What are your thoughts on god? Part 3

POSTED BY: christhecynic
UPDATED: Sunday, January 22, 2006 06:51
VIEWED: 16563
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CHRISTHECYNIC

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 2:33 PM

The title is what this is, this is for you to say your thoughts on god, if you didn't see the other parts that's no problem, jump right in. We were just getting too long for some users connection speed. (I've never had a thread successful enough for that to happen before.)

Now this is not for debate, nor conversion, but that doesn't mean you can’t respond to people. I do almost constantly.

If you don't understand something and want clarification, if you want to say, "That reminds me I/some people think ____," or simply, "That's cool," feel free to respond to people. In fact feel free to respond to people in any way that is not hostile.

-

While I'm not going to tell you what terminology to use I want to clear something up, there are three stances on belief

1 I believe there is at least one god.
2 I do not believe.
3 I believe there is no god.

2 and 3 are both forms of atheism, 2 is the Agnostic stance as well as that of Soft Atheists, 3 is commonly known simply as Atheism but is more accurately Hard Atheism

Thinking of 2 and 3 as the same thing because neither believes in god is just as incorrect as thinking of 1 and 2 as the same thing because neither believes there is no god.

-

To start off the last two threads I said my thoughts, to sort of get the ball rolling or some such, so here goes again:

I do believe in god, and I also believe in science, I do not think the two contradict at all. For one thing I don't see why god would violate the laws of nature god created. Another thing is something someone, an atheist in fact, brought up in part two: "Everything is within the natural world. If you find something you think must be outside nature, then the very fact you can see it, measure it, or observe it's effects on the world in any way means it is natural, even if you can't explain it."

So if someone (or god) does perform a miracle we can see it, measure it, and observe its effects. It would be studied and examined and eventually explained, that is what science does. Plenty of things that were once impossible are now accepted. If god did stuff that we couldn't see, measure, or observe the effects of no one would care much about god.

I think god does care about us, and is a lot nicer than usually given credit for. On the other hand I also think god isn't a totalitarian, "I will control what you think," kind of being so that kind of limits power.

I don't believe very strongly in organized religion, I'd prefer organized education, teaching religious texts and putting them in context, but letting people decide on their own what to accept, even if that is nothing.

I also don't think any religion has it all right.

IMALEAF

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 2:59 PM

I have mixed feelings. I believe life is easier if you know it isn't everything, if you know that there is more. But I do believe that if God is up there watching he thinks religion is the mistakes we made one on top of the other trying to prove our loyalty. And that there has to be a better way to warship Him.

I also so believe that without God death will be easier. No thinking, no looking for our first spouse while being tracked down by our second spouse or looking for that lost leg. Anyone who studies physics, or always wonders how things work might get this point of view. I am pretty sure that I would go insane trying to figure out how time and universe works. Too much to know for one person but I don’t think I could ever stop looking for the answers. Since I want to know all I can in life I think of death as that break I would never let myself have. Life is easier believing someone is pulling the cosmic strings but for me death would be easier if nothing happens after it.

"I want to know God's thoughts......the rest are just details."
-Albert Einstein

QUEENOFTHENORTH

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 4:09 PM

I'm still disappointed that no one responded to my post in part 2 at all. Sometimes I wonder if my posts are invisible and no one can read them. Hello? Can you see me? Or are my opinions really just that boring?

"I'm having one of those things - a headache with pictures."

"Sucker! Competitive violence, that's why you're here!"

Like books? Go to this thread: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14862
to find out how to buy mine!

RIVER6213

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 4:10 PM

The only reason I dont put a gun to my head and pull the trigger, and blow my brainpan away, is because suicide is a sin, and I think you get sent straight to hell for that.

I believe in God and also evolution. I think god uses evolution for hiz own ends. I don't believe god is perfect, and he/she makes mistakes....big ones.

CARTOON

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 4:37 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by queenofthenorth:
I'm still disappointed that no one responded to my post in part 2 at all. Sometimes I wonder if my posts are invisible and no one can read them. Hello? Can you see me? Or are my opinions really just that boring?

I went back and looked. I read your statement, but saw no question. Maybe it was invisible.

Could you please repeat it?

CARTOON

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 4:46 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by RiveR6213:
I don't believe god is perfect, and he/she makes mistakes....big ones.

If a person doesn't believe God is perfect, I can see why they might find it difficult to fully trust Him.

If you can indulge me but a moment...

To cut to the brief, the last 3 years of my life have been a horrible mess. Just one major catastrophe after another. I won't go into details here, because it would make this thread too long to load (and Chris knows how I dislike long threads), but just suffice it to say, that the closer I've drawn to the Lord, the worse my life has gotten.

Does this make me think that God has made a mistake? To the contrary. He never promised a rose garden -- in this life.

Look at Job. The Lord allowed his finances, possessions, home, family and health to be taken from him. Job didn't like losing those things, but he maintained his faith in God through it all.

The Lord eventually blessed Job, but never told him why he'd suffered. Most of us will never realize why certain things have happened to us. But, like Job, I say "though He slay me, yet I will praise Him."

We can't see the whole picture. Heck, we can't see hardly any of it. We don't expect infants to fully comprehend why we make them do certain things and prohibit them from doing others. And God is so far above us, that the difference in wisdom between Einstein and an amoeba is indistinguishable. How then can we question our Creator?

While it's not my place to tell anyone else what to do, it would be my desire that you would seek Him and trust Him. He will show you the way -- one step at a time.

QUEENOFTHENORTH

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 4:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by cartoon:
Quote:
Originally posted by queenofthenorth:
I'm still disappointed that no one responded to my post in part 2 at all. Sometimes I wonder if my posts are invisible and no one can read them. Hello? Can you see me? Or are my opinions really just that boring?

I went back and looked. I read your statement, but saw no question. Maybe it was invisible. Could you please repeat it?

Oh, I didn't have any questions. I just thought others might have comments on my thought-provoking, highly intelligent, and infinitely fascinating post.

I guess not, though.

I certainly thought that "anything is possible" comment of mine might get a few skeptics jumping, but it didn't. Oh well.

"I'm having one of those things - a headache with pictures."

"Sucker! Competitive violence, that's why you're here!"

Like books? Go to this thread: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14862
to find out how to buy mine!

URSULA

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 5:19 PM

I believe the more we learn scientifically, the closer we are to understanding the mind of God.

CARTOON

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:12 PM

Okay.

And, here I thought that your posts were invisible.

Anyhow, one part of your ten-thousand page treatise did catch my eye. The bit about how do we know anything we haven't seen is true?

Along those lines....

I wish I can remember where I read it, but I read somewhere (within the past year or so) that there is more ancient documentation supporting the accuracy of the Bible (Old Testatment) than there is supporting all other ancient writings (older than 2,000 years old) combined.

Maybe it was in the affore-mentioned Lee Strobel's "Case for Christ" book? I can't say for sure. My mind isn't quite what it used to be. And to be honest, it was never what I imagine it to be.

In other words, there are more existing copies of manuscripts which support the Hebrew scriptures (and even more of the Greek New Testament) than there are for anything else related to the ancient world period.

And believe it or not, there are people out there who wouldn't hesitate to say that Julius Caesar, Alexander, even Ramses actually existed and did the most of the things accredited to them, but don't believe in the accuracy of events accredited to Jesus, David, Moses.

If I can find whatever it was that I'm referring to, I'll post it later.

I just moved a few weeks ago (after having all of my stuff in storage for 18 months), so everything isn't easily accessible (if it even still exists).

I wish I can blame the disarray of my mental processes on the recent move, but alas, I cannot.

QUEENOFTHENORTH

Tuesday, January 17, 2006 6:29 PM

Aha! So my posts are visible to the human eye! Well, unless you have some special post-reading ability you haven't told me about.

Anyways, I wasn't talking about the bible specifically. I believe that most of the bible is accurate, and the stuff that isn't has been messed around with by people.

But yeah, I'm of the school of thought that pretty much anything is possible or could be real. Hell, I believe King Arthur and Santa Claus could have possibly existed at some point. Whether they do or not, who knows? And is all the stuff written about them accurate? Highly unlikely. People mess with written stuff and change it to suit them. But I believe in Jesus and Moses just as much as Caesar, you know. Feel free to tell me more when you've got your mind straightened out, though.

"I'm having one of those things - a headache with pictures."

"Sucker! Competitive violence, that's why you're here!"

Like books? Go to this thread: http://www.fireflyfans.net/thread.asp?b=2&t=14862
to find out how to buy mine!

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