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How do you feel about God.

ATM, I'm currently rereading Shelley's Queen Mab,...and he is most cruelly and mercilessly (and beautifully, I might add) decrying all religion and all G/gods as toxic fallacies to mankind.

If we were created...in some god's image...as thinking and free-willed beings, how absolutely ungrateful of Shelley to snap and snarl at the hand that crafted him. ;)

I think if there was a god, he/she would be caring, patient, loving, humble, etc.. enough to laugh with and understand those who would question his/her existence and he/she would be intelligent enough to know exactly why we question everything and would want it no other way. How boring and confusing would it be to have everyone blindly following so many different religions and praying to her/him. I don't think a real god could possibly be entertained by such nonsense nor would they require such. A real god would be content to simply watch his/her grand plan unfold and rejoice in those that did good deeds and that would be enough. Those that caused harm for harms sake on the other hand, I think a just god might even seek to teach them right from wrong, but not in an eternal fire sort of way as that does nothing to improve the spirit of the man nor does it teach him any valuable lesson he can grow from.
 
Nah, it's because the pope knows not even faith can stop a bullet.

Pretty much.....

If a Pope cannot DISPLAY faith, how can he TEACH it? How can religion promote faith in their beliefs? Isn't faith the entire foundation of organized religion? Isn't faith the religious equivalence of verifiable facts that sustains them?

And yet no one, not even the Pope, has faith enough to believe that God would protect the Pope from harm?

If the Pope cannot have faith in God, then how can anyone? If it is God's will that the Pope should die, would an armored vehicle and body guards really help thwart that will? From another angle, if God does not care whether the Pope lives or dies, then what exactly DOES God care about concerning humanity?

But of course, logic will never win the battle over faith, regardless.

In any event, does anyone else wonder what REALLY happens when you die? A transition to something else, or just the switch being turned off? What happens to the center of the universe that is YOU looking out from your eyes?

Is faith necessary to keep the fear of final darkness at bay?
 
Below is a small section of the sky showing 100,000 stars. The universe is so large that the mind buckles just trying to grasp it.

Seriously, how important is mankind, much less the Pope, in the big scheme of things?
 

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In any event, does anyone else wonder what REALLY happens when you die? A transition to something else, or just the switch being turned off?

You already know the answer to your question.....

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." --Mark Twain
 
You already know the answer to your question.....

No, I don't. And I seriously doubt that you do.

"I do not fear death. I had been dead for billions and billions of years before I was born, and had not suffered the slightest inconvenience from it." --Mark Twain

Nope I don't fear death. But the method of getting there might be a bit unnerving.
 
Below is a small section of the sky showing 100,000 stars. The universe is so large that the mind buckles just trying to grasp it.

Seriously, how important is mankind, much less the Pope, in the big scheme of things?
And the stuff we can see is only 4% of this universe. The other 96% of the universe is dark energy and dark matter. We call them "dark" because we don't know what they are. We (and all the stuff we can observe) are just the pollution of this universe. Its insignificant dust.
 
When you face life threatening situations, it changes the way you look at things. It makes you very thankful for the life you have. It gives you faith that life is worth living and changes what you believe in. I do not trust science anymore than I trust in a God. I see nothing blind about having faith or a believe in a higher power or even fairies or elves or science or even Santa Claus.
 
I try to keep an open mind without my brains falling out. To an extent I'll respect anyone else's beliefs. For me the buck stops when a certain belief system is used against others who don't share that view. I really don't care at all what each and evreyone else here holds dear, I care more that they are each free to do so but that they do not expect to be able to infringe the rights of others to do the same.
For example, in our country, tolerence to other cultures and beliefs has increased dramatically through time. However there are now religious groups who now want to impose their particular views on the wider society. Recently a school canteen here was under fire for providing meals that were not Halal approved although they had a commitment to every meal being so. Reasonably (in my view) the non-muslim community have objected to being unable to opt out of the Halal meals, as they had been totally unaware that their children had been eating Halal meals at school. To non-muslims, the practices of Halal slaughter is seen as cruel and unnecessary. In my view it could be offered as a choice for those who are muslims, not imposed on the secular or Christian majority.
 
My point is, you can feel that something is true and genuine and without proof... you can be easily mislead. Love, compassion, nature, science... family. These are the only trappings I desire.

Misled about what? I don't have a religious leader. And having religious faith doesn't cancel out belief in science for some/many/most? religious persons.

I suppose at some point in a person's life, they might find a need to rationalize scientific facts in a biblical timeframe/sense, but some people, namely me, might not give a crap- the two things can coexist. Belief in God, for me, doesn't cancel out the proof of evolution, or the age of the solar system, or anything else.

I'd say I desire the exact same trappings that you do.
 
Misled about what? I don't have a religious leader. And having religious faith doesn't cancel out belief in science for some/many/most? religious persons.

I suppose at some point in a person's life, they might find a need to rationalize scientific facts in a biblical timeframe/sense, but some people, namely me, might not give a crap- the two things can coexist. Belief in God, for me, doesn't cancel out the proof of evolution, or the age of the solar system, or anything else.

I'd say I desire the exact same trappings that you do.

Things that just are not true and or that can not be proven to be true for starters. Take for instance traditional lakota think homosexuals (winkte or winyanktehca) have the power to give secret powerful names and are well respected for their powers. Other religions however... If a man also lie with mankind, as he lieth with a woman, both of them have committed an abomination: they shall surely be put to death; their blood shall be upon them. -- Lev.20:13.

The bottom line is if we accept one religious teaching about gays as true and the other as false then one religion is not telling us the truth. We are being misled by one religion. One religion looks at homosexuality as granting special powers and respect to a person while another religion sees it as an abomination. How do we decide which religion is false? What does the bible say should be done to gays, witches, heretics? And yet, we find many other religions that do not agree....
 
Things that just are not true and or that can not be proven to be true for starters.

As in Vision, Imagination, The Earth Is Flat, and Electricity, for examples?

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Things that just are not true and or that can not be proven to be true for starters.

Seriously? How much of what you think you know has actually been PROVEN to be true? Then again, I guess a definition of "proof" might be in order. How about "proof" being a fact that every other supporting detail being used as evidence is also FACT? And no presumptions along the lines of, since it happened yesterday, it will probably happen again tomorrow.

I read an interesting book a little while back that gave pretty convincing arguments that the ice ages never took place. Yet everyone KNOWS they did, don't they? Recently it was discovered that carbon-14 dating can be unreliable because the output of the sun can affect the amount of cosmic rays entering out atmosphere that creates carbon-14. The implication is that other sources of cosmic rays can be just as variable. Yet carbon-14 dating has been a yardstick considered a staple of dating organic matter. Come to find out that this yardstick is a bit stretchy.

An incredible amount of science is really nothing more than theory and speculation. Much of science has apparently been the equivalent of observing the past three days, and then extrapolating those conditions backwards and forwards for thousands of years and trying to fit the universe into that mold. Suddenly the mold itself becomes reality and evidence not supporting the mold will be simply discarded rather than attempting to tip over the apple cart by questioning the mold and putting their careers in jeopardy.

We don't KNOW very much at all, when it comes right down to it.

:noevil: But that appears to be awkward for scientists to admit when they have built their careers around the politically correct and accepted mold of reality.
 
Evolution has been proven to be true for starters. True, potassium-argon dating is assumed to be true based on scientific observations for objects ranging from 4.3 billion years of age to approx. 100,000 years of age providing they have not been heated to the point of recrystallization at a later date. So, there is still much we do not know and we use multiple methods to figure out the age of something or to confirm the age. According to the bible however, the earth is only 6,000 years old. So, if we are going to believe the bible then we must discount every dating method that shows the earth is over 6,000 years old.
http://www.missiontoamerica.com/genesis/six-thousand-years.html

http://web.mesacc.edu/dept/d10/asb/archaeology/dating/datingtech.html#Potassium-Argon

However, if we are going to accept that mountains of evidence for evolution exist and evolution has been proven to be true based on its reproducibility and mountains of evidence and at least some of these dating methods are somewhat accurate... based again on evidence and facts collected then we can begin to look at other creation stories... which incidentally do not agree with each other either.

In the beginning of time, there was nothing: neither sand, nor sea, nor cool waves. Neither the heaven nor earth existed. Instead, long before the earth was made, Niflheim was made, and in it a spring gave rise to twelve rivers. To the south was Muspell, a region of heat and brightness guarded by Surt, a giant who carried a flaming sword. To the north was frigid Ginnungagap, where the rivers froze and all was ice. Where the sparks and warm winds of Muspell reached the south side of frigid Ginnungagap, the ice thawed and dripped, and from the drips thickened and formed the shape of a man. His name was Ymir, the first of and ancestor of the frost-giants.

And while it may always be true that there will be unanswered questions as knew knowledge gives rise to new questions, I will side with that which has some proofs, evidence, facts, observable details... and leave the rest to those with the ability to believe in things without proofs, facts, or evidence. I personally will not simply believe that magic is the answer until magic is proven to exist. I personally will not believe in unicorns, dragons, santa, gods, goddesses, demons, or anything else that fits the bill of being called a myth or religion as I do not need myths or religions to complete me. I am whole and I am just fine without these things and I could not see a god who if he/she existed would need be to believe in him/her. I anthropomorphize god concepts enough, as many cultures have, to think him/her above such petty needs as needing us to believe in him/her for him/her to treat his children kindly regardless of their differing beliefs in him/her or even the absence of belief altogether. I do look at gods whether they be Zeus, Horus, Allah, Mythra, Inyan, Iktomi, Mythra, Odin, PachaMama, or any other cultures gods to be on equal footing with not only each other, but also unicorns, dragons, imps, demons, fairies, etc... as far as proof of existence goes and I fully realize that many do believe that each and every one of these beings does in fact exist. I fully realize that many people believe religious doctrines that go directly against another cultures religious belief and that most cultures thinks they have the correct doctrine... the correct beliefs... the correct relationship with their gods. Blind belief and feelings however does not prove one god or belief system to be any more valid anymore than a holy crusade, witch hunt, or any other event can confer real validity upon a belief system.
 
So if I put a group of horses in a puddle of water up to the knee.... In a million or so years they develop flippers? Awesome!
 
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