Do you or do you not believe in God and why?
- Thread starter grainfedpraiboy
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No I don't believe there's a god, as I'm sure most long term regulars here know. I used to, I grew up in a deeply religious household and just accepted what I was told by the authority figures in my life as being the true facts, but when I became of an age to ask the hard questions, and got wholly unsatisfactory responses that pretended to be answers but really explained nothing, I started to look a little deeper. What I found was that all the evidence and arguments advanced in support of the claim that the Abrahamic deity is real applied equally well to claims about any and all deities, where they made any sense at all, and I ended up concluding that it's all made up. God, ANY god, is a human invention and has no reality outside the realm of ideas. I concluded god is a delusion 30 years before Richard Dawkins wrote his book making that argument.
Just another human invention designed to scare the crap out of people.for those of you who don't believe in god, when you go downstairs be very nice to luci.
I think one of the problems is when people are looking for God they are looking for the wrong thing and that will never happen. Many of them are looking for someone who will fix things and make everything right. "God" is what makes you capable of accomplishing some of that. It's been proven beyond doubt that man is not the supreme being in the world.
for those of you who don't believe in god, when you go downstairs be very nice to luci.
That is for damn sure!
Cats and dolphins are smarter than humans. If you don't believe me, watch your cat when it walks away from you, flashing you the red eye ("kiss my azz!).I think one of the problems is when people are looking for God they are looking for the wrong thing and that will never happen. Many of them are looking for someone who will fix things and make everything right. "God" is what makes you capable of accomplishing some of that. It's been proven beyond doubt that man is not the supreme being in the world.
That is for damn sure!
Dolphins; they just play, eat and have sex all day. No, humans are too dumb to figure that one out (work, work, work and go shopping).
Says the guy who continually looks down his nose on everybody and makes snarky remarks.
In order to believe in God
you first have to define what God is.
And then understand, that man made religions have absolutely nothing to do with what believing in someone Or something greater than yourself really is.
I've seen people,who completely gave up and totally destroyed because they believed God was coming and they were one of the chosen ones.
Everything on earth and the universe is simply to great to simply be a fluke. But I also don't believe there's some entity watching every move I make and writing it down to judge me when my time runs out.
If Jesus showed up back on earth, with long hair and a beard wearing a sheet and sandals most organized religions would deny him access because he didn't live up to their standards.
We're still living in the dark ages. And what we understand about time and space , creation and what a God really is just gets us into trouble.
you first have to define what God is.
And then understand, that man made religions have absolutely nothing to do with what believing in someone Or something greater than yourself really is.
I've seen people,who completely gave up and totally destroyed because they believed God was coming and they were one of the chosen ones.
Everything on earth and the universe is simply to great to simply be a fluke. But I also don't believe there's some entity watching every move I make and writing it down to judge me when my time runs out.
If Jesus showed up back on earth, with long hair and a beard wearing a sheet and sandals most organized religions would deny him access because he didn't live up to their standards.
We're still living in the dark ages. And what we understand about time and space , creation and what a God really is just gets us into trouble.
I had a cat name of Mook years ago. She had one of those flat faces look like Edward G Robinson. I loved that cat had a unique personality.
Says the guy who feels targeted when the post wasn't even directed at him
See yourself in that picture?........
Not at all. Just see you being snarky. I was just holding up a mirror for ya. You're welcome.
What does the title of the thread have to do with your cat?
What does YOUR FACE have to do with my cat?
I just found one
https://www.biblegateway.com/quicksearch/?quicksearch=fence&qs_version=NIV
Maybe in another translation?
Dolphins are not gentle or psychic. If they could talk they would not impart eco- wisdom or deep spiritual truth.Dolphins are not some crystal and patchouli wearing vegan. Nope they are stone cold meat eatering, gang raping, baby killing, STD infested beasts that kill for fun. Be glad you are terra bound or you wussy as$ would be a size 12 as you lay face down on the beach with waves lapping against your drug addled sorry excuse for a body.
Cats smart? If I shake a baggy of weed do you come running too?
It's called being an "agnostic". Not practicing nor spiritual but open minded to the supreme being thing. These folks sometimes get suckered into cults or wind up turning vegan enticed by the whole moral/ethical food choice that is itself now a quasi religion.
You're somewhat astute in your assessment yet not entirely accurate. Of course I lost my faith years ago. War, education, logic all contributing factors. I would be delighted if there were a supreme being to give meaning to life and loss and dispense inescapable justice or bestow fantastic rewards on those deserving of either. I am disappointed in the same way I was when I had that sudden realisation that Santa didn't exist and it all had been an elaborate hoax.
If you look at the responses here, most will tell you they believe but the answers as to why they believe are pretty skimpy.
I agree with you 100%.
Now here is the pending issue we have as atheists. The Enlightenment that sprang from Christianity gave rise to much of the concepts of free will and formed the core of humanism. Many atheist scholars believe that without an underlying foundation of Christianity that Humansim and other humanist/atheist centric philosophies would actually die. If that is the case, how does the world move forward in peace and brotherhood in the absence of religion?
agnostic (n.)
1870, "one who professes that the existence of a First Cause and the essential nature of things are not and cannot be known" [Klein]; coined by T.H. Huxley (1825-1895), supposedly in September 1869, from Greek agnostos "unknown, unknowable," from a- "not" + gnostos "(to be) known" (see gnostic). Sometimes said to be a reference to Paul's mention of the altar to "the Unknown God," but according to Huxley it was coined with reference to the early Church movement known as Gnosticism (see Gnostic). I ... invented what I conceived to be the appropriate title of 'agnostic,' ... antithetic to the 'Gnostic' of Church history who professed to know so much about the very things of which I was ignorant. [T.H. Huxley, "Science and Christian Tradition," 1889] Online Etymology Dictionary
The Jewish religiopolitical leaders attempted to occupy the fence when questioned by Jesus:
"Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests and the elders of the people came to him. 'By what authority are you doing these things?' they asked. 'And who gave you this authority?' Jesus replied, 'I will also ask you one question. If you answer me, I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. John’s baptism—where did it come from? Was it from heaven, or of human origin?' They discussed it among themselves and said, 'If we say, ‘From heaven,’ he will ask, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ But if we say, ‘Of human origin’—we are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet.' So they answered Jesus, 'We don’t know." (Matthew 21:25-27a NIV)
As the fence was imaginary, it did not support them:
"Then he said, 'Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these things." (Matthew 21:27b NIV)
Reasoned faith.
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Definitions change. "dude" was once a pejorative and defined as a "brainless exquisite" if you look in an old enough dictionary.
Today an agnostic is defined: a person who believes that nothing is known or can be known of the existence or nature of God or of anything beyond material phenomena; a person who claims neither faith nor disbelief in God.
And that is the context I use it in.
One man's "reasoned faith" is another man's ISIS.
Truth is the reason I prefer etymological definitions of words, GFPB.
etymology (n.)
late 14c., ethimolegia "facts of the origin and development of a word," from Old French etimologie, ethimologie (14c., Modern French étymologie), from Latin etymologia, from Greek etymologia "analysis of a word to find its true origin," properly "study of the true sense (of a word)," with -logia "study of, a speaking of" (see -logy) + etymon "true sense," neuter of etymos "true, real, actual," related to eteos "true," which perhaps is cognate with Sanskrit satyah, Gothic sunjis, Old English soð "true." Online Etymology Dictionary
The qualifier "true" occurs six times in the preceding etymological definition of etymology.
reasoned faith : ISIS :: Christianity : religiosity