be rejoicing and saying; "see, god exists." So, how long before the book, cult following, and his evangelical ministry? Ignorance is not a blessing from god, it's a debilitating disease.

Oh dear. Another "near death" experience. Near death means exactly that. You may appear dead but, you're just near it. At times of great stress neuron activity increases, this is simply the body trying to survive. I had an out of body experience when hit by a car, all sorts of weird thoughts went through my mind in slow motion. I attributed my survival to many factors, none of which were god. Of course the gullable will be rejoicing and saying; "see, god exists." So, how long before the book, cult following, and his evangelical ministry? Ignorance is not a blessing from god, it's a debilitating disease.