I was just wondering why you people are religious, is it due to personal experiences in touch with a god or such? Or is it something you were taught by your parents/culture, and you have continued with? By this I don't mean to critizise those who are religious, by no means, beacause I believe that everyone shoud be able to have their own beliefs. I'm also curious about how large a part of your daily life is your religion? Personally I'm an atheist, that is, I believe there might be something out there, but I don't know what. I also believe that the power of will is one of the strongest powers on earth.
For the religious people here
- Thread starter SoNR
- Start date
I saw this the other day, and thought it was good. Been waiting to put it in religious thread since, so I s'pose this is as good a time as any.
Not stricltly religious, but I think it applies.
Not stricltly religious, but I think it applies.
Then you're agnostic. An atheist denies/disbelieves in the existance of any god/s. I myself am an agnostic, I think that there probably isn't some divine, omnipotent being, but there might be something.SoNR said:
POOPERSCOOPER
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Can you guys talk about games, maybe?
If anyone forgot: I'm the atheist around here. That means I don't believe in any of that divine mumbo jumbo, but that doesn't mean I don't have a system. For instance, I like Nietzsche's idea about "the perpetual return", meaning I don't believe in free will either (reality as a movie on continuous repeat, which is not the same thing as reïncarnation, mind you). I believe we are puppets on a string but that string is controlled by the laws of nature, mathematics, chemistry. I do think there is more to reality than we now know off, but I also think that reality could be explained with a strictly scientific approach IF humans were a whole lot smarter. We never will be able to explain everything because we are too dumb to pull that off.
How did I get to think this way? Let's just say I experienced some crap in my life that led me to think this way. There is no divine being watching over me or any of the people I know, trust me.
How did I get to think this way? Let's just say I experienced some crap in my life that led me to think this way. There is no divine being watching over me or any of the people I know, trust me.
welsh
Junkmaster
Yes, you are an agnostic not an athiest. By his own definition, is actually pushing the bounds towards agnosticism should he incorporate some notion of the supernatural.
My wife, for instance, insists that she doesn't believe in God but if you talk to her for awhile, she does have a fairly organized structure of faith in the power forces beyond our capacity to understand them that manipulate and motivate us.
That said, I consider myself a Catholic, but I don't believe in the sanctity of the Catholic Church as the one true medium of God's word on Earth. Rather I see the purpose of the Church and the community as a means through which one can explore the nature of God. One of the reasons I like Catholicism, is that while there is a strong sense of faith, this is different from knowledge or understanding. Science and Religion are not necessarily seperate means of exploring the same thing. But that's a notion that Catholicism has not, historically, embraced.
My wife, for instance, insists that she doesn't believe in God but if you talk to her for awhile, she does have a fairly organized structure of faith in the power forces beyond our capacity to understand them that manipulate and motivate us.
That said, I consider myself a Catholic, but I don't believe in the sanctity of the Catholic Church as the one true medium of God's word on Earth. Rather I see the purpose of the Church and the community as a means through which one can explore the nature of God. One of the reasons I like Catholicism, is that while there is a strong sense of faith, this is different from knowledge or understanding. Science and Religion are not necessarily seperate means of exploring the same thing. But that's a notion that Catholicism has not, historically, embraced.
I'm piscapalian (if that's how you spell it), and I do believe in god. The evolution theory is shit. I don't believe it. Even Einstien himself thought there was a god and denounced the whole evolution theory. God is out there watching. It's better to have ideas of whether or not there is a god or about your religion. Beliefs that everyone so called "has" now days are much harder to change than the ideas that some people have..... yes.... straight out of Dogma, but it actually makes some snese if you look at it in a different point of view.
It appears that today in our sociaty there are A LOT of athiest and agnostic people around. But back in the day (not in Christ's times but like in the Renassiance.) nobody ever questioned their faith. But today a ton of people question it, I have questioned it a couple of times, but out of no where I believe again. There's no explanation for it, except there being a god.
My two cents.
It appears that today in our sociaty there are A LOT of athiest and agnostic people around. But back in the day (not in Christ's times but like in the Renassiance.) nobody ever questioned their faith. But today a ton of people question it, I have questioned it a couple of times, but out of no where I believe again. There's no explanation for it, except there being a god.
My two cents.
Pipboy2000 said:
o rly?
Pipboy2000 said:
What exactly do you mean by 'questioned their faith'? I've never questioned my "faith" (which in this context doesn't seem to be the same as 'the way I perceive the world'), since I've never had one. And what would be better about people not questioning it?
Been waiting to use this for a while.
Last time I posted my beliefs a lot of bad things happened. So I'm not gonna.
@pip: Episcopalian.
You know what I meant.
Kinda, but still...
It happened that Salvador Dali (for Kharn: Spanish Painter
) sometimes smeared himself in buffalo spillings, but that doesn't make it right.
Pipboy2000 said:
It happened that Salvador Dali (for Kharn: Spanish Painter
) sometimes smeared himself in buffalo spillings, but that doesn't make it right.perfectdark18
First time out of the vault
Someone said that the chance of the big bang/primordial soup concept of creation succeeding is about the same as the chance of a tornado passing through a junk yard and constructing a perfect 747.
I agree; I guess that's one reason I believe in God. When I look at nature (particularly the mathematical patterns that govern it), I find it hard to believe that there was no purpose behind creation.
That said, I do think that science and religion are compatible.
I agree; I guess that's one reason I believe in God. When I look at nature (particularly the mathematical patterns that govern it), I find it hard to believe that there was no purpose behind creation.
That said, I do think that science and religion are compatible.
Mad Larkin
It Wandered In From the Wastes
Hmh, proof please?
Myself, I do think that there are some powers not understood by men. But the christian dogma about religion is a big bunch of hogwash.
Assuming there was a god, what does that tell about him?
perfectdark18 said:
That analogy would only work if earth and the universe had been formed immediately by the Big Bang, like the 747 would've been formed immediately by the tornado. This is simply not true, the scientific explanation of the universe is way more complex than "it was just formed by the Big Bang, period"
He's an atheist if he wants to call himself that, and an agnost if he wants to call himself THAt. Read this about it:
http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/intro.html
B) Einstein did NOT believe in god:
EDIT: Wrong link, sorry:
http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/arguments.html#einstein
According to the links given above, I am a freethinker/empirical agnostic. Hurray.
On Big Bang: The probablity of this happening after the Big Bang, are just as great as anything else happening because of the Big Bang. This is because the Big Bang itself formed natural laws (probably) and created the starting point of the universe. And this, then, means that any one universe could've been formed with a lot of different natural laws. Coincidentally, we live in this one. Probability is no argument here.
PS: Blade Runner: Strong atheism is still a religion.
http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/intro.html
A) Even IF Einstein believed, that doesn't make it any more true, or even more likely.
B) Einstein did NOT believe in god:
EDIT: Wrong link, sorry:
http://www.infidels.org/news/atheism/arguments.html#einstein
People have always questioned their beliefs, Pip. Just because you only hear about the religious part of medieval life, does not mean that no one every questioned their faith then.
According to the links given above, I am a freethinker/empirical agnostic. Hurray.
On Big Bang: The probablity of this happening after the Big Bang, are just as great as anything else happening because of the Big Bang. This is because the Big Bang itself formed natural laws (probably) and created the starting point of the universe. And this, then, means that any one universe could've been formed with a lot of different natural laws. Coincidentally, we live in this one. Probability is no argument here.
PS: Blade Runner: Strong atheism is still a religion.
perfectdark18 said:
Sure, it was a pretty big coincidence that we're all here now. If someone were to roll a bundle of dice at the dawn of time that would determine weather or not you would get to exist at this date - do you think the odds would be any good?
And by the way, what are the odds that a god just existed "in the first place", who then decided to make everything?
Luke said:
Christians may not like it because it conflicts with their sense of Western culture, but inherent in Christianity is the notion of determinism. In the core of Christianity is "things are, and will be, as God wills"
So you can not speak of "what are the odds" God would make us to a Christian or other monotheist in the same sense that you can say "what are the odds" evolutionary theory made us to an agnostic/atheist. In one case odds do not exist, in the other odds are infinite.
welsh
Junkmaster
Damn that was pretty good Kharn.