Gandhi
New Member
I have internet.
Does God exist?
- Thread starter CCGR
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Dark Virtue
New Member
Sheesh, if the Israelites couldn't do it, how can I?[b said:
Avesther
New Member
I am trying to point out, are you sure its enough? Or will you do as scrooge, blame your meeting on some figment of imagination caused by a half digested potato? You can obviously find enough reason not to believe in Gods existance standing in the middle of his Creation.
Nobody knows who carved the Venus De Milo, nobody alive today has never seen the artist. Yet nobody says, well, you know, the wind and erosion created it, it was a fluke. Everybody believes there was an artist that created it. But, of God, the creator of everything, they say, well, you know, fluke.
Nobody knows who carved the Venus De Milo, nobody alive today has never seen the artist. Yet nobody says, well, you know, the wind and erosion created it, it was a fluke. Everybody believes there was an artist that created it. But, of God, the creator of everything, they say, well, you know, fluke.
Gandhi
New Member
I think believing in god makes people feel better. Knowing that u have some place to go after u die. Its better than just rotting in a box 6 ft under. It makes u sleep better at night. Sometimes I think faith in a religion should be changed to fear. Thats all faith is, its a fancy word for fear..
But really, comparing a sculpture to the creation of the universe. Could the sculpture be wrong, could it really be a man? Maybe its not missing any arms. No I think u look at the sculpture and say there's a lady with no arms.
Could there be a god. Remember your basing your answer on a book written along time ago, that could have been translated wrong. And written by many different authors.
With the sculpture u see it and u know its there, and it had to be made by an artist. But if u think about god creating the universe, there are alot of holes in the story.
If there was a god, I'd love to ask him some questions like:
Before u created the universe, did u just sit in darkness in the middle of space (not sure what u'd call it, since he invented space). Or did u create a resort and lie on the beach.
Really I wonder what did god do before he created the universe, and how long did he live before creating all of this.
If christianity is the right religion y would there be so many posibilities for error in the bible. ANd y didn't u strike down all those other religions with balls of fire.
If moses was in the 20th century and he came out and told everyone a flaming bush told him a story, what place would they send him too.
Y is magic fine if its in the bible but if anyone tries to do magic now its called satanic.
No but seriously I don't see how u can believe in something without questioning everything about it. Faith can only take u so far.
Wasn't trying to insult anyone just some of my thoughts in a quick rant.
But really, comparing a sculpture to the creation of the universe. Could the sculpture be wrong, could it really be a man? Maybe its not missing any arms. No I think u look at the sculpture and say there's a lady with no arms.
Could there be a god. Remember your basing your answer on a book written along time ago, that could have been translated wrong. And written by many different authors.
With the sculpture u see it and u know its there, and it had to be made by an artist. But if u think about god creating the universe, there are alot of holes in the story.
If there was a god, I'd love to ask him some questions like:
Before u created the universe, did u just sit in darkness in the middle of space (not sure what u'd call it, since he invented space). Or did u create a resort and lie on the beach.
Really I wonder what did god do before he created the universe, and how long did he live before creating all of this.
If christianity is the right religion y would there be so many posibilities for error in the bible. ANd y didn't u strike down all those other religions with balls of fire.
If moses was in the 20th century and he came out and told everyone a flaming bush told him a story, what place would they send him too.
Y is magic fine if its in the bible but if anyone tries to do magic now its called satanic.
No but seriously I don't see how u can believe in something without questioning everything about it. Faith can only take u so far.
Wasn't trying to insult anyone just some of my thoughts in a quick rant.
It is because of faith that religious people can largely overlook such questions. They may have doubts, but their faith is what drives them. Even if something doesn't really make sense, they know that it must make sense.[b said:Quote[/b] (mechboy @ Aug. 21 2004,1:45)]I think believing in god makes people feel better. Knowing that u have some place to go after u die. Its better than just rotting in a box 6 ft under. It makes u sleep better at night. Sometimes I think faith in a religion should be changed to fear. Thats all faith is, its a fancy word for fear..
But really, comparing a sculpture to the creation of the universe. Could the sculpture be wrong, could it really be a man? Maybe its not missing any arms. No I think u look at the sculpture and say there's a lady with no arms.
Could there be a god. Remember your basing your answer on a book written along time ago, that could have been translated wrong. And written by many different authors.
With the sculpture u see it and u know its there, and it had to be made by an artist. But if u think about god creating the universe, there are alot of holes in the story.
If there was a god, I'd love to ask him some questions like:
Before u created the universe, did u just sit in darkness in the middle of space (not sure what u'd call it, since he invented space). Or did u create a resort and lie on the beach.
Really I wonder what did god do before he created the universe, and how long did he live before creating all of this.
If christianity is the right religion y would there be so many posibilities for error in the bible. ANd y didn't u strike down all those other religions with balls of fire.
If moses was in the 20th century and he came out and told everyone a flaming bush told him a story, what place would they send him too.
Y is magic fine if its in the bible but if anyone tries to do magic now its called satanic.
No but seriously I don't see how u can believe in something without questioning everything about it. Faith can only take u so far.
Wasn't trying to insult anyone just some of my thoughts in a quick rant.
Dark Virtue
New Member
Stupid mechboy! You're stealing my thunder
I was trying to save that for a whole thread unto itself. Religion is a construct of man to allay his Fear. I won't go into it in detail, but I am not alone in that hypothesis and cursory research can find tons of information on that.
And Peon, I wish I could give you a set of criteria that would make me believe in God. What I can tell you is this. If I can prove, to myself, that the Bible is indeed the infallible word of God, then I would be a fool to believe otherwise, and I should be damned to hell.
Keep something in mind though, you are comparing easily corroborated events in History to the uncomparable. Show me evidence, show me SOMETHING in history that can show that the Israelites wanded the wilderness for 40 years. Only the Bible says that. The greeks talked of Gods and monsters, but I don't believe in that either. Show me proof of the Medusa and I'll believe in her.
I think the main problem with the Bible is you don't know when to read it as allegory and when to read it as historical. When is a parable not a parable? Is the story of adam and eve historical or allegorical? What about the Flood? What about knowing that the Adam and Eve story acutally PREDATES biblical record in other civilizations? Same goes with the Flood.
ARGh, my brain hurts now.
I was trying to save that for a whole thread unto itself. Religion is a construct of man to allay his Fear. I won't go into it in detail, but I am not alone in that hypothesis and cursory research can find tons of information on that.
And Peon, I wish I could give you a set of criteria that would make me believe in God. What I can tell you is this. If I can prove, to myself, that the Bible is indeed the infallible word of God, then I would be a fool to believe otherwise, and I should be damned to hell.
Keep something in mind though, you are comparing easily corroborated events in History to the uncomparable. Show me evidence, show me SOMETHING in history that can show that the Israelites wanded the wilderness for 40 years. Only the Bible says that. The greeks talked of Gods and monsters, but I don't believe in that either. Show me proof of the Medusa and I'll believe in her.
I think the main problem with the Bible is you don't know when to read it as allegory and when to read it as historical. When is a parable not a parable? Is the story of adam and eve historical or allegorical? What about the Flood? What about knowing that the Adam and Eve story acutally PREDATES biblical record in other civilizations? Same goes with the Flood.
ARGh, my brain hurts now.
You're definitely not alone in that hypothesis dark virtue. I've been pondering that for a long time now, and I've come to the relatively firm conclusion that religions are constructs of humanity's insecurities. Ways for people to ease their fears about this big scary world. It's very comforting for people to believe that there's someone watching them from above, even if it's an irrational idea. Is that a bad thing though? Of course not, I personally find it quite touching. It's really great for people to unite under a common idea, all believing in moral action and positive thought. The problem that unfortunately sometimes occurs is when people take it too far, try to force their ideas on others, believe their ideas are better than anothers', develope prejudices, etc. That's partly why I stopped practicing religion..and also because I've become plauged by an over-logical mind. But I know that sometimes what is 'true' is not necessarily the best course.
Dark Virtue
New Member
I guess we share the same plague[b said:
Religions weren't created just to ease every day life. I believe gods were created to answer questions that man couldn't. Whether that be the seasons, the movement of the sun, weather, all of these things were attributed to a god. And then there was the ultimate question...what happens to us when after we die? What better way to keep your serfs/peons in line but to delude them into thinking they would be given peace, love and riches in the afterlife. They certainly weren't getting it in their present life. Why do you think the Catholic Church got to be so powerful and rich? Because it fed on the uneducated masses. It was only after the printing machine did the Church begin to lose its stranglehold on others. Now the commoners had the Bible in their own hands, in their own tongue, to make their own conclusions. Adios Catholicism, Hello Protestantism!
I think it's a bit sad, yet funny, that educated people of this day can look back on history and see how silly those religions of yesterday were, but when it comes to their own, it's a totally different story.
Personally, I don't find anything touching about living under some set of delusions. As you've said, it's inevitable that religion is corrupted to some horrible end. From the Crusades to suicide bombers, it has always been a part of religion and always will be.
Gandhi
New Member
well put.
we should start our own club
we should start our own club
Dark Virtue
New Member
I already have our motto...
"I think I'll believe in Gosh instead of God. If you don't believe in Gosh too, you'll be darned to heck."
"I think I'll believe in Gosh instead of God. If you don't believe in Gosh too, you'll be darned to heck."
I agree with basically everything except your last bit. You speak of religions as 'delusions', which is such a negative term. But virtually all regligion were founded upon highly positive premises. It's not religions that are inherent to corruption, it's the humans that make them function. Religions are sometimes the vehicle of humanity's imperfections in that they can do very immoral things in the cause of a moral God. This is not the same thing, since similar things would be happening even if religions were taken out of the picture. You have to look at the core of the problem, otherwise you're not seeing the entire problem. But of course, there's nothing we can do about human imperfection. It's just something that we have to live with. However, we should still give credit where credit is due.[b said:Quote[/b] (Dark Virtue @ Aug. 21 2004,5:40)]I guess we share the same plague[b said:
Religions weren't created just to ease every day life. I believe gods were created to answer questions that man couldn't. Whether that be the seasons, the movement of the sun, weather, all of these things were attributed to a god. And then there was the ultimate question...what happens to us when after we die? What better way to keep your serfs/peons in line but to delude them into thinking they would be given peace, love and riches in the afterlife. They certainly weren't getting it in their present life. Why do you think the Catholic Church got to be so powerful and rich? Because it fed on the uneducated masses. It was only after the printing machine did the Church begin to lose its stranglehold on others. Now the commoners had the Bible in their own hands, in their own tongue, to make their own conclusions. Adios Catholicism, Hello Protestantism!
I think it's a bit sad, yet funny, that educated people of this day can look back on history and see how silly those religions of yesterday were, but when it comes to their own, it's a totally different story.
Personally, I don't find anything touching about living under some set of delusions. As you've said, it's inevitable that religion is corrupted to some horrible end. From the Crusades to suicide bombers, it has always been a part of religion and always will be.