Eddie Ray Routh, the man accused of killing former marine, Chris Kyle (American Sniper) delivered a rambling testimony of the events leading up to the shooting. “There are tons of people who are eating on my soul right now,” Routh was reported as saying. “I haven’t been able to sleep. I’ve been waiting for them to come back and eat my soul. I wish the world wasn’t such a soulless place.”
The testimony makes us shake our heads in disbelief. How could someone, either deceitfully or honestly, conceive of such? Well, when we consider the equally as far fetched concepts we accept as valid in our religions, ideologies, and cultures is it really so astounding that some among us could get so far from the rational?
ISIS is the next evolution in
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How can we justify judging those who venture so far outside the boundaries of sanity when we literally indoctrinate them from birth to believe, based solely upon faith, in concepts that could not possibly be real?
I have presented some far fetched concepts in both my writings and my book. However, unlike the doctrines and ideologies of world cultures, these concepts have since been validated in science and supported by physics. Even I was reluctant to publish some of my articles regarding what I can only term as Ascension. But, each time, I find the truth of Ascension to be self validating. And here is where I see the practical use of this concept.
“Even if I am nothing more than a part of you, is that so bad? But if this is true, how is it possible for you to have come to know these things I have shown you?” --- Eve. I have had a voice in my mind since childhood that has told me some astounding things that cannot be dismissed as fantasy. True, many religions claim to have the same experience and call it God. However, my voice also asserts, “The only thing we can truly be certain of is that we, ourselves, exist. Everything else must be questioned and requires validation by comparison to the certainty of our own existence. Only then can we cautiously begin to ponder its validity.” In this simple assertion, no religion can be regarded as having
Kyle, C with McEwen, S., DeFrelice, J. (2012) American sniper: the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. American sniper : the autobiography of the most lethal sniper in U.S. military history. Chris Kyle Author. Retrieved from http://libserve.ivytech.edu.allstate.libproxy.ivytech.edu/vwebv/holdingsInfo?searchId=514&recCount=20&recPointer=0&bibId=366194
There are probably as many definitions of religion as there are religions themselves. Behind the definitions lie differing intentions and originate from various sources. Everyone from scholars, to religious leaders, to scientists has weighed in his or her opinion. Even an entire field of academic study arose to help define religion. This academic study of religion has proven useful in facilitating a better definition of religion, as it has identified six key aspects to create a decent definition of religion (Shulman, Definitions of Religion Quiz). The six points are not being bias, not being too narrow, not being too broad, being substantive, being functional, and being comprehensive. Three definitions of religion—one acceptable, one lacking, and this author’s own—go through a compare-and-contrast analysis using these six points as the basis of critique in order to illustrate what makes a definition of religion either acceptable or lacking.
Einstein’s Special Theory of Relativity has had a colossal impact on the world and is the accepted physical theory reg...
"There are wounds that never show on the body that are deeper and more hurtful thananything that bleeds. Don 't wait until you break. - Laurell Hamilton" This is oftentimes the sentiment felt by soldiers who have served in active duty and have been witnesses to tragedies that leave them emotionally scarred. The Clint Eastwood directed film, American Sniper is amovie that features the real life tragedy of American soldier, Chris Kyle, who served in theUnited States military as a Navy Seal, which is an elite group (Kenny, 2014 and Treitschke,2015). His story is unique in that he himself suffered from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder(PTSD), but as he worked to recover, he valiantly served again by helping fellow soldiers withPTSD ("Chris Kyle," 2013), and was senselessly gunned
First, American Sniper is based on a true story. The movie took place the year of 9/11 and the attack of terrorists on the world trade center. Chris Kyle was one of the best snipers in history. He recorded 255 kills in four tours in the Iraq War. He had a girlfriend in the beginning of the movie but he found her in bed with a stranger. He then found a new girlfriend while he was in training with the Seals. He started a family with her and had two kids. He got married and had one son and one daughter. He was not around for much of the kid’s life because he was at war for so long. His job was to kill one of the best snipers the terrorist
In light of this knowledge of the inconclusiveness of our beliefs, it is a duty placed on everyone of us to be wary of trusting oneself more than you trust another. Remember, one is what one has been shown to be. One knows only what he has seen.
Blind faith is hard for many. Clifford takes the side of Evidentialism, which is the assertion t
The controversial topic of insanity manifests itself commonly in Romantic writing, and has been one much disputed over time. Some say that people who seem crazy are so above our own level of thought and understanding that we can’t possibly begin to identify with them and that we can find genius in the form of ordinary lunatics who connect to God and divinity in ways “normal” people don’t comprehend. Throughout works such as “The Cask of Amontillado and “The Castaway”, the authors question insanity with ideas that show the possible outcomes when one looks deep inside themselves for a divine spark or intuition. Both of these stories address madness in different forms, and madness itself is Godly experiences gone wrong; the person who receives the divine vision is unable to handle its raw truth.
Religion, which is meant to enhance the faith of it followers, has done the opposite. The practices of religion have become overwhelmingly factual that the faith component of religion has vanished. In order to be a genuine beliver one must comprise an authentic faith. Both religious leaders and followers must realize that their religion is not factual, but sustained through faith. The key to the gates of heaven is faith, not facts.
For Carl Jung, his view on religious experience was based on all experiences being a psychological phenomenon. He differed from James in his view that a personal or individual experience with a God was indistinguishable from a communication with one’s unconscious mind. He ...
For many years, the idea of what it means to have a “religious experience” has been greatly debated. Philosophers and great thinkers alike have grappled with many questions, such as what constituted a “religious experience” and the difference between that and a mystical experience. Part of this great debate involves two philosophers from a similar time period, William James and C.D Broad, who each saw these experiences, despite some similarities, as having different epistemic values. Broad offers that these religious experiences can provide strong validation of a higher existence, while James take more of a perennialist view, in which all of the religious traditions of the world have on common belief about the world; therefore, his idea of mystical experiences don’t truly support the idea of a supreme being. I believe that neither James nor Broad are completely correct and rather the epistemic value of religious experiences lies somewhere in between their views.
Smith states that we cannot describe the essence of religion, although he goes on to describe it himself. Smith states that today, religion is not merely a “set of abstract, ‘frozen’ doctrines” (Ward, 2008:10), but a matter of a personal living faith in the transcendent. Though each unique religion may have differing rituals, doctrines and beliefs of what exactly the transcendent is, the common thread is the experience of and faith in a transcendent reality, whatever it may be.
In 1905, Albert Einstein wrote his paper on the special theory of relativity (Prosper). This theory has the reputation as being so exotic that few people can understand it. On the contrary, special relativity is simply a system of kinematics and dynamics, based on a set of postulates that is different from those of classical mec...
Today, faith is the cornerstone of all major religious knowledge claims because there is no definitive way of...
Religious explanation is much different than scientific and philosophical explanation and when misunderstood can have a great conflict. Religious explanation does not originate from observation or logical deduction, but from belief of there being knowledge we don’t know of a higher being(s) who make and sometimes control us humans and the universe which we live. Religious explanation is where some of the first philosophical claims originat...