What are your thoughts on god?
POSTED BY: christhecynic
UPDATED: Wednesday, May 29, 2024 07:06
VIEWED: 44171
PAGE 12 of 19
Hmm...interesting question. Well, to be honest...I'm young and haven't really made up my mind yet in regards to this question. But I have some thoughts...
Do I believe in god? Not exactly. I do believe there is a power greater than man...greater forces at work here, but I don't think that they are this "God" you speak of. I think maybe I just believe in fate...
I think that overall, I'm a man of faith. What I put my faith in? I can't exactly be sure. But I know I believe in it.
PsychicRiver
"Two by two, hands of blue." 
"We'll take care of each other. I'll knit!"
"I swallowed a bug."
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Quote:
Originally posted by IamJacksUsername:
Carl Sagan's "The dragon in my garage" http://spl.haxial.net/religion/misc/carl-sagan.html from his book The demon-haunted world: science as a candle in the dark says it better than I could: "Claims that cannot be tested, assertions immune to disproof are veridically worthless, whatever value they may have in inspiring us or in exciting our sense of wonder."
True as that may be I know of very few things that have veridical worth. Science, which brought me this very nice computer, is totally lacking in any such worth. Yet few would doubt the useful worth of science.
The things you are referring to, bliks, include such things as causality, existence in general, objective truth, the existence to time, the veracity of out senses, and various other things.
Cause and effect, for example, can not be proven or disproven, but it is the basis for just about everything we do. (Actually I think it is the basis of everything we do, but I don't like to commit to such absolutes. God is a far smaller matter by comparison.)
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Quote:
Originally posted by Causal:
I redacted my original post to avoid that controversy, but hey--Chris asked.
I just want to repeat that, I did ask, and if anyone is pissed off remember that I'm the reason Causal wrote what was writen.
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To RiveR6213
I hope you are a happier person than you seem. Even if you have lost faith in god have faith in people. With all that is going on in the world, with all that has happened, it is only logial that there would be no good left in the world.
Yet there is, if evil wins and good still persists it is a testament to the power of good.
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Quote:
Originally posted by christhecynic:
... when he was stabbed out came water and blood.
You believe what you like, I'll believe what I like. I'm not entering a debate on the subject -- I am reasonably confident neither you nor anyone you can produce as a witness was actually there to see water. *laughs* Any debate would be based on stories we can't verify.
Quote:
Originally posted by Causal:
That and Taoism started in the 7th century BCE, so Christ's teaching couldn't have "survived as Taoism" unless they went back in time to 7th century China.
Okay, somehow you got really lost. I didn't say Christ taught Taoism, only that the root message of both Christ and Lao-Tzu was the same. You think you're reading something Christ wrote?
Both the Tao te Ching and the various Christian bibles (including the gnostic bibles, which are generally rejected by Catholics) were written by followers interpreting the words and actions of the Infinite Soul. That leaves a lot of room for mistakes. My position is that the (english translation of the) Tao te Ching is a more pure representation of the message from Lao-Tzu than the King James Bible is of the message from Christ.
Also, Am I supposed to take on her word that "Messages from Michael" is any more factual than her other 67 works of fiction?
Believe whatever you like. It really doesn't matter to me -- I'm just answering the question from the root post. I thought my opinion of Christianity was a valid contribution, since I believe the current Christian churches represent a gross distortion of Jesus's message. It's important for me to make a distinction between my belief in Jesus (which I do have), and my belief in the teachings of the Christian church (that he "rose from the dead" and he "died for our sins" -- neither of which do I believe).
Perhaps I crossed a line somewhere without realizing it. It wasn't my intention to offend anyone, only to state my position clearly.
__________________________
"They weren't cows inside. They were waiting to be, but they forgot. Now they see the sky and they remember what they are."
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Someone requested a new thread because of load time, so I’ve made a part two:
http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=16682
Just pick up over there where you leave off over here.
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Quote:
Originally posted by CaptBryan:
Yes God did create Lucifer(or Satan or what ever name he goes by) and he had free will just as all Gods creations do that have the ability to tell right from wrong.
God has absolutes Lucifer chose not to abide in them.
So--God created free will, but he doesn't like it. If you use it for anything but what he approves, he tortures you, forever. Sounds strange.
Reminds me of the movie Bedazzled, the original version w/Peter Cook & Dudley Moore, not the recent remake. Moore's character asks Satan (played by Cook) why he was thrown out of heaven. Cook sits on a mailbox, and tells Moore to circle him, and tell him how great he is. ("Never mind why, just do it.") Moore does it for about a minute ("Oh, you're so great, you're wonderful, you're just a really cool guy...") but finally gets tired. "Hey, when do I get to sit up there?"
Satan snaps his finger. "And that's how I got thrown out of heaven."
I'd rather not spend all eternity at the mercy of an omnipotent paranoid, thank you.
Chaplain: Let us praise God.
[The congregation rises.]
Chaplain: O Lord…
Congregation: O Lord…
Chaplain: … ooh, You are so big…
Congregation: … ooh, You are so big…
Chaplain: … so absolutely huge.
Congregation: … so absolutely huge.
Chaplain: Gosh, we're all really impressed down here, I can tell You.
Congregation: Gosh, we're all really impressed down here, I can tell You.
Chaplain: Forgive us, O Lord, for this, our dreadful toadying, and…
Congregation: … and barefaced flattery.
Chaplain: But You're so strong and, well, just so… super.
Congregation: Fantastic!
Chaplain: Amen.
Congregation: Amen.
-- Monty Python's Flying Circus
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Quote:
Originally posted by cartoon:Quote:
Originally posted by heb:
I brought up the point about how Lee Sobel argued you couldn't believe Jesus was just a good man because it was him I was arguing against in the first place, so I thought it fair to use his definition.
I think that argument was originally made by C.S. Lewis. It was that you cannot say that Jesus was a "good" man, whose teachings we should follow, but not believe that He was God -- as those two statements entirely contradict each other.
If Jesus wasn't God, He was either insane or a liar. Either way, you couldn't call Him "good", and you wouldn't be too smart following the teachings of someone who was insane or a liar.
And whatever one might think about C.S. Lewis, he wasn't an idiot. His argument makes sense to me. (But then, I'm admittedly not the brightest bulb in the socket.)
His argument only seems to make sense because Lewis was dealing from a stacked deck. Specifically, the unstated part of his argument is the idea that everything attributed to Christ in the Gospels is an accurate reporting of what he actually said.
Since most Christians take the infalability of the Gospel as a matter of faith, they're not allowed to argue with it. But a non-Christian, such as Jefferson, isn't so bound.
The historical fact is that the Bible in general, and the words of Jesus in particular, have been messed with, altered, misquoted, and mistranslated (both accidentally and deliberately) for any number of reasons, politial, religious, and other, over the past two millennia. (And don't even get me started about the Book of Revelations and its inconsistency with the rest of the New Testament.)
So if you want to accept Jesus as just a wise man, feel free. You are not bound by C.S. Lewis' articles of faith unless you want to be.
Myself, I figure Jesus was either a living Buddha or an Avatar of Rama. But Hell, I just like peeing in the soup...
"That's all right. It's okay to worship everything." -- Sophia Bangs
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Quote:
Originally posted by RiveR6213:
I believe in God and i also believe God uses evolution. Now with that out of the way...
I believe in God but I have totally lost faith in God to do the right thing. In order for God's will to happen...million/billions of innocent, human beings get sacrificed on the alter of just being in the way everyday.
In Firefly, I totally agree with Mal's take on God. God always lets people down. God fights for the "other side" God always lets evil win. God flies the flag of your enemies. God always gives power to your enemies.
God is a train that is no longer worth waiting for. God rewards the wicked. God rewards the cruel and evil.
My point of view regarding God is not open for argument, so don't even waste your time.
Ditto
"Tell me all your thoughts on God
'Cause I would really like to meet her.
And ask her why we're who we are. "
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