Quote:what does your appeal to emotion have to do with the truthfulness of God's existence?

Knowing about God’s unique attributes is Not the same thing as knowing Truth. Ideas are NOT truths.

I prefer to live in reality, not "widespread belief".

In all reality, there's no proof for god, but god can still be considered truth without proof, to idiots.

Pray for God in one hand, shit in the other and see which one gets full first.

(February 18, 2013 at 8:59 am)Confused Ape Wrote:

(February 18, 2013 at 5:53 am)pop_punks_not_dead Wrote: I know this sounds dumb,I am an atheist, but part of me still wants to have some form of belief, that there is a God out there and there is more to existence than this life I have been dumped with.

Have a look at World Pantheism

Quote:Do you find it impossible to believe in supernatural gods, and difficult to conceive of anything more worthy of the deepest respect than the beauty of Nature or the power and mystery of the Universe?

Do you feel a deep sense of peace and belonging and wonder in the midst of Nature?

Most people have a sense that there is something greater than the self or than the human race. And indeed there is. It's the planet, and at a broader level the entire Universe.

The WPM's naturalistic reverence for Nature can satisfy the need for a feeling of belonging to a greater whole, without sacrificing logic or respect for evidence and science. As one member put it, it is spirituality without absurdity.

Huh I did their test quiz thing and got 100% for Pantheist interesting...

Agnostic Pantheist (100%)

Atheist / Secular Humanist (100%)

Naturalistic Pantheist (85%)

Dualist Pantheist (78%)

Idealist Pantheist (78%)

Deist (71%)

Literal Pagan / New Age / Animist (71%)

Panentheist (71%)

Regular Monotheist (64%)

Agnostic (0%)


Is it sad that I had to look up what a Pantheist is?

I used to feel that way. I logically concluded there probably wasn't a god, but I really wished there was. I think that was just because I was afraid of death and I wanted to know there was an afterlife. I don't feel that way anymore. To me now living on forever would to be planted raw out in the woods somewhere so my nutrients could feed the trees, and give back to the earth.

(February 18, 2013 at 7:32 am)Napoléon Wrote: Something to do with a 'higher purpose'?

How is being incompetent and relying on a superior being "a higher purpose"?

Was slavery and the brutl colonial era also a higher purpose since "white people" had to give the "infiriors" a "higher purpose".


When seeking purpose it is better to give it to yourself.

Quote:Is it strange that I want <snip> to be a God ?

There, fixed that for you!

And the answer is NO. It's completely natural to want more than our lowly mortal carbon based life form allows.

There is a very old story seeped in symbolism, and if most people understood that the ceremony of the merkevah ("moving Throne" or "chariot") , they would understand that the kabbalah (a weird book, I know) means discovering that the heavenly throne is empty.

So four very religious leaders do the ceremeny of the merkevah together, and, according to an old Jewish Midrash, they all withness the result of this ceremony. So how does each one deal with the fact that there is no god?

One dies because of it. One goes insane. One speaks out "There is no God", and the other remained unaffected (Rabbi Akiva, the most militant of the 4 who would lead a religious war that would fail).

Different people deal with the truth differently. You either ignore it, resist it , or you just state the truth as you saw and live with it.

I could understand someone wanting there to be a God, but the way I look at it is even if it was proven to me that God exists, even if he came down and spoke to me, yes, I would believe that he exists, however I would not worship him in anyway, I would honestly not give a crap about the information that I had just learned. If there is a God he plays absolutely no part in our lives, doesn't seem to care about the welfare of his people, so frankly I just don't give a shit either way.

I like it that Sam Harris will often take the term "God" and replace it with "Zeus", which makes the sentence sound stupid because most people don't want to worship Zeus, but God? Ahhh...