Poll: Do you believe in a higher power?
- Thread starter Easykill
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I'm a Catholic and was born to believe in a God.
I know most people say that everything can be scientifically proven, and I do believe that most things can be.
I don't like to push my religion onto others because I like believe that people have the right to do whatever they want. I do find insult in my high school somewhat. The school prays in the morning, and occiasionally the announcer says, "I know there are people who do not believe in You, but we know better." I find the statement rather cruel, calling all non Christians idiots basically, which is pretty stupid.
I do find many flaws with the Catholic Church, the fact that people go to hell even though God is all forgiving. The child molesting priests, the pastor in my parish actually admitted to molesting children. I guess that's why I find myself to be not very religious (I don't normally go to Church) but I do pray constantly and have a strong belief in God.
I've read that many cosmotoligists or whatever their called (they study the cosmos) have begun believing in a higher power. They've discovered the big bang did happen, and they also found that if the heat of the explosion was 6 degrees higher or lower, everything would sink back into itself and cease to exist. They believe that it was impossible for it to be this coincidental.
I have a question for atheists...where do you believe you go when you die? Are you reincarnated or do you just stop existing or what? Because I fear non existance. Existing is all we understand. We don't what not "being" is and that really scares the shit out of me. If you can plz answer
also i hate the red neck die hard christians who hate gays etc. I don't think many people understand that Catholics believe in the acceptance of everyone, no matter what their orientation, race, creed, or religion is. These people give all religious people a bad reputation and I can't stand them
i'd like to close with a statement to those who said, "There is no proof of God/a god/gods"
religion is not about proof, it is about faith. Jesus Christ said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and believe"
Everyone has a right to an opinion, but I believe in God, and I believe that I will see all of you in heaven with me after death.
I'll see you there
I know most people say that everything can be scientifically proven, and I do believe that most things can be.
I don't like to push my religion onto others because I like believe that people have the right to do whatever they want. I do find insult in my high school somewhat. The school prays in the morning, and occiasionally the announcer says, "I know there are people who do not believe in You, but we know better." I find the statement rather cruel, calling all non Christians idiots basically, which is pretty stupid.
I do find many flaws with the Catholic Church, the fact that people go to hell even though God is all forgiving. The child molesting priests, the pastor in my parish actually admitted to molesting children. I guess that's why I find myself to be not very religious (I don't normally go to Church) but I do pray constantly and have a strong belief in God.
I've read that many cosmotoligists or whatever their called (they study the cosmos) have begun believing in a higher power. They've discovered the big bang did happen, and they also found that if the heat of the explosion was 6 degrees higher or lower, everything would sink back into itself and cease to exist. They believe that it was impossible for it to be this coincidental.
I have a question for atheists...where do you believe you go when you die? Are you reincarnated or do you just stop existing or what? Because I fear non existance. Existing is all we understand. We don't what not "being" is and that really scares the shit out of me. If you can plz answer
also i hate the red neck die hard christians who hate gays etc. I don't think many people understand that Catholics believe in the acceptance of everyone, no matter what their orientation, race, creed, or religion is. These people give all religious people a bad reputation and I can't stand them
i'd like to close with a statement to those who said, "There is no proof of God/a god/gods"
religion is not about proof, it is about faith. Jesus Christ said to Thomas, "Blessed are those who have not seen, and believe"
Everyone has a right to an opinion, but I believe in God, and I believe that I will see all of you in heaven with me after death.
I'll see you there
This is probably the hardest issue I have ever had to deal with in my life. I am slowly beginning to accept that everything I am ends with my life, but it sure as hell isn't easy. Non-existence is scary because it goes against our nature, which is keeping the human race alive.JD4566 said:
I'm an Atheist. We believe in the god Atheos, and for only $24.95 a month, you can too!
I kid, I kid.
But seriously, I am an atheist. I don't care if you believe in a higher deity, and will respect almost any other beliefs (Scientology is one of about 3 exceptions to this).
I kid, I kid.
But seriously, I am an atheist. I don't care if you believe in a higher deity, and will respect almost any other beliefs (Scientology is one of about 3 exceptions to this).
Honestly, I'm not sure, and don't like thinking about it, because it does start scaring the shit out of me if I start thinking about it. Maybe your consciousness gets recycled or something, or maybe you do just cease to exist, which is really scary if you think about it too much.JD4566 said:
I got over the concept of possibility of non existance when I realized that if it's true and I will cease to exist, I won't be in a position to give a damn. However, I have no doubt it will come back to fuck with me the moment I have to deal with my mortality. I've had a friend who was absolutely fine with non existance till he had to face his own mortality, he ended up having these sort of fit things that he needed to be drugged for.
Edit: Though yeah the vaaast majority of atheists believe in non existance.
Edit: Though yeah the vaaast majority of atheists believe in non existance.
I believe God is something mankind made to feel safer, because the unknown scares us. Look at the world today. People hide behind religion all the time. Religion is the number 1 excuse when it comes to war. (This is because most of the ones who wage war are fanatics and/or power hungry bastards) I've never liked religion at all... When we had religion in school, reading from the Bible and other religious stuff, I just laughed inside. But then again, that's probably because I come from a good family, with no need for a saviour or a promise of a good afterlife. However, religion is losing it's grip on humanity. More and more of what used to be "The work of random-religious-thing(s) are explained by science. The heaven used to be where gods lived. Now it's where nothing live. The mighty titans used to guard the 4 edges of the world ( or whoever did that ) but no, the world is round.
So, I'm an Atheist, but I don't make fun of the ones who do believe in something. However, I really can't see how people can believe in any variation of god when the world is in such a shitty chaos atm.
So, I'm an Atheist, but I don't make fun of the ones who do believe in something. However, I really can't see how people can believe in any variation of god when the world is in such a shitty chaos atm.
I thought I was an atheist, until I realized that you can't really only believe things with supporting evidence, because the idea of supporting evidience would somehow have to support itself. We don't really "know" that evidence + logic = proof of reality, it just seems that way; I do believe that logic and physical evidence are our best tools, but it seems silly to me to claim that isn't an arbitrary belief, much like religion. You could say similar things about mental experience vs. reality, whether our scientific interpretation of reality works so far but has a major flaw we can't comprehend, and so on. As one of my professors said, science is an incredibly successful religion given all it's done for us, but it's still a religion.
I don't believe in God because I see no good reason to without evidence, and anyway, how am I supposed to know which religion to choose? There's thousands of them, all claiming to be absolute truth. One of them might be right, but the chances of guessing right are so low that I'd say I'm better off not worshipping a probably false god.
I don't believe in God because I see no good reason to without evidence, and anyway, how am I supposed to know which religion to choose? There's thousands of them, all claiming to be absolute truth. One of them might be right, but the chances of guessing right are so low that I'd say I'm better off not worshipping a probably false god.
A few things that have happened in my life cannot be attributed to mere luck. I have had my doubts, yes, but something always comes along to strengthen my faith in God, so I remain a Christian.
Boy, that sounded corny...
Boy, that sounded corny...
I think there's something out there, but I don't think any one of us has any clue on what it is.
well i'd say it's more we are unsure what it is and think it's something it's not, funnily enough it's what the first line of the tao te ching saysGildedtongue said:
I don't belive in a singular god. it doesn't make snence someone so omniscent would just divy up his responcibilities to other parts, in effect creating other gods.
I find my slef believing in multiple gods/goddesses. although I find them to be more of things like the grecian gods, not all these benevelont ones that go around answering prayers. I know that doesn;t work, there's just to much evil left in the world. any benevolent god/gods would hev gotten rid of the evil.
I find my slef believing in multiple gods/goddesses. although I find them to be more of things like the grecian gods, not all these benevelont ones that go around answering prayers. I know that doesn;t work, there's just to much evil left in the world. any benevolent god/gods would hev gotten rid of the evil.
At the end of the day I feel it's as foolish and arrogant to say "There is no God" as it is to say "There is a God and follow the Bible and you will be rewarded etc etc ad nauseum".
Basically I can never know either way (unless we somehow find out when we die) so there's no real point worrying too much about it. It's an interesting topic, but there are no ANSWERS to these questions so I wonder sometimes why we go and on and on about it!
Basically I can never know either way (unless we somehow find out when we die) so there's no real point worrying too much about it. It's an interesting topic, but there are no ANSWERS to these questions so I wonder sometimes why we go and on and on about it!
It's interesting you should say that, as I was reading a compilation of the Elric short stories last night. This very question tormented him. He wasn't sure whether an ultimate god existed or not and didn't care much either way; it was the question that tormented him, not the answer. Elric didn't mind knowing that his life was objectively meaningless, or that it did have a greater purpose- he simply wanted to know.Kedcom said:At the end of the day I feel it's as foolish and arrogant to say "There is no God" as it is to say "There is a God and follow the Bible and you will be rewarded etc etc ad nauseum".
Basically I can never know either way (unless we somehow find out when we die) so there's no real point worrying too much about it. It's an interesting topic, but there are no ANSWERS to these questions so I wonder sometimes why we go and on and on about it!
Just thought I'd throw it out there.
Yeah it would just be nice to know one way or the other wouldn't it haha!Saskwach said:It's interesting you should say that, as I was reading a compilation of the Elric short stories last night. This very question tormented him. He wasn't sure whether an ultimate god existed or not and didn't care much either way; it was the question that tormented him, not the answer. Elric didn't mind knowing that his life was objectively meaningless, or that it did have a greater purpose- he simply wanted to know.Kedcom said:At the end of the day I feel it's as foolish and arrogant to say "There is no God" as it is to say "There is a God and follow the Bible and you will be rewarded etc etc ad nauseum".
Basically I can never know either way (unless we somehow find out when we die) so there's no real point worrying too much about it. It's an interesting topic, but there are no ANSWERS to these questions so I wonder sometimes why we go and on and on about it!
Just thought I'd throw it out there.
Ahh, (mostly) intelligent religious discourse. A rarity, indeed. Myself, baptized Lutheran (to keep the family happy), and since then, never set foot in any sort of religious building nor read any sort of religious text. Long story short: Atheist and not about to change.
So, I leave you with this... Do I have all the answers? No. Will I ever have all the answers? Probably not. Does that bother me? Not in the least: I assume the answers will be available one day, and I can wait until then. If I've been dead for a good long time, oh well.
Okay, I don't leave yet. Anyone know any good all-purpose phrases that aren't religious based? Holy shit, damn it, oh my god... as an atheist, I'd like some good non-secular phrases that can be shouted out in the heat of whatever moment prompts shouting that are still understood by all. Suggestions?
This truly surprised me. This is the almost identical to the only other intelligent religious discussion I've ever had (with a truly born again Christian), and it took us months to get down to that. Basically, I like the "live and let live" philosophy: whatever gets you through your day is fine with me. Religion helps you? Cool, run with it. Just don't tell me I'm wrong, otherwise I will have to tear you a new one. I don't start religious dick-waving battles, but I sure know how to end them (by dragging them out until the other person gives up).Nugoo said:
So, I leave you with this... Do I have all the answers? No. Will I ever have all the answers? Probably not. Does that bother me? Not in the least: I assume the answers will be available one day, and I can wait until then. If I've been dead for a good long time, oh well.
Okay, I don't leave yet. Anyone know any good all-purpose phrases that aren't religious based? Holy shit, damn it, oh my god... as an atheist, I'd like some good non-secular phrases that can be shouted out in the heat of whatever moment prompts shouting that are still understood by all. Suggestions?