The "Let's Discuss Religion As Though We Were Grownups" Thread

Discussion in 'The Lounge' started by guamyankee, Feb 17, 2011.

  1. mammamaia

    mammamaia nit-picker-in-chief Contributor

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    ask for my free e-book 'in whose name?' if you want to know what i think of religion...

    [title provides a pretty good clue!]
     
  2. Sabreur

    Sabreur Contributor Contributor

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    Odin will guide my soul to Valhalla.

    I just need to lay the skulls of one hundred foul Christians at his feet on the day that I die.

    :p
     
  3. Lydia

    Lydia Contributor Contributor

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    As long as my skull isn't there between.


    So yeah, I'm Christian. I'm not actually gonna discuss about that cause we all know that doesn't really work out. :rolleyes:
     
  4. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    Traditionally, the Valkyries bring the souls of brave warriors to Valhalla - it's not something the All-Father bothers with personally. And murdering people won't get you there - you need to prove your bravery in fair combat.
     
  5. guamyankee

    guamyankee Active Member

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    Oh, come on, what's the worst that could happen? :)
     
  6. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    I suppose that if you believe the universe is somehow alive or cares about its inhabitants, it makes it different from atheism.
     
  7. guamyankee

    guamyankee Active Member

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    I like to think of earth and the universe as living organisms, but I don't think of the universe as God. Yes, it is different from atheism. I guess I just don't get it. It makes as much sense to me as calling a pencil God.
     
  8. yuriicide

    yuriicide New Member

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    Agnosticism fits me perfectly. I'm not too big on religion and find that it doesn't make any sense at all. Not trying to disrespect anyone, but none of us know for sure.
     
  9. Islander

    Islander Contributor Contributor

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    Perhaps you've been taught the classic Old-Testament notion of God as a ruler and authority figure, not that different from a king, except being much more powerful.

    Brahmanism (part of Hinduism) imagines God as a super-organism, the Brahma, which encompasses all other souls in the universe. Kabbalism (the Jewish brand of mysticism) imagines God as a force which constantly creates the universe.
     
  10. Halcyon

    Halcyon Contributor Contributor

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    I'm 100% atheist. In some ways I would actually like there to be a God - it would potentially add meaning and purpose to existence, in this life and what came later, but having spent decades thinking about the options and studying the evidence and searching my soul (whatever that is), I really don't believe that he is, or ever has been, out there.

    Yes, it's annoying that our scientific knowledge falls a little short and can't actually disprove God - for example we can trace the origins of our Universe back to a fraction of a second after the Big Bang, but we can't quite go back and explain that actual moment when everything popped into existence; we can explain the workings of the Universe on an unimaginably small scale and an unimaginably large one, but we can't find a complete set of rules that works at both levels; and we can create ever more complex chemical compounds, but can't quite create the conditions that would transform them into something biological. But we are a very young species, operating in a very small insignificant corner of the cosmos, so maybe we just need more time to fully understand everything that is around us. Scientifically, we have certainly made quantum leaps in recent decades and will hopefully continue to do so.

    I don't ridicule those who believe in God. I prefer to live and let live, but it does anger me that a belief in the superiority and rectitude of one religion over another has led to wars and thousands upon thousands of deaths, and it's hard to avoid the conclusion that we'll all be better off if science can eventually unlock the innermost secrets of our Universe and render the idea of God completely redundant. :)
     
  11. Forkfoot

    Forkfoot Caitlin's ex is a lying, abusive rapist. Contributor

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    I very seldom discuss it, but my story is that I had a series of what I call "spiritual awakenings" a while back which have caused a major shift in consciousness. I don't really see things as separate from myself anymore. "We're all one" and "There is no self" are for me more than just hippie clichés; they're an everyday reality.

    Before these shifts started I was a hardcore Roman Catholic, but it was impossible to maintain that worldview after what I'd been seeing. It's caused some tensions with my wife, who remains Catholic, but what can I do? Gotta be true to what's seen here. Since then I've had an aversion to all forms of organized religion and have actually found that I have more common ground in discussions about reality with atheists than with most religious people.
     
  12. Sabreur

    Sabreur Contributor Contributor

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    Let's not pretend like I was anywhere near serious with that comment ;)

    In reality, I'm an atheist :p
     
  13. Link the Writer

    Link the Writer Flipping Out For A Good Story. Contributor

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    I'm agnostic myself. Although I don't see physical evidence, I will not accept that all the crazy coincidences that made our universe, what made the Earth and us was just one big happy accident. Someone or something is out there. I do not know if it's one singular god(ess) or a whole pantheon of gods/godesses, but I believe something's out there.
     
  14. guamyankee

    guamyankee Active Member

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    Creator, no creator, life is pretty crazy either way. That's about as deep as I'm going to get today.
     
  15. holaratcha

    holaratcha New Member

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    Follower

    I credit myself as being a follower of Christ or in common terms a Christian. While I was raised Christian my entire life, I enlisted in religious and cultural experimentation a few years back. During this season, I enlisted in what any son of a conservative preacher man would enlist in to the fullest.

    Since then, I have had an experience with Christ, won't get into it in this forum but it brought me to a better place. What I would like to add is that some of the most interesting people I have ever met have been atheists and agnostics.

    This is probably because as a kid I was fed a certain belief system and now can appreciate their high levels of intelligence. Agnostics and Atheists are such a voice in our world because they are, on average, much more knowledgable concerning multiple religious beliefs. This is a big point that I value about them.

    I guess what it comes down to is differences instead of "right" and "wrong." If we can value the differences in each other, we tend to find a much more pleasant experience. When we use differences as right and wrong, most conversations drive the path of anger, malice and bigotry.

    Wish you all well - :D
     
  16. guamyankee

    guamyankee Active Member

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    Well said, Holaratcha. Too many people who want to shove their ideas down people's throats, and tell everyone how wrong they are, from all sides of life. This can range from extremists murdering people, to zealots who preach fire and brimstone, "you're going to hell because you're a sinner" type messages. Athiests and Agnostics can be guilty of the same, if they insist on always finding faults with religions.

    If only the world followed your ideals, there would be peace.
     
  17. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    I'm an Atheist myself, though I personally don't like the word Atheist.

    Religion has no place in my life, and I don't have any personal beliefs.
     
  18. guamyankee

    guamyankee Active Member

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    Yes, Atheist does seem a cold word.

    If you really are an Atheist, then you do have a belief. You believe that there is no god.
     
  19. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    Not really. That's the reason why I don't like the word Atheist, to me it's functionally dead. I don't have any sort of belief, at all, and I reject the claim that a god exists because of my disbelief in one. So I am an atheos or 'without (a) god'.
     
  20. WastelandSurvivor

    WastelandSurvivor New Member

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    Religion does not play any part in my life, but others are welcome to it. My parents are agnostic and simply never brought religion into my upbringing--I only ever experienced religion at school (which was a public school, by the way) and so to me it was always a bit of an oddity. We never discussed it, never went to church, and never prayed, so it was simply not there.
     
  21. Sabreur

    Sabreur Contributor Contributor

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    I would assert that it is impossible to function without some sort of belief, though it need not be in a religion or spiritual tradition. Science, humanism, etcetera: all beliefs.
     
  22. Lemex

    Lemex That's Lord Lemex to you. Contributor

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    Well. OK. I see your point. I have no supernatural beliefs. But I wouldn't say that science is a 'belief', in fact, I'd say the opposite.
     
  23. Holden

    Holden New Member

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    There is no proof for a "higher being," therefore I do not believe in one.
     
  24. guamyankee

    guamyankee Active Member

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    Who ever said that a god exists because of your disbelief in one? That's a theory I haven't heard yet.
     
  25. Chudz

    Chudz New Member

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    Just a thought.

    Okay, this was done several years ago, on another forum, but you get the gist. . . . With a few edits of course.

    Beginnings and Endings

    We live in a world of beginnings and endings. For instance, the last sentence began with the word “We”, and ended in a period. On a deeper level, we could say that it began as a thought, awakening in my mind, and ending when it was placed upon paper, or virtual paper in this instance. To go further with words, there is a beginning and an ending to an essay, a novel, and a poem. A movie, based on a novel, certainly has a beginning and ending as well.

    My journey to see the movie--mentioned in the previous paragraph--also has a beginning and ending. It begins when I learn of the movie’s existence, and ends when I return from having seen it. I may even have a conversation with a co-worker about it the next day. Indeed, this conversation has a beginning and ending, as does the day we spoke about it.

    The day began at Midnight, and will end in most cases, 24 hours later. There are beginnings and endings to weeks, months, years, centuries, etc. These are man made labels to measure time, as kilometers and miles are used to measure distance. But what of existence?

    My physical existence in this world began when I was conceived, and will end when I die. But I will decay for a very long period. All living things have beginnings and endings. Over geologic time, even mountain ranges are said to have a beginning and ending. The world itself had a beginning, and in theory will have an ending. There are so many beginnings and endings, it’s difficult for me to think outside of this pattern. For instance, travel with me through the following exercise, by visualizing what is mentioned, using the frame work of beginnings and endings.

    I live in a house, whose walls mark both its beginning and ending. My house is situated on a lot, that also begins and ends. This lot is part of a subdivision, and the subdivision part of a city. The city is part of a state, and the state is part of the Country. The Country is part of the world, and the world is part of our solar system. Our solar system is part of our galaxy, and our galaxy is part of . . . well there may be a word for it, but this is where my experience with beginnings and endings starts to fail me.

    Space is thought to be infinite, having neither a beginning or ending when speaking of distance. What about its beginning and ending existence-wise? Was the infinity of space born from something? If so, what was there before it, and how was it made?

    Primitive man is accused of attributing things that were beyond his understanding to the realms of magic, spirits, and gods. As science has broadened our understanding of our physical world, the mysteries behind many such things have been revealed, and they are mysteries no more.

    Yet here I stand in primitive man's shoes, trying to comprehend things that seemingly do not have a beginning or ending, like space and time, and I have come to similar conclusions. There is something out there, something greater than our world, something that knows the answer.
     

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