How do you feel about God.

Enjoy this thread everyone. I believe we all posted what we thought. It seems it is going in the direction of defense of one's beliefs instead of merely stating them. We all know that is where these always go downhill.

I'm out. Peace...

(and I am guilty of falling into that as well...)

The bible cannot be used as proof of a deity. That is circular logic at its worst. Why do you receive the blessings of a god, but the starving believers around the world must die for lack of food despite their prayers? How can a deity be all loving, and all good, but still torture people for eternity? That shows I'm more merciful than a god. Also, a choice between "worship me or suffer unimaginable agony forever" is not a choice, anymore than "Give me your wallet or I kill your child" is a choice for free will.

Furthermore, the one making the extraordinary claim is the one who much provide proof, not the one doubting the claim.

Remember my first post in this thread? Even if there is a god, if it does not affect physical reality in any tangible way, shape, or form... it's existence doesn't make any difference anyway. If it has no effect... it's the same as it not existing at all.

According to christianity, steve jobs is currently being lit on fire. He was buddhist.

Originally Posted by possum_minister

First of all atheism is not a religion. A religion would require a diety to be worshipped which atheists dont have.

That depends on what your definition of religion is. For example, here's some definitions of religion I've found:

James Martineau: "Religion is the belief in an ever-living God, that is, in a Divine Mind and Will ruling the Universe and holding moral relations with mankind."

Friedrich Schleiermacher: "The essence of religion consists in the feeling of an absolute dependence."

Rudolf Otto: "Religion is that which grows out of, and gives expression to, experience of the holy in its various aspects."

Immanuel Kant: "Religion is the recognition of all our duties as divine commands."

John Dewey: "The religious is any activity pursued in behalf of an ideal end against obstacles and in spite of threats of personal loss because of its general and enduring value."

Paul Tillich: "Religion is the state of being grasped by an ultimate concern, a concern which qualifies all other concerns as preliminary and which itself contains the answer to the question of the meaning of our life."

John Hick: "Religion centers upon an awareness and response to a reality that transcends ourselves and our world whether the 'direction' of transcendence be beyond or within or both . . . this object is characterized more generally as a cosmic power, or more specifically as a personal God."

Clifford Geertz: "Religion is a system of symbols which acts to establish powerful, pervasive, and long-lasting moods and motivations in [people] by formulating conceptions of a general order of existence and clothing these conceptions with such an aura of factuality that the moods and motivations seem uniquely realistic."

Sigmund Freud: "Religion is comparable to a childhood neurosis."

Karl Marx: "Religion is the sign of the oppressed creature . . . It is the opium of the people . . . Religion is only the illusory sun which revolves around man as long as he does not revolve around himself."

That's one of the main things that I don't understand about Christianity--why does a "loving" god send good people to burn in hell forever? That doesn't make sense. If anyone would like to answer my question, please do, I am curious and I have never been able to get a straight answer on that. I mean, a high-schooler who donates money to charities, volunteers at animal rescues, and is an all-around nice person deserves to be burnt forever, just because she is an atheist? Yet the serial-rapist-killer-person who tortured and killed dozens of humans deserves to live an eternal life because s/he believes in a god?

No one answered my question about why only SOME Christians get good lives. And someone said something about violent Muslims, but lest you forget the Spanish Inquisition? Good, honest people were violently tortured and murdered because they were not Christians. And the CRUSADES!! The teachers always act like that was a good time in history because it spread Christianity, but the Crusades killed tons of people. I just Googled it, but I can't find any specific numbers. I would say around 4 million people, but I have seen estimates up to 9 million and as low as 2 million. That, in my opinion, is terrible!

Ugh. Now I'm all fired up. This will probably be my last post on this thread, but I may still partake in discussion if someone answers my questions. Thank you to all that responded, religious and non-religious alike!

My take on god.

"At least it's hot in hell and all my friends will be there with me."

I was raised Catholic by my bio mother and Anglican by my foster parents. No effect on me whatsoever because I decided that I want to be what I want, when I want with no fear of reprecussions in the afterlife. There is no proof Of said afterlife, I'm gonna either be cremated or buried in a hole and forgotten about, simple. You die, you're dead.

If there is a god I want proof. Until I get proof I will just assume humans are making the rules (after all we are the only species who view homosexuality as bad.... don't nag me for that the other 449 species have no problem with it). Life is not meant to be lived in a neat little box, if we are here on our own we should be free to experience anything we want however we want.

Schnebbles- There are extremists in every group in humanity, the only way they see an end to their "war" is to kill the problem, cause they don't want to sit and talk about things like rational beings. To them destruction is rational.

That is just my 2 cents until I have read the entire conversation. Don't let this turn into a wildfire guys.

[quote=anerybree;1386087]That's one of the main things that I don't understand about Christianity--why does a "loving" god send good people to burn in hell forever? That doesn't make sense. If anyone would like to answer my question, please do, I am curious and I have never been able to get a straight answer on that. I mean, a high-schooler who donates money to charities, volunteers at animal rescues, and is an all-around nice person deserves to be burnt forever, just because she is an atheist? Yet the serial-rapist-killer-person who tortured and killed dozens of humans deserves to live an eternal life because s/he believes in a god?

No one answered my question about why only SOME Christians get good lives. And someone said something about violent Muslims, but lest you forget the Spanish Inquisition? Good, honest people were violently tortured and murdered because they were not Christians. And the CRUSADES!! The teachers always act like that was a good time in history because it spread Christianity, but the Crusades killed tons of people. I just Googled it, but I can't find any specific numbers. I would say around 4 million people, but I have seen estimates up to 9 million and as low as 2 million. That, in my opinion, is terrible!


Whoo! You ask some hard questions! I'll try to answer you the way I see it, but It's going to take a day or so to get my thoughts together. Still interested in answers?

Sorry, NikeMoth! Curiosity killed the cat...

Yes, of course I am! I do love learning about other cultures and religions.

Originally Posted by anerybree

Sorry, NikeMoth! Curiosity killed the cat...

Yes, of course I am! I do love learning about other cultures and religions.

I'll post again tomorrow night. BTW, it's great someone's interested.

I believe in the Holy Hand Grenade(you have to love Monty Python)