Also, I am in awe of pictures of the Universe taken from teh Hubble telescope.
It bemuses me that anyone can see those images, then either still accept that a sentient being "created" it all, or more likely, just disregard them as requiring too much thought or something.
As a teenager I was an atheist . There was no proof of a God , and science seemed to be able to explain most things .
Whilst I was at college , I was friendly with 2 Christians and we used to debate and discuss religion , God , heaven and hell etc. They would point out passages from the Bible to back up their claims , and took time to explain various key passages . I can't fully explain it but , eventually , it all just seemed to make sense .
Since that day I have been convinced of God's existence . I have received comfort in times of despair , and although I'm sure not all my prayers have been answered in the way I wanted ; there have been too many times when my prayers have been answered in a very specific way , that goes beyond coincidence .
In my experience , once I stopped looking for proof and just had faith , then the proof followed .
Its nice to read that. Ive been raised up in a Christian environment since I was a child. I agree with you. Especially with the answers not being a coincidence. I see how prayers are answered and how God fits in perfectly with Biology. My Biology teacher didnt teach evolution like 99% of other teachers, he taught the word of God. His class and himself are two beautiful things to witness. Certainly a boost of power showing God is above and the only one who is truly perfect. I hope to have my palace up there and just chill with my loved ones. Especially my mom who I lost when I was 12.
My first PJ show to witness was at Bonnaroo. How is that for lucky?
I think the foundation of religion in human evolutionary terms is our pattern recognition and intellectual mirroring.
We tend to look at objects and see faces or attribute human characteristics to them. Just look at any Disney movie or Nintendo game. Almost everything is an anthropomorphism of non-human objects. Then there are those who believe plants have feelings.
Somewhere in our distant past we anthropomorphized the universe.
I necessarily have the passion for writing this, and you have the passion for condemning me; both of us are equally fools, equally the toys of destiny. Your nature is to do harm, mine is to love truth, and to make it public in spite of you. - Voltaire
I don't believe in the storybook (bible) interpretation of "god", and I was extremely religious...brought up from birth to 16 yrs going to church every Sunday essentially from stroller to driving myself.
I was also involved in extra curricular evening activities (youth group) and went to bible summer camps every summer from 13-16 yrs of age. I've seen and done it all.
I had memorized every song, every verse, etc.. I very rarely ever had to open a book to follow and participate word for word during each service.
My mother organized womens religious getaway weekend retreats, and did a damn good job at getting record attendances (and notoriety) I must say.
My how times have changed since then. It's staggering to think about.
All that being said, I saw right through everything eventually. God and Jesus is not it. It did not work for me any longer once my education started taking off. It all became quite silly and whimsical to me actually. Fairy tales.
I do believe in a higher power. Obviously it does exist....we can look to our sun alone to know this. Whether that is a cluster of immense galaxies upon galaxies or a compression of immense super clusters that forms a physical structure that is alive or sentient, that we are a part of, is something I do not rule out. Quite possible indeed.
Does it know us...can we know if it? Science is waaay (way) far out on that one to begin to explain right now.
I believe in harmony and frequencies that we can tune our minds to that give us more than what we can perceive or measure, and it comes to us from magnitudes above us in scale, which channels down, and operates to a cosmic rhythm to so speak. Harmonics. I've spent a lot of time studying harmonics.
Look at string theory. Everything is vibrating to a particular frequency. Everything.
We are part of something bigger no doubt, but you won't find out about all that in the Bible. Not a chance.
Progress is not made by everyone joining some new fad,
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
I do not believe in a personal god, in the sense that many christians do. He does not look down from heaven watching us, he does not have individual plans for us, in fact he does not exist like that. God of the bible, and indeed any religion, is man's projection of himself onto a higher order. Thus, their god (at least from the OT) is jealous, vengeful, despotic, and in quality little more than a special king. That god I do not believe in.
However, if you instead define God as the creative force behind the universe, the "something" that set things off in the first place, that I can relate to. In my opinion, if such an entity as God exists, he is either part of all of creation and we are thus all pieces of him, or he might stand outside looking in, but then shouldn't have more interest in earth and us, than in any other part of the universe. The God of everything, or infact God IN everything, that's much closer to my beliefs. I guess that makes me sortof an animist.
Peace
Dan
"YOU [humans] NEED TO BELIEVE IN THINGS THAT AREN'T TRUE. HOW ELSE CAN THEY BECOME?" - Death
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
"It seems to me that Islam, Christianity and Judaism all have the same god, and yet he's telling them all different things"
oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
its the sexist bit that gets me the most , makes my blood boil !
we are told to follow a dominate male (or politicians) like sheep and that women are the ultimate sin and downfall of everything ! hummmmmm now let me see do i want to buy into this NO WAY.
~~~~~~~~~~ PINK FLUFFY LOVE PSYCHO~~~~~~~~~~
Astoria,Dublin,Reading 06,Wembley 07,Sheapards Bush & o2 09 thats multiple Jamgasms!
great. but what does face the finality of death mean? there is no such thing. you know why? because you dont know what happens when you die. you just dont. and neither do I
I'll bet its just like before you were born, except your footprints are left behind.
For me it is an issue of probability. Science primarily deals in probability- and formulates explanations with the highest likelihood of holding true. In that way some theories will need to be modified as new evidence comes to light, some will even need to be discarded- but this allows science to perpetually move toward an evermore accurate interpretation of reality.
Based on my understanding of science, (which, even if I say so myself, is none to shabby), I can allocate some approximate measure of probability to god's existence. And because the evidence for god is not scientific, that probability is for me very very low.
This also means that even though I am an atheist I, (like some others here), will not declare god an impossibility- that is a statement of faith, not science.
Personally, I also find an atheistic existence to be the ultimate motivation for a life lived well.
I just don't believe in god. There used to be doubt and I clinged on to the belief that there had to be a god, everyone had told me there was one and it was comforting.
But then I slowly started to realize I never had faith and was only fooling myself.
I guess a god as a sort of cosmic force could exists but I hardly think it made man, the earth and everything else deliberately and with a plan. And it certainly doesn't understand suffering, forgiveness and other human concepts, in fact, if it does exist I think it's completely detached from what it brought forth. Kind of like how gravity doesn't care if something falls and breaks. So even if this force existed I would not pray to it, worship it or care about it.
i am an atheist. i don't believe in a God cause it makes absolutely no sense to me. this has been the case since i was 11 years old. religion does not give me the answers i require.
I believe in myself.
I sometimes call myself an atheist in political discussions.
I'm working on a third idea for people to believe in. The god one is a little far fetched and the big bang is a little odd to believe in. Puzzled I am about the very beginning.,But I don't dwell on it too much or need an answer for my life to take the right path.
I'm working on a third idea for people to believe in. The god one is a little far fetched and the big bang is a little odd to believe in. Puzzled I am about the very beginning.,But I don't dwell on it too much or need an answer for my life to take the right path.
it's human nature to want to know where we came from. or so i'm told.
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
actually i thought it was more about psychology. the why someone does something. understanding the motivation behind that.
But then the debate would turn to whether religious belief is a motivation or a conviction, and the old free will chestnuts, and links to brain surgery procedures would inevitably appear, so it'd be one and the same with the usual fare. Never mind though, carry on!
But then the debate would turn to whether religious belief is a motivation or a conviction, and the old free will chestnuts, and links to brain surgery procedures would inevitably appear, so it'd be one and the same with the usual fare. Never mind though, carry on!
well what do you think fins? is it a motivation or a conviction. do people believe in God in order that afdter they lead their righteous life, they are given the reward of eternal life after death. or do they truly believe in the presence and existence of a superior being for no other reason but... i'm sorry i can think of no other reason?
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
it's human nature to want to know where we came from. or so i'm told.
I agree in a way. But you can only go back so far and then it becomes a roll of the dice as to what you almost have to believe. My friends and I get going on the topic and it seems to end when nobody can come up with what the hell was going on before god or an explosion. Then we uncap another beer and start talking about things in the real world of now. Seems that I have never come across anbody who has created something from nothing.
I agree in a way. But you can only go back so far and then it becomes a roll of the dice as to what you almost have to believe. My friends and I get going on the topic and it seems to end when nobody can come up with what the hell was going on before god or an explosion. Then we uncap another beer and start talking about things in the real world of now. Seems that I have never come across anbody who has created something from nothing.
well then i guess man has too much time on his hands now that he doesn't have to hunt, gather his food and run for his life from predators.
hear my name
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
well what do you think fins? is it a motivation or a conviction. do people believe in God in order that afdter they lead their righteous life, they are given the reward of eternal life after death. or do they truly believe in the presence and existence of a superior being for no other reason but... i'm sorry i can think of no other reason?
I can only speak for myself here ; and I will admit that it is comforting to think that there is an afterlife , especially when I've suffered a bereavement , but that isn't the reason I believe in God .
I believe because thanks to the patient explanations of a couple of friends , over many months , the Bible and the Christian message made sense to me .
I continue to believe because I have had my faith reaffirmed in numerous ways over the last 24 years .
well what do you think fins? is it a motivation or a conviction. do people believe in God in order that afdter they lead their righteous life, they are given the reward of eternal life after death. or do they truly believe in the presence and existence of a superior being for no other reason but... i'm sorry i can think of no other reason?
I don't give a shit. I hate these sorts of thread. Bye!
I believe because thanks to the patient explanations of a couple of friends , over many months , the Bible and the Christian message made sense to me .
thats my issue with religion... you havent found it by yourself, you've had months of explanations so it made sense to you??!?! you could have read into it yourself and made a choice based on your belief, not because someone explained it.. no ones neutral.. if i had to explain religion to my kids or to a friend then they'd come out of it with less belief than they went into the convo with.
anything that requires door-to-door salesmen to promote it cant be good... curtain salesmen, hoover sales reps and 17year Idaho kids in suits who should be out getting drunk or laid or both instead of trying to sign up me up to a fucking religion.. all the same thing, all trying to sell me something i dont need... if i need a fucking hoover, or some curtains or my sundays ripped away from me then i'll LOOK for it myself... until then.. leave me alone. :( :(
anyone want a fruit pastille?
oh scary... 40000 morbidly obese christians wearing fanny packs invading europe is probably the least scariest thing since I watched an edited version of The Care Bears movie in an extremely brightly lit cinema.
Comments
Also, I am in awe of pictures of the Universe taken from teh Hubble telescope.
It bemuses me that anyone can see those images, then either still accept that a sentient being "created" it all, or more likely, just disregard them as requiring too much thought or something.
Whatever happens, happens. Whatever is, is.. I'll know, or not know the truth when I die.
If there is one thing that is certain, it is this life. Make the best of it.
Its nice to read that. Ive been raised up in a Christian environment since I was a child. I agree with you. Especially with the answers not being a coincidence. I see how prayers are answered and how God fits in perfectly with Biology. My Biology teacher didnt teach evolution like 99% of other teachers, he taught the word of God. His class and himself are two beautiful things to witness. Certainly a boost of power showing God is above and the only one who is truly perfect. I hope to have my palace up there and just chill with my loved ones. Especially my mom who I lost when I was 12.
We tend to look at objects and see faces or attribute human characteristics to them. Just look at any Disney movie or Nintendo game. Almost everything is an anthropomorphism of non-human objects. Then there are those who believe plants have feelings.
Somewhere in our distant past we anthropomorphized the universe.
I was also involved in extra curricular evening activities (youth group) and went to bible summer camps every summer from 13-16 yrs of age. I've seen and done it all.
I had memorized every song, every verse, etc.. I very rarely ever had to open a book to follow and participate word for word during each service.
My mother organized womens religious getaway weekend retreats, and did a damn good job at getting record attendances (and notoriety) I must say.
My how times have changed since then. It's staggering to think about.
All that being said, I saw right through everything eventually. God and Jesus is not it. It did not work for me any longer once my education started taking off. It all became quite silly and whimsical to me actually. Fairy tales.
I do believe in a higher power. Obviously it does exist....we can look to our sun alone to know this. Whether that is a cluster of immense galaxies upon galaxies or a compression of immense super clusters that forms a physical structure that is alive or sentient, that we are a part of, is something I do not rule out. Quite possible indeed.
Does it know us...can we know if it? Science is waaay (way) far out on that one to begin to explain right now.
I believe in harmony and frequencies that we can tune our minds to that give us more than what we can perceive or measure, and it comes to us from magnitudes above us in scale, which channels down, and operates to a cosmic rhythm to so speak. Harmonics. I've spent a lot of time studying harmonics.
Look at string theory. Everything is vibrating to a particular frequency. Everything.
We are part of something bigger no doubt, but you won't find out about all that in the Bible. Not a chance.
and reveling in it's loyalty. It's made by forming coalitions
over specific principles, goals, and policies.
http://i36.tinypic.com/66j31x.jpg
(\__/)
( o.O)
(")_(")
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
42, i hear is the vibrating frequency of humans.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
However, if you instead define God as the creative force behind the universe, the "something" that set things off in the first place, that I can relate to. In my opinion, if such an entity as God exists, he is either part of all of creation and we are thus all pieces of him, or he might stand outside looking in, but then shouldn't have more interest in earth and us, than in any other part of the universe. The God of everything, or infact God IN everything, that's much closer to my beliefs. I guess that makes me sortof an animist.
Peace
Dan
"Every judgment teeters on the brink of error. To claim absolute knowledge is to become monstrous. Knowledge is an unending adventure at the edge of uncertainty." - Frank Herbert, Dune, 1965
"It seems to me that Islam, Christianity and Judaism all have the same god, and yet he's telling them all different things"
Life, the universe and everything.
*~You're IT Bert!~*
Hold on to the thread
The currents will shift
we are told to follow a dominate male (or politicians) like sheep and that women are the ultimate sin and downfall of everything ! hummmmmm now let me see do i want to buy into this NO WAY.
Astoria,Dublin,Reading 06,Wembley 07,Sheapards Bush & o2 09 thats multiple Jamgasms!
yep. so long and thanks for all the fish.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I'll bet its just like before you were born, except your footprints are left behind.
Based on my understanding of science, (which, even if I say so myself, is none to shabby), I can allocate some approximate measure of probability to god's existence. And because the evidence for god is not scientific, that probability is for me very very low.
This also means that even though I am an atheist I, (like some others here), will not declare god an impossibility- that is a statement of faith, not science.
Personally, I also find an atheistic existence to be the ultimate motivation for a life lived well.
But then I slowly started to realize I never had faith and was only fooling myself.
I guess a god as a sort of cosmic force could exists but I hardly think it made man, the earth and everything else deliberately and with a plan. And it certainly doesn't understand suffering, forgiveness and other human concepts, in fact, if it does exist I think it's completely detached from what it brought forth. Kind of like how gravity doesn't care if something falls and breaks. So even if this force existed I would not pray to it, worship it or care about it.
naděje umírá poslední
I'll Hold The Pain... Release...
Yourself
I believe in myself.
I sometimes call myself an atheist in political discussions.
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except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
Oh, wai...
Don't get 'em started.
ah fuck. it's already too late.
there should be an "ignore thread" feature on this board.
all posts by ©gue_barium are protected under US copyright law and are not to be reproduced, exchanged or sold
except by express written permission of ©gue_barium, the author.
actually i thought it was more about psychology. the why someone does something. understanding the motivation behind that.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
it's human nature to want to know where we came from. or so i'm told.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
But then the debate would turn to whether religious belief is a motivation or a conviction, and the old free will chestnuts, and links to brain surgery procedures would inevitably appear, so it'd be one and the same with the usual fare. Never mind though, carry on!
well what do you think fins? is it a motivation or a conviction. do people believe in God in order that afdter they lead their righteous life, they are given the reward of eternal life after death. or do they truly believe in the presence and existence of a superior being for no other reason but... i'm sorry i can think of no other reason?
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I agree in a way. But you can only go back so far and then it becomes a roll of the dice as to what you almost have to believe. My friends and I get going on the topic and it seems to end when nobody can come up with what the hell was going on before god or an explosion. Then we uncap another beer and start talking about things in the real world of now.
well then i guess man has too much time on his hands now that he doesn't have to hunt, gather his food and run for his life from predators.
take a good look
this could be the day
hold my hand
lie beside me
i just need to say
I can only speak for myself here ; and I will admit that it is comforting to think that there is an afterlife , especially when I've suffered a bereavement , but that isn't the reason I believe in God .
I believe because thanks to the patient explanations of a couple of friends , over many months , the Bible and the Christian message made sense to me .
I continue to believe because I have had my faith reaffirmed in numerous ways over the last 24 years .
9/9/06
Everton 3 RS 0
I don't give a shit. I hate these sorts of thread. Bye!
thats my issue with religion... you havent found it by yourself, you've had months of explanations so it made sense to you??!?! you could have read into it yourself and made a choice based on your belief, not because someone explained it.. no ones neutral.. if i had to explain religion to my kids or to a friend then they'd come out of it with less belief than they went into the convo with.
anything that requires door-to-door salesmen to promote it cant be good... curtain salesmen, hoover sales reps and 17year Idaho kids in suits who should be out getting drunk or laid or both instead of trying to sign up me up to a fucking religion.. all the same thing, all trying to sell me something i dont need... if i need a fucking hoover, or some curtains or my sundays ripped away from me then i'll LOOK for it myself... until then.. leave me alone. :( :(
anyone want a fruit pastille?