How can anyone not believe in a god? You here athiests all the time ranting that there is no god and that science can explain everything. There is some sort of higher being, a 'god' thats inevitable, but I would like to hear sme peoples opinions on christianity, and religion in general. I was raised catholic, and believed in it for 14 years, but now i have totaly different beliefs. How can chistianity be true? Sure there's a bible wth hundeds of documentations saying that jesus walked the earth, but look at the muslims, they have a whole bible of their own called the chorans with hundreds of documentery saying that alla walked the earth... look at all the christians who say muslims are crazy for believing in alla, i bet they think christians are crazy for believing in jesus. It is stupid to believe in a religion, there are so many and they all claim to be the right religion. Perhaps the bible was simply created as a means of law. Maybe a long time ago around 0 a.d much of the world was in havoc and no one followed any laws, so the ten commandments were made up, saying you will go to hell if you don't follow them.. back then people were very stupid, there minds had not evoled to what our minds are today so they accepted these comandments as fact. As far as god goes, I believe that god is not 'perfect' like religion says. I bet god would smoke marijuana if he walked the earth. Hell, god created pot anyways. As far as why god causes pain and suffering and murders on earth... its all about free will. We can do watever we want, god doesnt hold us back, thats a gift. Wouldn't it suck if god didn'nt let you look at porn? Or what if god kept you from lieing at court? What ifod didntet you masturbate? See, a perfect world would suck. Anyays, post you beliefs and opinions.
I was brought up as a christian, though lately I've distanced myself from it. For a lil while I thought of myself as atheist, but then changed to agnostic, as it seemed to make more sense. Now though I consider myself Taoist, they don't have any kind of God and it makes the most sense to me. I too also think that the bible is nothing more then a guide to live a better life, or just some story to make people want to live a better life. I think it's more like mythology, it has a meaning, but is taught with fabulous stories. Have you people ever read some of the stuff in the bible? "If any man take a wife, and go in unto her . . . and say, I took this woman, and when I came to her, I found her not a maid . . . and the tokens of virginity be not found for the damsel: Then they shall bring out the damsel to the door of her father's house, and the men of her city shall stone her with stones that she die . . ." (Deuteronomy 22:13-21) okay so we should kill any woman who isn't a virgin when she marries? "O daughter of Babylon, who art to be destroyed; happy shall he be, that rewardeth thee as thou hast served us. Happy shall he be, that taketh and dasheth thy little ones against the stones." (Psalm 137:8-9) Parent's should take their kids and kill them on the rocks, and then be happy for this is God's work? Christianity ain't the perfect lil religion it's made out to be.
well depicted zerocool. I was supposed to be brought up as a christian, had it forced upon me for many years... looking back i don't think i ever really accepted it as being the way things are or even was throughout history... in my head I was always questioning everything... through education and more intelectual persuits i since discovered i much wiser path to enlightenment using teacher drugs (psylocibin fungus & canabis sativa/indica) as a tool... Don't follow religion. and if u do do not ever write it down. because at some point in the future if your way becomes popular people will (whether they mean to or not) expliot it, misrepresent it, fill gaps, and generally get the wrong message... that is if the message is still the same after everyone has imposed their beleifs on it... and who is to say you were right in the first place. Don't follow religion. Dont follow me. Don't Follow them. Think for yourselves. Educate yourselves. Educate yourselves so you may educate others. Educate yourselves. Think for yourselves. Don't follow religion. Think. (sorry if that sounds like preaching... just trying to put some of that english class speach writing stuff into practice) 95% of all wars in the past can be attributed to one cause. Religion. Christianity is resposable for more deaths than any other religion. ok, ok. I didn't really explain my beleifs here at all. i guess if u wanna figure out what the heck i'm all about just read around... i've posted a few about this kinda thing on the philosophy section and other sections on grasscity. That Taoist stuff seems quite interesting, what the heck is with that? does it respect knowledge and science? what do they beleive in??? Hey! maybe we could create a new religious order. and all the followers be called 'blades' and the temple be called 'grasscity.com'!! good idea huh? (joke) Digit
how is the existance of a 'higher being' inevitable? even if hypothetically there was a god, it certainly wouldnt concern itself with our daily lives, considering that we are an unimaginably tiny and trivial part of the universe and there are most likely MANY more universes and dimentions which we will never even be aware of.. is the possibility of a chaotic, pointless existence really so freightening to you that you disregard it as even a POSSIBILITY? that belief seems rather strange to me, seeing as there will never, ever be a way to know for sure. personally, i have nothing to gain from believing in a higher power, so i why should i? many people do have a psychological need for religion though, seeing as moments of spirituality trigger certain brain states and may even be a vital part of our basic psychology.. because of this, i dont really have anthing against spirituality in general. however, organized religion is another story. please dont force any hypocritical big brother religions down my throat, and ill refrain from kicking you in the balls repeatedly, kind christians.. Digit is very, very right when he says to think for yourself.. following an organized religion is sacrificing your freedom and individuality to become part of a controlled herd and make fat old men rich, which i dont particularily want to do, thank you very much. who really thinks the filthy rich church leaders would give a fuck about God if they werent so filthy rich?? anyway, this is getting WAAY too long, so ill just end by saying that everytrhing we do, all our emotions and beliefs, are merely the result of the chemical reactions that happen to be going on in our brain at the time.. we have no real free will, and to say we KNOW anything at all about a 'higher power' is just insane.. think for yourselves guys, and keep an open mind...
Yeah dude u guys are really cool u make this shit make a lot more sense.. I've been confused for a while but hanging around here really opens your mind... Phil, I don't really understand how you can argue the fact of a god... Just because we dont know who or what the hell this god is, doesn't mean their isn't a god. "even if hypothetically there was a god, it certainly wouldnt concern itself with our daily lives" Hey man look around.. I don't see him concerning him self... And that really did open my mind a bit, phil, about us being only a trivial part of the infinity... that really puts a twist on things. Perhaps we are only a piece of God's infinite subconscience mind? Really, we will know none of the answers to this untill we die, that is if we live on. Unfortunatly no one is here who has died to tell us what it is like. This reminds me of a show called 'beyond human limits' on the discovery channel. There was one incident where a woman had to have surgery on her brain and they surgeons had to surgicaly stop the beating of her heart for 10 hours.. This made her medically 'dead' unable to create dreams, brainwaves, or hallucinations. The surgeons would then medically start the beat of the heart again, to bring her back to life. She reported during the 10 hours that she came out of her body and could see the surgeons working on her, and was able to describe the tools they had used, and actions that went on. She reported other psychodelic experienced, as if she was simply energy, she was everything and nothing. People ask well why didn't she go to heaven, or be reincarnated, or watever.. why was she not going anywhere, just sort of 'hanging around'. My theory is very simple, because that was not destined to happen. The universe new her fate, doctors would ellectically re-start the heart. So she stayed there, hovering above her body, as she awaited her 'shell' to be brought back to life. Anyways, thats my theory on the whole post-death experience. Did anyone else see this show? I hope this stuff didn't sound to deep and twisted, I thought this all up when i was stoned.
but of course, it doesnt mean there IS one either.. there may be no god at all.. like i said, everything may simply be a pointless, coincidental chaos, brought about by something like quantum physics. in a seemingly chaotic and complex existance, is it really so farfetched to believe that there isnt any sort of underlying 'order' behind it all? now im not saying there ISNT any god or static force- there may very well be one.. i just dont concern myself with the answer, and intead think of things relevant to me and whithin my comprehension, such as how to enjoy my short existence in the most free and enjoyable way possible.. to me, THIS is the 'driving force' or 'purpose' to my life, rather than the worship and study of the metaphysical. thats just how ive decided to live my life... in a world where the only 'constant' is change it is impossible to imagine a static being or an infinity, as every aspect of our existance revolves around the passage of time, or the concept of a beginning and end. my philosophy is why even bother obsessing over these concepts at all? anyway, just wanted to share some thoughts..
wow man thats pretty interesting... I totally understand your practice of thinking only what your mind can comprehind. Ininity cannot be conquered the finite mind. I've never actually heard of quantum physics can you enlighten me on this? Also what I have seen posted around this forum is one's theory of life and death. One person posted that he think of life and death as butterfly comes after catapillar. Life is being a catapillar, its boring, death is the change into a butterfly, its just another stage, a higher stage. If you think of it this way, it makes death seem silly, just enjoy life to its fullest, and if there really is no party after death, at least you had fun.
quantum physics is basically the theory that anything with a givin probability (practically ANYthing) can, and eventually will, happen. for instance, if you punch a wall repeatedly, eventually your hand will 'jump' through due to the (very, very, VERY) small probability. this HAS been demonstrated too, but only with 'walls' a few atoms thick and single atoms being 'jumped' over(due to the low probability of anything bigger).. basically, this ties into and explains the big bang theory, because the spontanious creation of the original 'marble of energy' which made the universe has a probability. basically, nothing existed for X amount of time until this 'ball' just spontainiously appeared, and because of the unfathomable energy produced by having everything in the entire universe crammed into a marble-sized orb it detonated, forming the universe as we know it. of course, this is all just theory, but interesting nonetheless.. Yeah man, thats pretty much my entire philosophy en breif.. i dont really worry too much about death, just like i didnt worry about life before i was born whatever happens (or doesnt happen) after i die is then, and this is now.. like you said, just another stage.. personally though, ill assume its just the end of consciousness until i see otherwise. the simplest solution to any given problem is most likely the correct one.. someone smart said something like that sometime..
Thats interesting.. I don't really get what your trying to say by the 'hand jumping through the wall' but that probability theory is very interesting. Do you know any websites that could further explain that? Heh, when i take my first shroom trip in a few days, i should read this whole post.. if im able to read...
http://www.flash.net/~csmith0/bigbang.htm heres a pretty interesting read about the origins of the universe... i didnt really explain quantum physics well at all(high ).. i think i explaining more quantum cosmology/mechanics/bullshit i read somewhere thats probably wrong than just general quantum physics, but you can do a google search on that too if you want..
It's hard to explain, it's based mostly on Tao. Tao is everything, it is a part of everything. It's kind of like the energy that runs through everything."The nameable tao is not the eternal tao" -Lao Tzu. It has more to do with nature and being one with what's around you, unlike some other religions where it's all about a God. It's hard to sum it up, the best way is to read about it.
Do I believe in religion? Hmmm.....well, I believe in God, I believe he is real, alive and all around us and with us always. As for believing in religion, there's to many to choose from, some claim to be the same but different or a version of the orginal. What a mess religion has become...so confusing. I believe we have a physical and spiritual existance, a split dimension maybe....who knows, but there's plenty of evidence to show a spiritual realm exists. You don't have to be dead to have a outta body experience, I've met many people who have travelled as a spirit. What they say, the stories they tell is not easy to explain, to intepret. The bottom line is, there's more to the story of life, there's more out there all around us that we can't see. God definately has something to do with it all, what ever he may be. The answers lies in seeking him. Well that's my thoughts anyway......
Religion is such a tricky subject because every religion thinks theirs is the best or right or supreme. But when you look at all the religions, they are so very similar to each other. Same types of rules and regulations, similar beliefs in love and death, in the afterlife. It makes you wonder which came first, and which ones are the "bastards". I've studied a few religions in university, and their different views on the parts of life. I've found no one religion that appeals to me, but lots of parts did. I was raised non-religious since my parents hated (for lack of a better word) the church. I guess that comes from being raised over-religiously. But they never said church/god is bad. I was left to choose my own path. I'm not even baptised. I was raised in an Anglican community, took religion in elementry school, said the lord's prayer every day, etc., etc. But I was probably the only kid on the island not allowed to go to sunday school because I wasn't baptised. And the minister at the time travelled between the outports, and he had at least 2 families. It's a wonder anyone has any faith at all. You know, believe in the ten commandments, but from there they should rewrite/rethink the good book. Zerocool was right - I mean who condems their child, their brides, their friends and families because they had premarital sex? The world is just going straight to hell in a handbasket.... Personally, if you can make peace with yourself, and if you know right from wrong you're on the right path. No one says you have to believe in GOD to have faith or religion. Sometimes, everyone needs to pray. If there is someone or something out there listening, I don't think it'll care if you have religion or not. God is supposed to be love, and like John Lennon said "Love is all you need".
For me, after years of family-fed protestant religion framing my young outlook on life, then experimenting with several philosophies ranging from pentacost to thoughts on reincarnation, one basic idiom stands throughout it all: Treat everything around you the same way that you want to be treated. Pretty simple sounding, but tougher than you think. The Golden Rule (as this philosophy is called in all the derived christian religions) appears EVERYwhere, cutting across history and different cultures like a hot knife through butter. As I said before, sounds simple enough. Is our life a one-shot deal, with our every action weighed at the time of our death, allowing us into the promised utopian heaven and eternal bliss? Is the whole enchilada some kind of spiritual evolution, taking many, MANY lifetimes to get it right before moving on to the next stage? Damn if I know. But the idea that if we treat every living thing, the planet, WHATEVER the same as we want to be treated seems like the route to me, no matter the strictures of religions out there. Maybe the Platinum Rule should be KISS (Keep It Simple Stupid)?
eh.. actually many religions are totaly different from each other.. Some, like mormans do not believe in birthday partys, dancing, celebrating of any kind.. there like damn hermits.. and then take a look at the rastafarians, they believe that there god is black, and that god made blacks the supreme race (hah) and there religion is to sit on there ass and smoke pot.. (a new law now gives rastafarians the freedom to legally sit on there ass and smoke pot in federall parks in america). So many religions, its not possible for 1 to be right.
I think that large organized religions like Christianity give religion in general a bad name. There are religions out there that don't think that theirs is better than anyone elses or that theirs is right and others are wrong, but you have to find them with an open mind. My father is a Buddhist and he has told me quite a bit about his religion. Instead of praying to a god that has never proven his existance to you, you meditate and look within yourself to find answers. However, this religion also teaches you to accept all others regardless of what they beleive in or how they live their lives. I don't follow any religion at this point in my life, but I feel that one day when I am older I will turn to some kind of belief system and the first one on my list will definitely be Buddhism.
"In the bullshit department, a business man cannot hold a candle to a clergy man. When it comes to bullshit, big time, major league bullshit you have to stand in awe, in awe of the all time champion of false promises and exaggerated claims, religion, no contest. Religion has the greatest bullshit story ever told. Religion has actually convinced people that there is an invisible man living in the sky who watches everything you do, and has a special list of 10 things he does not want you to do, and if you do any of these things he has a special place full of fire and smoke and burning and anguish, where he will send you to burn and suffer and burn and scream and choke for ever and ever until the end of time ... but he loves you. To those of you who look to the Bible for its literary qualities and moral lessons, I have a couple of other stories that I'd like to recommend to you. You might enjoy the Three Little Pigs -- that's a nice one with a happy ending --Little Red Riding Hood. And I've always drawn a great deal of moral comfort from Humpty Dumpty. The part I like the best "and all the King's horses and all the King's men couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again." That's because there is no Humpty Dumpty, and there is no god"
Religion, in the modern sense of the word, is in MHO the evil that men perpetuate (sic) on one another to keep control. I do believe in GOD, and it pretty much ends there for me. I don't trust what is written in the BIBLE because it has gone through numerous translations, from ancient languages, and I am expected to believe that it has been translated and preserved in its original context? Balderdash! I do believe that GOD expects me to live by certian rules of conduct, but I believe that those rules are an individual aspect. What I might consider bad, might not be such a bad thing in your books. I have no right to cram my belief down your throat. I was raised in a religious home. We went to church on Sunday, prayed over every meal, and were taught the "evils" of the world, one just so happened to be pot, go figure! I have a had a hard time seperating my families teachings, from what I now believe. My feelings are simply.... there is a GOD, he is a GOD that loves me, and only wants the best for me, beyond that I am neither ready nor able to comprehend more.
I think that there is a god,in other religons,for catholic for example,haha,what a croock. I think that god should be realize threw your own self, god is in side you. as far a other religons in the east, lets say, hinduism, the belive god is light and sound,in differernt realms. thats my opinion and facts later~