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Do you believe in God? |
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Catcher10 
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 Posted: 22 Jul 2010 at 11:38pm |
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I'm Catholic....so I am taught to believe in Him....but I am also smart enough to make my own decisions, about everything.
There is no amount of Catechism classes I took as a child to teach me there is a God. As a grown man, I firmly believe I made my decision on my own at a very young age.
I do believe in God.
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US Festival '83 "Heavy Metal Sunday" Survivor....
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FusionKing
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Posted: 23 Jul 2010 at 1:12pm |
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As I said earlier, I am an atheist, however I did not go into detail regarding my beliefs. The way I think of it, is that god(s) cannot exist as the powers required to be a god cannot work together. A god would need to be both almighty and all knowing in order to be a perfect being. This is the big problem, to be almighty, the god must have freewill to do as it pleases, but if the god is all knowing too, it has no freewill, the god is bound to doing only the things that it already foresaw itself doing in future. This trapped cycle of being able to do nothing but what was already destined makes the god an imperfect being and therefore, not a god. However, I also feel it is wrong to say "you die, that's it" like many atheists. Who said that eternal being goes only to those who are theist? No way! Any decent science class teaches you, "energy is constant, it has no point of creation and no end point, it simply changes its function".
Now add that thought to this other peice of scientific info, "The brain's basic functions can be traced but actual thoughts and emotions in our heads cannot". No one can do a catscan on the depressed and say, 'we've found the root of your sadness sir'. Therefore an intrinsic part of human makeup that we call emotion is not empirically verifiable save for the personal accounts of all in basic communication with each other. This part can then be recognised as not definatively physical, however it does exist as an energy form as all things are made of energy.
We know that when we die our physical body degrades to other chemicals into the land, this is how our body's energy continues...but where does our non physical element, the 'mind' go to in order to continue its existence in the energy cycle? Who knows, but scientifically speaking, it would have to go somewhere into space or whatnot. I thus conclude that an atheist can believe in an afterlife, or more correctly put, a continuation of the energy that is, our mind.
P.S. Sorry for turning it into a thesus...
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micky
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Posted: 24 Jul 2010 at 8:43am |
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how interesting... great post! It depends on how you see God I suppose.
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Any Colour You Like
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Posted: 24 Jul 2010 at 5:25pm |
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"God either wants to eliminate bad things and cannot, or can but does
not want to, or neither wishes to nor can, or both wants to and can. If
he wants to and cannot, then he is weak - and this does not apply to
god. If he can but does not want to, then he is spiteful - which is
equally foreign to god's nature. If he neither wants to nor can, he is
both weak and spiteful, and so not a god. If he wants to and can, which
is the only thing fitting for a god, where then do bad things come
from? Or why does he not eliminate them?"
- Epicurus |
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micky
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 9:23am |
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^
there is no good..without evil. And no one knows that better than God. -The Big Micky |
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FusionKing
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 12:51pm |
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Interesting points you have Micky, I like a good philosophical discussion!
 Let me clarify why my 'weird atheist' position is what it is. Just to confuse people...not only do I not believe in any god(s) but, I don't believe in the big bang either. For a start, how can a singularity- a rip in space and time, supposedly bring everything into existence at a point of nothingness with no space or time for the 'rip' to actually occur in? It is not logical.
In my opinion, when applying the 'energy is constant, no beginning, no end' law to the cosmos as a whole, one must say that as the cosmos is all just energy, it too must be ever changing but constant. A constant, timeless form cannot have a creator because it was there forever thus requiring no creation.
The only reason why we do not perceive this much of the time is because part of our makeup, the physical self is temporary. We find it hard to understand that the cosmos is not linear because we view all of the things within it as linear. Life is deceptive, we think death is an end when all it is, is a state of change, we do not see the continuation as it really is.
It need not be in the respect of reincarnation either (by that I mean one previously being other sentient beings with totally different lives before this one, which I dont buy into because multiple personalities and families would render little meaning to that which we have in each individual life, without genuine love, what's the point...)
What I'm saying is my energy was once (if you take it back far enough...I mean waaaay back...) stardust, amoeba, a gamma ray, whatever, and by chance,which is infinate, because of a timeless cosmos, my energy has aquired sentience, so that now I, as a newly emergent mind can begin to understand the stuff, the energy from which I came and am. From there on, I simply progress, developing my 'mind' in this form and adding to it in the next one.
In essence, the meaning of life is simply to live, thus we seek to learn and be happy.
To an extent, this allows me to understand evil. It is madness, a defect, on what level of the person is debateable, but it certainly is madness. The reason why I think some people are particularly bad is like this... we all naturally seek to be happy, some get happiness from music, art, having a beer with some friends, playing games etc. these are peaceful things which ordinary people do to be happy. However, if one is insane on some level, they still have a desire to be happy, but by doing things which are characteristically abnormal for most humans, such as rape and murder.
As for minor badness, like arguing, fighting and gossiping, this, I feel is a product of being part of a world wherein our systems are built on selfish values and/or one's unpleasant past experiences which rub off a little onto people who would otherwise have been decent human beings.
P.S. More to come later, but if I don't eat something soon I will fall off my chair with starvation!
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FusionKing
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 1:33pm |
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Oh, and Happy Birthday Micky!
 ...I just read!
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Matt
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 4:42pm |
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No (expired Catholic) but what I do have is my Lucky Socks, Things always go well with those socks on, |
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Matt
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Time Signature
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 4:53pm |
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That's class! I'll join the Lucky Socks cult... soon we'll achieve world domination.... mwuahahahaha.... mwuahahahahah.... mwuahahahahah! |
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Matt
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 5:02pm |
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Matt
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micky
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 6:01pm |
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micky
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 6:09pm |
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will get to the rest of your post a bit later.. got to run....but first.. let me clarify my thoughts. yeah..I love a good religious/spiritual discussion. I have strong beliefs but try to avoid being preachy. Sure I strongly believe in God.. but to be perfectly honest. I have more respect for those who 'don't believe' than those of the ..err.. evangelical side of things. I've always believed religion is a deeply personal thing. It can be discuseed among friends .. or with mature people on a philosophical side. Let's just say I haven't run into many unbelievers that are so sure of the righteousness of their own beliefs that they feel the need to convert the 'ignorant'. For me... religion is like life... you learn as live and (the most important part).. you find a set of beliefs (or disbelief's if you will haha) that suit your life.. your experiences. |
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micky
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Posted: 25 Jul 2010 at 8:20pm |
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shit... just had a long reply typed out.. and lost it. I'll reply tomorrow... |
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progkidjoel
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Posted: 25 Aug 2010 at 8:07am |
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Rather late to the party, I am.
I did for quite a few years (probably up until the start of this year) although I don't anymore. At a certain point, probably 3 months ago tops, it all just seemed to completely stop making any sense to me within the space of a few days. Not sure why. |
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J-Man
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Posted: 25 Aug 2010 at 8:20am |
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Interesting... that's basically the same thing that happened to me. Almost out of nowhere, I just had a tough time believing in Christianity as a whole. Nothing really made sense to me anymore. Now I guess I consider myself an agnostic, although I lean towards atheism. Part of me still wants to believe in God, but my common sense is discouraging that. |
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Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime
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progkidjoel
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Posted: 25 Aug 2010 at 8:26am |
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Sounds like we're in a pretty similar boat. I have to admit I was reading into history of the church which massively changed my views on the church collectively, as well as some of the huge contradictions which christianity as a whole seems to live by. The one thing which really got me thinking was that we're taught that God is the nicest possible entity, filled with indiscriminate love, yet the only 'real' or (what claims to be) authentic stories which directly involve God seem to depict him as an incredibly evil, hate filled and vengeful person. |
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J-Man
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Posted: 25 Aug 2010 at 8:44am |
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That's very true. The thing that really got me though is the fact that the Bible breaks just about every law of nature known to man. Example... Mary had a child as a virgin, God is immortal, Jesus rose from the dead, Moses parted the red sea using magical powers, etc. etc. I just can't believe in something like that... |
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Check out my YouTube channel! http://www.youtube.com/user/demiseoftime
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The Angry Scotsman
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Posted: 25 Aug 2010 at 12:55pm |
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meh
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Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Testament. The real Big Four of thrash metal!
Listen to doom metal, worship Satan |
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Any Colour You Like
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Posted: 25 Aug 2010 at 6:06pm |
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Exhibit A: Apatheism |
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The Angry Scotsman
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Posted: 26 Aug 2010 at 1:44am |
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More complex then that and I've thought long and hard about it...but easiest way to sum up my overall feeling on god/religion/faith etc
meh |
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Megadeth, Metallica, Slayer and Testament. The real Big Four of thrash metal!
Listen to doom metal, worship Satan |
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FusionKing wrote:
This is the big problem, to be almighty, the god must have freewill to do as it pleases, but if the god is all knowing too, it has no freewill, the god is bound to doing only the things that it already foresaw itself doing in future. All religions agree that God was the creator.. but do all agree that God is the master manipulator or the all-knowing being. What if God is simply above the manipulating events .. or the future. What we have is his creation.. what we do with it.. is OUR freewill. Those who attain oneness with God are the ones that find the keys to heaven when their mortal lives are though...those that don't.. are destined to spend eternity .. if I may be so bold.. in hell. Life on Earth with it's rampant violence and misery. This trapped cycle of being able to do nothing but what was already destined makes the god an imperfect being and therefore, not a god. Perhaps God is not the puppetmaster... only the grand judge, jury and executioner. We are the ones who move the pieces in our lives.. and the world around us?