How ironic.

I've never gone through life not thinking. Is there a switch that gets thrown that takes a person from average everyday thinking to this mystical level of thought?

Or always was.

People can't even grasp the physical -time, space, etc.- how do you think they can even begin to comprehend the spiritual?

There are some who are subject to the understanding that if they can't comprehend or see something, it can't be true.

*Brief side-note for the Christians before I dive in to what I really want to say: The Bible begins with two creation narratives, neither of which begins with "nothing". The first begins with God's spirit over dark abysmal water and the second with a dry parched desert. I don't think this addresses the something from nothing debate...

For what it's worth, and even though it may frustrate some of my fellow Christians, James and Danny are thinking logically (seems to me they usually do). There's no need to think they are uninformed or unintelligent. Humans do not have any way to prove or disprove any theories about the ultimate origin of the universe. They've looked at the evidence and come to one conclusion, other people come to other conclusions. It's fun to discuss, but the bottom line is that nobody can be 100% certain. This leads me to think there are only two options that people have on this matter: faith (in an explanation of any kind - "religious" or "scientific" - both have limits) or agnosticism. Either you can't know, but you are willing to commit to a system of belief anyway, or you can't know, so you are unwilling to commit to any system of belief. This, I think, is the most basic dichotomy there is when it comes to philosophical knowledge of the ultimate origin and meaning of the universe (rather than Christian vs. non-Christian or theist vs. atheist). However, boots-on-the-ground, everyone operates within a basic working theory of the nature of existence. We all have some sense of how we got to where we are; we have some ideas about what is right and wrong; we all have a sense that there are things in the world that are not good, so we do the things we think will decrease the bad and increase the good. I think this is an innate property that humans have, I also think it constitutes a system of belief even if it does not address the ultimate questions. This is where I disagree with James about the definition of religion. James's definition seems to be merely a belief in the supernatural, and I think that's a fairly standard understanding of religion in our culture. Fair enough. However, I think we could define religion like this: any system of belief that results in practice and ritual. Maybe that's too broad for some of you, but I think it's fair too. It acknowledges that we all are ultimately ignorant, but we all find ways to explain our lives anyway, and our explanations determine what we do and how we act.

Thus, even if our belief system doesn't address the ultimate, we still live out of practical religions. Religious systems (under my definition) that don't work out the cosmic/ultimate issues still ascribe cosmic/ultimate value to something (this is called worship). They just give that ultimate value to something less cosmic - perhaps the self (the ultimate goal being to maximize pleasure and minimize pain for myself and ultimate sin/injustice is any pain or limitation that is place on me). Another common option is to give ultimate value to a political system or ideology. Here the bad guys are the ones who disagree with our political ideas, and they must be eliminated or converted so that we can have a good world. This one is super-common nowadays. It's why people like James and Blaine County get so much flak around here. They don't worship the same god as the politically religious here do. Rather than engaging in thoughtful discussion, dissenters are demonized and cast out because they do not worship what is (obviously) ultimately and universally good.

Anyway, I was hoping to say more about magic, but I'm running out of time. Maybe I'll do it later if the conversation is still going. For now, I'll just say that the videos on magic and angels/demons seems to be working with a late medieval understanding of magic and religion. I consider myself a Christian, and, therefore, I try to use the Bible as the ultimate reference for these kinds of questions. Many of the ideas presented, though popular in our cultural understanding of "Christian religion", aren't really Biblical ideas. Or if they are Biblical ideas, they are viewed through a lens that is a medieval version of greco-roman philosophy when they ought to be viewed in an ancient Jewish context. There's more to discuss especially as it relates to Clarke's third law...

The Bible in Genesis 1 says that " in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.
The Hebrew word for created is Bara. It means basically that God created what he created from nothing.

Yes if there were limits to or how God created something he wouldn't be God

Pondering the origin of God or debating the existence defeats the purpose of faith. Every man walking agnostic or religious knows that something created this wondrous place we call Earth

And the bible says that every man is without excuse being able to see

Romans 1:16-22 KJV
For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the Jew first, and also to the Greek. [17] For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith to faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith. [18] For the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who hold the truth in unrighteousness; [19] Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them. [20] For the invisible things of him from the creation of the world are clearly seen, being understood by the things that are made, even his eternal power and Godhead; so that they are without excuse: [21] Because that, when they knew God, they glorified him not as God, neither were thankful; but became vain in their imaginations, and their foolish heart was darkened. [22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,

Verse 20 clearly teaches that creation is understood by the things that are made even his eternal godhead. So everyone that chooses not to believe in God is without excuse when they end up in H3||

Interesting take.

What happens when the world gets so backwards that what one person thinks is bad, others think is good, and vice versa? That is where we are now.

^^^^^
Isaiah 5:20 Woe to those who call evil good and good evil,...

God allows people to lose their minds.

Romans chapter 1
21 For although they knew God, they neither glorified him as God nor gave thanks to him, but their thinking became futile and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.

24 Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another. 25 They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised. Amen.

26 Because of this, God gave them over to shameful lusts. Even their women exchanged natural sexual relations for unnatural ones. 27 In the same way the men also abandoned natural relations with women and were inflamed with lust for one another. Men committed shameful acts with other men, and received in themselves the due penalty for their error.

28 Furthermore, just as they did not think it worthwhile to retain the knowledge of God, so God gave them over to a depraved mind, so that they do what ought not to be done.

Good question! I think this is actually one of the central questions that the Bible is trying to teach us about. Yes, it's where we are now, but it's where we've been forever. Reading the Old Testament will show you that, but, as waggler pointed out (thank you, sir), Paul summarizes it well in the beginning of his letter to the Romans. Although, I think I would have begun quoting at verse 18: "The wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness (the Greek asebeia means irreverence, not sinfulness - it means not giving ultimate honor to what actually deserves it - it's idolatry) and unrighteousness (this is sin - when you mess up the world as a result of the aforementioned idolatry). Contrary to what you may hear about the Christian story, the primary problem with our world is not sin. It's idolatry. It's giving ultimate value, authority, and allegiance to anything that is not God. Sin is the result of idolatry. Our worship of things that are less than God gives those things power over us, and our sin holds us enslaved to those powers - and makes us agents of those powers. The purpose of human life in the Christian worldview is to be agents of God; that's what it would mean to be a true human. Idolatry means we are unable to fulfill our vocational role, that we are enslaved to foreign powers, and that we become something less than human. The end goal of Christian life then isn't "going to Heaven when you die" but being an agent of Heaven on Earth now. This happens through the forgiveness of sins so that we can cast away our idols and become true image-of-God human beings. I'm getting preachy, and I could go on for a while. I will if provoked (so watch out!), but I won't right now. Your Bible tells the story.

No new thing under the sun

Um. Jesus did say that he calls his followers friends. It's not an either/ or.

Classic mistake: assuming an eternal being had a beginning.

I dont think time is linear

Amen

The term from everlasting to everlasting rings a bell

Do you believe in the special theory of relativity then Danny?

We wrap our world view in what we are familiar with...

You mean the catholic cult? Lol

They do exist. Chuck Norris eats them because he likes his steak rare.