News and Politics Forum

I dont know if you wanna go for the athiesm thing.

Athiests have faith that there is nothing above them, and to validate that faith would probably require a lot of research on your part. All that work to disbelieve in a holy entity would be boring.

Seabird wrote:

I just can't muster the patience or discipline it takes to devote myself to the kind of study and deep introspective thought to really understand and feel comfortable with Christianity.

I agree. It would take a hell of a lot of patience/discipline for me to feel comfortable with Christianity too.

Last edited by JRoyC07 (05-12-2008 03:57 PM)

JRoyC07 wrote:

Athiests have faith that there is nothing above them, and to validate that faith would probably require a lot of research on your part.

Not really.  I don't believe in Santa Claus, either, and that requires neither faith nor a great deal of research.

Seabird wrote:

I just can't muster the patience or discipline it takes to devote myself to the kind of study and deep introspective thought to really understand and feel comfortable with Christianity.

What's the point? Guy has made it clear that attaining heaven is nearly impossible for most people.

I wont bother to ask what happened, because I'm afraid that you might actually tell me.

I also wont belabor that what you are really talking about is agnosticism; since atheism is an affirmative belief in the NON-existence of God; and requires just as much faith as any religion ever invented.


But I will ask you these questions:

What does God have to do with religion?

Why do you feel that you need to figure ANYTHING out?


As a Christian, you were really a Jew anyway (Albeit a messianic one.), so why not take a cue from a famous Jewish sage, Rabbi Hillel:

Without bothering with the preamble to the story, what basically happened is that the Rabbi was approached by someone who challenged him to summarize the Torah (Jewish Law) in a sentence.

Hillel said: "What is hateful to you, do not do to another. That is the entire Torah. Everything else is commentary. Now go and study!"



Or you could take the Nerd approach and think about what Gaius Baltar said on Battlestar Galactica:

"God only loves that which is perfect and he loves you just as you are. Therefore you are perfect just the way you are"


Or you could go even nerdier and listen to the advice of Oma Desala of Stargate SG1 fame, who said:

The success or failure of your deeds, does not add up to the sum of your life. Judge yourself by the intentions of your actions, and by the strength with which you faced the challenges that have stood in your way. The Universe is so vast, and we are so small, there is only truly one thing we can control; whether we are good or evil




Or you can start here:

The VERY NEXT TIME that you have a choice between good/evil, right/wrong, nice/mean, etc/etc; simply make the right choice.

What IS the right choice?

Well you already know that. In spite of having complete free will and the wrong choice often being more attractive; you STILL know right from wrong. THAT is the spark of Divinity within you that you kept looking for and which was never lost to begin with.


Revelation doesn't have to come with a blinding flash of light. And sometimes being a good {insert religion} is really no more complex than not being an asshole for that day.


So stop worrying and start believing on YOUR terms. Not someone else's.

Quarken wrote:

Ok, do you believe there is a teapot orbiting Pluto?

Yea, as a matter of fact there are two. Nix and Hydra.

You obviously didnt understand what I was trying to say. Either that or you are too fond of your weak wit to articulate a real response.

God, or his non-existance are not observable things, unlike pluto and its satellites. You cannot prove the existance of a thing that you cannot observe/quantift/ect. But you cannot prove its non-existance either.

Personally, I dont know if God exists or not.

You seem pretty dogmatic in your assertion that he doesn't exist. It sounds to me like you are pretty faithful.

Last edited by JRoyC07 (05-12-2008 05:14 PM)

Quarken wrote:

...believing in something unprovable is completely irrational and arbitrary, ...

Prove it.

Wow, where to begin.

Quarken wrote:

The point is, obviously, that believing in something unprovable is completely irrational

Believing in a concept that is equally unprovable would be equally irrational, would it not.

Quarken wrote:

There is no more faith involved in atheism towards Santa than there is of God.

Do you consider Santa Claus a deity? Understandable of you are <10, but if not, than your use of the word atheism was inappropriate.

Again, if your going to equate an almighty with Santa Claus than this discussion is really not worth having.

I won't challenge your belief that God doesn't exist, but I assure you, it is nothing more than a belief.

I don't think so Guy. You've made me realize the futility of my past efforts. Your words have delivered to me a certain freedom and I thank you for it.

Quarken wrote:

Belief != disbelief.  I know it may be a difficult concept, but they are not the same.

Knowing what you don't know is often more important than what you think you do know.

Hmmm... I don't know about that...

Are there piranhas? Cause I wouldn't wade across a river if it had piranhas in it.

Quarken wrote:

If you couldn't swim, would you cross a river with an average depth of 4 feet?  Why?  Because of what you know, or because of what you don't know?

Apply that same logic to the concept of religion, and you will understand why it is irrational.

What?

I keep trying to get away from Christianity but God won't let me... let us know how it goes for you CBRD.

Quarken wrote:

If you couldn't swim, would you cross a river with an average depth of 4 feet?  Why?  Because of what you know, or because of what you don't know?

Lets apply this to religion.

If you couldnt prove that god DOESNT exist, would you make a definitive statement of the negative anyways? Why? Because of what you know, or because of what you dont know?

Belief and disbelief are the same in that they require an affirmative either way.

So belief or disbelief in something that CANNOT be proven is essentially the same thing: an act of faith.