Why Believe In God?
- Thread starter sanctus
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Well, maybe it would if there were any evidence it's true. But there isn't, there's only the one report in the Bible, which was quite clearly written by people with an agenda, not by people interested in objectively reporting the facts.
An audience is not a majority of a population. (Um, I hope that Canadians are less ignorant, too.
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Yer welcome.Well, thanks very much. And I think you may be a .............
And I don't believe for a second that you're completely unaware of your own spirituality. Spirituality and religion, as I'm sure you know, are not the same thing. You can be spiritual--which I think you are--and completely irreligious--which I also think you are.
No, there isn't. I'd never try to say that spirituality exists outside of our minds, because spirituality by the way I've always heard it defined is a 'sense', not a 'thing'. It occurs within people, not without. We are genetically designed to sense something in this world beyond mere rocks and stones and the tangibles so many demand. It poses the question of why humanity would be hardwired to sense something, unless it is there, beyond the other senses we rely on.
Maybe we're just hardwired to make stuff up to explain things we don't yet understand.
From Merriam-Webster:Yer welcome.
And I don't believe for a second that you're completely unaware of your own spirituality. Spirituality and religion, as I'm sure you know, are not the same thing. You can be spiritual--which I think you are--and completely irreligious--which I also think you are.
andspirituality
One entry found for spirituality. Main Entry: spir·i·tu·al·i·ty
Pronunciation: "spir-i-ch&-'wa-l&-tE
Function: noun
Inflected Form(s): plural -ties
1 : something that in ecclesiastical law belongs to the church or to a cleric as such
2 : [SIZE=-1]CLERGY[/SIZE]
3 : sensitivity or attachment to religious values
4 : the quality or state of being spiritual
andMain Entry: 1spir·i·tu·al
Pronunciation: 'spir-i-ch&-w&l, -i-ch&l, -ich-w&l
Function: adjective
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French & Late Latin; Anglo-French espirital, spiritual, from Late Latin spiritualis, from Latin, of breathing, of wind, from spiritus
1 : of, relating to, consisting of, or affecting the spirit : [SIZE=-1]INCORPOREAL[/SIZE] <spiritual needs>
2 a : of or relating to sacred matters <spiritual songs> b : ecclesiastical rather than lay or temporal <spiritual authority> <lords spiritual>
3 : concerned with religious values
4 : related or joined in spirit <our spiritual home> <his spiritual heir>
5 a : of or relating to supernatural beings or phenomena b : of, relating to, or involving spiritualism : [SIZE=-1]SPIRITUALISTIC[/SIZE]
Aren't any spirits in me because there aren't any spirits. The only thing that might apply to me is def. 4. only I call it my "mind" (which is a function of my brain which is simply a container for electrochemical reaction) and the rest of the definitions, besides the religious-based ones, are a result of mind.Main Entry: 1spir·it
Pronunciation: 'spir-&t
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English, from Anglo-French or Latin; Anglo-French, espirit, spirit, from Latin spiritus, literally, breath, from spirare to blow, breathe
1 : an animating or vital principle held to give life to physical organisms
2 : a supernatural being or essence: as a capitalized : [SIZE=-1]HOLY SPIRIT[/SIZE] b : [SIZE=-1]SOUL [/SIZE]2a c : an often malevolent being that is bodiless but can become visible; specifically : [SIZE=-1]GHOST [/SIZE]2 d : a malevolent being that enters and possesses a human being
3 : temper or disposition of mind or outlook especially when vigorous or animated <in high spirits>
4 : the immaterial intelligent or sentient part of a person
5 a : the activating or essential principle influencing a person <acted in a spirit of helpfulness> b : an inclination, impulse, or tendency of a specified kind : [SIZE=-1]MOOD[/SIZE]
6 a : a special attitude or frame of mind <the money-making spirit was for a time driven back -- J. A. Froude> b : the feeling, quality, or disposition characterizing something <undertaken in a spirit of fun>
7 : a lively or brisk quality in a person or a person's actions
8 : a person having a character or disposition of a specified nature
9 : a mental disposition characterized by firmness or assertiveness <denied the charge with spirit>
10 a : [SIZE=-1]DISTILLATE [/SIZE]1: as (1) : the liquid containing ethyl alcohol and water that is distilled from an alcoholic liquid or mash -- often used in plural (2) : any of various volatile liquids obtained by distillation or cracking (as of petroleum, shale, or wood) -- often used in plural b : a usually volatile organic solvent (as an alcohol, ester, or hydrocarbon)
11 a : prevailing tone or tendency <spirit of the age> b : general intent or real meaning <spirit of the law>
12 : an alcoholic solution of a volatile substance <spirit of camphor>
13 : enthusiastic loyalty <school spirit>
14 capitalized, Christian Science : [SIZE=-1]GOD [/SIZE]1b
synonym see [SIZE=-1]COURAGE[/SIZE]
I think a vast majorit of every human population that's ever wandered the earth has been hard wired with a spiritual 'sense', that feeling that there's something there. personally, I believe that's why every culture out there has come up with religions and myths to explain it. And it's why historically society has found it easy to follow those religions, even in the face of blatant oddities, like a man and a woman giving rise to all of humanity, or the entire world flooding, and those are just two of the weird stories told by one of the many religions on the planet.
They give us a tangible tie to that force we can sense. We need that connection... a human link with a supernatural story, to help us to visualize and understand something that within our minds is simply beyond words or conventional explanation.
As I keep pointing out, imagination. All it takes is a suggestion. Look at that wingnut who talked his followers into killing themselves and thinking they'd join that comet that flew past Earth a while ago. The guy imagined he had the answer, managed to convince others it was true, and away they went. lol Some people are simply genetically designed to be gullible.
- m-w.comMain Entry: su·per·sti·tion
Pronunciation: "sü-p&r-'sti-sh&n
Function: noun
Etymology: Middle English supersticion, from Anglo-French, from Latin superstition-, superstitio, from superstit-, superstes standing over (as witness or survivor), from super- + stare to stand -- more at [SIZE=-1]STAND[/SIZE]
1 a : a belief or practice resulting from ignorance, fear of the unknown, trust in magic or chance, or a false conception of causation b : an irrational abject attitude of mind toward the supernatural, nature, or God resulting from superstition
2 : a notion maintained despite evidence to the contrary
Give us the proof that the mind is simply and only a result of electro-chemical reactions.
Are you willing to admit that you never took any true decisions in your life? I mean "true decisions" in the sense that you have some form of freedom.
No. Prove there are gods.
I base my decisions on my experiences and my knowledge. How well my decisions turn out are dependent on wisdom which is simply the application of experience and knowledge to arrive at the best outcome. Knowledge and experience processing are functions of the brain: electrochemical activity.
No. Prove there are gods.
I base my decisions on my experiences and my knowledge. How well my decisions turn out are dependent on wisdom which is simply the application of experience and knowledge to arrive at the best outcome. Knowledge and experience processing are functions of the brain: electrochemical activity.
You are escaping my question. I did not affirm in any way that their are gods. YOU affirmed that the mind is just the result of electrochemical activity. Proove it.
hmmm... i'll try to choose my words very carefully so as to not sound like I'm being dismissive of you or trying to shut down the discussion, so please bear that in mind while reading incase i fail.
being susceptible to the influence of a cult, and willing to hand your life over to a fanatic, is not the same thing as thoughtfully searching out a religion that speaks to your ideals and beliefs. spirituality is a sense, and impression in the mind. fanaticism is a drug. something to immerse and eclipse yourself in.
as i said earlier, some people have a spiritual sense, others don't. i know it looks and sounds like gullibility or deludedness to you (is that a word? ah well, i deem it so today), because it doesn't sound like you've ever experienced it (which i don't think makes you a psycho, lol). but, to say that people who experience it are gullible is to imply that none of us have ever questioned it. or our religions. it's like saying that we've never searched for the origin of why we feel it. trust me, I have. and I've challenged my religion. i openly debate with my priests, my father-in-law who is training as a deacon, and anyone else who will listen. I challenge it, I question it. but it can't be reasoned away, as someone who doens't possess it might think it can. it's not a weakness or a flaw, it's simply a different view of the same world. if you'll forgive the analogy i used earlier, it's like i can see green and you can't. i'll never be able to convince you that i don't see it simply because of a form of hallucination, or because i have a preconceived notion that it exists.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mind
http://www.solbaram.org/articles/humind.html
Moreover, it cannot be the function of the muscles, the heart, the skin, the liver, the bones, etc. Therefore the reasonable conclusion is that it is a function of brain. It's the only part of us that allows for the electrochemical reactions complicated enough to form thoughts, remember things, imagine gods, etc.
So again, why would I believe in gods? Can you prove there are gods? Can you show me any evidence for their existence?
There are scientific ways of displaying a lack of seeing green. There is no evidence that suggests superstitions have anything to do with reality.
Um, no I'm not a psycho, as Dex suggested.
The word is "delusion".
Perhaps one may fail to "reason it away" for you, but that does not make it rational, nor real. That's why it's called belief.
There are scientific ways of displaying a lack of seeing green.
Um, no I'm not a psycho, as Dex suggested.
The word is "delusion".
Of course the word is delusion... it came to me almost as soon as I sent the stupid reply. lol. I have these moments where the simplest words will not come no matter how hard I try. "honey, can you pass me that.... that... that fabric thing I use to wipe dishes?" "A teatowel dear?" *sigh*
As you say... there are scientific ways of displaying a lack of green.... but there did not always used to be. we have only fairly recently been able to fully explain how color vision works, and we still can't fully explain how or why the ability came about. there are plenty of things about the human brain and the way we sense and perceive the world that remain a mystery. There are also plenty of things about the world that humans can't perceive. Sounds, wavelengths of light. Science has been able to ferret these things out, dig deeper and deeper into the fabric of our world. But they are far from done. we don't know it all. just because I can't hold it in my hand and show it to you, or dig up some link from the internet, doesn't mean it is not there.
i guess to boil my argument down to its absolute simplest.....
if two people have different experiences of the world, neither with concrete proof that their perception is the correct one, then who is right?
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Nope, but there is absolutely and conspicuously nothing pointing to the reality of superstitions.
No. It boils down to the fact that science can show evidence for lots of things whereas the faithful can show nothing. There is concrete proof of evolution and thermal laws and air and green and suns that used to be that aren't anymore .......... The only thing that points to the existence of your god, for instance, is a bunch of hearsay in a book: "Well, my cousin knows someone who has a friend who saw Lance Burton perform a miracle" sorta thing. Why believe in gods and not superman, santa, the tooth faerie, etc.? yet normally reasonable people who would call "bullspit" at stuff suck in this fantasy. It is irrational.
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