[ARCHIVED THREAD] - Religion (Page 1 of 2)
Posted: 9/20/2008 2:39:47 PM EDT
|
Where do you stand of the topic of religion? With the world on the brink of becoming FUBAR, it's often times difficult to believe there's anyone up there paying us much mind. Some rely on faith, and hold fast to it. Others would rather sign a pack with the devil. Still more couldn't give a damn one way or the other. Are you a devout believer in a god or gods, somewhere in between on the whole thing, or an affirmed atheist? |
| I went to a Catholic school and was force fed religion, which is probably why I reject the thought of it as an adult. I also used to attend church every Sunday until the priest that I used to listen to for an hour a week got arrested and convicted for sexually assaulting altar boys. Kinda hard to have faith after something like that happens. |
Universe is amazing, as is the planet Earth. |
What about the universe?.....what do you know about it? |
Which is why I'm in the middle. I can understand there is more to it all than what we know. I just don't know what the heck it is. |
| Agnostic, but only in the most technical sense of the word... I do not believe there is a god, but I understand that it cannot be proven one way or another and so understand that there is a possibility, however infinitesimal, that there may be a deity of some sort. |
Some people get pretty technical on the differences between agnostics and atheists but IMHO anyone who doesn't think there's a god is an atheist. Some people use 'strong atheism' to describe people who assert that there is no god or can't be one but of course nobody can prove that an invisible guy doesn't exist so the burden of proof will never be satisfied. Therefore I think the term atheist should be applied to all people who don't think there is a god, and agnostic should be reserved for those who just can't make up their mind either way. That's just my opinion though I know a lot of people think differently. |
|
Raised by semi-fundamentalists on my mother's side, albeit sporadic exposure to religion. Father was somewhat deistic, having been raised by hard-core fundamentalists. I never could figure out why someone would believe something that had as much proof as the Easter Bunny. Tried the born-again stuff in my early twenties. The glow faded from that rapidly. Then during a stressful time in my life became Catholic. That lasted a couple of years. But after realizing how unimaginably immense and mysterious the universe is and how little we can know about it, yet seeing how humanity is valiantly now attempting to understand more; and after learning how people's minds work as neurochemical mechanisms, and after learning the hard way how people are pretty much self-centered animals driven by instinct and self-interest, it became ludicrous to me to believe that some wandering desert-dwelling bronze-age tribesmen had a direct line to the creator of the entire universe. And that said creator dictated to them a disjointed hodgepodge of gobbledygook that has the smudgy fingerprints of primitive human authorship coupled with a enormous psuedo-political power structure determined to exercise dominion over humanity. Just doesn't make any logical sense at all. Belief requires man to become as liberal democrats: discard thinking and logic in favor of feeeeeelings. Can't do it anymore. Darn near everything can be explained by naturalistic means. Supernaturalism explains nothing. |
Doesn't seem to have convinced you. It is not evidence either way. |
From wikipedia:
|
I strongly disagree. Granted, there are believers who exercise blind faith and act on emotion/feelings, but I'm not one of them. Not too long after becoming a Christian my faith was challenged. At that moment I realized al I had (at the time) was my subjective experience. That wasn't quite enough for me. I decided I was going to look into Christianity and if there wasn't any solid evidence, I was ready to toss it out. Life is too short and important to waste on fairy tales. After doing pro and con reading, I am still a Christian, 22 years later. If you had ever read any Francis Shaeffer, C.S. Lweis, or Alvin Plantinga, you'd know that faith isn't just for non-thinkers. |
|
I have yet to see any evidence of a supreme being. Since, if such a being exists they seem to not be very active, they rank rather low on my care-o-meter. I call myself an agnostic, but I'm leaning pretty strongly towards atheism.
Pfff... you have faith in the GD forum? What an idiot. 
|
That's the way I feel. I've seen and experienced things that can't be easily explained but I have never seen or experienced anything that convinces me that there is anything more for ME after my inevitable death. On the other hand my limited experience with death has shown me that it has a profound effect on the people around it. I can fully understand other peoples need to think and believe someone is, "up there" or "gone to a better place". Our ability to think deep has caused our species to want to explain everything. It took thousands of years for us to understand how things in the universe and on our planet work. Before we really knew, it was caused by God, or a God(or the many different terms used to describe him,her,it) |
Exactly Not everyone will believe, not everyone will be saved, you have free will, just choose wisely.... |
What's the loch nees monster? Is it kind of like the aliens on The Arrival that lock their knees back to run? j/k 
|
pact  But it's probably a mute point anyway. It's just that alot of folks could care less. |
 Where's the fun in that??? That said... there has to be a God. Or all of our existence is a pointless freak accident, and means absolutely nothing. If that's the case, then I might as well just start my rampage tomorrow morning. |
I have chosen wisely. I choose to be an atheist. 
|
Explain. |
then be happy with it, and the now |
