There isno god/s

[nomadpete]

Who gets lost for 40 years in a desert that most humans can walk across in a week?

 

With a sense of direction like that, Moses must have been a politician.

[onetrack]

Yep, lost in the Wilderness for 40 years, he must have been a Federal Labor politician!

[nomadpete]

Don't be racist, OneT.

 

Any politician. They are all tarred with the same brush. I wouldn't buy a used car from any of 'em.

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

Don't be racist, OneT.

 

Any politician. They are all tarred with the same brush. I wouldn't buy a used car from any of 'em.

Maybe Saint Bob Brown.  A politician who donated $100,000 of his own money (much of which he had to borrow) to help pay the ransom of a kidnapped journalist in Somalia.  

[Old Koreelah]

On 13/4/2022 at 9:55 PM, Marty_d said:

Maybe Saint Bob Brown.  A politician who donated $100,000 of his own money (much of which he had to borrow) to help pay the ransom of a kidnapped journalist in Somalia.  

…and one of the few pollies with the guts to take his anti-fossil fuel campaign into the heart of Qld coal country.

[Marty_d]

3 hours ago, Old Koreelah said:

…and one of the few pollies with the guts to take his anti-fossil fuel campaign into the heart of Qld coal country.

Not that that was particularly well thought out.  Points to him for courage and conviction by all means, but it actually hardened the stance of many people in those regions.

[old man emu]

The LNP plan for stopping coal mining - go and dig up something else.

[Jerry_Atrick]

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

The LNP plan for stopping coal mining - go and dig up something else.

And then, "Oh, look.. A seam of coal.. Who would have thought? While we're here, may as well use it..."

Edited April 15, 2022 by Jerry_Atrick

[old man emu]

Can you believe in a god, but not religion?

[nomadpete]

I

1 hour ago, old man emu said:

Can you believe in a god, but not religion?

Of course you can if you wish to. Equally  one can also believe in spirituality of various kinds, without believing in any gods.

 

Any belief is a personal choice.

 

Seems to me, not much different from folks believing that one particular god is any different from all the other gods of other religions.

Edited May 4, 2022 by nomadpete

[facthunter]

You could lose your head in some parts of the world, saying that. Nev

[Marty_d]

Believe is a funny word.  It's stronger than "think", but falls short of "know".

It can be based on verifiable data (although that then changes to "know") or a complete lack of data, or anything in between.

This means I don't particularly like it.  If I don't know that something is real/valid/exists, but I think it might, then I say "I think".  On the other hand if something is verifiable by reasonable, repeatable methods, then I'd say "I know".

Alien life, for example.  Given the number of stars in the universe and the calculated number of "goldilocks" planets, I think it's extremely likely that life has, is or will evolve in other star systems.  Do I know this?  No, I don't have any evidence.  But I don't "believe" it either, I just think it's likely.

Unfortunately this is seen as a negative in society.  Not having a strong stance on every given subject is seen as a failure of character or intellect, where I'd argue the reverse is true.

When it comes to god, or any other supernatural phenomena, I neither "believe" or even think it's likely.  There's no reason for such a being or evidence of it's existence, and the "holy books" which write about it state firmly that it bears an extremely unlikely interest in aspects of humankind, such as who (and how) we mate, our personal thoughts and our "belief" in said being. 

[rgmwa]

Living with uncertainty can be uncomfortable, but belief without doubt on the basis of ancient religious texts seems an impossible combination to me.

[kgwilson]

Beliefs are the lynch pin of religions. None have any evidence their god or gods exist but they don't care anyway. It provides them with a reason for their existence and/or a crutch to lean on when things are not going well.

 

It is interesting that when some agnostic people get to the point of absolute fear of death they start to change and pray to a god they have never thought about before in the hope they may be saved and keep on living. There is absolutely no logic to this situation as there has never been any divine intervention even though "believers" are able to convince themselves there is when they don't actually die at the time.

[facthunter]

People can believe what they choose to and for whatever reason applies for them. Many religious people lose their faith when exposed to atrocities. The idea IS what God would allow this to happen?  Blame God if you believe He is a factor. How physical things work doesn't allow them to be Paused or changed for a miracle to happen. It's OK to believe in God if you don't know any science. The Telescope shows us the Universe is UNBELIEVABLY LARGE beyond human comprehension. and our little world is but a speck of dust in this giant hostile Place of temperature extremes and huge forces and long periods of time. Nev

[nomadpete]

5 hours ago, rgmwa said:

Living with uncertainty can be uncomfortable

RGmwa, that might be the point of difference between those who NEED to 'believe' and those who don't have that need.

 

As Marty said, he is rather indifferent about the issue of believing (or not) in a god.

 

But some folk I know would feel rather threatened if they couldn't have an absolute answer to the 'meaning of life, the universe and everything'.

 

My take on it is -

I am constantly amazed by the bits of the universe that mankind has managed to see, whether macro (black holes and supernovas) or micro right down to subatomic). I am  thrilled by the thought that life of all kinds actually exists and I am part of the fabric of life on this 'Pale Blue Dot'.

 

I feel that involving various simplistic unsubstantiated creation stories just cheapens the reality.

 

If the stories were true, the gods never needed to bother with the complexities that we see around us - they only have to throw a couple of simple concepts around during their boring week, and "pow! - light, pow - firmament!, Pow! - creatures!". Why would an all powerful creater need to bother with messy faulty DNA, atomic theory, other galaxies, etc.

 

It would make for a really boring world. But I understand that a lot of humans can't cope with the amazing scope of reality. Most people feel their identity or ego is threatened when stuff is not properly controlled. They need a super alpha male to be in control, so they invent one.

Edited May 5, 2022 by nomadpete

[Marty_d]

1 hour ago, nomadpete said:

They need a super alpha male to be in control, so they invent one.

And THAT's exactly why I think Batman is a better superhero than Superman.  Superman has it all given to him.  Flying, bulletproof, super strong, lasers from his eyes even.   Bloody typical godlike creation (who works for America, of course).

Batman on the other hand is a tortured psyche who engineers his own vehicles and weapons.  Of course his vast fortune enables him to have all these toys, he's not exactly the man on the street.  But he goes out at night with his human weaknesses and fights criminals because one of them killed his parents.

 

What was the point again?

[facthunter]

The "Life after Death" thing comes from thinking "I'm too important to just DIE.  This can't be all for nothing".  This is an EGO issue. ALL things die but something lives on when You pass on your genes to your children. IF you choose not to do that It's fine. The human race is not short of breeders. Most religions encourage it even when there's too many of us.  Nev

[spacesailor]

There is too many of us.

Too blooody right !.

Long live those childless'  alphabet ' couples, who may possibly save this world, for the breader couples.

AND THAT

Is a huge change of heart, in one generation going from  " illegal "  to acceptance,  now.

The Hetro,s are Not marrying & the alphabet,ers are gaining more numbers .

 

spacesailor