What do you believe?

[shugo k]

umm... whats "Abiogenesis"? I suck at long words

[S1lentOp]

umm... whats "Abiogenesis"? I suck at long words

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abiogenesis

That's the kind of question we use Google and Wikipedia to answer.

[Ganheim]

I'm Muslim. So I believe in Allah.

I'm curious. What specific sect of Islam do you follow? What do you think about the other sects, and is there anything about any of them you could tell non-Muslims?

I don't believe that everything in the Bible is a fact, anything translated by man is bound to have flaws in it, but I believe in it mostly.

My personal take is that the Bible needs to be taken literarily, not always literally.

I just haven't had any tangable proof of his/her/its existance.

If the sunrise doesn't strike you with a sense of awe, I don't know what will.

If anything I beleive more in science.

Faith in God and science are not mutually exclusive at all.

If there is a god most likey it just sits back and watches and doesn't really doesn't interfere with the lives of us mortals.

This roughly sounds like the "clockmaker" theism that I studied in American Literature back in a summer course. I lean more towards God as an active but not necessarily attention-demanding force. He wants us to have the option to believe what we want, even if that's to claim that He doesn't exist.

Which is why it gets on my nerves whenever I see someone praying to god so that they can win the lottery or even while watching Big Brother whenever you see Amber or Jamica praying to god so they don't get voted out.

I am right there with you. People pray for some of the most foolish things, though I've liked this quote for a while because it emphasizes the double-edged sword of possession:

"All get what they want, though they do not always like it." -- Aslan, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew

What I know is that everything that makes up our minds are electrical impulses, basically energy. Energy cannot be destroyed, it can change state. So that energy has to go somewhere when our bodies die.

The brain is made up of millions of neurons, slight chemical changes ionize segments of the cell and create electrical pulses. The problem is, the spirit is something that, while connected to the body (for a while, anyway), it is not something that is necessarily bound to this world.

And as for religious books ...They are ultimatly writen by people, not god(s).

Every word spoken passed through the mouth of a man, but that does not mean that God's words cannot echo in the voice of a man.

The evolutionary peak is what I beleive is titled "God",but once again,this dosn't mean anything supernatural or metaphysical,just that they are above the rest of histories examples of their race.

So, in essence, you don't believe in God as a greater-than-physical force in the universe?

but in the end I can't stand living in this world just to return to dust,

I don't think death is the end, I'm positive there's a heaven and hell.

I can go to somewhere my soul can travel freely throughout the cosmos, becoming anything possible,

This sounds like a derivation of the splinter sects that formed in the wake of the early reformation period of Hinduism (one of its other products being Buddhism). Was that an influence?

Zen Buddhism.

There's another one I haven't studied at all since World Religions at the community college. What differentiates that from the mainstream Buddhism popular in most of China (unless I'm mistaken and that is the name for the mainstream sect of Buddhism, in which case please correct me)?

Honestly I have no specific religous view.
I mean I don't believe in God, and believe that "God" is something that people believe in so that they are not afraid of death,

That looks specific to me. I agree that many mythologies are constructs of the human mind to explain or enforce elements of the human condition, but the existence of God alone is not required for progression of life. Acknowledgement of Him and subsequent changes in behavior and outlook make more than just a clarification of that oft frightening event called "death", but I digress.

and since weather and other natural disasters and such were unexplained back then

I would chance to say that nature remains mostly unexplained today. We know a lot more of the "how", but the "why" remains.

But my opinion in life is that we shouldn't need a theory of a super being overwatching what we do,

In an ideal world, there wouldn't need to be somebody standing over people with a ruler, ready to rap the next miscreant's knuckles. Obviously, this is not an ideal world. "On the make" was not a euphamistic phrase created for fun. The problem is that religion cannot be wiped from the human race so that we can experiment and see if people would "be good" if they didn't think there was a God, but even with religion here "to tell people to be good" I see plenty of "not good" rampaging across the face of humanity. I think the human predilection is to boost oneself regardless of the harm done to others, so it is a serious break from the nature of humans to do something as small as stopping and holding the door open for a couple incoming people.

we all should be good humans because at heart we are.

I would have to disagree with that: history seems to indicate that humans are not good at heart.

good should not be created, but should be embraced...

Good should of course be embraced, but since good is not the default that "lies hidden beneath the surface, waiting to be discovered", it needs to be created.

I think we make our own heaven and our own hell right here and right now.

In many senses, I think that we can create reflections of Heaven and Hell.

[S1lentOp]

Ganheim, this is not the place to get behind your pulpit and pick at everyone's worldview. Essentially, this thread is a survey and it is for a very good reason that the author of this thread has requested that people not say anything that may incite debate or argument. All comments or questions towards other people's beliefs that are not for clarification purposes (e.g. "What does ______ mean?") should be left to private messages. As is the case in any matter of opinion, some people's beliefs are bound to exhibit inconsistencies or impracticalities, but this is not a thread for such discussion. Their beliefs may seem strange or peculiar to you, but the prerequisite of participating in this thread is that every poster has agreed to disagree with the other people who have and will post in this thread. Since the topic of religion is an extremely delicate one to discuss, it is best that all posts stay on topic and simply state what he or she believes.

This would apply to anyone that Ganheim has addressed in his post as well. Please do us all a favor and simply brush off anything that he has said that may tempt you to retaliate. Obviously some of his passive-aggressive criticisms may be tempting to argue against, but when that starts, it's not long before this thread goes down hill.

[Cless]

I don't have a religion nor do I want one. However I'm in a family where one side is Jewish and the other is Baptist.

[AuraTwilight]

If the sunrise doesn't strike you with a sense of awe, I don't know what will.

awe-inspiring != Proof of God.

Faith in God and science are not mutually exclusive at all.

Agreed. Creationism and Science, however...

So, in essence, you don't believe in God as a greater-than-physical force in the universe?

He doesn't. Azure Crow believes that God will be a product of the universe, instead of the other way around.

[Haseo-Skaith]

I just haven't had any tangable proof of his/her/its existance.

If the sunrise doesn't strike you with a sense of awe, I don't know what will.

While pretty I don't see how an effect of the planets rotation to the sun has to do with beleiving in god.

If anything I beleive more in science.

Faith in God and science are not mutually exclusive at all.

True but science deals with provan facts and not on dogma that was writen a long time ago by people trying to make up a good story.

If there is a god most likey it just sits back and watches and doesn't really doesn't interfere with the lives of us mortals.

This roughly sounds like the "clockmaker" theism that I studied in American Literature back in a summer course. I lean more towards God as an active but not necessarily attention-demanding force. He wants us to have the option to believe what we want, even if that's to claim that He doesn't exist.

Well the way I see it is that there is a 50/50 chance that god either exists or doesn't exist. So until I get something tangable I keep the scaled on an equal level.

Which is why it gets on my nerves whenever I see someone praying to god so that they can win the lottery or even while watching Big Brother whenever you see Amber or Jamica praying to god so they don't get voted out.

I am right there with you. People pray for some of the most foolish things, though I've liked this quote for a while because it emphasizes the double-edged sword of possession:

"All get what they want, though they do not always like it." -- Aslan, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Magician's Nephew

Well at least we can agree on something.

What I know is that everything that makes up our minds are electrical impulses, basically energy. Energy cannot be destroyed, it can change state. So that energy has to go somewhere when our bodies die.

The brain is made up of millions of neurons, slight chemical changes ionize segments of the cell and create electrical pulses. The problem is, the spirit is something that, while connected to the body (for a while, anyway), it is not something that is necessarily bound to this world.

Thats pretty much what I said. Except what I call energy you call a soul. In either case there's no way to say what happends to that energy after we die. Maybe there's some truth to reincarnation in that the energy from someone dying just miegrates to a new body, maybe it be another human or maybe even an animal.

And as for religious books ...They are ultimatly writen by people, not god(s).

Every word spoken passed through the mouth of a man, but that does not mean that God's words cannot echo in the voice of a man.

Well thats your beleive and I'll respect that. But I still stand by what I originally said. Books are writen by people and I highly doute any god had any involvement in their making.

[Kyero Fox]

Honestly I have no specific religous view.
I mean I don't believe in God, and believe that "God" is something that people believe in so that they are not afraid of death, and that if they are good for their whole lives they will be rewarded by going to heaven instead of hell, and that the people that do bad things will eventually burn and suffer in hell. Honestly I think "god" is more of a Santa Claus for adults, in essence that if they are good they will be rewarded, and knowing that he/she/it just might not exsist, but the human good nature just truly wishes it is a real thing so that there is no second thought of fear of "What is yet to come...". The main sole purpose of the reason "God" and religion is around is because of the comfort factor, and that it has the ability to soothe one's state of mind. To think that long ago when religion was thought up, I believe that it was just created as a myth to keep people in line so that they were not horrible people and going out and killing one another, for example: "Thou shall not kill..." basically people way back in the old days that had a good heart and mature mind decided if they were to come up with the ideal that if people do something horrible that he/she would be punished by a "God" and since weather and other natural disasters and such were unexplained back then they could merely point their fingers and say it was teh wrath of "God" that had created such a tragedy. Mostly, I believe religion and "God" was created so it would push people to be good, and be kind to one another and etc.

But my opinion in life is that we shouldn't need a theory of a super being overwatching what we do, so we all be good, but instead we all should be good humans because at heart we are. There are many things that are unexplained and well I just think religion is there to justify the unexplainable such as death, I mean I believe it is just darkness, no thought or feelings, the moment when we are sleeping and fall into a deep sleep and have no recolection of the sleep that we just had, the time where it went from 10:00 pm to 7:00 am almost an hour before the alram going off... Basically I think religion is a good thing to have so that chaos is not invoked, but I think good should not be created, but should be embraced... and that heaven and hell crap, I think we make our own heaven and our own hell right here and right now. Why wait 70-80 years supposedly for our rewards, when we can have them now by doing the best we can everyday and everynight!

lalalalala

*dances around stomping* I agree I agree I agree.. Lalalala

I belive some do gooders made up the whole GOD and Devil Stuff just to get people to behave or follow the Path of righteousness.

which brings up this picture

[milliennium_fox]

It was only a matter of time...

Make a seperate thread to delve deeper into the topic if you like, but do not post anything beyond what the topic asked for.

[Kyero Fox]

It was only a matter of time...

Make a seperate thread to delve deeper into the topic if you like, but do not post anything beyond what the topic asked for.

why? Who went off topic? I simply just said what I belived in and posted a little picture to bring some laughs. I voted Athiest btw.

[milliennium_fox]

It's pretty clear your post was a sarcastic response to White Wolf's post. Don't play dumb.

[Kyero Fox]

It's pretty clear your post was a sarcastic response to White Wolf's post. Don't play dumb.

I can asure you there was nothing sarcastic about that. If I mean to be sarcastic I will show it but. Now lets get off this missunderstanding and get back on topic shall we?

I think theres more proof god doesn't exsist than proof he does.

[S1lentOp]

It's pretty clear your post was a sarcastic response to White Wolf's post. Don't play dumb.

I can asure you there was nothing sarcastic about that. If I mean to be sarcastic I will show it.

Regardless, it's clear that you could have expressed your opinion in a much more mature and respectful manner. Instead you used patronizing terms and then mockingly posted a satirical picture that any half-wit could have seen was a bad idea. That kind of immature nonsense has no place here. So here's the deal, watch what you say or people are going to come down on you hard. Neither milliennium_fox nor I want to see this thread be ruined because one person was thoughtless.

So to quote d5t, who put it so eloquently...
"THINK ---> READ ---> THINK AGAIN ---> TYPE"

[Kyero Fox]

i was CLEARLY on topic, I stated that I didn't belive in god and I Agreed with White Wolfs post. Theres no need for pointless bashing on someone who was following rules.

So I posted a little comedy picture so what? No need to have a ***** Cow over it. I said NOTHING which anyone should get mad about except maybe those who overlook/react to things such as just now.

[AuraTwilight]

Remember, Kyero, it's not a coincidence that 4-chan is both the lamest, and the most picture-whoring, forum on the internet.

[Kyero Fox]

Remember, Kyero, it's not a coincidence that 4-chan is both the lamest, and the most picture-whoring, forum on the internet.

Bah! damn that 4chan **** hole... my friend showed me that picture when we were watching a Athiest video. I never even visit 4chan.