General Discussions

**serandfae** · 10-19-2007, 12:51 AM

Just curious--how many of you would buy into the concept of the Force from Star Wars being a legitimate religion? Fanboy answers don't count; if you've ever been to a convention, don't answer....

**fastreplies** · 10-19-2007, 01:02 AM

What if I watched Star Wars reruns only?

fastreplies

**Learning Newbie** · 10-19-2007, 12:32 PM

I would say no, not a credible religion. That's actually a more involved and controversial question than it sounds like. What exactly is the boundary between credible and cult religions? Do Mormons count? Native American peyote eaters? Pastafarians?

**bbrian017** · 10-19-2007, 04:36 PM

hey I do think we can do more than what we do now but... we are raised to see what's possible and what's not possible. How can we learn when we are raised to say no, we can't do that.

Lets open our minds a little and see what we can do right?

**CSS4Life** · 10-19-2007, 05:05 PM

Newbie, while this thread isn't specifically about the Mormons, I've got to say now that I'm not keen on their religion as a whole. While the main church has officially rejected polygamy, their actual founder Joseph Smith said it was fine, and then Brigham Young, his successor who took them to Salt Lake City was OK with it too. Not only does this contradict the teachings of the Bible, but the whole idea of the Mormon religion is that Jesus and the Jews were in North America, which by established history is incorrect.

I'll elaborate about the Jews in America thing (for those of you who don't know): the Book of Mormon was written down by a guy named Joseph Smith around the 1820s/30s. He said he found some stone tablets in the side of a nearby hill and then "miraculously" translated them into English, even though he had no knowledge of any other language. These tablets were supposedly written by a guy named Moroni who was a prophet and they recorded the history of the lost tribes of Israel who had supposedly moved to North America. The white Jews fought the black Jews and the black Jews won, and are now supposedly the Native Americans.

You may have noticed I've used supposedly a lot in that paragraph. I did so because DNA disproves this - the Native Americans have extremely similar DNA to people from North East Asia (i.e. Mongolia) so how can they be Jews. How did a number of wandering people cross the sea to America anyway? (we're talking before the age of Christ here). Furthermore, were there stories or records made by people of Asia concerning a number of wandering tribes crossing their territories? Where is the archaeological evidence of a tribe of Jews in America?

It should be noted that although Joseph Smith actually ended up getting tarred and feathered by mainstream Christians, the Mormon church is extremely wealthy.

**angele803** · 10-19-2007, 05:13 PM

And if Im not mistaken, Joseph Smith not only thought polygamy was okay, he thought it was good and what God wanted for people.

Anyway, isn't the star wars religion roughly based on Christianity anyway? It sure seems like it. 'the force' = 'the holy spirit'

**CSS4Life** · 10-19-2007, 05:36 PM

Yeh he didn't only encourage it, he taught that it was what God wanted people to do. I've had arguments on Bebo with Mormons (how sad am I....) and they somehow managed to stand up to my attacks on their faith.

I've never watched a whole Star Wars fan so I can't really comment on the films - I've played a video game (Star Wars Battlefront) which was ace, although it didn't have a huge amount about religion/the force in it - it was mainly about taking over the galaxy and either killing Darth Vader or fighting along side him. For your information, I tend to fight along side him most of the time

It's only a video game.....!

**CSS4Life** · 10-19-2007, 06:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kingdomathand

what about the force used in inquisition to convert the ungodly to their own convictions?...

I think we are referring to "the Force" from Star Wars, rather than "the physical force used to convert heathens"...

Try to stay on topic in future if you could

**serandfae** · 10-19-2007, 07:08 PM

Ok, what I'm looking at is the concept of the Force, not a specific group. The reason I didn't want answers from "fanboys" is simply that those who are just mindlessly ga-ga over something are pretty much cultists, just as those who do not have the capacity to call their system of belief into question are pretty much zealots. I've never been able to have an intelligent philosophical discussion with either.

That said, the concept of an energetic component of the universe that the individual with the right frame of mind can tap into, which can be abused but once abused leads the individual who does into darkness in the here and now--that's what I'm talking about. Once you put the SW label on it, it tends to cheapen the concept in our minds, IMHO, but it's a pretty deep philosophical outlook when you dig deeper. And once you've dug deep enough you have the pit in which to cast those who've fallen to the Dark Side. Bring a ladder, or rope, or something with your shovel.

**joder** · 10-20-2007, 12:23 PM

I think the "Force" is a fiction, like most novels. Deepak Chopra's woo woo would disagree and is similar to the force of Star Wars. It's sad he tries to pass it off as having something to do with science.

**serandfae** · 10-21-2007, 12:17 AM

Well, I place Deepak Chopra in about the same category as L. Ron Hubbard--that would be the category of schmuck.

Same goes for what a Shoshone friend of mine called woo woos--show 'em a crystal and watch 'em go, "Woooooooo.....".

Like I said, I know "The Force" is fiction. But from both a spiritual and scientific viewpoint, what do you think about the concept of it?

**angele803** · 10-21-2007, 08:45 PM

I still think it goes hand in hand with Christianity. I think the good side would be God...the Holy Spirit being the "force" that you tap into and that helps you do amazing things.

Witchcraft would be the opposite. Though I know not all "witches" are bad (I took a class about witchcraft and was surprised to learn that all witches weren't devil worshipers), there are those out there who supposedly tap into an evil (and real imo) force and do bad things. I knew a girl in high school who literally was being tortured in her sleep by another girl who practiced satanism.

So real life is like the "force" in Star Wars. You can choose the good side, the dark side, or even try to ignore it.

Thats just my 2 cents.

**serandfae** · 10-21-2007, 09:26 PM

OK, I can buy that. How about this--a simple electromagnet consists of a complete circuit from a power source to a coil around a somewhat resistant conductor, say a nail. We now know, too, that everything that conducts electricity exhibits magnetism to some degree. Like, say, the human nervous system. What some people call the "aura" is likely little more than the body's electromagnetic field, which can be altered, like with acupuncture pins, another EM field, even another person's.

As to what degree that's possible is left either to speculation or experiment. Or both.

BTW, some interesting reading into the original witches can actually be found in the Cherokee legends about the Nunnehi. There are fascinating parallels.