Point!

I'm sorry. Have I misunderstood? I thought you were an atheist.
I am sorry about your Mom. How wonderful that you were able to be with her.

Indeed! +1

our childhood always plays a role. My mother died in May and I spent her dying moments singing religious songs and hymns to her. comfort is comfort. Our favorite is a version of this verse-"in my father's house, are many mansions. If it were not so, I would have told you. I go to prepare a place for you, and when I go, I will come again, to receive you. That where I am, ye may be also." John 14:2. Happy Easter

Yes. +1 Giving up on the idea of Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny was hard to do.

Excellent point. +1

But the future you're 'sacrificing' today for is after your death, promised to you by some mythical super-being in some non-locatable ultra-dimension that no one's ever returned from with photos/videos.

It strikes me as simply a fear of death and a search for immortality.

Maybe so, but to do that one would have to reject nearly everything taught to him by the church or preacher of his choice. So is one still a Christian after that, or is he a blasphemer and heretic?

I for one, don't agree that AR misinterpreted Christianity based upon it's history and current applications as well as those that utilize it to justify/excuse their drive for socialism and collectivism. She talked about the religion, not necessarily the individual.

Robbie might have been correct that there has been and will always be looters and moochers and villains, he was completely wrong in using that argument against the principles and value of Objectivism. An Objectivist community, relying on the reality of their senses and their minds ability to logically reason will naturally understand and accept those facts. From that they can quite easily provide disincentives for that type of individual.

Escaping to a permanent, isolated Gulch and excluding interaction with all others is not an Objectivist community's best interest or workable solution (excepting individuals).

Jesus's retreat sounds like advocating for suicide since thats the only way of reaching it, i.e. death.

Yes, there seems to be a lot of that going around. As well as misunderstanding of the Gulch being a metaphorical concept for removing the sanctions of socialism/altruism from those applying the worst of those concepts to the collectivist state.

Thank you for engaging. The only time I need a "god" it seems is when something painful happens that is completely out of my control and I need comfort. What does an atheist do when those events come along? I think you must be stronger than me .

Jesus made his invitation to god's chosen people who for the most part rejected it after killing him. His apostles had to take the message to Europeans to find any acceptance. I'm not sure how any of that has anything to do with Galt's gulch or Galt's message?

could be. and I do not want to be in any way dismissive of religious gulchers. I just want to start on the same page. Objectivists do not accept religion in any way. that does not mean there are not many overlaps. It's the same with libertarians. Objectivists do not recognize the non aggression principle as axiomatic. As well, libertarians do not accept reason as an axiom. that is a huge disconnect. There are many other areas, philosophically, there would be agreement

spell check chose the above: should read "epistemologically"

Satan's Crispy Balls!!! What total, blithering crap.

Is this a little 'pot stirring'?

Excellent points. Very easy. I come down solidly with Objectivism.
Thank you. Sometimes I think that when a person prays maybe they are praying to the best within themselves.

metaphysically: A is A vs. A is whatever God says it is
epidemiological: Reason vs faith
ethics: scientific ethics based on rational self interest vs altruism

K, would you give me an example of one of those dissonances? I am not looking to argue; I am looking to learn.

I am not an atheist, but I can honestly say that my knowledge and judgment of right and wrong did not come from a god. I read Atlas very young, and a lot of my sense of morality came from Rand, or at least she put it in concrete form.

OK. there is no objective proof for a deity. I am a moral person, I don't need a god

Thanks D,
I just had in mind the care to avoid revealing obvious contradictions.

The term "mystic concept" assumes that you believe that a "creator" is mystic. My belief is God is not mystic at all.

If you took a simple lighter back to the 5th century BC you would be called a sorcerer, i.e. mystic.

My understanding is that God, or Creator, of "Intelligent Designer" is beyond us like we are to an amoeba. Nothing mystic to me at all.

Not the carefully selected at all. They fundamentally agree on epistemology and ethics..

You are trying to summarize the ethics of altruism in one sentence. You are ignoring thousands of years of christian teachings, which are not based in rational self-interest. First of all the whole phrase rational and christianity are incompatible. Christian epistemology is based on faith, not reason and it does not accept that A is A. To suggest that Rand or Objectivism and Christianity are compatible is to misinterpret either what Rand said or what christianity says or both..

he does that :)