[Obdigore]

Cold Iron;206393 said:

Don't worry obdi, i can save you! Saying the universe has a beginning is the same as saying everything has a beginning.

Also, there is no way of proving that the universe had a beginning. Using this as a basis for a subsequent proof is fundamentally flawed.

My Hero! *swoon*

[councilor]

i note that i never added my own idea. being athiest, i can profess to the non-existence of god all i like, but in some rare moments, you feel that perhaps there is a greater being. but the way i see it is, if there is, then it has no right to be god. of the world and the suffering, it either does not care or thinks it is justified or allowable. i refuse to acknowledge a being that is either - why should i? if the religious are right and there is a heaven, one run by such a deity is not worth being in.

saying that all is a test for humanity is not a justification. it is a hope. and i fail to see the reasoning that would allow hundreds of thousand to die in agony and pain for the sake of a test. if that is the case, that human pain matters not, it goes back to original point.

(just finished "god is not great". feeling particularly depressed and unreasonable.)

[Dolorous Menhir]

councilor;206421 said:

(just finished "god is not great". feeling particularly depressed and unreasonable.)

Is that good? Was thinking about buying it.

[councilor]

Dolorous Menhir;206498 said:

Is that good? Was thinking about buying it.

acyually, he is a lot more argumentative than dawkins. where dawkins would lay out his logic in a cool sort of fashion, hitchens tend to sort of rant a bit. i'll say one thing, he is passionate.

i'm actually trying to get mi religious friends to read it. given how the religious always seem to want to convert me, i think 'll return the favour.

[Tes'thesula]

Councilor said:

i refuse to acknowledge a being that is either - why should i?

um...because he can damn you to hell for eternity?

[ch'arlz]

Tes said:

um...because he can damn you to hell for eternity?

who says?

-ch'arlz

[Tes'thesula]

Councilor said:

if there is

It's assumed

[councilor]

Tes said:

um...because he can damn you to hell for eternity?

if it damns me for being reasonable, if it is that kind of god, i reckon i would have a better cahnce in hell, in all honesty. it would be like a uncaring indifferent and vindictive dictator that one can't overthrow. might as well leave the country then.

[tharinock]

What reason does God have if i believe in him? am i truly a bad person if i don't? and god made me who i am right? so isn't the fact the i disbelieve in him his own fault? Also, God in the Christian sense does not exist. the bible sounds more like a dictator's propaganda to me. God says "I am benevolent and only want to better humans. If you don't believe in my supreme power and worship me and do all that i command i will banish you to a land of eternal punishment."

[Optimus Prime]

I believe the universe is God if anything is.

The idea that there's some guy sitting around paying attention to every little detail of my life is just completely unbelievable to me. The idea that a being of God's supposed might/knowledge etc would care if I believe in him or not is not feasible either. I don't think our minds can truly comprehend what God is if God exists, if that makes any sense.

[Sindriss]

I think many people use the notion of a God as a way to grant peace to their mind. The sentence "Everything happens for a reason" would be their mantra, because it can be very hard to handle how many tragic events there are every day, without some way of comforting yourself.

[Optimus Prime]

Yeah that saying has never made sense to me. Like there is some divine plan for all this stupid tragedy int he world.

[Obdigore]

Xander;302159 said:

I believe the universe is God if anything is.

The idea that there's some guy sitting around paying attention to every little detail of my life is just completely unbelievable to me. The idea that a being of God's supposed might/knowledge etc would care if I believe in him or not is not feasible either. I don't think our minds can truly comprehend what God is if God exists, if that makes any sense.

It does make sense, although I am sure people will disagree with your views.

My question would be, if someone asked me to define 'god', 'Which flavor?'.

From what I can tell, god is, on the most basic level, considered to be a more 'powerful' being than humans, and that is it. Every other facet in religions about 'god' differs. That is, to me, the most basic truth at the root of all religions, and what they are founded on.

[bhok'arala]

Hindu, is the belief in the god brahma. all thought they also believe in other deities, som hindus believe that they are just aspects to bhrama; an appendage to his will.

Felisin younger reminds us of this topic in HoC when she states (more or less paraphrased)

if there is a god, it would be insane. imagine a war, both sides fighting for the "one" god and making an inundation of prayers that he/she/it wouldn't be able to answer if it were able to. you wouldn't be able to pick sides or do anything. the said god would then become esranged to his/her/its people and leave them to commit atrocities in his/her/its name

[Optimus Prime]

The idea many Christian Denominations have of a "angry or wrathful god" confuses me as well. You're supposed to be scared of God? Huh? I thought he loved everyone in that belief system? But yet he'll "smite" me? Doesn't make sense to me.


God is like a gardener and the universe is his soil. God absently drops seeds and then walks on, continuing throughout existence. My little idea of how it all works

[Adjutant Stormy~]

To a degree God is the answer to everything a normal man/woman would simply have no way of conceiving of.

How was the universe created? How would you even begin to go about doing that?? I mean, it is mind-boggling. And that's why God (conventionally pegged as being that correct amount of mindboggling) is down with making it. Or we're cool with saying that He did. Or whatever.

The other biggies:
Where does consciousness come from? Can it be created or destroyed? What happens to it after you die?
Does my life have a purpose, and if so, how is that purpose significant? Or better, how am I important?

To which the answers [DISCLAIMER- JUST EXAMPLES- DON'T FLAME ME] (depending on your creed of choice) are:

a divine gift, no, heaven/hell/nirvana/rebirth/etc,
to live a life as prescribed by the holy texts/righteously/of moderation, it is the will of the Divine, and finally because you yourself are a little bit of the divine. Or some permutations thereof.

OR

Nowhere, who knows?, that is unknowable,
[insert existential tenet here]/you make your own purpose, it is the only one you've got, you are unique/you aren't.

We've all got to make the choices.

[Cold Iron]

Xander;302159 said:

I believe the universe is God if anything is.

The idea that there's some guy sitting around paying attention to every little detail of my life is just completely unbelievable to me. The idea that a being of God's supposed might/knowledge etc would care if I believe in him or not is not feasible either. I don't think our minds can truly comprehend what God is if God exists, if that makes any sense.

It's you, dude, god (in this respect) is your conscience. God knows what you do because you do. God punishes when you do wrong because you know when you do wrong and punish yourself with regret.

Also, "everything happens for a reason" can be seen both ways, merely no event is isolated, previous events (the event's reason) preceded it. Also an event will then be a reason for a subsequent event happening. The reason is reality, it is the one existence of all possible existences.

[Slum]

God is like a box of chocolates...

*snickers*

[Optimus Prime]

God is dead, as Time Magazine told us all those years ago.

[Cold Iron]

If there's one true thing about God it's that you can't tell someone what it is, they have to see it for themselves.