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Topic: Religious beliefs on bitcoin (Read 22398 times)

member
Activity: 112
Merit: 10
October 04, 2015, 04:17:07 AM
I don't believe bitcoin and religion go hand in hand like that though.
member
Activity: 70
Merit: 10
July 22, 2015, 08:31:54 AM
The Lord is my Shepherd. And I am his sheep dog.
Yeah. The Lord is the best among the rest. Smiley
sr. member
Activity: 432
Merit: 250
July 22, 2015, 05:47:41 AM
I'm more concerned with the religion OF bitcoin.  Their are FAR too many people who have near apocalyptic visions of how BTC will transform the world and bring torment an damnation upon governments, banks, Keynesians and everyone who has ever mocked them.  While the BTCers will be enraptured in wealth and splendor and rule the world at the right-hand of Satoshi.  Sound familiar???

Relevant: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/bitcoin-religion-filip-martinka-
member
Activity: 112
Merit: 10
July 13, 2013, 08:06:55 AM
Haven't heard such a thing about it in my religion.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
July 13, 2013, 04:17:22 AM
All who use Bitcoin are touched by The Great Satoshi's GLORY, for we are all his chosen people.

It is our sacred duty to spread his Gift to the people of the world.

Agreed!

A while ago while sleeping I felt an overwhelming surge of ecstasy and thought perhaps I had been touched by "God".

Turned out it was only my GF and she was............................

Well....................

......never mind....................................

Wink

My $.02.

Smiley
newbie
Activity: 19
Merit: 0
July 12, 2013, 10:27:26 PM
All who use Bitcoin are touched by The Great Satoshi's GLORY, for we are all his chosen people.

It is our sacred duty to spread his Gift to the people of the world.
member
Activity: 84
Merit: 10
http://newbcoin.com (Free Bitcoin Faucet)
July 12, 2013, 12:15:59 AM
I don't have delusional people as friends.

2edgy4me
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1000
July 08, 2013, 12:15:41 AM
It's more accessible than that, whoever chooses to acquire a Satoshi, is part of the cult religion.
The true believers know how to keep there private keys private, without losing them.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
July 07, 2013, 04:20:01 PM
The Great Satoshi is the one true Messiah

For he blessed the world with BITCOIN


Except that due to the cost of mining only the CHOSEN PEOPLE can now be part of it!

Anyone who runs a full node by running Bitcoin-qt is running all of Satoshi's code, and thus is one of the chosen, who's computer has been touched by Satoshi.


Um..................OK.............

I'll take your word for that!

Smiley
legendary
Activity: 1680
Merit: 1035
July 07, 2013, 02:59:42 PM
The Great Satoshi is the one true Messiah

For he blessed the world with BITCOIN


Except that due to the cost of mining only the CHOSEN PEOPLE can now be part of it!

Anyone who runs a full node by running Bitcoin-qt is running all of Satoshi's code, and thus is one of the chosen, who's computer has been touched by Satoshi.
sr. member
Activity: 462
Merit: 250
Firing it up
July 07, 2013, 01:40:26 PM
In general, limited supply is the rule for this.
sr. member
Activity: 476
Merit: 250
July 07, 2013, 01:00:10 PM
The Great Satoshi is the one true Messiah

For he blessed the world with BITCOIN


Except that due to the cost of mining only the CHOSEN PEOPLE can now be part of it!

My $.02.

Smiley
newbie
Activity: 19
Merit: 0
July 06, 2013, 09:40:22 PM
The Great Satoshi is the one true Messiah

For he blessed the world with BITCOIN

full member
Activity: 220
Merit: 100
Getting too old for all this.
June 27, 2013, 02:00:19 PM
Likewise, thanks guys, it's been real (so to speak). Doubtful whether anyone has been significantly moved in the course of it, but at least it's interesting to see how such intricate worldviews intersect.

While I have the deepest respect for each of you, you have my story, my defense of my personal knowledge of the Messiah, and my words of warning. and of hope.  My inbox is open if there's anything else you'd like to discuss.. 
legendary
Activity: 1680
Merit: 1035
June 27, 2013, 01:24:25 PM
Belief is caused by the direct influence of a higher power that is internal to all of us.

That's quite a leap. A lot of the world's economic policies and beliefs are influenced by ideas invented by Keynes. Does that make him a higher power?

   No, it makes all of his teachers, his genes, and his influences in his life that led him to produce the theory he did a higher power. Oh, and all of the influences that shaped his ancestors both culturally and genetically, and all of the factors that influenced his teacher's thoughts culturally and genetically, and all of the factors that shaped all of them... all of that taken as a Unity, what can we call it? The writers of the Torah settled on El or Yahweh as a word to indicate this supreme unity.

That idea, that we are all connected, and we are still figuring out the ways in which these connections connect and influence us, may very well be true. As a scientist and an atheist, all I can say is "we just don't know yet." An yeah, thanks for the discussion, too.
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
June 27, 2013, 07:15:09 AM
Belief is caused by the direct influence of a higher power that is internal to all of us.

That's quite a leap. A lot of the world's economic policies and beliefs are influenced by ideas invented by Keynes. Does that make him a higher power?

   No, it makes all of his teachers, his genes, and his influences in his life that led him to produce the theory he did a higher power. Oh, and all of the influences that shaped his ancestors both culturally and genetically, and all of the factors that influenced his teacher's thoughts culturally and genetically, and all of the factors that shaped all of them... all of that taken as a Unity, what can we call it? The writers of the Torah settled on El or Yahweh as a word to indicate this supreme unity.
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
June 27, 2013, 07:09:49 AM


Science is one system of belief- not the system of belief. How can light be both a particle and a wave? Any physicist, theist or not, will acknowledge this reality. It depends on the observer and the method of observation.

Science isn't a system of belief, it's a system of doing verifications on ideas, and discarding those ideas we can't verify. As for the light being a particle and a wave, that's just another variation of "How can bumble bees fly?" Sure, those not familiar with this aspect of light might think this is a tough question that can't be answered, but it can and has been.


      The scientific method of inquiry is based on a belief system that prioritizes sensory data to the exclusion of all other data. Implicit in this belief is the absolute accuracy of sensory perception, although we have ample scientific documentation of situations in which "reality" can be shaped based on the group pressure or beliefs of a subject. In other words, the scientific method can falsify itself. That is not to deny the utility of scientific observation, it is simply to point out that like Newtonian physics, it has a spectrum of reality in which it is applicable, but it is not a transcendent truth, which is exactly what theists claim the Creator to be. For non-sensory perception, see "genetic memory" and "epigenetics." I don't know if anyone is researching the pineal gland as a sensory organ, but I don't think so since how would you make money off of it, and how do you get a research grant then??

     The dual nature of light is an accepted scientific model, and the bumblebee argument is a thought experiment like the black swan. The example of light is cited to illustrate that the observer will always affect the outcome of an observation, and that objectivity is the mythical holy grail of science, that never has been and never will be found. My concern in the belief of the findings of the scientific method as representing transcendent truth is
1) these truths always can and do change
2) taken to the logical end it can result in a justification of hedonism
3) it can lead to an emphasis on materialism as the importance of emotional and spiritual dimensions is downplayed due to the difficulty of quantifying them

   I see the scientific mode of inquiry as one valid perspective among many. I worry that its preeminence is one of the reasons that neo-liberal economic models reign in policy making today- the economic models currently used only try to calculate growth and often ignore more difficult to model factors like inequality, or prioritize production efficiency (output) over consumption efficiency (marginal utility or satisfaction). I would neither deny scripture nor scientific documentation of perception as a source of truth- to do either would limit my dataset. I don't think these perspectives are incompatible, but they are sometimes framed as such in an emotionally charged debate with economic incentives- I mean party politics.

     Thank you for this lively discussion. I doubt we will be able to conclude a hundreds of years old debate, but I appreciate your demonstration of these very robust reasoning processes.
legendary
Activity: 1372
Merit: 1000
June 27, 2013, 01:20:33 AM
Please explain how a market is equivalent to interest? The issue is with using money to make more money without any underlying assets or value adding process. Return on investment and interest on a loan are not the same thing.

   Also, there is greater concentration of wealth in the countries with white majority, but honestly, considering that this greater prosperity started with the looting of south americas gold and the building of the slave plantation system in the Caribbean, and given the environmental consequences associated with this model of growth, do you really, honestly think that it is sustainable, especially considering that wealth is being concentrated in the hands of those who are already rich? As the middle class evaporates, poor people will see no point in knuckling under since they have no chance at getting rich anyway, and there will be more unrest.

A market is where you go to buy what need and sell what you make. Interest is the cost of needing money.

To clarify: to lend money with interest to some who need food or a flat screen TV is easy to identify as usury.
To lend money to some who wants to work but has no means is providing for someone who needs money.

And I thought I was an interest fundamentalist. For a lively debate on interest I would recommend reading this:
https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/interest-rates-in-a-deflationary-currency-222845 my view is expressed there.

TLDR contemporary Keynesian economists encourage usury to benefit the wealthy, and fixed money Austrian's encourage saving to benefit the working class.

Interest becomes necessary when the money is horded and the economy starts to shrink. (the lack thereof was one of mechanisms behind the demise of the Ottoman Empire)

As for how the wealth in the world came to be where it is, is to think and speak of terrible evil. My purpose is to fix the cause of the problem and allow the poor to share the inheritance of abundant prosperity that is human ingenuity. The mechanism to offset greed is inherent in nature we just need to embrace it.

legendary
Activity: 1680
Merit: 1035
June 27, 2013, 12:51:02 AM
Belief is caused by the direct influence of a higher power that is internal to all of us.

That's quite a leap. A lot of the world's economic policies and beliefs are influenced by ideas invented by Keynes. Does that make him a higher power?
hero member
Activity: 728
Merit: 500
June 27, 2013, 12:12:53 AM
Yeah, so what the hell happened? No one questions or denies that ancient Muslim nations had a great and awesome history with many contributions to the world. So how did it turn from that into such a horrific and appalling joke?

The BBC documentary The Rise of the Politics of Fear, does a good job of highlighting how the west created Radical Islam for a political tool of polarized good and bad.

As for the debate on religion and interest - it is only morality wrong when considered usury. When you look at it through the lens of macro economics and the effective use of capital it is the cost of money and provided the risks and costs are fair and mutually agreed it is a necessary in creating prosperity.

I won't defend the banking system of today but under a fixed monetary system like gold, having a market (thus interest) for money is the tool that created greater prosperity in the west.

      Please explain how a market is equivalent to interest? The issue is with using money to make more money without any underlying assets or value adding process. Return on investment and interest on a loan are not the same thing.

   Also, there is greater concentration of wealth in the countries with white majority, but honestly, considering that this greater prosperity started with the looting of south americas gold and the building of the slave plantation system in the Caribbean, and given the environmental consequences associated with this model of growth, do you really, honestly think that it is sustainable, especially considering that wealth is being concentrated in the hands of those who are already rich? As the middle class evaporates, poor people will see no point in knuckling under since they have no chance at getting rich anyway, and there will be more unrest.
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