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Does God exist?

Damian said:
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
DrLeftover said:
The word in the text should have been rendered to a combination of "honor, obey, and respect" God.

respect s something that is earned, not just freely given.............and how can you respect something which no only refuses to show itself but allows untold evil to happen in a world it created when it supposedly 'loves all its creations'

obey.....you saying i should blindly follow something that will not even show itself to me?

honour has a 'u' in it :P

only for you limeys :P

i would also contend that respect in terms of common courtesy is something that should be automatic. for myself, a person is always respected until they earn my disrespect.

there is a sensation that is called the 'ruach hakodesh' or holy wind by the jews and 'indwelling of the holy spirit' by the christians that is unmistakeable when somebody has said something profoundly true or you find yourself in a holy place, which for me is usually in the cathedral of nature where i can feel the unity of my spirit with the rest of creation.

einstein didn't buy that bearded guy in the sky schtick either, but he did recognize that there was something that consciously made what is and holds it all together. my personal opinion, after many years of studying ancient scriptures of many people, is that there is a single entity that is all that is, was or ever will be, but humans are not the last step between us and that. there are more highly advanced races and the cosmos is heavily populated with sentient species, but we've been quarantined due to harmful behaviors of these advanced beings, possibly also because of warfare between them that threatened to wreck the planet.

Respect can be earned instantly, quickly or it may take huge periods of time. Whatever works for you. And I'm fine with that but respecting something that was created only for explaining what could not be explained and controlling the masses...is insulting to say the least. Insulting it was THEN. Now... it's just plain stupid. Why? Because we have science and the theory of evolution and do not need a magic man in the sky to explain how various scientific phenomena work.

And as for the common argument 'I'm a good person thanks to god'... The reality is that the majority of heinous crimes committed against people on this planet across all of recorded history had their roots on religious beliefs, but the ability to distinguish right from wrong does not require any religious beliefs. In addition, animals who are incapable of understanding our human concept of religion show clear evidence of understanding moral behavior and distinguishing between right and wrong.
what i'm saying is that there is a certain level of respect that should be automatic. i like to use a ladder for an analogy. when we meet, you're on the middle rung of the ladder and whether you move up or down the ladder from there is dependent on what you say or do after we introduce ourselves.

my contention is that it's not the actual tenets of the faith that cause the problems, but they arise as a result of the institutions built up around the faith and the scurrilous scamsters who run them inciting people to commit violent acts all the way to the point of joining armies to participate in mass murder.

in my sect, our rabbis pretty much took all the slaughter in the scripture with a grain of salt and hammered on the prime directive to love god and all of creation with every fiber of our being, every waking moment of our lives. they made sure we understood what was righteous and what was sinful, as well as know the wise words of david, solomon and the prophets.

we were taught that we were made imperfect intentionally, so that our eternal spirits could grow by learning from the mistakes we make in the flesh. we're not threatened with eternal damnation for messing up beyond having to wait a long time for our next body or getting born immediately into a situation more difficult than the one we just left. i don't know if the person who coined it was being serious or funny, but somebody once said that the pinpoint of light that you see when you die is light shining into the vagina of your next mother as you're being reborn.
 
Damian said:
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
DrLeftover said:
The word in the text should have been rendered to a combination of "honor, obey, and respect" God.

respect s something that is earned, not just freely given.............and how can you respect something which no only refuses to show itself but allows untold evil to happen in a world it created when it supposedly 'loves all its creations'

obey.....you saying i should blindly follow something that will not even show itself to me?

honour has a 'u' in it :P

only for you limeys :P

i would also contend that respect in terms of common courtesy is something that should be automatic. for myself, a person is always respected until they earn my disrespect.

there is a sensation that is called the 'ruach hakodesh' or holy wind by the jews and 'indwelling of the holy spirit' by the christians that is unmistakeable when somebody has said something profoundly true or you find yourself in a holy place, which for me is usually in the cathedral of nature where i can feel the unity of my spirit with the rest of creation.

einstein didn't buy that bearded guy in the sky schtick either, but he did recognize that there was something that consciously made what is and holds it all together. my personal opinion, after many years of studying ancient scriptures of many people, is that there is a single entity that is all that is, was or ever will be, but humans are not the last step between us and that. there are more highly advanced races and the cosmos is heavily populated with sentient species, but we've been quarantined due to harmful behaviors of these advanced beings, possibly also because of warfare between them that threatened to wreck the planet.

Respect can be earned instantly, quickly or it may take huge periods of time. Whatever works for you. And I'm fine with that but respecting something that was created only for explaining what could not be explained and controlling the masses...is insulting to say the least. Insulting it was THEN. Now... it's just plain stupid. Why? Because we have science and the theory of evolution and do not need a magic man in the sky to explain how various scientific phenomena work.

And as for the common argument 'I'm a good person thanks to god'... The reality is that the majority of heinous crimes committed against people on this planet across all of recorded history had their roots on religious beliefs, but the ability to distinguish right from wrong does not require any religious beliefs. In addition, animals who are incapable of understanding our human concept of religion show clear evidence of understanding moral behavior and distinguishing between right and wrong.

Your claim about religion being the catalyst behind a vast majority of crimes has been made by someone else earlier in this thread. Personally I see this as more concerning of religion in society than the existence of a god. It's a claim that is often thrown around in religious debates but is surrounded by ambiguity in terms of its justification.

There are things beyond human understanding that science can't explain. I'm not saying we should attribute those things to the existence of a higher power, but that science is fallible and limited to human comprehension. There are also some religious narratives that have been supported by scientific evidence, such as Noah's Ark: http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/evidence-suggests-biblical-great-flood-noahs-time-happened/story?id=17884533

The idea of equating religion and morality is dicey, but it stems from the idea that morality came from somewhere - or something. Look at Kant'a definition of God for example. If some things are intrinsic to human understanding, a priori, then by logical induction, the idea of a morally supreme being simply fits that system.

Aside from that many religions have moved away from concept of sola fide. But it is the combination of faith and works that is left to determine that.

"As the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without deeds is dead." James 2:17 (NIV)
 
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
DrLeftover said:
The word in the text should have been rendered to a combination of "honor, obey, and respect" God.

respect s something that is earned, not just freely given.............and how can you respect something which no only refuses to show itself but allows untold evil to happen in a world it created when it supposedly 'loves all its creations'

obey.....you saying i should blindly follow something that will not even show itself to me?

honour has a 'u' in it :P

only for you limeys :P

we invented the language,,,,you lot just bastardised it :P

since you used the term can i start calling you a septic or a spam?
 
Actually, American English is a sub language of the English language, just like Australian English...

I call a lift a elevator, sue me...
 
beowulf said:
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
DrLeftover said:
The word in the text should have been rendered to a combination of "honor, obey, and respect" God.

respect s something that is earned, not just freely given.............and how can you respect something which no only refuses to show itself but allows untold evil to happen in a world it created when it supposedly 'loves all its creations'

obey.....you saying i should blindly follow something that will not even show itself to me?

honour has a 'u' in it :P

only for you limeys :P

we invented the language,,,,you lot just bastardised it :P

since you used the term can i start calling you a septic or a spam?
be my guest. any derogatory names you call me is a reflection on yourself, not me. :)
 
+Justice said:
Actually, American English is a sub language of the English language, just like Australian English...

I call a lift a elevator, sue me...
british english is nothing more than a polyglot collection of words from a bunch of other languages. the only bastardization that americans committed that i see is the dropping of superfluous letters like the U from words like 'colour' and 'behaviour'.
 
I'm in the mindset that I don't know if God or a god(s) exist. I can't prove God's existence, nor can I prove he doesn't exist, and it doesn't seem right to say something doesn't exist simply because it's not visible. Who's to say God is real either? I don't know, and I don't think I'll ever know, so I maintain my agnostic status.
 
Dee said:
I'm in the mindset that I don't know if God or a god(s) exist. I can't prove God's existence, nor can I prove he doesn't exist, and it doesn't seem right to say something doesn't exist simply because it's not visible. Who's to say God is real either? I don't know, and I don't think I'll ever know, so I maintain my agnostic status.

Correction:

You WILL KNOW

about five minutes after your corporeal self assumes room temperature.
 
DrLeftover said:
Actually I am quite fluent in Brit Speak.

so I know when to say "sod off".
i'm partial to 'bugger off' myself. calling a brit who's getting a little too full of himself a 'scozzer' is a surefire way to piss them off.
 
DrLeftover said:
Dee said:
I'm in the mindset that I don't know if God or a god(s) exist. I can't prove God's existence, nor can I prove he doesn't exist, and it doesn't seem right to say something doesn't exist simply because it's not visible. Who's to say God is real either? I don't know, and I don't think I'll ever know, so I maintain my agnostic status.

Correction:

You WILL KNOW

about five minutes after your corporeal self assumes room temperature.

I'm sorry....what? xD Is this scientific fact?
 
What he is trying to say is that whoever lies in wait for mankind will be known to them after they die. So everyone will know the truth in the end regardless of what they do or don't believe in.
 
Bluezone777 said:
What he is trying to say is that whoever lies in wait for mankind will be known to them after they die. So everyone will know the truth in the end regardless of what they do or don't believe in.

I get that, but he's coming at the situation from his point of view. I don't know this is for certain. Chances are I could die and then nothing will happen. I will simply cease to exist and not "come to know" the truth simply because I can't say I believe--in the end--that it will happen. It just seems pointless to me to say something like that to someone who doesn't have an opinion one way or another. It's like attempting to cram one's religious beliefs onto a completely different person who doesn't share that same opinion, hmm... Veryyyy interesting. /sarcasm :glare:
 
TommyTooter said:
DrLeftover said:
Actually I am quite fluent in Brit Speak.

so I know when to say "sod off".
i'm partial to 'bugger off' myself. calling a brit who's getting a little too full of himself a 'scozzer' is a surefire way to piss them off.

not really......unknown word here.......it might have an effect in Australia tho where it is used
 
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
DrLeftover said:
The word in the text should have been rendered to a combination of "honor, obey, and respect" God.

respect s something that is earned, not just freely given.............and how can you respect something which no only refuses to show itself but allows untold evil to happen in a world it created when it supposedly 'loves all its creations'

obey.....you saying i should blindly follow something that will not even show itself to me?

honour has a 'u' in it :P

only for you limeys :P

we invented the language,,,,you lot just bastardised it :P

since you used the term can i start calling you a septic or a spam?
be my guest. any derogatory names you call me is a reflection on yourself, not me. :)

so, you using a derogatory name is a reflection on you, you must agree?
 
TommyTooter said:
DrLeftover said:
Actually I am quite fluent in Brit Speak.

so I know when to say "sod off".
i'm partial to 'bugger off' myself. calling a brit who's getting a little too full of himself a 'scozzer' is a surefire way to piss them off.

As a British person, I have no idea what a "scozzer" is. Unless you mean "Scouser" which is a term used for people from Liverpool.
 
Princess Alexandros XVII said:
TommyTooter said:
DrLeftover said:
Actually I am quite fluent in Brit Speak.

so I know when to say "sod off".
i'm partial to 'bugger off' myself. calling a brit who's getting a little too full of himself a 'scozzer' is a surefire way to piss them off.

As a British person, I have no idea what a "scozzer" is. Unless you mean "Scouser" which is a term used for people from Liverpool.
you probably have the right spelling, but i've seen it used on people other then liverpoodles, referring to low life street types.
 
beowulf said:
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
TommyTooter said:
beowulf said:
DrLeftover said:
The word in the text should have been rendered to a combination of "honor, obey, and respect" God.

respect s something that is earned, not just freely given.............and how can you respect something which no only refuses to show itself but allows untold evil to happen in a world it created when it supposedly 'loves all its creations'

obey.....you saying i should blindly follow something that will not even show itself to me?

honour has a 'u' in it :P

only for you limeys :P

we invented the language,,,,you lot just bastardised it :P

since you used the term can i start calling you a septic or a spam?
be my guest. any derogatory names you call me is a reflection on yourself, not me. :)

so, you using a derogatory name is a reflection on you, you must agree?
pretty much the rule of thumb is that the person who calls somebody a name like idiot as a retort to an argument is the one that subsequent readers will view as the idiot.

i do the best i can to avoid it but when i'm being confronted by one or more nut jobs slinging irrational ad hominem fallacies at me supported by schools of red herrings and hordes of straw men, i will lose it and go off on them. we all have our tolerance thresholds. :)
 
DrLeftover said:
What happens to the 'individual' after the body dies is the only mystery that Every Single Person will solve.

you've got that one right, but there has been quite a bit of study of near death experiences that support the idea of transmigration of the soul from body to body.

i had a near death experience in 1999 when a ledge one of my puppies was stuck on crumbled and i fell about thirty feet smashing my face on the cliff side on the way down. i was sure i was going to die and started reciting shema ( deut 6: listen israel: god is one) which is the custom of my people when we're going to die and about the third time through, i got a real clear message from the other side that it wasn't my time yet.
 
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