Do you believe in a source of all that exists?

[Ludlow]

"Everyone needs something to believe, and I believe I'll have another drink."

--W.C. Fields


No it wasn't. It was an evasion.

I don't think so. We blame an entity for everything bad in the world, yet we take no responsibility ourselves. Would you have liked it better if he had said I don't know? I suppose that would have been an honest reply to the question. No one knows the answer to the question. He "was" being honest though. He was putting the responsibilty where it belonged.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

I don't think so. We blame an entity for everything bad in the world, yet we take no responsibility ourselves. Would you have liked it better if he had said I don't know? I suppose that would have been an honest reply to the question.

Now you're getting it. He changed the subject to avoid answering the question.

No one knows the answer to the question. He "was" being honest though.

For values of honest = changing the subject to avoid answering the question.

He was putting the responsibilty where it belonged.

Not according to the bible.

 

[Ludlow]

Now you're getting it. He changed the subject to avoid answering the question.


For values of honest = changing the subject to avoid answering the question.


Not according to the bible.

The bible is a collection of books written by men. You can appeal to that as an authority. I don't.

 

[Cliffy]

People would rather buy into a lie than face the truth. The US has lied about the reason for getting into every war they have entered. People bought into it because they are too lazy to think for themselves. That makes everybody who supported every war complicit in the crimes against humanity. Those who didn't support the slaughter were marginalized, labeled unpatriotic, subversives and radicals.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

The bible is a collection of books written by men. You can appeal to that as an authority. I don't.

I don't appeal to William Slow Coughin' as an authority either.

People would rather buy into a lie than face the truth. The US has lied about the reason for getting into every war they have entered. People bought into it because they are too lazy to think for themselves. That makes everybody who supported every war complicit in the crimes against humanity. Those who didn't support the slaughter were marginalized, labeled unpatriotic, subversives and radicals.

Well, that was about as profound and wise as a fourteen-year-old girl's poem about unicorns.

 

[Corduroy]

There are things about the universe that we will never understand. I would think that in order to truly understand the all-powerful we would need to be all-powerful. In science or spirituality, there will always be things beyond our comprehension. Some religions believe that the gods themselves are trapped the same cycles of ignorance, death, happiness and suffering.

Personally, I like to think it's a lot like the relationship between me and my cat. As a human, I'm more intelligent than my cat. I understand the way the universe works better than she can. I have a certain power over her, I can manipulate her but I can't control her. Sometimes I observe her and wonder what the hell is going through her mind. I'll never understand how she thinks or how she sees the world. And while she's figured out some of my behaviour, she won't fully understand me. I assume from my perspective as a human, her interpretation of the world is less sophisticated than mine, but I still don't understand it either.

In a way, if there is some higher power or some more sophisticated intelligence, our understandings of the universe are like Venn diagrams. There is some overlap in our knowledge and some things beyond our capacity.

 

[Tecumsehsbones]

There are things about the universe that we will never understand. I would think that in order to truly understand the all-powerful we would need to be all-powerful.

We'd also have to accept that an "all-powerful" exists, against all available evidence.

Personally, I like to think it's a lot like the relationship between me and my cat. As a human, I'm more intelligent than my cat.

Sure about that? I'm pretty convinced Jake the Crow's way ahead of me.

In a way, if there is some higher power or some more sophisticated intelligence, our understandings of the universe are like Venn diagrams. There is some overlap in our knowledge and some things beyond our capacity.

Wha. . .? I fell asleep when you said "Venn diagrams."

 

[Corduroy]

We'd also have to accept that an "all-powerful" exists, against all available evidence.

We don't need to accept that it exists to accept that knowledge of it might be incomprehensible.

Sure about that? I'm pretty convinced Jake the Crow's way ahead of me.

Cats might very well be at a higher point of enlightenment than humans. She seems to have a pretty sweet deal in life. I think Eckart Tolle said he has known several zen masters, all of them cats.

Wha. . .? I fell asleep when you said "Venn diagrams."

As a Canadian, I wasn't aware that the IRS were known for wearing earrings.

 

[Danbones]

they are actually called rearrings

helps keeps em chained to a desk

 

[EagleSmack]

People would rather buy into a lie than face the truth. The US has lied about the reason for getting into every war they have entered. People bought into it because they are too lazy to think for themselves. That makes everybody who supported every war complicit in the crimes against humanity. Those who didn't support the slaughter were marginalized, labeled unpatriotic, subversives and radicals.

 

[Twila]

Cats are masters of zen.

Crows are smarter than humans.

I can't believe anything greater then humans gives a rats *** what we do on this planet, what we do as individuals or what even happens in our milky way.

would you really expect brittany to understand anything? can she even read?

 

[Nick Danger]

I once listened to an interview on 60 minutes with the statesman William Sloan Coffin. The interviewer Mike Wallace asked Mr. Coffin, " if there is a just and merciful god, then why does "He" allow all the suffering and injustice in the world.? Coffin paused , and then said, god may ask all of us, "why do you allow it?"

As thought provoking as that premise may be, it does make the assumption that "God" is a conscious, thinking entity that actually cares about what we do as individuals. The idea of God as the "benevolent dictator" pushing the buttons of all our lives doesn't hold much water these days, at least for thinking people. The idea that the may be some as-yet-undiscovered unifying force that binds the universe and all its workings together is a bit more probable in my mind. Whatever form "God" might take, to model it after ourselves is more than a little arrogant.

 

[Johnnny]

I use to be Christian. I still like parts of the religion like the Sermon on the mount. But I've come to a point in my life where I do not believe in the Abrahamic god. Still, when I look at pictures of the universe with all the brilliant lights and colors, and activity, I can't help but think that there is something much more complex than we could possibly comprehend. But is that "something" too big to be concerned with each individual on this little speck of a planet? Such as Spinozas god. What type of beliefs existed before the so called axial age and the beginning of the Abrahamic religions? Personally I believe there is something. Beyond that feeling, I simply cannot know or affirm. Is it a god, or gods, or entities from a different realm? I don't know. Maybe in the future when we evolve to a certain degree of growth and maturity, we'll be allowed to understand more, little by little.

Yea the universe is weird like that with a lot of constants fueling mysteries. >_<

The whole god scene is just there to keep you tested!!!