Am I the only one who's freaked out by the Meeting Room forum???

[SmileyBoy]

It seems like every page on there has a discussion on (for example) "the impending apocalypse", or "DNA mutation in humans resulting in ascension and armageddeon", or "celestal changes causing shifts in gravity", and "the Mayans say we're all gonna die in 2012". It's not the type of thing I want to be reading at ALL anytime of the day. I find that type of thing scary and depressing. Are there actually these types of people on DU who sit around and fret over this nonsense on a daily basis??? It's like a non-stop end-times-preaching pulpit over there.

How about they stop watching the clock waiting for the end of the world, and try to enjoy their lives???

[graywarrior]

1. I never go there.

Just the thought of going there freaks me out.

[SmileyBoy]

2. I held my nose and dived in just now.

It's almost as bad as reading Free Republic threads.

There are kooks in there who think the world is going to end soon.

People have been saying on occasions that "the world is going to end" since the beginning of ancient civilization, and people have been right exactly 0% of the time.

[Misinformed01]

3. And some of them might be right

you just referred to some DUers as "kooks and freaks."

You are probably such a conformist that you could not ever hope to fit into any unusual category....how sad for you. Sometimes reading into the "freaky" side of life is more fun than the McDonald's and Mall world you seem to require to feel "normal."

Stephanie

[SmileyBoy]

4. No, I like to do something called "enjoying life".

In my religion, Islam, we are taught a few things about this. 1) It is only God's decision to end humanity is he/she deems it necessary, and it will not be the will of humans. 2) No human will be able to predict correctly when humans will be all gone. (Bye-bye, Mayan theory) It will be only God's knowledge. 3) If God wants to end all human life, that is his/her decision alone, and we must live to accept that. And 4) We must not spend our days on Earth worrying about this. We should live our lives to the fullest enjoyment, like God wants us to.

And BTW, they may be right??? Just like the thousands of other instances in world history where people were "right" when they said the end was nigh??? Oh, wait a minute - THEY WERE ALL WRONG. How the hell is the first decade of the 21st Century any different? What makes it more possible that people are "right" about this, as opposed to all those other times???

[Misinformed01]

8. Oh! I get it! Your religion is the ONE truth--and the rest of

the freaks that don't agree with you aren't just wrong..they aren't having FUN either!

Good Lord, I am a total idiot, and apologize!

Carry on!

Stephanie

[slutticus]

27. So how are their beliefs any more ridiculous than yours?

I don't get it? :shrug:

And while we are on the subject of bashing other peoples beliefs...I believe the concept of submission to god (or any other imaginary being) is absolutely ludicrous.

[Lucky Luciano]

28. I agree

My guess is that any god that may have created us would prefer that its creation be intelligetn thinkers and not numb robots. If god is a total egomaniac that would doom its own creation for not submitting without knowledge of its proof, then it would be pretty disappointing in the grand scheme of things and god's little experiment would be a shameful waste of time and space.

[Lucky Luciano]

7. It is one thing to read such wild theories for entertainment,

but it is another thing entirely to take them seriously...Mayan Calendar prophecies are for the quasi-spiritual people who like to believe in things that sound cool, but have no proof whatsoever to their truth. The same people often use crystals for healing or some other kind of superstition. I guess as a mathemetician I must see proof before I buy into anything on the fringe - though I must admit the series of books by David Hatcher Childress titled "Lost Cities and Ancient Mysteries of (Fill in Contintent here)" are quite entertaining although it is full of very kooky things - like I said, entertainment - and it also informs you of some fascinating archaelogical places to visit throughout the world.

[Misinformed01]

10. "Proof of Truth"

OK, let's just end this little bit of religious entertainment here and now.

There isn't going to be any proof of God's, or the Spirits or whatever you want to call it's existence that is going to satisfy skeptics. NONE.

However, believers in religions or certain forms of spirituality...and see the original posters post in reply to mine about HIS religion...believe that they have been given proof, and have faith in the existence of whatever they believe in.

Quit playing the "proof" game. It is not ever going to work to your satisfaction.

[Lucky Luciano]

13. The OP has no proof either,

so I say stop worrying and enjoy life too, but for different reasons.

[SmileyBoy]

14. And how is this period in time more special than others in the past?

Ancient Egyptians, Greeks, Romans, Etruscans, Jews, Chinese, Celts, Aztecs, Hindus, Incas, etc. all have said at some point in history that the end of the world was coming soon, and were proved wrong every single time. What makes this point in the timeline more special than the others??

2012 will come and go, then 2020, 2040, etc. Some kooks in 2050 will say in some astrological manner (in such the way Meeting Room forum uses) that "the world will end soon!!!". It won't happen. We'll evolve, technologically and socially, and still every generation, more and more people will preach the same thing, and it won't happen. Then, if/when that day comes, they'll all say "See??? I told you so!!!"

But it might not happen.

Why waste your life worrying about it??? It won't happen in our lifetime, probably not in generations to come.

[Misinformed01]

15. I beg your pardon Northwest

but, you just explained to me how your religion, Islam, has explained all this stuff...neatly packaged it for you so you personally don't have to put anymore thought into it.

Now, you want to argue "proof" of other people's beliefs.

I ask you...What's wrong with this picture? Please, please try to get this.

[SmileyBoy]

19. Historical certainty isn't "proof"???

Hmmm... Humans are obviously still around. Humans have preached doom for 5,000 years. Some of the people in the Meeting Room think the world is going to end. The world didn't end on any of those occasions in the past. How do you think they have a better argument on why they think the world is going to end based on their faith, as compared to why I believe it won't end anytime soon based on my faith (and historical logic)???

Oh sure, evidence can be presented as to how or why it will happen, and what not. Doomsayers have done the same thing for thousands of years. But in that time, they have been right 0% of the time, because the world has not ended. People who do not take stock in that crap (and who do not believe in such impending doom) have been right 100% of the time in that time span.

[Misinformed01]

21. "Historical Certainty."

I give up.

I hope DU is still online when you have lived long enough to realize that there really isn't such a thing as "Historical Certainty."

Stephanie

[Lucky Luciano]

24. Not that I am agreeing with the doom and gloom

philosophy, but "Past performance is no guarantee of future results!"

[slutticus]

30. So why waste your life submitting to a god that doesn't exist?

[SmileyBoy]

31. I don't submit to him. I live my life.

I'm a moderate Muslim. I don't live my life by every word of the Koran like the whacko fundies in the Middle East do. I follow the general basic rules sent down from God through Mohammed to Muslims. Other than that, I live my life the way I want to live it.

I don't submit to God. I praise and worship him. You may call that submission, fine. I live my life for myself, while at the same time recognizing who the creater and architect of the universe and humanity is.

[slutticus]

35. Of course.

You can't submit to something that doesn't exist.

[SmileyBoy]

36. I'm not gonna get into this argument.

I've been thorough it before, and it's just not worth it.

[slutticus]

38. So you find it acceptable to trash other peoples beliefs,

and then you run away when it's turned around on you. That is not at all suprising. I wasn't expecting an argument.

[papau]

41. You are doing well in this thread -I'll just add that as another person of

faith, I agree with you.

In my case the faith is in Christ - but those that believe in 11 dimension science where energy can pop into existence and expand, and those that believe they know there is no God because they have found a way to prove a negative, and those that find their faith with stones and shapes - are all - as the Unitarian Universalist Church calls their faithful - searchers. Indeed we are all searchers in one way or another.

It is just at DU we kill time telling others that their search or view is wrong.

peace

:-)

[slutticus]

42. So everyone else is a "searcher".....but not you?

What exactly are they "searching" for?


How blatantly transparent.

[papau]

44. Truth and the American Way - blatantly transparently I might add!

:-)

Hey, the search is interesting - and I have yet to find anyone that is absolutely sure they have the only correct answer - at least not at DU!

:toast:

:-)

[SmileyBoy]

43. Thank you.

I just wanted to express my opinion on the behaviour of those who doomsay.

God bless.

[Lucky Luciano]

18. I also wonder the following with regard to any sprituality:

Let us call the ultimate knowledge of the universe/knowledge of god "The Truth" from now on.

I hypothesize that there must be an infinite number of possible truths that can be imagined by man if given an infinite amount of time (or an infinite number of people would do too I guess). In any event, there are still an infinite number of truths out there although we could never list them all obviously.

I also say that there is only one correct "Truth" out there. This leads us to ask, "What is the probability that man has picked the right truth from an infinitely long list of possible truths?"

The answer: Zero.

Why? If there were a million truths, the probability of one being correct would be .000001....a billion truths would give a probability of .000000001....etc....until you consider a list of infinity possible truths at which point the probability of picking one correctly effectively becomes zero. Man has hypothesized on a finite number of truths from this list of infinite truths and the probability of the correct one being thought of by man remains zero for similar reasons.

So we are forced to conclude that man has no chance in "hell" (oh the irony of using such a word!) of finding the one correct truth. And that, Stephanie, is why I say forget about religion - it will get you no where. So relax, have fun, help a few people along the way, and don't take things too seriously or you may miss out on all the good things life has to offer!

;)

[Misinformed01]

20. Thank you for your post

however, I STILL take issue with a poster calling other people "kooks" because HIS religion has explained something else entirely to him.

It's the IRONY that's eating me alive right now. I feel like I am going to explode.

btw-my husband is an atheist.

[Lucky Luciano]

22. Yes I agree with you

I am not on Northwest's side at all. I don't see why any one particular truth can declare another truth to be false when they can't back up their claims without some well thought out argument.

[SmileyBoy]

26. Fine. I see I can't explain myself any better.

Even though I've explained specifically why I started this thread on two seperate occasions. I have my faith, and you have yours. If your faith is different from mine, that's completely OK. My faith is not always right, but I try to follow the rules of my faith to the best of my ability. But if your faith involves trying to prophesize impending doom, then you will be wrong in that regard. because it has never been sucessfully done. You can believe in all the astrological mumbo-jumbo, and I don't have a problem with it. Just don't expect for me to take you seriously when you say something like armaggedeon is on the horizon. Actually, I'll see you as a kook, just like a vast majority of people would see you as if you passed them on the street and told them that they must stock up on canned goods and build a bomb shelter, because of some impending planetary allignment.

That's all I'm gonna say in this thread.

[SmileyBoy]

23. Exactly. I'm just living my life like I want to.

The thing that I'm concerned about is the people who have this type of thinking proccess where they think they can predict what bad things will happen, and that they want to be right. It's one of my pet peeves. I strayed into the Meeting Room, and I won't do it again. I know when to leave well enough alone. I'm just telling you folks about how crazy and deluded that behaviour can be.

[asthmaticeog]

37. Is that a strawman in your pocket...?

Disagreeing with the mystics in the Meeting Room doesn't automatically make someone a McDonalds/Mall pod-person. There's PLENTY of room in the middle that you've willfully excluded. I disagree with the mystics in the meeting room, I think their "prophecies" are for crap, and I hate McDonalds and Malls, and I've never been accused of conformity in my life. News flash - just like in the real world, there are bound to be some DUers who are kooky and freaky, and why wouldn't here? What does it really take to become a DUer? Filling in a teeny little form? Registering a username on a discussion board doesn't inoculate anyone against wildly irrational beliefs. Nor does simply being a DUer place anyone's worldview beyond critique.

[Wilber_Stool]

5. I thought the same thing.

Never mentioned it though, thought I'd get flamed. Really spooky in there.

[Cheswick2.0]

6. maybe skinner can hire you as the anti kooks and freaks police

Why do you care what other people feel like discussing and why would you post such a judgemental thread about it? No one forced you to read those threads.
Besides, you are overstating your case.

[SmileyBoy]

9. I mention this, because I don't think it's healthy behaviour.

I don't like it when people go around the internet (or a pedestrian mall or a parking lot) preaching of the end times.

[Misinformed01]

11. They aren't preaching to you dear

they were discussing it quietly in their own thread.

Learn the difference.

[Cheswick2.0]

29. They were preaching? Not hardly

They were talking and you dropped in to spy and report to others so you could get positive feedback on your "more rational than them" post.
It seems to me that you are looking to start a "lets all bash those other folks" thread.


It truly is not any of your business what someone else believes. They aren't approaching you so bug off, as my sibs and I used to say.

[dbt]

12. Don't go.

[SmileyBoy]

16. I'm not going to anymore.

I just felt like making an observation on some of the silly and kooky behaviour in that forum, and my feelings about it.

[Misinformed01]

17. It's just as kooky when

you tell me that because your religion preaches otherwise, then these other people MUST be just crazy.

A closed minded religious person....gotta love it.

[Cheswick2.0]

32. There are a lot of people who think Islam is pretty f***ked up

I am not one of them.

[SmileyBoy]

33. There are a lot of people who think preaching the end times is f***ed up.

Which is more kooky - Praying towards Mecca, or telling folks that the world is going to end???

[gpandas]

46. both "kooky", to me n/t

[madrchsod]

25. haven`t been there in months

sounds like all the old art bell fans are there..george nury sucks so i guess they have to go somewhere...actually i miss art bell.

[SmileyBoy]

34. Art Bell is a real card.

He can actually be entertaining for a laugh once in a while.

[fishnfla]

39. I think the meeting room is just right

thats 'cuz I appreciate diversity.

Why you dissing our DU brothers and sisters? Why are you helping the man do his job?

[rexcat]

40. I don't go there...

The astrology thing is wat to weird for me. Way to much superstition there for my liking.

[Radical Activist]

45. Mercury is in retrograde!

Every time I hear someone spout off that California woo woo crap I want to roll my eyes and slap them.

[CrownPrinceBandar]

47. Sounds bigoted to me....................

I'm sure there was a time, a couple of thousand years ago, when folks thought these "kooks" (i.e.: Moses, Abraham, etc...)that were suggesting there was only ONE god were cast in the same light that you're putting on the Meeting Room folks. A little more tolerance, please?

As to your assertion of having proof against end times prophecies, I find it amusing that you even use the word "proof" in a religious argument. I think Douglas Adams in the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy put it best when he paraphrased God and said:

"...for proof denies faith, and without faith I (God) am nothing."