Poll: What's your religion?

[Conqueror Kenny]

I have a question for the athiests. I have been a fairly religeous person my entire life, so some of these things i can't quite wrap my head around and i'm sort of looking for someone to explain it.

Athiests don't believe in a higher power. yes?
Therfor don't believe in an afterlife?

So whats the point then? it's kind of depressing to think of the world as just one big fluke. you live and then die and... thats it? Why wouldn't everyone just kill themselves now then? I don't understand...

I think the guilt factor comes into it for a lot of people too (not everyone). They don't like someone telling them that what they're doing is wrong. Most people don't like it when that happens. So they turn to a belief that helps them to not feel bad about what they might be doing. BUT if this is the case, then shouldn't they not feel good about whatever good stuff they're doing? Whats the point of a basic set of morals if there's no reward after its all over?

Let me give you the philosophical point of view:
Our existence is but a brief crack of light between two eternities of darkness
There is no point, all we can do is make the most of our small time here.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm sorry, but I think your whole argument is based on a false idea.

Fair enough, I'm just puzzled by the way that you classify SCIENCE and RELIGION as different words when your own quote puts them as indistinguishable at a certain point.

If Person A can act as if he was a Deity, surely, to all intents and purposes, he is. And Religion doesn't have to be the following of a God, sometimes it can be of a Man, or an avatar.

Buddha was once a man. Now he's a God, in whichever way you want to put that.

The entire idea of god is that he is omnipotent, all-knowing, and absolute.

That's only Jahweh; it could as easily be Thor, Offler or Shiva.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

To put it another way, if someone has your 'nads (or ovaries) in their hands, to all intents and purposes, they have FULL control over you. Then they are as Gods.

 

[Snik]

And Nanotechnology is still science. As is DNA manipulation. We still understand it. A "miracle" causes by science is not a miracle. It's just an application of knowledge.

Science is explainable but that doesn't neccessarily mean everyone understands it. People who see something for the first time without knowledge of how it works, will generally think it's magic or a miricle. Much is the same with religeon. Science is trying to figure out how the world was created. Religeons views are that God created the world end of story. Lots of religeous people explain their feelings and beliefs and relate them to their God but that doesn't mean everyone understands it, whether it be right or wrong.

Whats really important is that you are comfortable with your own beliefs. If your beliefs change, it's not a big deal. People change their minds every day about stuff. You deserve to believe whatever you want to believe. and i reserve the right to believe you are wrong.

 

[LadyZephyr]

I'm sorry, but I think your whole argument is based on a false idea.

Fair enough, I'm just puzzled by the way that you classify SCIENCE and RELIGION as different words when your own quote puts them as indistinguishable at a certain point.

If Person A can act as if he was a Deity, surely, to all intents and purposes, he is. And Religion doesn't have to be the following of a God, sometimes it can be of a Man, or an avatar.

Buddha was once a man. Now he's a God, in whichever way you want to put that.

Having a following does not make someone a god, though. I can worship Joss Whedon as much as I like, but it doesn't him make him more godly, or, indeed, worthy of worship.

Also, Person A doesn't exist. You can't currently act as a god, including omnipotence, seeing into the minds of everyone, controlling the afterlife... et cetera.

Person A can be a more evolved person and he may fool everyone into thinking he is a god and generates a following. Fine. But he's still not a god. He's just more evolved.

The technology/magic quote doesn't mean technology equals magic. It's a warning that what you now think is miraculous or impossible, it's just beyond your current understanding.


ETA:

To put it another way, if someone has your 'nads (or ovaries) in their hands, to all intents and purposes, they have FULL control over you.

... But they aren't a god. :boggles: You can have loads of control over people. It doesn't mean someone else can't come up with more power/control and overthrow yours. You're not infallible.

 

[DamienHell]

I leave you atheists out there with Pascal's Wager:

___________________________Live by God's ways__________________Live as Atheist
God Exists_________________Infinite postive outcome______________?????????????????
God does not exist___________Finite negative outcome______________Finite positive outcome

LOL congrats on using an arguement that was shot down years ago. That only works if theres only one religion I could just say

___________________________Live by Allah's ways__________________Live as Atheist
Allah Exists_________________Infinite postive outcome______________?????????????????
Allah does not exist___________Finite negative outcome______________Finite positive outcome
BAM now its an arguement for Islam

 

[Snik]

Maybe God is beyond your current understanding.

 

[Matthew Alexander]

I'm just a theosophist with a bit of existentialism thrown in.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

... But they aren't a god. :boggles: You can have loads of control over people. It doesn't mean someone else can't come up with more power/control and overthrow yours. You're not infallible.

But it doesn't matter at that point. To you, they are still a God. Sort of like the first pangs of love.

Now, if there's a dude up there called Jahweh that was once one of us, and we pray to him because so far he hasn't smited us...what's the actual difference?

Maybe God uses Nanotech for his miracles?

 

[LadyZephyr]

Maybe God is beyond your current understanding.

Many things are. That doesn't make them divine. It just means we need more time to discover the science behind them. Theist belief is the worship of gaps in our current knowledge. A scientist says "I don't understand how the universe was made. I will investigate and find out how." a theist says "I don't understand how the universe was made. God must have made it."

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

Maybe God is beyond your current understanding.

Many things are. That doesn't make them divine. It just means we need more time to discover the science behind them.

So...maybe there's a Science behind Divinity, or a Divinity behind Science?

 

[LadyZephyr]

If God uses Nanotech, then it's not a miracle.

They aren't a god. :boggles: You can have loads of control over people. It doesn't mean someone else can't come up with more power/control and overthrow yours. You're not infallible.

But it doesn't matter at that point. To you, they are still a God. Sort of like the first pangs of love.

Now, if there's a dude up there called Jahweh that was once one of us, and we pray to him because so far he hasn't smited us...what's the actual difference?

Maybe God uses Nanotech for his miracles?

But just because they are more technologically advanced doesn't make them a god and creator of all and aware of my every thought and able to sentence me to paradise or damnation.

I think you and I are at an impasse because I think our definitions of what a god is are inherently different. It was nice debating you though.

ETA:

Maybe God is beyond your current understanding.

Many things are. That doesn't make them divine. It just means we need more time to discover the science behind them.

So...maybe there's a Science behind Divinity, or a Divinity behind Science?

... No. There is just science. You are attempting to mystify it.

 

[Imitation Saccharin]

I'd quite like to think I do. Capitalism may not be intrinsically based around Oil, but the Economy is, and Capitalism is dependent on the Economy.

But, you're welcome to your opinion.

There will always be capitalism. So long as 2 men are alive, there will be capitalism.

What will end when we run out of oil is the myths a lot of very smart men have spent a lot of time crafty about a system that is very, very cruel.

 

[Matthew Alexander]

If God uses Nanotech, then it's not a miracle.

They aren't a god. :boggles: You can have loads of control over people. It doesn't mean someone else can't come up with more power/control and overthrow yours. You're not infallible.

But it doesn't matter at that point. To you, they are still a God. Sort of like the first pangs of love.

Now, if there's a dude up there called Jahweh that was once one of us, and we pray to him because so far he hasn't smited us...what's the actual difference?

Maybe God uses Nanotech for his miracles?

But just because they are more technologically advanced doesn't make them a god and creator of all and aware of my every thought and able to sentence me to paradise or damnation.

I think you and I are at an impasse because I think our definitions of what a god is are inherently different. It was nice debating you though.

ETA:

Maybe God is beyond your current understanding.

Many things are. That doesn't make them divine. It just means we need more time to discover the science behind them.

So...maybe there's a Science behind Divinity, or a Divinity behind Science?

... No. There is just science. You are attempting to mystify it.

If we didn't mystify things, life would be kind of boring.

 

[The_root_of_all_evil]

But just because they are more technologically advanced doesn't make them a god and creator of all and aware of my every thought and able to sentence me to paradise or damnation.

I wouldn't claim that. Something like that is only in the Bible, which we already know has been rewritten at least twice.

I think you and I are at an impasse because I think our definitions of what a god is are inherently different. It was nice debating you though.

That's fair enough. *shakes your hand*. Nice to chew the cud.

... No. There is just science. You are attempting to mystify it.

But from the other side I hear "There is just God"; you can see why I have trouble taking either side.

There will always be capitalism. So long as 2 men are alive, there will be capitalism.

Now that's my version of hell.

 

[LadyZephyr]

If God uses Nanotech, then it's not a miracle.

They aren't a god. :boggles: You can have loads of control over people. It doesn't mean someone else can't come up with more power/control and overthrow yours. You're not infallible.

But it doesn't matter at that point. To you, they are still a God. Sort of like the first pangs of love.

Now, if there's a dude up there called Jahweh that was once one of us, and we pray to him because so far he hasn't smited us...what's the actual difference?

Maybe God uses Nanotech for his miracles?

But just because they are more technologically advanced doesn't make them a god and creator of all and aware of my every thought and able to sentence me to paradise or damnation.

I think you and I are at an impasse because I think our definitions of what a god is are inherently different. It was nice debating you though.

ETA:

Maybe God is beyond your current understanding.

Many things are. That doesn't make them divine. It just means we need more time to discover the science behind them.

So...maybe there's a Science behind Divinity, or a Divinity behind Science?

... No. There is just science. You are attempting to mystify it.

If we didn't mystify things, life would be kind of boring.

I sincerely disagree. There is always more to learn in the universe and science will continue to expand our understand. That, to me, is exciting.

ETA:

... No. There is just science. You are attempting to mystify it.

But from the other side I hear "There is just God"; you can see why I have trouble taking either side.

I... kind of don't? But I am a militant atheist and a closet antitheist, so... :shrugs:

 

[mshcherbatskaya]

I left Christianity not because I didn't believe in God, but because I couldn't believe in the Devil. I could never buy into the idea of eternal punishment for temporal action, and I could never buy into the idea of an external cause to temptation or suffering. It seems a way of shirking responsibility.

On the other hand, I could never buy into the idea of heaven or reincarnation as a means of escape. Just as eternal punishment for an individual seems unjust, any sort of eternal reward for an individual rubs me the wrong way.

This isn't necessarily what I believe exists, it's more like how I think things ought to work.

People are reborn but there's no getting out, you never progress, you never leave this world, you just keep coming back, not on your own anyway. Your reward for making the world a better place is to return to a world that is better than it was your last time through. If you made it worse, or even just let things decay for lack of involvement, then your punishment is to come back to a world that's fallen a little further down the hole. So maybe you were an utter shit in your last life and you are reborn as one of the blessed and priviledge - were you punished? No, you don't get punished in this system. What you get is increased odds of coming back miserable. Or happy, if you manage to take your priviledge and blessings and try to repair the collective damage.

Russian roulette - you pull the trigger every time, so are you adding bullets to the Cosmic Gun or taking them away? This life, you put it to your head and hear a click. Empty. But what about the next pull of the trigger? You keep putting ammo in that thing, one of these lives you are going to be born into bullets. If one day the gun comes up totally empty, then maybe that's the day we all go to heaven together. If one day the gun is fully loaded, maybe that's the end of the apocalypse. Until then, I just try to take the bullets out.

 

[Matthew Alexander]

True, it is exciting, terrifying at times, at other glorious. But still, you can't (at least at the moment) wax philosophically with only science. YOu can explain a thing but not express its art.