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How do you feel about God.

This is still an interesting thread, even though it is so long and old that I can't remember everything that was posted earlier - even by myself, lol!

I don't believe in agnostics. I believe that until there is proof of something there is nothing to be agnostic about. Thats why I don't claim to be agnostic about unicorns, fairies, dragons, imps, devils, Isis, Osiris, Hercules, Wakan Tanka, Mithra, Lilith, Eve, Allah, or any cultures mythology really. (Carpe Serpentis).

I can PARTIALLY agree with this statement. I am quite sure that no unicorns or fire breathing dragons exist - at least on THIS planet. So I don't feel that I have to wonder too much about those. But there have been enough seemingly credible accounts of "supernatural" experiences to give me pause. Sure, the accounts of bright white lights and meeting dead grandparents during brief visits to the "other side" of people who recovered from stopped hearts may just be nerves firing during that time. But those people often say that their lives are totally changed afterwards, and that THEY believe that they now know what comes next. And the accounts of regression into past lives may be flights of fancy - although they sometimes seem to come up with facts that would be difficult to find out in a normal day to day life. And those who experience apparitions or talk to the dead may also be making up stories. But I have heard or seen (on TV) some that seem very difficult to explain. I am not saying that I actually BELIEVE any of this. I am just saying that I can't say that I am as sure that it DOESN'T exist as much as I am sure that unicorns don't exist. On some things, I feel I just have to keep an open mind until I see more proof one way or the other. I feel that somebody who says they are atheist has already seen enough proof to satisfy him/herself that it definitely DOES NOT exist. And an agnostic hasn't seen enough proof one way or the other to decide yet, and has an open mind. That's where I am at. If I have some revelation one of these days, I could turn into a true believer.

I still kind of like the idea of some form of "The Force". I think I already mentioned that in a post a long, long time ago on a page far, far away from here. But the way Kirlian photography actually does show an energy aura around all living things, and that the color changes with energy flow, kind of goes hand in hand with some Eastern traditions that seem to work, such as acupuncture, and also makes sense. I guess that philosophy could be very close to the Druid philosophy. If it is true, then one wonders how living creatures were imbued with "The Force". That is something I don't know.
 
I have a friend who is a psychic. And she does Reiki. She shared this experience on Facebook the other day:

Ran to the gas station tonight to grab something and did something I haven't done for a long long long time. A woman was in line and her "grandfather" (spirit) was in line behind her. He was holding a card, with a heart on it. I told her, she started crying, she had made him the card when she was 8, for his birthday which was tomorrow. I forgot what I went there for, but I got a hug instead.

I've known this person for years. To the best of my knowledge she is not a crackpot. Or a liar. How do you explain things like this? I believe in the afterlife. I don't think I'd like the "gift" of being able to communicate with spirits.
 
Just to play the devil's advocate for a minute...

It is POSSIBLE that psychic friends such as yours could be feeling a telepathic connection to the living person instead of seeing a spirit or ghost. MAYBE the connection is manifested through memories of a dead relative. Or maybe it is exactly what she thinks it is - the spirit of departed loved ones. Or maybe it is something else entirely that we haven't thought of yet.

The point is that I have seen and heard enough credible stories of SOMETHING beyond our usual knowledge and experience that I think SOMETHING else - extrasensory perception, paranormal, supernatural, spiritual, religious, God - whatever you want to call it, is out there. I just don't claim to know what it is, or how it all relates to me - yet. But of course, I also have to keep in mind that some natural phenomena that are now explained would have seemed just as supernatural to people a couple of hundred or more years ago.

A lot to contemplate. And that's why I haven't decided yet.
 
I have a friend that does not believe in God. He believes in science. But, he does not dispute that there is something guiding what we have become and what we will become. He just thinks that putting a name to it is trying to comprehend the incomprehensible... Which I tend to agree with him on. To me, that is all religion is, trying to comprehend something that we cannot even begin to imagine.
 
"...He just thinks that putting a name to it is trying to comprehend the incomprehensible... Which I tend to agree with him on. To me, that is all religion is, trying to comprehend something that we cannot even begin to imagine." (Outcast)

EXACTLY! Well said!
 
1.Kirlian photographs can be taken of anything moist or conductive, including coins, paper clips, etc.
2.Kirlian photographs taken in a vacuum (where no ionized gas is present) show no aura.
3.Some people claim that a living object slowly loses its aura after it dies. This is more easily explained by the fact that it loses its moisture.

http://www.mediacollege.com/photography/types/kirlian/

We can speculate all day about the wonders that could be found here or somewhere else to be true. I'm just one of those people that require some scientifically verifiable proofs before I accept them. I honestly look at anyone saying they are agnostic about unicorns, dragons, imps, demons, vampires, and werewolves the same as I see any other fantastic claim with no real supporting evidence. Much that is not understood is considered magic. Once it is understood it simply becomes science, myth, etc. Can anyone prove any cultures creation myth to be more true than another cultures creation myth? Can there be any reason to take any of these myths more seriously than another? For me, there is no reason to give Horus, Wakinyan, Thor, Allah, or any other mythological creature any more credence than most children over the age of 13 give to the tooth fairy. Many people don't say they are agnostic about many myths such as I have mentioned above, but many have a hard time saying they are agnostic about gods, goddesses, etc.
I totally get that many believe feel that they have found the one true god and they have killed in the name of that god... suicide bombings, holy crusades, witch hunts, etc... the list could go on. To be honesty, I'm afraid of what people do in the name of a god that they believe so strongly in.... without ever having a shred of verifiable proof. In the absence of proofs, I find nothing to be agnostic about anymore than I would be agnostic about any other fairy tale, work of fiction, etc. Sure, one could argue that any book on any shelf is an alternate reality and somewhere that reality is actually happening. You can go on with the what if....

You can take the position that anything is possible, that perhaps this whole world is a matrix and we are just dreaming. Its time to wake up. The blue pill or the red pill. The choice is yours.
 
Certain members of my family have visited a psychic in Massachusetts. They have gone several times over the past few years and every single time he says things that blows them away.

My mother is 78 years old and battling cancer. She has her first radiation treatment next week. She lost her little dog, Booka last April.

About 3 weeks ago, my sister and her wife went to see this psychic. The minute he saw them he looked at my sister and asked her "How is your mother?". Then he told them that there were people who began gathering a half hour before they arrived, and proceeded to describe my father, grandmother, sister in law's mother and a friend of theirs who had died a few years ago.

Right before they stood up to leave, the psychic said "a little tan and white dog just entered the room. He is jumping all over the furniture and leaping up into the air. Your grandmother just told me he was the last one to pass over".

That described Booka to a tee, and he WAS the last one to pass over.

True story.
 
If a belief in something incomprehensible makes you feel good or others feel good I can totally respect that. I contemplate evolution, the stars, etc. and I feel totally overwhelmed with it all and that makes me feel good. I do however feel a genuine fear of what people will do in the name of their beliefs as I have seen how our history reads. I see our future being no different so long as we hold onto beliefs that enable us to kill others or worse in the name of our gods and the kicker is... those that do so in the name of their gods often feel justified in doing so. Each side feels the same justification and so the wheels in the machine go round and round. To me, life should be a celebration where we acknowledge our small part in it for a brief moment in time. When that brief human life is looked at as transient and impermanent then that human life begins to mean a lot more as it simply ceases to exist. There is no forever, just the moment that we live in for the moment. To me, that fact makes me want to make every moment count as there is no promise of anything to come and what is simply is.
 
I can not accept that we evolved from apes nor can I believe there is just ONE true god. That is the beauty of being human and having the brains we have. We can believe in everything or we can be cynical twits. Either way it does make our individual believes wrong. The scientific method hasn't always been a belief. It was conjured up by individuals. Just like religion or spiritually. I can pray to a God or I can pray to the rock sitting out in my back yard. I can believe in psychics or not. I can believe in life after death or not. I can believe in the big bang theory or not. I can believe in evolution or not. No one can make me change they way I believe. I can educate myself and have faith that my beliefs are real.
 
The hubris of humans is interesting to me. What is "proven" by science today is disproven tomorrow. It would seem belief in what is "proven" by science takes at least as much faith as believing in God only a shorter attention span. :shrugs:
 
tsst said:
The hubris of humans is interesting to me. What is "proven" by science today is disproven tomorrow. It would seem belief in what is "proven" by science takes at least as much faith as believing in God only a shorter attention span. :shrugs:
Click to expand...

Totally agree... man you also say it straight LOL How I want to say it but cant seem to put it to words lol
 
Really, everything does not revolve around humans. The universe does not revolve around us. Humans have been around for about 150,000 years--the universe has been here for 14 billion, and a number like that is so large it is incomprehensible. In my opinion, if there is any "force"/god out there, humans are not his/her/its primary concern. I know people don't want to hear this, but we are relatively insignificant, based on the history of the earth and the universe. Species before us have been much more successful than us, yet have died out. We will too, and the world will remain unchanged.

Yes, what's great is that we can believe whatever we want! But, there are FACTS, and EVIDENCE. Please don't ignore those.
 
No one who understands evolution blindly believes evolution. You either understand the science behind it or you don't. Evolution is a fact. It is verifiable. It is repeatable. It has mountains of facts to back it up.

Sure, anyone can believe anything without facts if they simply believe blindly what they are told. Then, there are others that require facts. I'm a fact person. I realize that there are many people who are not fact people... especially when it comes to religion or a need to have the unexplained explained. I prefer to simply acknowledge that there is much we don't know yet. If unicorns, dragons, fairies, imps, and gods are one day proven to exist via facts... then I will gladly look at those facts. As long as they remain stories, myths, etc. that are intangible except perhaps in ones feelings or beliefs then they simply carry no weight for me.
All scientific theories are works in progress. This means there are no dogmatic truths based on blind belief such as one finds with religions. We simply don't know all there is to know about any scientific discipline. We are always learning. Scientific theories are broad explanations that help us to make predictions. Evolution is the only well-supported by mountains of facts. There is a mountain of evidence of difference between a well-supported fact and a blind belief such as unicorns are real or Wakinyan are real. Having blind faith that your beliefs are real is still blind faith and adds no real facts to them. We are classified as apes. We have not evolved away from being an ape. We are Hominoidea Hominidae Homo sapiens.

As for buddhists.... http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/wor...ed-as-buddhists-muslims-clash-in-myanmar.html
And there is of course more for those who seek the truth and are not simply content to have it handed to them blindly.

Faith does not make our beliefs anymore real than someone who has opposing beliefs, gods, etc. Faith can help us feel good when we think were going to live forever in paradise. Faith can make us feel guilty or afraid if we think were going to fry in hell for ever and an eternity. Faith can make us feel justified in killing others if it is a belief we hold strongly enough. Faith is truly powerful and blind faith can be used to the detriment of both followers and others.
 
Never said we are the only beings in the universe. Was just making a point that only believing what science can prove is the same as believe in God.

The "facts" and "evidence" change the science when new knowledge is found or learned. Do not ignore that!
 
Don't get me wrong either. I love science but I am not going to put my whole belief system in something that is ever changing. What science proves today, it can disprove later when new evidence is found.
 
beautifullywild77 said:
Never said we are the only beings in the universe. Was just making a point that only believing what science can prove is the same as believe in God.

The "facts" and "evidence" change the science when new knowledge is found or learned. Do not ignore that!
Click to expand...

Blind faith, never changing dogma except of course by divine providence, prophecy, new light, etc... also requiring blind faith will never be the same as evidence, fact based, beliefs that change as new facts are discovered. Science is open to the discovery of new facts. Blind faith or belief that one is right, blind dogma on the other hand... not so much, but when it does happen and it does.... we are left realizing that perhaps god is not so omniscient or omnipotent as we would perhaps like to believe he/she is.
 
But who are you to say God isn't everything people believe him to be?

Like I said, I do not believe in One true God. But, I am not so full of myself to say that some who does believe in God or religion is full of fecal matter either.
 
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