God?

[FantasticDamage]

What are your thoughts on God?

[Audio of Being]

Being a Catholic....you know my thoughts....

[FantasticDamage]

I only asked because i myself don't know what i think. i am kind of going through a weird relgious/ faith thing right now and wondered what others thoughts were.

[Audio of Being]

I believe in God, I was brought up in home that was, though my parents really don't question much about beliefs in adulthood. I would think they would like me to believe, and do the church thing (which I do), but it is a touchy subject nonetheless.

[sodamntired]

confirmed Lutheran since 10th grade, have been to church a few times, now watch it on t.v.

it's way too early to watch.

say my prayers every night.

he (she) has answered my prayers before.

 

i really don't like to use the words I "believe in God"

cause you believe in santa clause and the easter bunny.

Edited July 13, 2010 by sodamntired

[Computer]

Being a Catholic....you know my thoughts....

 

 

Ignorance and intolerance?

[Muran]

At the risk of sounding like a child, I like to believe that God (and Jesus) are great people to hang out with, talk to when you need someone to talk to, but at the end of the day, they'll be your Jiminy Cricket, but the choices are yours to make.

 

I don't think God's going to get uptight if you don't go to church regularly, or swear. Treat others and you want to be treated yourself, and you're gold.

[Audio of Being]

Ignorance and intolerance?

Sadly that is what some Catholics believe, but not I.

[sodamntired]

*what is say most nights*

 

now i lay me down to sleep

I pray thee lord my soul to keep

if I die before I wake

I pray thee lord my soul to take

God bless mom

God bless dad

God bless Eric

God bless Kari

God bless John (her fiance)

God bless Grandma

God bless all of my family

God bless my friends

God bless Holly

God bless Holly's children

God bless Holly's family

God bless the people of Haiti and the people of Peru

today was very good

please help make tomorrow even better

Amen

Edited July 14, 2010 by sodamntired

[Audio of Being]

Except the people of Chile had the earthquake....

[Sparq]

God? Unknowable, by design (human or otherwise). "Faith" doesn't count for anything, because everything is shaped by our perceptions, and as such EVERYONE is delusional. A worldwide phenomenon, but why? Because it's real, or because it's a common phantom of the human psyche? People want to believe 'everything will be ok'

 

Typical religion? Enforced acceptance of ignorance, for better or worse. Rejection of demonstrable scientific processes whenever it is inconvenient to the established dogma. Rampant hypocrisy. Systems of faith based on fear of punishment have always seemed like the construct of a human to me, as a means of maintaining a stranglehold on the populace, whether it's practicioners realise it or not. A system of punishment for eternity makes no sense froma rehabilitation standpoint, so the only other option by human models is that the deity is sadistic. This is the big issue in my mind...as described by most groups I've heard from, God is a child with an ant farm, establishing a set of arbitrary rules and concocting the worst fate imaginable for those who ignore them. The other thing that pisses me of is when people try to tell me morality is only possible through religion. Fuck off. I have no desire to steal, torture, kill, etc, and I don't need the threat of eternal damnation to be something other than a murderous psychopath.

 

While I am not prepared to discount a higher existence in this universe (you can't prove a negative, after all) I am relatively certain that the people who claim to understand it are the worst kind of arrogant.

[johnny]

Born-and-bred Catholic, but I only attend mass at home and/or with the family. It's been a major part of my life and I'm not about to completely discount it since it's made me who I am today, but every other church I've been to aside from home feels a bit odd. Many of the ideals are nice, and I still (think I) believe in God, Jesus etc. but not necessarily in the traditional form. I tend to just ignore a lot of the thought processes behind all that stuff and just live life as I feel, but I still have a fairly strong moral background to keep me grounded.

[Moonlight_Graham]

Raised Catholic, but wouldn't consider myself a Catholic anymore.

 

I believe that there is probably a higher power than humans that is out there, beyond our universe. Whether it knows we actually exist i have no clue. Whether it would care about humans more than any other animal is damn arrogant.

 

I think Jesus existed as a human on this earth due to the historical evidence that seems to exist, but i'm skeptical whether he was the "son of God". Despite this, most of the things he is purported to say in the Bible are great messages of love, peace, and tolerance. Myth or reality, Jesus is a cool cat. Most of the Old Testament is clearly bullshit fairy tales.

 

The Dalai Lama is also a cool dude.

[Computer]

Most of the Old Testament is clearly bullshit fairy tales.

 

Yeah walking on water, turning water into wine, resurrecting the dead, zombie jesus, those are all fact.

[Moonlight_Graham]

Yeah walking on water, turning water into wine, resurrecting the dead, zombie jesus, those are all fact.

 

I never said that. But the New Testament is likely more historically accurate than the Old Testament. I'm not saying either is a glimmer of historical accuracy though. I'm saying the Old T. is an almost useless piece of poop, and the New T. a slightly less useless piece of poop.

[ToadMan]

I wasn't raised strongly religious. I think I largely reject most major religions as they seem to just be excuses to be shitty to other people. I don't judge anybody by what religion they practice, and that goes both positively and negatively (I once offended a christian missionary because I implied she wasn't a nice person... apparently being a christian missionary presupposes being a nice person).

 

I used to say I was agnostic, I liked the non-commitment that provides. I think I'm becoming more and more atheists for a number of reasons: Every time one of my christian friends gets married their wedding services always downplay the individuals, and upplay jesus; Every thing I hear out of a group of heavily christian people I know angers me ("oh, my son needed to go to the hospital after injuring himself, THANK THE LORD for his healing powers"... you know not the doctors or anything); I've been considering why many of the scientist that fight the god debate reject the concept of god, and I think they have a point. You can't really say you are open to the idea, if you are searching for an explanation of every thing that would seemingly depend on that idea. If you accept the invisible hand idea, then you can always naturally place is at the limit of scientific understanding.

 

I also agree that I find morality derived from religion to be shallow. If your morality depends on an external judge, then you are still just Pre-Conventional which is based around seeking not to be punished.

[Prometheon]

I'm not going to go into details, as I just had a LONG discussion about this just two days ago and I'm burnt out.

 

Point form notes:

 

-There is almost certainly no god.

 

-I think you're naive and lack a certain sense of critical thinking if you believe in one.

 

-The biggest two issues with "religious people" are these:

1. They think that if it would be nice if something were true, that it is more likely that that thing IS true.

2. They commit logical fallacies all over the place by using God to fill in gaps. "Well, how do you explain how life started then? Scientists still can't make cells from inorganic matter!" Sure...so science doesn't have the answer yet. That doesn't mean that god wins by default. I have no idea where people get this notion, but it is widespread and idiotic.

 

-moderate religion is not "harmless" and it's not a "personal choice." Religion is granted special privilege by society BECAUSE so many normal moderate people value it highly. Therefore, religion as a subject is granted a special umbrella of unassailability that more extreme beliefs can also hide under. As a society we also freely label children as being part of the religion of their parents. The kid who was baptized, first communion`d, and confirmed, all before they were 15 didn't really have a lot of choice. This is especially true for things like Islam where kids are taught (in SCHOOL) that apostasy is punishable by death. Do you really have freedom to make your own choice when you're taught from age 0 that if you do deviate you will burn in hell, be disowned by your friends and family, and in some cases killed? This is NOT "freedom of religion."

 

-this is debatable, but to me it is quite clear that if religion didn't exist there would be FAR less evil in the world. It does FAR more harm than good, period. (though this goes with another point above. This has NO bearing on whether or not it's TRUE. This point just suggests that even if there IS a god, it's STILL wrong to believe in him.)

 

-there is o inherent virtue in 'faith.' 'Faith' is seen as a positive, desirable trait. Why? What's good about faith? And what's the difference between 'faith' and 'blind faith'?

 

Edit: and a question for the religious people: WHY do you believe in a god? What has happened in your life that has made the existence of a supernatural being seem likely to you? I'm not being a dick, I'm genuinely curious.

Edited July 15, 2010 by Prometheon

[Muran]

Every time one of my christian friends gets married their wedding services always downplay the individuals, and upplay jesus;

 

S'funny you should mention that, because at the Catholic wedding I was at, they barely mentioned Jesus at all, the priest went on and on about how it's important to love each other, and it's important to respect the sanctity of marriage. What was it is he said...something like "It's more important to be married, not to be right.". I don't think Catholic ceremonies are all about God, it's more about the couple. Can't vouch for other Christian ceremonies, though.

[Audio of Being]

Being raised a Protestant, and then converting to being Catholic, I can attest to what the Protestant Christians do.

 

They basically have a list of rules one must follow, and if you fail to follow them, they try to force themselves onto you. That in turn led to my decision to leave the Protestant Church (mainly Evangelical ones). With them it was a do as we say not as we do relationship. If one sinned, and you did the same sin, you are the one who gets chewed up and spit out, but those who did it 1st is not always the case.

 

I do believe in God, but I also have freewill. I have the right to choose my morals, the right to choose how I want to live my life, and instead of basing it on rules and regulations I have that my belief has grown stronger. There is no more making me feeling guilty because I chose to live a moral based life, over one full of rules and regulations.

 

What I choose to do in my life is my own business, and no religious person is going to tell me otherwise.

[sodamntired]

[Moonlight_Graham]

 

Wow, great quotes by Einstein about God. Thanks for posting. Too bad Kirk Camerson and his buddy try to twist them to whatever views they have.

 

What i can say about "God" is that spending any time surrounded by nature and being filled with the perfect beauty of this world, all i know that here is some magnificent force beyond myself that is unexplainable. Call it "mother nature" or "God" or whatever, i have no idea what exists out there but i do know i have very little understanding of it. I really have no idea what makes the universe tick, and for atheists or believers in God to be certain about exactly what exists or doesn't is not logical. I suppose i'd be characterized as an agnostic i guess.

[Hyphnip]

Raised Catholic, now I am of the opinion that all religions are wrong. I don't care if there is a god because I think that I am a good person and if there is a god that is pety enough to send a good person to hell just for not believing in him, that is sad. Actually, I don't think that this gets my point across enough. I hate all religions. I will only step foot in churches if it is for a wedding. Even then I'm not happy about it.

[saturnine]

if believing in god helps get you through the day, so be it. if you live your life trying to get to some magical post-death party, then i think you're in for quite a shock. the belief in heaven is just a denial of death. we will die and there will be nothing and that is frightening. the problem is that no one will know this until we are dead and when we are dead we will not be cognisant of the fact that there is nothing there as we will be nothing ourselves. it's hard to tell kids that dead relatives are just in the ground and that is it. that's where religion starts. again, it's nothing but denial but if it helps you get through the day, then it has to count for something.

 

every religion has its own variation of who or what god is. some have one, some have several. how can there be one god for each religion? either there is one, or there are many. or there is none. someone has to be wrong.

 

some things in life cannot yet be explained and that's where god comes in to fill the gaps. god is denial and god is relief.

[Muran]

the belief in heaven is just a denial of death. we will die and there will be nothing and that is frightening. the problem is that no one will know this until we are dead and when we are dead we will not be cognisant of the fact that there is nothing there as we will be nothing ourselves.

 

...

 

some things in life cannot yet be explained and that's where god comes in to fill the gaps. god is denial and god is relief.

 

It's funny you should say that, because I feel similarly. I believe in God, I believe in heaven (in a way), but at the same time, I always feel vaguely confused when people talk about how scared of death they are. I'm scared of DYING, because I imagine there will be some sort of discomfort/pain attached to it, but I'm not necessarily frightened of DEATH. Because you're right, you'll be dead, you won't know it. I'm not in denial over death, I don't feel like I use God/Heaven to ease my fear. I'm not sure why I believe in Him, I know I just do.

 

Perhaps it's a loneliness thing. When all else fails, I guess it's rudimentary comfort to know that at least He'll be there for you.

[juanpe]

I don't believe in God... Actually I have never believed in God, not even in one of the worst moments in my life (when my mom died right when I most needed her)... and probably even because of that terrible moment in my life, I don't think that something may happen in my life so that I can believe in God... and I don't believe in religions in general, either...

 

I believe in people... it reminds me of a song by Anne Clark called "Psalm"

 

 

 

I don't need your god.

I don't need your eternal, paternal god.

 

Don't need your reassuringly protective,

good and evil in perspective god.

 

Don't need no imported, distorted, inflated, updated holy roller, save your soul, or anaesthetisingly opiate god.

 

Don't need no "All creatures that on earth do dwell; be good or you go to hell" god.

 

Don't need no "Hare Krishna! Hare Krishna! Hail Mary! Hail Mary!" god.

 

Got no yen for zen, Bhagavad Gita, or gurus.

 

No mormons, methodists, seventh-day adventist gods. Go absolutes beyond refutes--the reverential, preferential, Judaic, messianic god.

 

No bibles, no mahajanas, instant dharma gods.

 

Don't need no spiritual suicide, prefrontal lobotomizing god.

Don't need no stoic, sexless, antiseptic god.

Don't need no neon crucifix.

No crusade, no burka, or kabbalah.

No camels, or needles, or papal decrees.

No mail order icons, korans or mandalas.

No Meher Babas.

No imams or ayatollahs.

 

No sharia.

No opus dei.

No dianetics.

No tarot or beads.

No devadasi.

No immortal, invisible "God's only wise."

 

Don't need no televised, circumcised, incessant, incandescent gods.

I don't need your gods.

 

I need human beings.

The beasts of the field,

the earth and the stars.

 

I need some kind of love.

I need you.

Edited July 17, 2010 by juanpe