I used to believe that there was a god, until recently i have thought why worship someone who doesn't give a flying fuck to what i pray for? I never get my prayers answered and the only reason i used to believe in god was becuase i was raised that way. I think that god is just a clutch for people to hold on to when they are weak, so they can rely on somone in a "higher" position. Back then they said it rained becuase god cried, and it thundered becuase of thor the thunder god. Now we have scientific proof on why it rains, thunders, snows, and all the jazz. I think that facts are the answer, becuase faith is the exact opposite and seems stupid becuase you believe in something opposed of the facts. I do however think there is somewhat of an afterlife becuase i know people that have astral projected and such, and so did people on these forums, but I just seem to think that god doesn't exist, or he just doesnt give a flying fuk about my life, or anything. There are so many fucked up things in this world like our wars, and other things, why isn't there a huge water to wash us away and clear a new world like noahs ark. But then researchers say noah was a drunk, so who's to say our holy books are just people being bored and sit down one day and decide to make the bible, torah, koran.... ect. I do however believe, that if god does not exist he must be created. Our society would not function without religion, and i agree and respect those who are religious, but see no hope of god existing, unless i have proof or god speaks to me. Somone enlighten me on this. Thanks for reading my long read.
I agree with you on almost everything. Except I think there is a god, but he doesn't give a rats ass. I support the whole evolution thing, but I have to question... If organic molecules came from inorganic ones one day, where did the inorganic ones come from? People answer saying they were other mutation elements and atoms. But you have to question, where did that very first one come from??? As for an afterlife, I really have no idea. Why look forward that far. If there is a god he obviously put us here for a reason, and I don't think its to be obsessing about whether or not worms eat into our brains when we die. I live for the here and now. I'll be a good person, try to help people out, but i'm not going to worship something just because theres a chance he might exist. I like science to much for that
Unfortunetly part of all religions is belief in things we cannont understand. Also, just like a good parent allows the child to make mistakes and learn and grow from them God/god/creator might very well do the same. Not to mention miracles and all sorts of other crazy things. When I was in college I had a prof who studied in Tibet for years and met wild crazy yoga masters. These dudes would sit out in the snow in nothing but robes for days and days meditating and in the summer would build huge bonfires and sit by them doing the same. There was also a woman in India who was studied by the government there because she didn't eat or drink anything but absorbed energy from her surroundings. If not a God then there is some energy that is greater than each one of us. I would suggest you investigate some of the beliefs that explore energy within yourself and the universe around you. Wild wild stuff...
I'm sorry but your indian lady is a bs story, you need food as an energy to function and water to keep hydrated. She would die, its not possible to live, i think that lady is sneaking in snacks behind the govs back.
I come from a christian family and I don't believe in a God. If there is a God, he's not the God christians believe in, and the evidence is this world. Fuck, I even took philosophy classes in college to figure this shit out and not even the professors seemed to have any remote idea about the existence of a god. Consensus among those who I talk to is that humans need to develop technologically for a hundred, or two more years in order to be able to find scientific evidence of wether a god exists or not.
God doesn't break laws. God gave us free will. We sinned and gained knowledge of evil. God gave us free will. This world = A world created in our image, not God's. = Reason why this world is fucked up. Now I believe in God but everyone has the right to their own opinion with regards to their faith (obviously), I'm just trying to explain why this world could be as fucked up as it is, even though God is around.
Everything works out in the end, regardless of how messed up some things seem. Take World War II for example. Sure, it was horrible. It's easy to see why so many people think that "God" looked the other way. However, look at all the good things that came from it. The United Nations was established, an entity that not only attempts to prevent wars but also helps prevent human suffering, economic injustices, and a slew of other benifits to the world. Not to mention the formattion of Israel, the return to economic stability of many countries, including the United States. There are many other examples like this throughtout history, people just need to look at the long term effects of negative events first. And I'm not saying World War II was good, just making a point.
of course there's a god. his name is randolph and he's a giant frog-worm living in the orion nebula. he poops too much but he doesn't have any immodium a.d. so he just keeps pooping and his poop eventually forms stars and planets and happy little people who have no idea what the fuck is going on. this is a fact whether you believe it or not.
i think the whole god thing in the way we understand it is BS(organized religion). god is santa clause for adults. Some adults cannot allow themselves to free their mind from the prison that religion has put them in. They are afraid to let go of something that was instilled in them their whole lives. I dont blame them, its hard to let go of something when everyone around you are instilling the concept of god into your mind. People do not allow themselves to even consider the fact that god may not exist because they feel they will be punished for questioning gods existance.Why would "god" give us a mind to question things but punish us for questioning his existance? I think if the concept of hell wasnt a factor in religion many people wouldnt even worry about being religious.
okay, now we also have about 4-7 genocides/holocausts going around in the world and no one is doing shit but giving out bullshit fake livestrong bracelets about darfur
Religion is used to explain things around us that we don't immediately understand. It has also been used through out the ages to control the commoner and don't try and kid yourself, we are still peons working the land for the land owners, except now we aren't called Serfs. The standard of living has raised enough that even the serfs can be content with their lives. You should really check out Richard Dawkins The Root of All Evil (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Root_of_All_Evil) Faith - The process of not thinking. Religion is supposed to be something that as you get older and develop critical thinking skills you should be able to realize is absolutely ridiculous. Take a look at Russell's Teapot (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Russell's_teapot) or The Flying Spaghetti Monster (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flying_Spaghetti_Monster) and you will realize how ridiculous religion is. We don't need religion, there are plenty of other options. People tend to believe that with out religion you end up with Nihilism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nihilism), however nihilism is really something to be overcome, and humanism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Humanism) makes quite a good argument against it. Religion should NOT be used to explain how the world around us works. However I believe that spirtuality is great, Budhism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Budhism), Confucianism (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Confucius) provide more a way of living, rather than explanations for everything. Science should be used to explain the universe, and if we don't have the answers now we shouldn't just cop out and say.... God did it! Just like how we used to have no clue where organic molecules came from and believe that they were magic of the gods, one day we may know where the base elements and atoms come from. However until that day I don't think we should run around believing that God created it. I agree with Russian Roulett, if this was true there would be A LOT more news coverage. "Consensus among those who I talk to is that humans need to develop technologically for a hundred, or two more years in order to be able to find scientific evidence of whether a god exists or not." We may never be able to prove if God exists or not, but I am sure we can come pretty close. But until then lots not just be complacent and say God did everything we don't understand In the end are you really free? 80% of your personality comes from your genetics, 20% comes from your environment 0% comes from a soul. So depending on your genes and the environment you grew up in, it will affect every choice you make. So are you really making a decision, or the specific genes and environment you grew up in make the choice for you? (I bet I sound a little loony right now, but think about it) (Those statistics are based on a study of twins separated at birth) Wow it failed miserably. The UN is a puppet institution that has no real power. The UN did not authorize the invasion of the sovereign country of Iraq, therefore what the United States did was a world crime, and they did nothing about it. Also take a look at the Darfur region, a genocide has been raging there for years and just now the UN is slowly doing something about it. Anyway sorry for the rant, its late, and I'm a little baked. "Everybody nowadays is an atheist about Thor and Apollo. Some of us just go one god further." -Richard Dawkins "Good people will do good things, and bad people will do bad things. But for good people to do bad things-that takes religion." -Stephen Weinberg
Russian Roulett, maybe if you are frustrated with the God of your understanding and his role in the world its because you only know about Christianity. There is a fundamental difference in which the world is interpreted between those that came out of Judea and those that came out of India. Christianity/Judaism/Islamic faiths all have a maker God while Hindu and related faiths all have an acting God. When examined this way, you see that all of perceived reality is just a drama being acted out by God. I am God, you are God, the trees are God, my computer is God, my stack of porn is God... He is such a good actor that he even forgets that he is god. Him and the audience are completely enthralled by the play and forget that this isn't real but only a story. Evil isn't real, its only a plot device to make the story interesting. And as characters in his play we find evil objectionable, but it is necessary. It pains us now, but after our part is done we realize once again what really is happening. Depending on the type of play its either tragic or comedic, but when the play is over, God takes off his masks and everyone applauds at the incredible play they just witnessed. There was no good, there was no evil; it was all just pretend. For fun. What else would you do if you could do anything and had an eternity of time on your hands? Entertain yourself, of course. So looking at it as a Christian you want to ask why and the answer is because God is at play. You want to ask how, but that can only be answered through science which still won't be satisfactory. As a Hindi, the why is because God is at play once again but the how is because he dreamed it. Just as you can create in a lucid dream so can he create in the first stages of his dream. You can't control a dream if you are fully immersed though and likewise you can't control reality if you are a god completely immersed. With such easy answers one isn't preoccupied with them anymore and he can go on about his business in his role in whatever way he chooses. Happiness and freedom is a given. Christianity as it is taught now, forces itself to be a crutch. Not because its a maker God religion but because the meaning has been corrupted by authority. Christ taught that we were all sons of God just as we are all brahma, but common translations say that only Christ could and ever will be the son of God. Since we can never aspire to be as good as Christ we can't even follow the religion successfully. This is why the West is so guilty and miserable. If this was ever to be taught truthfully, there would not be a need for the Church as a crutch. And yes, to those here that are spiritually adept, its pretty obvious I am heavily influenced by Alan Watts. Roulett, I highly recommend that you read his works or listen to his lectures. The ideas presented are a very clear and logical in his examination of religion. meh, just trying to say that you shouldn't give up on all religion on the lack of knowledge of other religions. I just wanted to address this because that statement is an assumption based on the limited view that has been taught in the West. It doesn't work for most of the population because the faith is just not there. Even now with newly discovered quantum teleportation phenomena, we are able to make copies of atomic configurations with free atoms at a separate location. What if the body could do the same with the right instructions from the brain. If one believed truly that it could happen, it is possible to reconfigure the energy around us (remember religion tells us everything is God and scientific theory says everything is energy) into a form that could sustain us. She may be sneaking food, but I have a suspicion that she's not. Anything is possible, in the West, we are just realizing that.