The Concept of God

brianlux said:

catefrances said:

goldrush said:

brianlux said:

goldrush said:

A couple of things have happened recently that reminded me of this thread.

Firstly, I became an Australian citizen last week. There were about 80 of us at the ceremony, made up of 28 different nationalities. The main part of the ceremony is the citizenship pledge, which you are required to say aloud. There are 2 different versions of the pledge, the first line of which is: "From this time forward, under God, I pledge my loyalty to Australia and its People..." The only difference between the 2 versions is the "under God" part - you either say it or you don't. Of the 80 people there, at least 75-80% said made the God pledge, which I was quite surprised at. I'm not judging here (and I didn't feel judged at all for not saying it), it's just an observation that it was such an overwhelming majority.

The second is a conversation that took place last weekend. We were at a friend's party and someone started talking about global warming and the environment. I think we'd been talking about Xavier Rudd and John Butler (very environmentally-conscious singers) and it went off on a tangent from there. The guy was shut down, almost mocked, by someone else who genuinely believes that global warming has nothing to do with science or the environment; it's all part of God's grand plan. Basically, there's going to be another flood but this time, instead of sending a Noah figure to save the animals before the water wipes us all out, God is playing the long game. The reason melting ice caps and rising water levels are a slow process is that God is giving us a chance to redeem ourselves. An 'if we save the planet, we can save ourselves' sort of thing. The guy was deadly serious, and unshakable in this belief, there was no room for discussion.

First off, goldrush, congratulations!  I didn't know you were not an Australian citizen.  How cool! 

Interesting story about God's next plan for a flood!  Where people get these ideas is beyond me.  Some inborn or learned need for a myth to keep from having to deal with reality would be my guess.

As for God, I often have a hard time knowing how best to put into words my thoughts but this evening I came up with this:

It's not that I flat out disbelieve in the idea of "a God" so much as that I disbelieve in the idea of a definable God.  There could be (or not) some strange force that we humans cannot comprehend that we call "God", but then, I think if we go on to try to define that force then we have-- ipso facto-- negated that undefinable force (if there even is one).

(Well, OK, that sounds a bit convoluted.  I'm still working on it, haha!)

Thanks Brian! It feels good to finally get through all of the paperwork at last.

I quite like your theory actually, it's just convoluted enough to make some kind of sense!

i thught you were a aussie born too goldrush. welcome! we need all the aussies we can get.

I'll say this truthfully, I never met a bad 'un! 

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

People are astonished I don't believe in something I have never seen and that no one has ever seen.
Who's the more foolish?

Neither can be called foolish, in my opinion, because no one knows for sure. the only people I consider fools, if anyone can or even should be called such, is someone who thinks they know the answer definitively. 

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

People are astonished I don't believe in something I have never seen and that no one has ever seen.
Who's the more foolish?

Neither can be called foolish, in my opinion, because no one knows for sure. the only people I consider fools, if anyone can or even should be called such, is someone who thinks they know the answer definitively. 

I guess I'm a fool then! Oh well!

show me your mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of god and then I'll eat my words. 

your opinion does not equal fact. 

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

People are astonished I don't believe in something I have never seen and that no one has ever seen.
Who's the more foolish?

Neither can be called foolish, in my opinion, because no one knows for sure. the only people I consider fools, if anyone can or even should be called such, is someone who thinks they know the answer definitively. 

I guess I'm a fool then! Oh well!

show me your mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of god and then I'll eat my words. 

your opinion does not equal fact. 

HughFreakingDillon said:

Degeneratefk said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

People are astonished I don't believe in something I have never seen and that no one has ever seen.
Who's the more foolish?

Neither can be called foolish, in my opinion, because no one knows for sure. the only people I consider fools, if anyone can or even should be called such, is someone who thinks they know the answer definitively. 

I guess I'm a fool then! Oh well!

show me your mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of god and then I'll eat my words. 

your opinion does not equal fact. 

Isn't the burden of proof on the ones that believe? 

of course. but just because you can't prove it doesn't mean you know for a fact it doesn't exist. things exist without proof. my point is neither side can prove it one way or the other. 

I just think it's a bit odd to insult people for their belief systems. when, for all anyone knows, they COULD actually be fucking right. (I don't think they are, but again, no one knows). 

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

People are astonished I don't believe in something I have never seen and that no one has ever seen.
Who's the more foolish?

Neither can be called foolish, in my opinion, because no one knows for sure. the only people I consider fools, if anyone can or even should be called such, is someone who thinks they know the answer definitively. 

I guess I'm a fool then! Oh well!

show me your mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of god and then I'll eat my words. 

your opinion does not equal fact. 

Show me a mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of The Little Mermaid and then I'll eat MY words.
Or is it just your opinion that The Little Mermaid doesn't actually exist? That doesn't make it fact either I guess!

brianlux said:

Thirty Bills Unpaid said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

PJ_Soul said:

HughFreakingDillon said:

Thoughts_Arrive said:

People are astonished I don't believe in something I have never seen and that no one has ever seen.
Who's the more foolish?

Neither can be called foolish, in my opinion, because no one knows for sure. the only people I consider fools, if anyone can or even should be called such, is someone who thinks they know the answer definitively. 

I guess I'm a fool then! Oh well!

show me your mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of god and then I'll eat my words. 

your opinion does not equal fact. 

Show me a mathematical equation disproving/proving the existence of The Little Mermaid and then I'll eat MY words.
Or is it just your opinion that The Little Mermaid doesn't actually exist? That doesn't make it fact either I guess!

Yes.

I was just getting ready to ask for mathematical proof that the one-eyed yeti doesn't exist.

Come on folks... it's religion- the greatest con known to mankind.

This man, Reinhold Messner, probably the greatest mountaineer of all time, believes in Yeti/ Big Foot and claims he has seen one. 

But then, Sig. Messner also once claimed to talk to his dead brother when climbing at high altitudes.  Which leads me to wonder if one of two things is the case:  Either belief in a god or gods originated from people living at high altitude OR that God or gods and yeti do indeed exist... at high altitude.