Do you believe in God?

pearcider

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

As explained above, this isn't about death. It is about the particularly painful nature of deaths by cancer. Why did your God make it so?

Why is anything so. Seems to me you would prefer nothing existed at all.

Guy:Incognito

twowheelsonly wrote: »

That's basically my point !!!

Practically every group does worship a God, some without ever being in contact with any other group (and more-so in ancient times) so therefore it would have to be regarded as an in-built intuition.

What you're referring to is organised religion, each of whom name their own Gods, but they all still amount to worshipping a superior being, whether that be in a jungle in the Amazon, St Michaels Church in Tipperary town, or the Blue Mosque in Istanbul.

For all we know it is the same God that we all worship - we just call him different things.

Lots of people made up similar science fiction stories to each other. Doesn't mean there are aliens in spaceships fighting wars.

If there was "a" god and was overseeing us all, different people would all come up with the same god, no? Whats to be gained from feeding them all different god stories and getting them fighting over it while telling each that the other is wrong and will go to hell for it? Seems like a ****.

4068ac1elhodqr

BurnUp78 wrote: »

I wonder do aliens believe in God too?

Your belief in aliens simply confirms you believe also in a God.


To be fair simple probability suggests there is clearly likely (god-like) alien(s) of supreme higher intelligence somewhere in the mighty universe.

pearcider

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

I only get annoyed at bull**** peddlers.

Religion is nothing but excuses and bull**** to cover up for when people eventually grow up and question the first load of crap.


All fire and brimstone and trying to scare people.

The older ones are no better than Scientology, they've just been around longer. Al just exist to funnel money to the top. Convincing people to live in fear of bull**** ideas like hell and to buy their way to heaven.

Theyre all built around controlling the subjects and how they live their lives. Dont eat this or wear that, dont enjoy yourself in an unapproved way, do this on certain days. Telling people they are wrong or evil for the way they are.

Don’t concern yourself too much with the fate that satan would have for you. Although to compare Christianity and Scientology is at best disingenuous and at worst symptomatic of Satan. Which is exactly what Scientology is. A school of satan. The central tenet of Christianity is love your enemy. Very difficult to practice. I would say concern yourself with this and this alone.

Guy:Incognito

pearcider wrote: »

Although to compare Christianity and Scientology is at best disingenuous and at worst symptomatic of Satan..

No it isnt, its all the same crap. L.Ron Hubbard got the idea from other religions cos its an easy way to milk cash from people.

Just because your book is a couple of thousand years older than theirs doesn't make it any more true.

pearcider wrote: »

The central tenet of Christianity is love your enemy. Very difficult to practice. I would say concern yourself with this and this alone.

You'd think they could even try loving people that are not their enemy. Surely thats not hard? Being all "oh we love everyone and everyone should treat each other nice" while having a list of undesirables that have done nothing more than the likes of being born gay.

That **** can get to ****.


It's all bull**** and people should really have grown out of it at this stage of our existence. Magic isnt real. It's kids stuff.

pearcider

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

No it isnt, its all the same crap. L.Ron Hubbard got the idea from other religions cos its an easy way to milk cash from people.

Just because your book is a couple of thousand years older than theirs doesn't make it any more true.




You'd think they could even try loving people that are not their enemy. Surely thats not hard? Being all "oh we love everyone and everyone should treat each other nice" while having a list of undesirables that have done nothing more than the likes of being born gay.

That **** can get to ****.


It's all bull**** and people should really have grown out of it at this stage of our existence. Magic isnt real. It's kids stuff.

Hubbard was CIA and designed to undermine the devoutly Christian USA. He did a pretty good job. Wise people listen only to Jesus and Jesus said you will know a tree by its fruit.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Hole_(Scientology)

ToddyDoody

Zubeneschamali wrote: »

Paper 1: Brain cancer aged 9 months


Paper 2: Crack addiction from the womb

God is neither good nor bad just powerful?

Guy:Incognito

pearcider wrote: »

Wise people listen only to Jesus and Jesus said you will know a tree by its fruit.

Wise people know its all bull****. If you were Muslim or Hindu you'd be saying the same crap about their version.


Good job the ole Catholics never locked people up and treated them badly, or even more similarities with Scientology could be drawn........

Christians in the USA undermine themselves just fine btw. Absolute whackjob hypocrites spreading hate against people they dont like among a very large list of two faced bull****. Not very Christian really......

pearcider

Guy:Incognito wrote: »

Wise people know its all bull****. If you were Muslim or Hindu you'd be saying the same crap about their version.


Good job the ole Catholics never locked people up and treated them badly, or even more similarities with Scientology could be drawn........

“Behold, I send you forth as sheep in the midst of wolves. Be ye therefore wise as serpents and harmless as doves.”

Think for yourself. The thinking person knows that the wisdom of Jesus blows everything away.

Minime2.5

JohnnyFlash wrote: »

The God hole. The gaping spiritual hole in a person’s life that would once have been filled with faith. And now they attempt to fill that hole through worshipping the gospel of consumerism. Doesn’t work though.

The Catholic church have a long tradition of specialising in filling holes

pearcider

Minime2.5 wrote: »

The Catholic church have a long tradition of specialising in filling holes

True there is much evil in the history of the church but I reckon The Church is more good than bad. They kept the light of education and Christianity burning in the dark ages and most education and health services have their origins in the church. Most of the great scientists and thinkers of the modern age like Isaac Newton and Carl Gauss were devout Christians. Remember Jesus said At the end of your life you will be judged on your own life not on the actions of the greater church.

YFlyer

Francisco Blue Detective wrote: »

Your belief in aliens simply confirms you believe also in a God.


To be fair simple probability suggests there is clearly likely (god-like) alien(s) of supreme higher intelligence somewhere in the mighty universe.

Alien and a God two different concepts.

Professor Moriarty

Len_007 wrote: »

Ok, one more, Calvin, Institutes, Book 2, chapter 1 section 4 to 5. And I say this with the deepest respect to you, because Calvin had the same Question you are posing.




The Bible would say that all have inherited.

So if all inherit sin, why do some two year old children get cancer and others live long happy lives?

uck51js9zml2yt

BurnUp78 wrote: »

I wonder do aliens believe in God too?

When you meet some you can ask them and let us know.

pearcider

Professor Moriarty wrote: »

So if all inherit sin, why do some two year old children get cancer and others live long happy lives?

Jesus said all children will inherit the kingdom of god.

auspicious

God is believed to be omniscient. This is accepted by the majority of believers as it is in the bible. This implies he knows the future.

He forsees the moment of the fall of man and all that entails; pain, struggle and death and all the deplorable acts inbetween. Yet he persisted with his whim. Is he the essence of what being selfish is?

He knows the future. That would suggest the future is predetermined and would that mean God has no free will?
Perhaps yes he can actually change the future. Well, if that's the case he can get lost.

pearcider

auspicious wrote: »

God is believed to be omniscient. This is accepted by the majority of believers as it is in the bible. This implies he knows the future.

He forsees the moment of the fall of man and all that entails; pain, struggle and death and all the deplorable acts inbetween. Yet he persisted with his whim. Is he the essence of what being selfish is?

He knows the future. That would suggest the future is predetermined and would that mean God has no free will?
Perhaps yes he can actually change the future. Well, if that's the case he can get lost.

Philosophy is perhaps best known by its inability to resolve its many paradoxes. What we do know is life is full of beauty. And each day is a gift.

Professor Moriarty

pearcider wrote: »

Jesus said all children will inherit the kingdom of god.

Yeah. Your clichéd platitudes aren't cutting it. I'm going to conclude you don't have a rational answer.

Guy:Incognito

pearcider wrote: »

Jesus said all children will inherit the kingdom of god.

" I cant answer difficult questions that show religion is bull**** so I'll just keep repeating a line from the bible"


It's fairly apt that there's plenty of mentions of lambs and flocks in the bible......

Professor Moriarty

pearcider wrote: »

Philosophy is perhaps best known by its inability to resolve its many paradoxes. What we do know is life is full of beauty. And each day is a gift.

Au contraire. One of philosophy's main strengths is its ability to resolve paradoxes by applying logic.

auspicious

pearcider wrote: »

Philosophy is perhaps best known by its inability to resolve its many paradoxes. What we do know is life is full of beauty. And each day is a gift.

I don't know if this is mumbling or a response to my post.
If it is a response it's non sequitur.
There are no paradoxs only objective truths. If God exists he is not very nice.

4068ac1elhodqr

YFlyer wrote: »

Alien and a God two different concepts.

How so?
Assuming there is a very good chance than any alien lifeforms on the 19,000,000,000,000,000,000,000 stars similar to ours, with at least one planet similar to Earth in the Universe.

- would be more evolved than us humans.

Many, if not all of their capabilities would be considered 'god-like' and indeed miraculous. e.g. Walking on water, parting waves, genetic manipulaiton, medical cures and even new life after physical death.

Obvious Desperate Breakfasts

pearcider wrote: »

The counter argument would be that those children are innocent of sin and will become angels in heaven. Which is an infinitely greater reward then 100 years of perfect living on earth. In fact Jesus states this directly in the Bible.

At that time the disciples came to Jesus and asked, “Who, then, is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven?”

He called a little child to him, and placed the child among them. And he said: “Truly I tell you, unless you change and become like little children, you will never enter the kingdom of heaven. Therefore, whoever takes the lowly position of this child is the greatest in the kingdom of heaven. And whoever welcomes one such child in my name welcomes me.”

— Matthew 18:1-5

Even if this was true - and in Christianity, it isn’t - they would have endure great suffering before death. So, yeah, a God exists who subjects children to pain and suffering? Like I said before, get to fuck.

Potential-Monke

I was going to read through this entire thread, pick out all the nut-jobs who believe all this religion bollocks and have a go, but I just can't bring myself to read 32 pages of nonsense.

Don't get me wrong, follow the teachings if you will, but please, in the name of all that is good, please don't try to convince me it's real or based on fact. None of it is. It's made up. It was made up in a time when people could be easily controlled by all powerful deities, telling us how we should live. It's just absolute bollocks.

I will agree that some religions have good ideas with how to treat others, but that's just general respect. It's all the other crap that goes with it that really annoys me. Kneel, stand, genuflect, sing songs and say prayers about me. It just sounds like someone got a god complex, wrote a book and somehow managed to get idiots to believe it. And that's for any of the mainstream religions.

Stephen Fry's bit with Gay Byrne sums up my feelings on Gods and religion. And don't come back at me with this whole 'he gave us freedom' crap.

I'm also strongly of the opinion that your religion should not grant you special treatment. Follow whatever made up bollockology you want, but it should never affect anyone else. Time off for ramadan, Gardai being allowed time off to attend mass, checkout workers refusing to scan meat products, all that shoite should not be allowed. It should never come into any other decision making other than your own.

I believe there is something out there, be it a deity or some other all powerful being, or even just "aliens" having a laugh with us. But it's been a long time since I was forced to believe in one God, and just as long since I copped myself on. I may be an immature gamer who lives at home with his parents at 36, but I'm more of an adult that some dope trying to convince others to follow these made up, damaging stories.

/rant

Edit: Throwing in that this is a personal opinion, just in case someone gets their religious panties in a twist.

AndrewJRenko

pearcider wrote: »

Why is anything so. Seems to me you would prefer nothing existed at all.

That's just a little bit of a cop out, isn't it? Where did I suggest that I'd prefer if nothing existed at all?

The good professor said it better than me;



Yeah. Your clichéd platitudes aren't cutting it. I'm going to conclude you don't have a rational answer.

Smart Bug

realitykeeper wrote: »

I know there is a God and an after life. I was watching a movie some time back and it it a leftist Portuguese intellectual was saying there is no after life and if there were, the eternity of it would be absolute hell. This is presumptuous. It exhibits a limited imagination. Even in this life, eternity is all around us in the form of time and space. God, who knows ever hair on every head, is our architect and as such the eternity which awaits the righteous is tailor made.

Unfortunately, space and time are finite.

AndrewJRenko

pearcider wrote: »

Philosophy is perhaps best known by its inability to resolve its many paradoxes. What we do know is life is full of beauty. And each day is a gift.

Except that life isn't full of beauty and every day isn't a gift if you or your family member win the 'cancer' lottery. Or if you're dealing with bipolar or schizophrenia. Or MND or MS. Or a family member who has died by suicide while depressed.

Please let me know why your omnipotent god created these particular conditions.

AndrewJRenko

realitykeeper wrote: »

Ah but you forget, the Lord giveth and the Lord taketh away. Even today, a lot of people get killed on the pretense of wolves in sheep`s clothing but at the end of the day, God calls us when he wants us, he does not need people to kill for him. Do you think you would live forever in this life? Sooner or later, you must die.

Username doesn't check out.

nozzferrahhtoo

pearcider wrote: »

most education and health services have their origins in the church. Most of the great scientists and thinkers of the modern age like Isaac Newton and Carl Gauss were devout Christians.

So were most of the criminals and the people milking cows and the people killing and dying in wars. Some of the most awful people in our history were not only devoutly Christian, but were celebrated from the pulpits of their church.

So you are being overly and unjustifiably selective here. You merely point out the better people in our history and point out they happened to be Christian. This is at best a correlation-causation error.... and at worst an outright canard.

The reason most education and most medical and most scientists and most artists came from christian backgrounds is because most PEOPLE at the time were Christian in those locations. And most of the money available was controlled by those churches.

But the correlation does not jump to causation. All the actions performed by such people are performed just as well by people of other religion or no religion at all. Religion, least of all any specific religion you happen to like, seems to have little to do with it.

Often quite the opposite as secular or less religious countries often top the lists of education standards, charity per capita, low crime rates and so forth while the population of prisons in places like the US are disproportionately religious compared to the general populace.

pearcider wrote: »

Everything dies. That is clear. But some believe eternal life awaits us in heaven.

That people believe this is clear. Why or on what basis they believe it, not so much. Have you a SHRED or argument, evidence, data or reasoning to offer to suggest that human consciousness or personal experience survives the death of the brain?

pearcider wrote: »

Think for yourself. The thinking person knows that the wisdom of Jesus blows everything away.

Doubt it. He was.... at best and being generous..... a moral philosopher somewhat ahead of his time but certainly behind ours. For example he never appears to have spoken strongly against slavery or on the topic of equality between the sexes and sexualities. At best he was a little progressive on the improved treatment of your slaves.

He was clearly ahead of his time, assuming he existed. Likely very charismatic and intelligent for the ignorance of his education and his time. A very interesting man to meet if you could go back in time to do so. But excessive wisdom to the point of "blowing everything away"..... not so much. Your personality cult tendencies are pretty much all that would bolster that idea.

pearcider wrote: »

Wise people listen only to Jesus

I would say the opposite. For me "wise people" listen to a variety of sources, disciplines, education, knowledge, opinion and experience. They draw on an amalgamation of them all.

Wisdom through the words of one person and/or one book.... not so much. At best you will become a poor and incomplete facsimile of your idol.

The proudest moment of a parent or teacher is often the moment their child or student excels them. If you limit yourself to nothing but idolising and emulating a single teacher.... you never will.

pearcider wrote: »

What we do know is life is full of beauty. And each day is a gift.

Sure. I have always loved the quote.... though I forget the source and suspect it was Douglas Adams...... "Isn't it enough to see that a garden is beautiful without having to believe that there are fairies at the bottom of it too?"

Is life not beautiful and a gift enough.... in other words..... without having to invent a god for it for which you have offered zero argument, evidence, data or reasoning even exists in the first place? If it is so beautiful and such a gift.... why invent nonsense to augment it?

pearcider wrote: »

You sound very angry by the way.

Interesting though.... that while the people here have been talking about gods and religions negatively.... while calling other people "angry" and "arrogant" and "pal" you are the only one coming out with direct personal attacks on other users.

Projecting your own rage onto others it seems. They spoke negatively about religion does not suggest they are angry or arrogant. You going after them personally with name calling however, does. For shame. Not very Christ like.

Smart Bug

stratowide wrote: »

What happens if both teams go to mass..?

Surely this is a dilemma even for god.

How will it be decided..the most prayers..?favourite team maybe..?

Hmmm it's a tough one for him alright.

He could resolve it by favouring whichever team plays best on the day...