Do you believe in God?
- Thread starter Patrik
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II-zOoLoGy-II
(Banned)
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Humanities was years ago man...
This is just another one of those things that falls into the "80% of info you learn in college and forget" category.
At least I can say I (re)learned something today.
This is just another one of those things that falls into the "80% of info you learn in college and forget" category.
At least I can say I (re)learned something today.
- 3,159
- Livingston, Sco
- BkS-y0
- APX BkS
I don't believe in a God/Gods, nor religion.
In all my years of studying, experiencing and living with religion, I've come to the conclusion that current religions as they are now, are misinterpreted translations, which have been divided into sub-religions from which there was only one to begin with.
It's this division, as I see it, that has caused so many problems over time.
There is so much evidence to prove that there once only was ONE religion. Many stories / readings from religious books are the same, just told in a different way. I.E. Misinterpreted through division.
However, having a mother who is by profession, a spiritualist medium, I do get the sense that there is after-life in which past relatives look over us. That being, a higher power, someone / something who knows what's coming and why.
I can chat about this topic for forever and a day, because it's just one of those topics that spark for me, and although at times it can be... unpleasant, especially if the person you're trying to chat with isn't open-minded. I am rather passionate about learning and intriguing myself through discoveries of my own on this particular topic.
My general census is that, one time or another religion was very closely tied with astrology, and spiritualism. To me, these project that some form of Buddhism was first created to not rule humans, but to give them structure, and keep their mind from negative thinking.
I don't believe in gods, but I do believe that there is somewhere we can be at peace with ourselves, without us actually realising it. This is maybe hanging out with friends, playing video games, listening to music, or even sleeping.
I do know that I'm happy with myself, and that being open-minded has lead my good so far. I've made wise choices, but I did it based on what I learned from ALL these different religions.
My family is very much a multi-religious family. My father is Sihk, my eldest brother is Muslim, my youngest brother is Christian, and my grand-parents were Christian as well.
From where I'm watching society progress, it seems religion is now being slowly disregarded, which has it's pro's and cons like everything, but on the whole, I feel society, although can be EXTREMELY sickening at times, is moving together as one and I believe the internet has played a massive role in that.
I hope those of you who are religious, can see my point of view, without much "disturbance?" ... I think that's the word I'm looking for.
I'm all for loving everyone, unless you've done something terrible... like animal cruelty, or your psychotic and murder people, or your the government and steal from the poor.
In all my years of studying, experiencing and living with religion, I've come to the conclusion that current religions as they are now, are misinterpreted translations, which have been divided into sub-religions from which there was only one to begin with.
It's this division, as I see it, that has caused so many problems over time.
There is so much evidence to prove that there once only was ONE religion. Many stories / readings from religious books are the same, just told in a different way. I.E. Misinterpreted through division.
However, having a mother who is by profession, a spiritualist medium, I do get the sense that there is after-life in which past relatives look over us. That being, a higher power, someone / something who knows what's coming and why.
I can chat about this topic for forever and a day, because it's just one of those topics that spark for me, and although at times it can be... unpleasant, especially if the person you're trying to chat with isn't open-minded. I am rather passionate about learning and intriguing myself through discoveries of my own on this particular topic.
My general census is that, one time or another religion was very closely tied with astrology, and spiritualism. To me, these project that some form of Buddhism was first created to not rule humans, but to give them structure, and keep their mind from negative thinking.
I don't believe in gods, but I do believe that there is somewhere we can be at peace with ourselves, without us actually realising it. This is maybe hanging out with friends, playing video games, listening to music, or even sleeping.
I do know that I'm happy with myself, and that being open-minded has lead my good so far. I've made wise choices, but I did it based on what I learned from ALL these different religions.
My family is very much a multi-religious family. My father is Sihk, my eldest brother is Muslim, my youngest brother is Christian, and my grand-parents were Christian as well.
From where I'm watching society progress, it seems religion is now being slowly disregarded, which has it's pro's and cons like everything, but on the whole, I feel society, although can be EXTREMELY sickening at times, is moving together as one and I believe the internet has played a massive role in that.
I hope those of you who are religious, can see my point of view, without much "disturbance?" ... I think that's the word I'm looking for.
I'm all for loving everyone, unless you've done something terrible... like animal cruelty, or your psychotic and murder people, or your the government and steal from the poor.
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- 23,800
- Philippines
Most religions from around the areas around the Holy Land are similar simply because they influenced one another.
If you include religions from the Americas, East Asia and Africa, there is a huge variety. Creation myths diverge widely between these religions, and the forms the "Gods" take is much different.
If you include religions from the Americas, East Asia and Africa, there is a huge variety. Creation myths diverge widely between these religions, and the forms the "Gods" take is much different.
- 414
- California
A mod double posting? What is this? :0
- 1,678
- Canada
- TheDrummingKING
I screen capped it for good measure. 
- 9,055
- Murica
- BasedAckbar
Man this topic is making me itch for the new God of War.
- 7,177
- Lisboa
- FLAT_TWELVE
^^^^ that's the medieval depiction.
wikipedia
Before medieval times and the barbaric influence on christianity, what we have (in Judaism and later in pre-medieval christianity) is just the account of the devil being a fallen angel. Here a belgian depiction from the XIXth century:
Just to clear out and give some rigour to otherwise light-hearted, mocking posts filling this thread.
EDIT - Another interpretation. And a very interesting one, because it poses the question of where evil lies. Is it the outside object, or is it you wanting it?
- 1,616
- Australia
- GTP_ealirendur
- 426
- Texas
- Exitist_8
oh jeez/muhammad/krishna/odin/flyingspaghettimonster/ronswanson/zeus that was bad...
And does that mean divas are supposed to be men?
http://youtu.be/dQw4w9WgXcQ
^ diva
- 547
- iTribulationz
- iResurrectionz
I guess I'll give my most recent views on this.
I'd label myself as agnostic. I can't say there is a God(s) because there's no concrete proof of it. Actually, there's not any proof of even the possibility. All one really has to go by is an ancient book and a "feeling". That's not enough for me, sorry. But then, I can't say there isn't a God(s), because there's no proof of that, either. That being said, if you don't have proof either way to whether something does or doesn't exist, I feel it's more logical to lean a little more towards the "no" side, because you haven't seen it. It wouldn't make any sense to tip the scale over to "yes".
I like to compare God to life elsewhere in the universe. I tried to have this conversation with my mother a couple weeks ago, and I couldn't because she was too close-minded to see past her religion. I asked her what her thoughts on extraterrestrial life were. All she said was, "I don't believe there's life out there because it doesn't go with what the Bible says."
There's so many things wrong with that. She believes in something that has NO proof of existence, nor even proof of the possibility of existence. She goes on a gut feeling alone, and that's enough for her to be certain God exists. Yet with alien life, we obviously haven't found proof of existence, but we have at least found proof of the possibility of existence.
Think about how large the universe is, and how little of it we've explored. We're in the center of a "bubble" of our radio waves. That bubble has traveled roughly 70 light-years. Light travels 186,000 miles per second, which means it travels 5.88 trillion miles in one year. Multiply that by 70 and you get 411.6 trillion (411,600,000,000,000). Our radio waves have traveled 411.6 trillion miles.
We live in the Milky Way galaxy, obviously. Take the radio bubble (411.6 trillion miles) and shrink it down to the size of a BB pellet. With that scale, our galaxy would be roughly the size of the average bedroom, and in that bedroom, we're this tiny little BB pellet. Don't forget, that's just our galaxy. There's billions of galaxies out there. At this point you start (or I hope you do) to understand how large the universe really is. And taking that into considering with the fact we're composed of some of the most common elements known, you have to start considering life elsewhere as a realistic possibility that has to be at least 50/50.
So for someone to believe in God with...really nothing, and then turn around and immediately disregard the possibility of alien life. That's a very ego-centric response that ticks me off. It's even worse that it came from my own mother.
Did I go off topic? Seems like I talked more about aliens than I did God.
I'd label myself as agnostic. I can't say there is a God(s) because there's no concrete proof of it. Actually, there's not any proof of even the possibility. All one really has to go by is an ancient book and a "feeling". That's not enough for me, sorry. But then, I can't say there isn't a God(s), because there's no proof of that, either. That being said, if you don't have proof either way to whether something does or doesn't exist, I feel it's more logical to lean a little more towards the "no" side, because you haven't seen it. It wouldn't make any sense to tip the scale over to "yes".
I like to compare God to life elsewhere in the universe. I tried to have this conversation with my mother a couple weeks ago, and I couldn't because she was too close-minded to see past her religion. I asked her what her thoughts on extraterrestrial life were. All she said was, "I don't believe there's life out there because it doesn't go with what the Bible says."
There's so many things wrong with that. She believes in something that has NO proof of existence, nor even proof of the possibility of existence. She goes on a gut feeling alone, and that's enough for her to be certain God exists. Yet with alien life, we obviously haven't found proof of existence, but we have at least found proof of the possibility of existence.
Think about how large the universe is, and how little of it we've explored. We're in the center of a "bubble" of our radio waves. That bubble has traveled roughly 70 light-years. Light travels 186,000 miles per second, which means it travels 5.88 trillion miles in one year. Multiply that by 70 and you get 411.6 trillion (411,600,000,000,000). Our radio waves have traveled 411.6 trillion miles.
We live in the Milky Way galaxy, obviously. Take the radio bubble (411.6 trillion miles) and shrink it down to the size of a BB pellet. With that scale, our galaxy would be roughly the size of the average bedroom, and in that bedroom, we're this tiny little BB pellet. Don't forget, that's just our galaxy. There's billions of galaxies out there. At this point you start (or I hope you do) to understand how large the universe really is. And taking that into considering with the fact we're composed of some of the most common elements known, you have to start considering life elsewhere as a realistic possibility that has to be at least 50/50.
So for someone to believe in God with...really nothing, and then turn around and immediately disregard the possibility of alien life. That's a very ego-centric response that ticks me off. It's even worse that it came from my own mother.
Did I go off topic? Seems like I talked more about aliens than I did God.
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- 4,035
- Gothenburg
- Agremont
^ You could probably call yourself atheist then.
- 23,800
- Philippines
See... which side you consider good depends on your point of view. Their opposing roles have mutated over time.
It's all political, obviously. Neither set of Gods is veda than the other.
- 547
- iTribulationz
- iResurrectionz
I don't think so, because I don't outright believe there isn't a God. It might lean toward that direction, but it isn't completely one-sided.
Do I see such existence as impossible? No, but to go off nothing and believe in it without thinking twice is not a road I want to be on.
- 1,616
- Australia
- GTP_ealirendur
Dhamma, pada, that has some pretty serious Rama-fications.
You're not saying it's all Rig'd, Arju? Na.
Bhagavad about enough of this. Rendezvous later.
Er, too far? >_> <_<
ObOntopic: As I alluded earlier, Iif* a certain set of assumptions holds true, it would be massively statistically improbable and deeply hubristic to assume that we are:
a) "Real" biological organisims
b) In a universe with no "Creator".
Mind you, if those same assumptions hold true, the motivations involved would be basically unknowable, and expecting intervention or observable proof of any kind would probably be just as unlikely. Unless it's for experimentation and/or yucks.
*Not a typo.
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- 23,800
- Philippines
I don't think this is a sutra-ble topic for a pun-jabi fight. Not meaning to caste aspersions on your wit.
Then again, puns make everything veda.
-
Wait. I used that one, already.
- 414
- California
Atheism isn't "God doesn't exist.
It's "Until proof of a deity exists, I'd prefer to say there isn't one."...ish
>_>
It's "Until proof of a deity exists, I'd prefer to say there isn't one."...ish
>_>
- 547
- iTribulationz
- iResurrectionz
- 1,678
- Canada
- TheDrummingKING
Can you even be just an agnostic? Agnosticism deals with knowledge, so then what about belief? That is to say you could still believe in god(s), you could believe there is no god(s), or you could just lack belief in god(s) all together, but still be aware that there is nothing in the way of proof for any of it.
What I'm trying to get at is someone who is agnostic because of there being no evidence either way, wouldn't they, by default, lack any sort of belief in god(s) (unless specifically stated otherwise)? So then wouldn't the default position be an Agnostic Atheist? The reason I'm thinking that is the default is because just as Agnosticism is the middle ground so to speak (between knowing there is or isn't any or a specific god(s)), Atheism is as well (between Theism, believing in god(s), and Non-Theism, believing there is no god(s)).
I feel I'm being pedantic but would you say you lack the belief in any gods, iRevelationz? If you do, and it's for the reason you said (no evidence) wouldn't you then be an Agnostic Atheist (I never know if I'm supposed to capitalize those..)?
I'm just trying to wrap my head around this little conundrum I've created for myself.
What I'm trying to get at is someone who is agnostic because of there being no evidence either way, wouldn't they, by default, lack any sort of belief in god(s) (unless specifically stated otherwise)? So then wouldn't the default position be an Agnostic Atheist? The reason I'm thinking that is the default is because just as Agnosticism is the middle ground so to speak (between knowing there is or isn't any or a specific god(s)), Atheism is as well (between Theism, believing in god(s), and Non-Theism, believing there is no god(s)).
I feel I'm being pedantic but would you say you lack the belief in any gods, iRevelationz? If you do, and it's for the reason you said (no evidence) wouldn't you then be an Agnostic Atheist (I never know if I'm supposed to capitalize those..)?
I'm just trying to wrap my head around this little conundrum I've created for myself.
- 4,035
- Gothenburg
- Agremont
Your post made it seem you had no belief in god. Atheism is not a positive belief that there is no god, but a simple lack of it. Certainty has nothing to do with it.
See above.
- 414
- California
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