God or Not?

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Permalink Reply by Aleaska on October 21, 2008 at 8:27pm

hey sorry havent been on in awhile but this comment actually makes sense i mean show it to anyone in my school and they'd be lost. lol. but it makes sense so technically what is god??

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Permalink Reply by Lee R.E. on August 27, 2008 at 6:54pm

I believe that YES there is a God. Either you believe in a God or higher power or you dont. You can believe he/she/it purposely limits his/her/its power or you can think he/she/it has and keeps everything in their control.

I am a Messianic Jew so I have a very distinct idea about God which can be found in the Bible.

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on August 29, 2008 at 10:23pm

"If Heaven is supposed to be paradise, doesn't it follow suit that paradise where all of your dreams come true would in fact make things very difficult by creating boredom if you got everything you ever wanted without having to work for it thereby creating Hell out of Heaven. So it is not in fact Heaven at all."

yeah, heaven doesn't work philsophically as something that concrete. it's useful to draw lines between opposite things like heaven and hell in order to "take them apart" and understand them, but just like if you take apart a cat (don't try at home) you have a non-working cat, if you take some ideas apart they no longer work. put them back together and heaven and hell are the same place... it's the context of personal experience that dictates which you live in. i don't think it's very simple, but the idea is we are created by a benevolent "thing" that sometimes gives us the ability to torture each other, it can't be too simple.

i should look up "messianic jew," because if i don't i'll just assume "jews for jesus." all jews are messianic. messiah is their term, their belief. though like so many fundamental jewish tenets, there are fascinating parallels in egyptian mythology... but it's best to remember the difference between the former (and also present) jewish concept of the messiah, and the latter (also also present) christian concept, which is probably closer to the egyptian.

there is a wide range of distinct ideas which can be found in the bible. the more distinct they are (or the more they are made distinct,) the less they support each other.

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Permalink Reply by Opus V on October 11, 2008 at 4:52am

"what are your thoughts on God?"

God is a belief system, and we all have a belief system. Some of us need a book, and a name for it, others simply need their own reason.

does he exist?"

It's completly impossible to prove "he" does.

"does he not?"

It's completly impossible to prove "he" doesn't.

"is it possible to believe in God to a point."

Belief is a choice, choose to believe what makes you comfortable.

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Permalink Reply by Aleaska on October 21, 2008 at 8:28pm

thank you wish i could make my friend understand that she is really stubborn and strick about religion

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on October 15, 2008 at 2:17pm

i used to feel that way, only one day i decided that instead of not being influenced by any other person, that i would be influenced by every other person, and also myself. i live in faith that if there is a god, s/he is reasonable and i will be able to live in a way that is pleasing if i seek to be honest, informed, and a decent person, and that if s/he isn't reasonable, then there isn't any hope and i see no reason to make a slave of myself to some ridiculous system of pandering to god. (but that's not how i see all religion.)

you're right though, pastors and preachers and priests can still be really annoying. some are not, and they have my respect even if i think their religion is so often smaller than it needs to be.

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Permalink Reply by Opus V on October 15, 2008 at 5:08am

I think if there was solid proof, it would no longer be a religion, it would be a science. God would be like some kind of crazy powerful new creature that's been around forever and can do whatever it wants...crazy.

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on October 15, 2008 at 2:21pm

ah but science is only concerned with weighing the best evidence against the worst evidence, throwing the word "proof" around will never be truly relevant to either science or religion, only to people that insist they already know everything... a poor perspective for anyone wishing to become educated or enlightened, in faith, philosophy, or mathematics.

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Permalink Reply by Opus V on October 15, 2008 at 3:21pm

Yea, that post was my failed attempt at being condescending, when i used the word proof i was thinking about all those "proof god exists" or "proof god doesn't exist" sites that are packed with BS, and completly biast trick questions, and how actually finding the evidence for their case would do more harm than good.

The fact that nobody truly knows if god exists or not is religions trump card.

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on October 15, 2008 at 9:28pm

but it's true, no one knows.

it's also true that no one knows if there is a flying spagetti monster. but the more that people talk about one, the more relevant he becomes.

i don't think there is anyone over a very young age (even then, most haven't heard of him anyway) that believes gumby is real, but he has a wikipedia page and i don't. there's a very good reason for this, he had a 233-episode television program, i never have.

once you see god as a placeholder for countless philosophical ideas, s/he's not so bad. it's true, people take god way too seriously (even supposing s/he exists, and many of us hope so...) but that's how i feel about sports in the united states and all over the world, not to mention football in brazil. not to say that sports and religion are the same in idea or in degree, but the overlap between sports and religion is not easy to ignore.

as for gumby, vell he's just zis guy, ya know. santa is real every december, and i'm okay with that. it does not offend my sense of reason, and it's not that i do not have such a sense or value such a process. reality is a very important part of awareness. but it isn't everything to everyone.

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Permalink Reply by Opus V on October 15, 2008 at 11:56pm

One thing about the spagetti monster, isn't it mostly just an obnoxious joke created out of spite? sure, on the surface it's just as valid as any other religion, but i think when you look at the real purpose of religion, to encourage a more perfect society, to bring people together, to create stability and a strong sense of morals, the spagetti monster is more of a joke.

And yea, i agree, god, religion or anything faith based, if it's used as a belief system to help you through the day, then there's nothing wrong with that, i can't judge someone for striving to be a better person, with or without a god.

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Permalink Reply by tubejay on October 16, 2008 at 7:19am

it was created to show why teaching "intelligent design" (religion) in schools is ridiculous, yes. and teaching "intelligent design" in schools is ridiculous.

it's still interesting to watch a joke like that bring so many people together. he nearly has an unofficial holiday, where people dress up as pirates, and people stand outside and preach about his noodly apendages. but it's not the first religion created to be deliberately silly. i don't think it's too obnoxious either.

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