Who is your higher authority?

[Carcano]

Today I watched the Larry King interview with Bill Maher about his new film called...Religulous.

Larry told him Rick Warren could never accept an atheist president, because such a president could not govern without believing in a higher authority.

Do you have a higher authority?

If this higher authority is interpreted as whatever you want it to be, then the REAL authority is YOU!

And if not, you are living in contradiction...conforming only under threat of eternal torment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CWiASiqDdU

[EmptyForceOfChi]

I was about to answer the question before reading the other half of the post and say, "my higher authority is my own intuition".


peace.

[nietzschefan]

Just used this quote in another religion thread:

"I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law."
- Aristotle

Probably why Plato thought the Philosopher King would make the best ruler...

[Carcano]

I was about to answer the question before reading the other half of the post and say, "my higher authority is my own intuition".
Whats the difference between your intuition and your instinct?

[Carcano]

I have gained this by philosophy: that I do without being commanded what others do only from fear of the law. -Aristotle.

What percentage of the population could live in harmony without being compelled by law?

[EmptyForceOfChi]

Whats the difference between your intuition and your instinct?

Let me think about that for a second.


peace.

[nietzschefan]

What percentage of the population could live in harmony without being compelled by law?

No empirical evidence as of yet...

[Carcano]

No empirical evidence as of yet...
Take a guess...based on your own observation.

[Asguard]

the majority of people do whats right because they know its right without being forced by the law.

[nietzschefan]

Take a guess...based on your own observation.

Well you asked who MY higher authority is. I can't speak for everyone. Certainly there are some people whom need laws to prosecute others for. You know the accounting types in society. Society in general I guess. I'm not going to go against society(Canadian) just yet, it's still agreeable to be. The "Laws" are still generally in line with my own moral compass. The laws for my own safety are someday going to break me, I think though.

Bottom line, I can do what is Moral, without being told.

[Betrayer0fHope]

If I ever run for President, I'm whatever the fuck the voters want me to be.

Edit: But I can't because from years 0-.5 I lived in Canada. What bullshit.

[nietzschefan]

Anyways, back to your original question. There is a problem, I think the Pres has to swear and oath to the constitution or something. There's his higher authority.

[EmptyForceOfChi]

Im not sure what the difference is, But I guess that Instinct is more of a split second feeling/reaction, where as intuition is a thought process that takes pre-meditation. Could your intuition not go against your instinct?.


peace.

[OilIsMastery]

Satan is my higher authority...:D

[S.A.M.]

My conscience. If its against my beliefs and moral compass, I won't do it.

This principle frequently gets me into shit loads of trouble.

[Carcano]

Im not sure what the difference is, But I guess that Instinct is more of a split second feeling/reaction, where as intuition is a thought process that takes pre-meditation. Could your intuition not go against your instinct?.

When using the word 'instinct' people are usually talking about the kind of thinking reptiles have. Reptiles have a sex drive, they fight back when provoked, they escape when faced with a bigger predator, and so on.

Intuition might be used to describe Freud's concept of the superego, or it might describe a sixth sense, or an artistic inspiration...an unconscious phenomena that is nevertheless higher than basic instinctive reactions.

Theists usually say that without the higher ethical authority of God humans have no reason to be anything other than what evolution says they are...animals.

A person who believes they are nothing other than a complex reptile has no claim to anything other than reptile values.

This is why theists could never accept an atheist president.

[Carcano]

If its against my beliefs and moral compass, I won't do it.
What if you read something in the glorious Quran that contradicted your inner moral compass...would you still conform to it?

[S.A.M.]

Since that did not happen, I don't see the point of your question

[Orleander]

My higher authority is my Mom.
I'm fearful of her, yet I love her. I want to please her. I want her to be proud of what I do. Yep, my Mom

[Stryder]

A higher authority would be your Peers.

Simply all Men (and Women) are posed equal, however when two (or more) equals conspire against one, it unbalances the equation.

When it's stated "It's wrong to kill", it's not just Law that enforces people not to kill, or a persons own beliefs, but the reasoning they would be socially ostracised from their peers.

[Carcano]

Since that did not happen..
It happens every time you read about the importance of daily prayer.
You have admitted you dont do it.

[S.A.M.]

I hate it when ignoramuses attempt to teach me my religion. Please read 2:177

[Carcano]

A higher authority would be your Peers.

What if your peers are all criminals?

[Carcano]

I hate it when ignoramuses attempt to teach me my religion. Please read 2:177
You hate it when you are exposed as a phony.

Yes, I just read 2:177...see above.

[S.A.M.]

You hate it when you are exposed as a phony.

Yes, I just read 2:177...see above.

Now show me where it contradicts my moral compass.

[Carcano]

Now show me where it contradicts my moral compass.
I didnt say it contradicts your moral compass...its merely irrelevant to my original question.

[S.A.M.]

This is the problem of discussing morality and religion with atheists. Go back and read my responses again.

[Carcano]

This is the problem of discussing morality and religion with atheists.
I'm not an atheist. :)

[S.A.M.]

Then you must be a fence sitter. However, you could try to follow the conversation a little more closely.

[Carcano]

Then you must be a fence sitter.
The fence is often the most virtuous position...in many areas of life.

One should always be wary of certainty in the face of little evidence on either side.

[S.A.M.]

Indecisiveness is not a way of life for me.

[Stryder]

What if your peers are all criminals?

Then you are hanging with the wrong crowd. Peer's can be entire countries of people or in fact everyone on the planet. Not all of them would be criminals. Some I grant you but not all.

[Carcano]

Indecisiveness is not a way of life for me.
Indeed...you'd rather be confident of your ignorance.

The human ego likes certainty.

[S.A.M.]

I call it keeping both feet in one boat. Its based on an old Lucknowi paradigm

"Janab, pehele aap, pehele aap mein gaadi choot jayegi!"

"Sir, if we both keep saying after you, after you, both of us will miss the train!"

[Carcano]

Then you are hanging with the wrong crowd.
Theres always a spectrum of ethics in any crowd. Even in the mafia there were characters who couldnt conform to its own laws...never mind society's laws.

[Carcano]

Satan is my higher authority...:D
Satan would drowned...in your scenario.

[OilIsMastery]

Satan would drowned...in your scenario.
God-willing.

Fire and brimstone = hydrocarbon combustion and sulfur. Oil is called sour based upon it's sulfur content. Thus solfataric volcanoes, the true origin of hydrocarbons.

"All the petroleum, natural gas, and bituminous fields or deposits cannot be regarded as anything else but the products of solfotaric volcanic emanations condensed and held in their passage upward in the porous tanks of all ages of the crust of the earth from the Archaean rocks to the Quaternary. Nothing is so simple and therefore nothing so natural as this origin, and we will see that it can be abundantly proven." -- Eugene Coste, 1903

"Petroleum is the product of a distillation from great depth and issues from the primitive rocks beneath which the forces of all volcanic action lie." -- Alexander Von Humboldt, 1804

On Earth you can't see it because the hydrocarbons are inflammable. On Titan however the volcanoes are frozen so you can see it as clear as day: http://www.newscientist.com/article.ns?id=dn7489

[Carcano]

Dont you ever have any quotes from the last century...at least?

Nevermind...:rolleyes:

[OilIsMastery]

Dont you ever have any quotes from the last century...at least?

Nevermind...:rolleyes:
You know very well I do. Biogenic hypothesis is from the 18th century. Modern abiotic theory is from the 20th century. So based upon age, biogenic theory must be false according to you.

[Steve100]

No one.

[PsychoticEpisode]

My groin. (sexual arousal)

But I'm not alone. Presidents, Popes, Kings, and just about every other supposed person of power have succumbed to the urgings of that particular region of the anatomy. It doesn't control me for a great majority of the time but when circumstances dictate, well...what can I say? Anything that can turn a mind & body to rubber is the strongest force on Earth and strength is perhaps the most necessary attribute for a higher authority.

However the groin needs a catalyst. In my case it's women, although to varying degrees. Sometimes my authority gets really high. When Bill C. leaned back in his high backed chair and thought to himself', "It's great to be President", who was in control of the nation at that moment? I rest my case.