I admit, goodliness is next to godliness. But, good and evil are culturally defined. Don't need the Unknowable or exorcists (Well, maybe in Saskatoon).
Atheists Corner – A place to post your opinion
- Thread starter Goober
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Culture can define evil - sometimes. It is easy to use the word evil without any parameters or as we say in the Army - Arcs of fire.
I have no idea what the answers to those questions are, either one. I always have thought that the important thing is to ask the questions because asking questions drives us forward. Finding answers usually stops us dead in our tracks because there is nothing left to seek out. Just how I look it at it all, in an overall way.
Evil acts are often reduced in our culture as acts of necessity.
Never said that, Gerry. Don't even blame Vlad.
Exactly, there are no answers. Those who "know" are self deluded.
Never said that, Gerry. Don't even blame Vlad.
Exactly, there are no answers. Those who "know" are self deluded.
Especially Vlad the Impaler.
Everyone else is impaled by comparison.
lol
To my way of thinking, the reason God has been historically viewed as masculine, is a failing of language and man's incapability to come to account for that failing (which I will attempt to clarify).
Quite simply, God had always been referred to with the pronouns He and Him, because the words She and Her, in those ancient times just couldn't confer the Respect that ought be due The Creator Of All Things. Women were as property and paid little due even in scripture. God is really an It more than a He or She, but even the word 'it' couldn't command the Respect due God, so 'He' 'It' is, so to speak.
Another reason we've been confused all these eons (about God being a He) is also due to a language and conceptual failing - in translation. This whole notion the we were created in the Image of God is completely off the mark. We were not created in His Image, rather we were created as He/She/It imagined us, or more to the point, in God's Divine Design. And I certainly don't imply by that that God even has a mind. God just Is, as Ever and Always.
Everyone else is impaled by comparison.
lol
To my way of thinking, the reason God has been historically viewed as masculine, is a failing of language and man's incapability to come to account for that failing (which I will attempt to clarify).
Quite simply, God had always been referred to with the pronouns He and Him, because the words She and Her, in those ancient times just couldn't confer the Respect that ought be due The Creator Of All Things. Women were as property and paid little due even in scripture. God is really an It more than a He or She, but even the word 'it' couldn't command the Respect due God, so 'He' 'It' is, so to speak.
Another reason we've been confused all these eons (about God being a He) is also due to a language and conceptual failing - in translation. This whole notion the we were created in the Image of God is completely off the mark. We were not created in His Image, rather we were created as He/She/It imagined us, or more to the point, in God's Divine Design. And I certainly don't imply by that that God even has a mind. God just Is, as Ever and Always.
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I don't know if I'd go so far as to call it 'self-deluded', if one is going to say that anyone who "knows" there is a God is self-deluded then one would also have to say that anyone who "knows" that there isn't a God is equally self-deluded.
But I don't think it's about deluding or tricking ourselves, I think we just have an internal knowledge, an internal truth inside each one of us. I think the only real difference is how each one of us defines it to ourselves.
I think when someone stops asking questions, stops seeking further knowledge they're just short changing themselves. But that's just my opinion. Maybe they're perfectly happy and content to do so, I would not be.
I just think that faith, belief is such a deeply personal thing. It just comes from the deepest part of our spirit or psyche, whatever you want to call it and it can be so difficult sometimes just to understand it ourselves let alone communicate it to others. I'm often very wary of those who think they can do so.
Lol, no you're not. "To my way of thinking" is your way of thinking.
And I love the "impaled by comparison". Nice touch.
Exactly, all religions and philosophies (including atheism) may hold parts of the Truth. But, none holds all; it is simply Unknowable. I respect the Buddhist equally as Jew, Muslim, Christian, or atheist. We are all searchers.
Obviously (to me) man was created by something/one more complex than he is. He was given a brain to be able to make decisions and exercise control. Yet people want to blame "God" for anything bad that happens. I have a hard time reconciling all that. That is about as far as I get into "religion". The only advice I would have is follow the Golden Rule and don't dwell on the rest of it.
It is so nice to have a reasonable discussion. And I think you nailed it on the head with "we are all searchers" with the exception of those that have firmly made up their mind. When you stop learning you are literally dead on the knowledge level.
that is correct, it is what some believe, and what others do not believe, pretty simple.
I do not believe just as seriously as many believe, but I am not an agnostic, I don't sit
on the fence waiting to jump over to the best side, my non belief is definite, not questionable,
just as believers feel about themselves, are some of them sitting on the fence, just as agnostics are?
does that bring the believers and I to have something in common, maybe, but it is definite, we are both
very different than agnostics.
Just be happy you weren't corn holed (unless, of course, you dig it).
If you believe in nothing, you are always open to learn new stuff: the universe abhors a vacuum. As soon as yo pigeon hole yourself, join a club, you cut yourself off from receiving anything that does not fit their criteria. What people refer to as God/Creator/Universe is unknowable to our puny minds so we invent how we can simplify it to suit the limited capacity of our mind to perceive. That there is a force at work in the universe greater than ourselves is very evident to many. How we express ourselves within the realm of our own understanding (or misunderstanding) is a very personal thing. It is kind of silly to argue about who has the more correct way of visualizing or relating to that force.
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