Re: Do you ever doubt God's existence?

[superheavyrhun]

Sorry Pacfan, I was being a little tongue in cheek with my response, and I'm not going to get into a tizz about anything along these lines. I am an atheist, although I think everyone else has the right to believe as they see fit, as long as they're not pushing it down my throat.

I'm not at all militant about the subject, and I'm not trying to convert people to my view. The fact that I view them in this way doesn't mean I'm right, it is just my opinion, and I accept that it if you look right back it is impossible to prove it 100% one way or the other.

[Mars_ax]

In re: Gods/deities, I see no reason to believe that they weren't totally fabricated by man. In other words, man created god, and not the other way around.

Positive Atheism's Big List of Quotations

A God who could make good children as easily a bad, yet preferred to make bad ones; who could have made every one of them happy, yet never made a single happy one; who made them prize their bitter life, yet stingily cut it short; who gave his angels eternal happiness unearned, yet required his other children to earn it; who gave is angels painless lives, yet cursed his other children with biting miseries and maladies of mind and body; who mouths justice, and invented hell -- mouths mercy, and invented hell -- mouths Golden Rules and foregiveness multiplied by seventy times seven, and invented hell; who mouths morals to other people, and has none himself; who frowns upon crimes, yet commits them all; who created man without invitation, then tries to shuffle the responsibility for man's acts upon man, instead of honorably placing it where it belongs, upon himself; and finally, with altogether divine obtuseness, invites his poor abused slave to worship him!

~ Mark Twain

[pacfan]

Before anything I just want to clarify what I meant by 'faith' in my allegorical quote. I meant faith not stricly in religious sense, but in general sense like when you say 'believe in yourself,' 'in what you do' or 'in what you want to accomplish.' Indeed, faith is the most powerful tool bestowed unto man...

BTW, I don't promote any particular religion; I have never been a my-religion-is-right-and-all-others-go-to-hell type of believer. I just promote general concept of God. My belief in God stems from my experience in meditation (no, I didn't see Him) but it has to do more with the the benefits of believing than the question of whether He exists or not. I think I've explained that to Andre few years back and if I have time, I'll explain it here later.

Sorry Pacfan, I was being a little tongue in cheek with my response, and I'm not going to get into a tizz about anything along these lines. I am an atheist, although I think everyone else has the right to believe as they see fit, as long as they're not pushing it down my throat.

I'm not at all militant about the subject, and I'm not trying to convert people to my view. The fact that I view them in this way doesn't mean I'm right, it is just my opinion, and I accept that it if you look right back it is impossible to prove it 100% one way or the other.

I perfectly understand. Cheers to you, my friend.

Pacfan you and Bilbo really should get a room. If we are not supposed to take you literally than please provide a manual with which to decipher your Gibberish. Your practice of not answering scoffs, except of course with private grunts precludes me from pointing out the ridiculousness of the aloof stance you are taking. Your clearly superficial knowledge of Buddhism and Hinduism, would go some way to explainig how having a humour bypass, is utterly inconsistent with those faiths traditions. Next time you tap into the storehouse of all knowledge try asking it, how whilst being provided with a brain ,you are somehow incapable of using it to decipher the progress of humanity. Early man worshipped because he was ignorant, knowledge when acquired makes even the most magical technologies like fire understandable. Children believe all kinds of fairy stories ,but then their brains evolve and they grow up. They realise these stories are convenient fictions to teach them morals and life lessons and move on. Sir Isaac Newton was not in an Alpha state of mind any more than a novelist constructing a plot is when he was musing. He was reflecting on acquired knowledge, and the problems of physics, not empty of mind focussing on nothing."If I have seen further than other men,' said Isaac Newton, 'it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants". Oh and don't forget "the first one to lose his cool loses"

...and some snorts in between...

Be honored to know that yours is the first to be dignified with a reply...
I'll leave the religious matter to Bilbo since he seems to be doing a great job. But don't get me wrong, we have been at it since few years back and Bilbo and I hardly agree on our 'religion' especially on some important points.

Firstly, about the alpha state. This Is the state of brain when people are engaging in creative activities, there's not much big deal about it, people just go in and out of this state in their normal daily activities. BTW, Sir Isaac Newton believed in God.

Secondly, why was there a universal urge of early man to worship God and establish religion, just as if it were his instinct to do so? Your answer 'ignorance' is your opinion and too simplistic at that, imo. You can do better than that, Mr. G.

Thirdly, let me just talk about a bit about science.
Many people have a misconception that just because something in not proven scientifically, they don't exist, and scientists themselves are sometimes responsible for this. If that is true, then hundred or two hundred years ago, many of the things we know today didn't exist because they weren't proven scientifically to exist then - germs, ultraviolet rays, blood cells, etc. There are millions of things that are actually still out there but haven't been proven scientifically to exist, but that does not change the fact that they do indeed exist. Who knows million years from now, they may prove that indeed God do exist, but my big questions is if there is Anyone who's good enough to create the universe, would He let us, mere earthlings, to find Him? So it's our choice, to be limited by what is proven and despair or see this world with eyes of childlike (childrens are definitely underrated) wonder and hope?


"There are millions of things that are actually still out there but haven't been proven scientifically to exist, but that does not change the fact that they do indeed exist."


"So it's our choice, to be limited by what is proven and despair or see this world with eyes of childlike (and childrens are definitely underrated) wonder and hope?"


About the function of brain. Don't blame us easterners who believe, or at least used to believe, that brain is just channel rather the creator of ideas themselves. The brain which just weighs ounces and if you take all the water out of it and pulperize it, what have you got, just few spoons of brainy powder which would hardly weigh an ounce. I just can't believe that this tiny bits of biological matter can physically do what it does, all by itself, no more than you can cram only a limited amount of gigabytes in the micro sd card, which according to some scientist, is starting to reach it's physical limits. Of course this is just my opinion but not a far fetched one, I think.

So to be labelled as an ill educated man and of no consequence clearly rankled me, but no way was i going to be the first to lose his cool and give pacfan any satisfaction[/B].

PEACE

Good for you and I say amen to that. Cheers, buddy.

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Okay fellas, I'm a busy person so if I don't reply, please don't get upset. I usually don't reply when there's nothing for me to add... And, excuse me for any typos...