Post: #1

I go back and forth. Sometimes I get very clinical...scientific method..."there's no evidence of it", I say. At those times I feel like an atheist. Then I say there's no evidence there's not a god, and I feel like an agnostic. Other times, I'm convinced there's "some" collective spirit, but it's very different than what the major religions say (who have added a lot of their own silly rules, don't eat this or that, etc). I'm at an "in between" spot right now...I want to believe in something...I'm just not sure what or how.

I've always felt there was some serious brain power on this board...I'd sincerely welcome your perspectives on why I should, or should not, believe in God.

Post: #2

Aw man, I was hoping this internal struggle would go away as I got older...

I don't think it matters too much, really. Whether you believe or not doesn't help you to make any predictions about the world, so if it makes you feel better to take a side, why not go for it?

Post: #3

lol

Post: #4

Post: #5

Yes I do.

Post: #6

(01-24-2016 07:38 PM)h3ltrsk3ltr Wrote:  Aw man, I was hoping this internal struggle would go away as I got older...

I don't think it matters too much, really. Whether you believe or not doesn't help you to make any predictions about the world, so if it makes you feel better to take a side, why not go for it?

In some regards, you're right: It doesn't matter what we believe, because it won't change objective reality.

Post: #7

(01-24-2016 07:39 PM)storm Wrote:  lol

Why? It's just an honest question. I value the opinions of the men on this board more than the average guy in the street.

Post: #8

Yes I do, I believe in the God of biblical Christianity

Post: #9

I don't like to call myself an atheist, because I don't want to be associated with most atheists. The guys on this forum I'm sure know exactly what I mean when I refer to most atheists. That said, the scientific part of my mind that governs pretty much all the rest of my beliefs can't really accept the idea of a god. Then again, if I lived 1,000 years ago I wouldn't be able to wrap my mind around the concept of the internet either. Maybe if there is a god, it's something that we can't understand as mortals. So I guess overall I'm as conflicted as you. I'd probably have to call myself an atheist leaning agnostic.

Post: #10

100%.

Science does not deal with faith or belief; it deals with what you can prove. Since you cannot prove or disprove the existence of God, the question of whether or not you should believe in God has nothing to do with scientific reasoning.

They are not mutually exclusive.

In fact, the more you study, delve into and ACTUALLY understand sciences like Structural Biology, Combinatorics and Algebraic topology you can't help BUT believe in God.

Post: #11

Growing up I believed in god but I didn't learn much about it or go to church often. Then at some point in my early or mid 20's I was born again and was in church every Sunday and preaching the good word to anyone who would listen. I was super happy during that time as well. It may have lasted around 8 months or so and it kind of faded away. Then I started looking at governments and how corrupt they were and how they controlled people and saw a lot of similarities between that and religion.

I still believe in god... I'm just not 100% sure its the Christian god that the bible describes.. But I certainly believe there is some kind of god or creator. I don't think we are here chatting on this forum today and traveling the around world cause millions of years ago some dust started spinning in space.

Post: #12

(01-24-2016 07:56 PM)Anabasis to Desta Wrote:  100%.

the more you study, delve into and ACTUALLY understand sciences like Structural Biology, Combinatorics and Algebraic topology you can't help BUT believe in God.

Tell me more about this. I don't understand.

Post: #13

(01-24-2016 07:39 PM)storm Wrote:  lol

You're so edgy and anti-establishment.

I wish i could be as cool as you and Gmac.

Post: #14

There are several tiers of God depending on the intelligence of the believer. At the low IQs you have the literal God as a schoolmarm that punishes the naughty. This seems to be a social construct designed to keep the criminal tendencies of the low IQ crowd under control, or to exploit them in the case of violent religions.

As IQ increases, belief in God tends to become more abstract until it becomes more of a question about whether or not moral precepts are truly universal, or other such philosophical quandaries. Einstein referred to God quite often but he was referring to the nature of reality, not a bearded man in the sky. Intelligent Christians will admit that there is no material evidence for the existence of God, but ultimately what they're describing isn't particularly different from the beliefs of an Atheist who believes in objective morality. It's just a matter of terminology.

Post: #15

(01-24-2016 07:58 PM)Anabasis to Desta Wrote:  

(01-24-2016 07:39 PM)storm Wrote:  lol

You're so edgy and anti-establishment.

I wish i be as cool as you.

Edited...I did indeed get my wires crossed! Thanks for straightening me out, h3!

Post: #16

I have no belief in any kind of higher power or greater purpose. That said, I recognize the benefit of faith and religion for many people, and believe it is a helpful tool for a lot of folks in their lives. I don't knock it, it's just not for me.

Post: #17

@The Father^^you got your wires crossed there, pops.

I'd also like to hear more from Anabasis to Desta on that topic, though.

Post: #18

(01-24-2016 07:59 PM)BortimusPrime Wrote:  There are several tiers of God depending on the intelligence of the believer. At the low IQs you have the literal God as a schoolmarm that punishes the naughty. This seems to be a social construct designed to keep the criminal tendencies of the low IQ crowd under control, or to exploit them in the case of violent religions.

As IQ increases, belief in God tends to become more abstract until it becomes more of a question about whether or not moral precepts are truly universal, or other such philosophical quandaries. Einstein referred to God quite often but he was referring to the nature of reality, not a bearded man in the sky. Intelligent Christians will admit that there is no material evidence for the existence of God, but ultimately what they're describing isn't particularly different from the beliefs of an Atheist who believes in objective morality. It's just a matter of terminology.

I also believe that God (or whatever you want to call a higher intelligence) expresses his will in nature.

Post: #19

(01-24-2016 08:01 PM)The Father Wrote:  

(01-24-2016 07:58 PM)Anabasis to Desta Wrote:  

(01-24-2016 07:39 PM)storm Wrote:  lol

You're so edgy and anti-establishment.

I wish i be as cool as you.

You're trolling. I'm not edgy or cool in any way. Not lately. I'm a little depressed and lost, actually.

That response was not directed at you The Father. It was at the guys engaging in your childish antics so typical amongt atheists.

Post: #20

(01-24-2016 08:06 PM)Anabasis to Desta Wrote:  

(01-24-2016 08:01 PM)The Father Wrote:  

(01-24-2016 07:58 PM)Anabasis to Desta Wrote:  

(01-24-2016 07:39 PM)storm Wrote:  lol

You're so edgy and anti-establishment.

I wish i be as cool as you.

You're trolling. I'm not edgy or cool in any way. Not lately. I'm a little depressed and lost, actually.

That response was not directed at you The Father. It was at the guys engaging in your childish antics so typical amongt atheists.

Thank you. I finally got that and fixed the comment. Sorry I'm not myself tonight.

Post: #21

No.

There's no evidence that supports the existence of a god. Even if he does exist, he's omniscient so he know that I'm a rational being that looks for empirical evidence before believing in stuff so I'm sure he's not offended.

In the past god(I never capitalize that word), used to talk to people all time, turn people to salt, raise the dead, made the sun move(without incinerating any planets!), impregnate women without semen, and suddenly just stopped? Why?

It's just something someone cooked up to help uneducated people understand how the world works and their place in it(i.e. the Great Chain of Being).

Post: #22

Yes, I'm a believing and practicing Roman Catholic.

Post: #23

Yes.

I don't think that he would make some women so hot and some pussy so good and then demand that I don't enjoy it. If he did, he will forgive me because he created temptation that was to great to bear.

One of the most fascinating theories that I ever read is that God is one and the same as the Universe. As it was born, so was God born. In his infancy God had to try to figure things out and that is why the old testament is so strict - God was using to much force. Since then he has gotten older and wiser and eased up a bit on all the "Thou Shalt Nots"

I find Protestantism one of the best religions because the requirements are simple. You simply have to believe, and give the kind of acknowledgement [love] that a creator would want from his creation. Thereafter, even if you mess up time and again, you will be forgiven. There is no person (such as the Pope in Catholicism) getting in between the creator and his creation. Also, there is not the fatalism so limiting in Islam - man was put here on Earth to have free will, because only those who chose freely to acknowledge their creator can ever give anything to his creator that would be wanted.

Further, it comports with the idea that we are put on this Earth to experience the free world. We struggle, we strive, there are good days and bad in order to give us the appreciation of life.

As was said by Robert E. Howard: Let me live deep while I live; let me know the rich juices of red meat and stinging wine on my palate, the hot embrace of white arms, the mad exultation of battle when the blue blades flame and crimson . . . I live, I burn with life, I love, I slay, and am content.

Only when he has thus lived can a man truly appreciate that which is to come after.

Death then is a gift - as long as YOU have lived a full life here on earth and squeezed every drop from it that you could. Note, I said "full life" and not necessarily "long life" or "easy" life.

J.R.R. Tolkien, in his under-appreciated writings, expressed this sentiment in his concept of "the Doom of Man"

Quote:The Gift of Men is death—the inheritance of Ilúvatar's Younger Children, which allows them to go beyond the confines of Arda, this world. Though the phrase commonly refers to this type of mortality, death is actually only part of the broader Gift given to Men: it is one with their ability to operate beyond the Music of the Ainur, which "is as fate to all things else". With this Gift, Men were to fulfill the world down to the finest detail.[1]

It was said among the Elves that after they died, the fëar of Men were gathered in the Halls of Mandos, and then departed from the World for a destination unknown even to the Valar. Whereas all other beings in Arda, including the Valar themselves, were bound to the World and its fate, the Gift freed Men from this destiny, allowing them to shape their own lives as they wished. For this reason, the Elves, who must live as long as Arda exists and become burdened with its sorrows, often envy the Gift given to Men, and it is said that even the Valar shall do so as well.

http://tolkiengateway.net/wiki/Gift_of_Men

As a final closing thought, while it seems unfair that a beautiful woman can live out the first 30 years or so of her life with all handed on a silver platter, and the general ease of life that many women have compared to men, women are to be pitied.

Pity I feel for women because very few ever experience the fullness of life that many men do. They do not have our struggles. They experience not a man's personal victories and defeats. They can always rely on the safety net of their pussy should they fail.

Unlike women, men rise and fall on their own character, will, and ambition.

God created man first. Women were only created as a helper (and foil) for man and are not likely to have the full experience that a man does on this earth. I wonder if most women, like the elves in Tolkien's fable, do not receive the same fullness of the "Gift of Death" because they will not have experienced enough of the world to appreciate the difference in the afterlife.

Post: #24

If there is a God of any sort there is such a vast universe why would it be around to look over Earth? Gods and demons were always used to provoke fear in man, keep him in-line and let people feel comfort there is eternal damnation for those who are evil.

I'm not religious, nor am I atheist or what they call themselves these days but I do know and understand fear and propaganda. Imagine if you became aware there was not a god or there was one, watching over the planet and human activity.

That is one hell of a mindfuck. What would you do? Does a man need an all powerful entity to keep him in line or else?

Post: #25

(01-24-2016 08:07 PM)Goldin Boy Wrote:  No.

There's no evidence that supports the existence of a god. Even if he does exist, he's omniscient so he know that I'm a rational being that looks for empirical evidence before believing in stuff so I'm sure he's not offended.

In the past god(I never capitalize that word), used to talk to people all time, turn people to salt, raise the dead, made the sun move(without incinerating any planets!), impregnate women without semen, and suddenly just stopped? Why?

It's just something someone cooked up to help uneducated people understand how the world works and their place in it(i.e. the Great Chain of Being).

I agree the gods of the ancients (all of them ...Roman, Greek, etc) were cooked up to explain things in the place of science. I also believe god doesn't care if we eat pork or whatever - man-made bullshit. But it doesn't mean that there isn't a higher power.