Can't somebody else post this stuff

[BikerDude]

I'm getting a bad rep for knocking on this sort of stuff.
A major motion picture and a best selling book based on the testimony of a 5 year old.
And guess what. He was fibbing. Imaging that.
Five year old's do that. Your are supposed to get over it when you grow up.
Amazingly the kids last name is "Malarkey".

http://www.npr.org/blogs/13.7/2015/01/20/378528953/what-if-heaven-is-not-for-real

Last week, a young man named Alex Malarkey made news when he publicly retracted his story that he'd been to heaven. This, understandably, may not seem like news to some people. But Mr. Malarkey's story, based on the tragedy of an auto accident when he was just 6 years old, became a best-selling book.

More important, his book, along with others such as Heaven is for Real ? written by Todd Burpo based on the story of his then young son, Colton ? have come to form their own literary genre. Sometimes called "Heavenly Tourism," these volumes have proven quite lucrative for their publishers. The details of Malarkey's religiously motivated decision to tell the truth can be found elsewhere. But for me, his story raises a deep question about the origins of humanity's very deep anxiety about what happens after death.

It's easy to see Malarkey's case as an example of how religion can be used by the unscrupulous to fool people (of course, lots of things can be used by the unscrupulous to fool people). Thinking more broadly, however, what the story really highlights is how deeply we human beings fear the end of our lives ? and lengths we'll go for solutions to that fear.

On why he lied.
http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2015/01/15/377589757/boy-says-he-didn-t-go-to-heaven-publisher-says-it-will-pull-book

[Masked Dude]

Is he going to give the profits back?

[jgiffin]

2,000 years ago we'd have called this little Larry a prophet and laid frankincense and myrrh at his feet.

Now the sensible among us knew he was just a dirty little liar from the start.

I suppose that's progress. Of a sort.

[BikerDude]

Is he going to give the profits back?

I believe a big motivation was the fact that he felt he wasn't getting the profits.
He said it was because he believed it should be enough for people to read the bible but then in a small blurb his mother happened to mention that they had not been getting the profits.
Typical.

Blessed are the cheese makers!

[meekon5]

Re: Can't somebody else post this stuff

To be honest I don't think many of the rest of us are as bothered about this stuff as you are actually.

[DigitalBuddha]

What If Heaven Is Not For Real?

Heaven is for real; it's called beer.

That's just like my opinion, man.

[BikerDude]

Re: Can't somebody else post this stuff

To be honest I don't think many of the rest of us are as bothered about this stuff as you are actually.

I view "this stuff" as being obviously topical on a board about religion.

[meekon5]

Re: Can't somebody else post this stuff

To be honest I don't think many of the rest of us are as bothered about this stuff as you are actually.

I view "this stuff" as being obviously topical on a board about religion.

And that's where we differ this is not a board about religion its a board about Dudeism.

There are more suitable atheist forums where you can put this stuff.

Again I re-iterate you may be an atheist Dudeist but that does not mean all Dudeists are Atheists.

While Dudeism in its official form has been organized as a religion only recently, it has existed down through the ages in one form or another. Probably the earliest form of Dudeism was the original form of Chinese Taoism, before it went all weird with magic tricks and body fluids.

...

The idea is this: Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it.

Much like Oliver I came to Dudeism through Buddhism, Taoism, and Yoga (though not as widely traveled as the Dudely Lama).

I also follow Paganism.

As I said before I am not an atheist and this is not the place for atheist polemic.

[BikerDude]

Re: Can't somebody else post this stuff

To be honest I don't think many of the rest of us are as bothered about this stuff as you are actually.

I view "this stuff" as being obviously topical on a board about religion.

And that's where we differ this is not a board about religion its a board about Dudeism.

There are more suitable atheist forums where you can put this stuff.

Again I re-iterate you may be an atheist Dudeist but that does not mean all Dudeists are Atheists.

While Dudeism in its official form has been organized as a religion only recently, it has existed down through the ages in one form or another. Probably the earliest form of Dudeism was the original form of Chinese Taoism, before it went all weird with magic tricks and body fluids.

...

The idea is this: Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it.

Much like Oliver I came to Dudeism through Buddhism, Taoism, and Yoga (though not as widely traveled as the Dudely Lama).

I also follow Paganism.

As I said before I am not an atheist and this is not the place for atheist polemic.

You see that's interesting man.
I always took it to be evident that the clear lack of any mention of any deity in Dudeism was not coincidental. Go figure.
And for that matter in Tao'ism which offers that the question is irrelevant? Unless I'm mistaken.
In any event it's always seemed a pretty clear tendency toward Atheism.
A religion without a god being literally Atheist?
I would think that a theist would find little to take away from Dudeism or Tao'ism for that matter.
But I guess I've been mistaken.

[meekon5]

You see that's interesting man.
I always took it to be evident that the clear lack of any mention of any deity in Dudeism was not coincidental. Go figure.

Proof that we each take our own point of view and find it in whatever we want.

For me that's just taking an absence of point of view and declaring it as a positive statement of a negative.

I personally took the lack of mention of a deity to be an act of inclusion (basically we don't care if you do or if you don't), where you have used it as a statement of exclusion.

And for that matter in Tao'ism which offers that the question is irrelevant? Unless I'm mistaken.

Taoist Xian (pinyin: xi?n; Wade–Giles: hsien) are taoist immortals. Of which you have The Eight Immortals who first appeared in the Jin dynasty.

For more information on Taoist Deities look here.

In any event it's always seemed a pretty clear tendency toward Atheism.
A religion without a god being literally Atheist?

Again the none statement of a deity is not an affirmation of atheism it's an attempt to be all inclusive, not prescriptive.

I would think that a theist would find little to take away from Dudeism or Tao'ism for that matter.
But I guess I've been mistaken.

You are perfectly entitled to your point of view.

As I've said before your Dudeism works for you, but when you start trying to tell me what my Dudeism is then you have crossed the line.

You are not mistaken for your point of view but as an atheist you are seeing Dudeism as exclusively Atheist, just for atheists.

I see it as inclusive of whatever your point of view is.

[BikerDude]

As I've said before your Dudeism works for you, but when you start trying to tell me what my Dudeism is then you have crossed the line.

You are not mistaken for your point of view but as an atheist you are seeing Dudeism as exclusively Atheist, just for atheists.

I see it as inclusive of whatever your point of view is.

Is Dudeism something at all or just whatever each person makes it?
I mean there must be something that is beyond the age old "just like your opinion man". If so then isn't it possible that some things are incompatible with the concrete things that make Dudeism in fact Dudeism?

I'm sort of playing Devil's advocate here but in fact this tendency to insist on stripping all of the rules away seems to be a very common thing with theists. Not that I'm calling you a theist or Christian or anything else. But it's something that I notice a lot.
It reduces things to a label and allows people to fill in the details after words. It has the net effect of deflecting any possibility of criticism.
Aren't there rules?
Is this Nam?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2JJf2qC6TTg

[Reverend Al]

...Is Dudeism something at all or just whatever each person makes it?...

Well Dude, we just don't know; even the explanation in the "What is Dudeism?" link on the main page is pretty vague:  "The idea is this:  Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it.  So don't do anything about it.  Just take it easy, man.  Stop worrying so much whether you'll make it into the finals.  Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others - that is to say, abide."

The Dudely Lama planted the seeds of Dudeism then stepped back to see what would grow, so at this point it seems it's up to each of us to cultivate our own "gardens".

[Judd Dude]

...Is Dudeism something at all or just whatever each person makes it?...

Well Dude, we just don't know; even the explanation in the "What is Dudeism?" link on the main page is pretty vague:  "The idea is this:  Life is short and complicated and nobody knows what to do about it.  So don't do anything about it.  Just take it easy, man.  Stop worrying so much whether you'll make it into the finals.  Kick back with some friends and some oat soda and whether you roll strikes or gutters, do your best to be true to yourself and others - that is to say, abide."

The Dudely Lama planted the seeds of Dudeism then stepped back to see what would grow, so at this point it seems it's up to each of us to cultivate our own "gardens".

Fuckin eh!