Karma poll

[Little Rik]

Unfortunately most atheist are plagued with the CANARY SYNDROME... 
They don't know what the real freedom is.
They confuse a physical body which is a cage with freedom.
Just like little birds inside a cage they don't wish anything else.
They are falsely happy as it is.  

So you think that I'm a canary in a cage.  So. Fucking. What?  I think you're a religion junkie living a life of false hope, and that at the end of your life on Earth you will simply lose consciousness and not even know you ever believed.

Until  and unless your alleged god shows up in person and talks to Me directly, without any dumb-ass self-appointed mortal middlemen such as yourself, I'm just going to sit here in the "cage" and enjoy My life.

Gee, Astreja.

You got big big expectations.  
Unbelievable expectations.  

Gee, you expect that God........... shows up in person and talks to Me directly...........

Wooooh, that is incredible.  

You know Astreja some time ago I saw a beautiful blonde (I like blonde girls) and I wish she would stop
look at me and come to me with a smile and say......I like you Rik..........you are the guy that I always dream about......let us go to my place.......

Unfortunately that did not happen Astr.  
Life can be cruel sometime especially when you don't put any effort  in trying to win and overcome the challenges.  

[Little Rik]

Hell, I feel a lot freer since I left the cage of faith.

Faith in what?  

I hope you understand that what religions say is not necessary what God may or may not think.  

[Edwardo Piet]

[sarcasm]Oh no there's no way Thump would understand that [/sarcasm]

He meant since he became an atheist.

There is no God to think.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Hell, I feel a lot freer since I left the cage of faith.

Faith in what?  

I hope you understand that what religions say is not necessary what God may or may not think.  

Why are you injecting religion into things? I said cage of faith, not "religion."

Perhaps you should read what is written and think about what you reply, instead of machine-gunning your stock answers?

Didn't think of that, did you, Little Rik?

[Astreja]

Until  and unless your alleged god shows up in person and talks to Me directly, without any dumb-ass self-appointed mortal middlemen such as yourself, I'm just going to sit here in the "cage" and enjoy My life.

Gee, you expect that God........... shows up in person and talks to Me directly...........

I don't actually expect it to happen, because I believe that your god is imaginary and incapable of ever showing up in person.

However, I am totally incapable of religious faith.  My brain simply does not permit wholehearted belief in things that appear to be extraordinary, absurd, and/or unsupported by physical evidence.  If it makes you feel any better, I don't believe in gods I actually like, either (Óðinn, Athena, Lakshmi , and various deities from modern fantasy fiction).

I'm not a noob at this religion thing.  I read the Bible back in the early 1960s and tried for many years to find a belief system that I could believe in.  Nothing worked.  Nothing stuck.  Finally I just got tired of pretending to believe, sitting in various religious congregations or studying on My own, and accepted that a non-supernatural universe made more sense.

Humanism and Stoicism adequately describe the way I see the world nowadays.

Life can be cruel sometime especially when you don't put any effort in trying to win and overcome the challenges.

You really are an unpleasant and slanderous little prick.  You know nothing of what I've overcome, or of the innumerable wins.

Here's a big hint.  I don't pray for help.  I look head-on at a problem, even if it terrifies Me beyond the capacity for rational thought, and then I take the first frightened step towards solving it and keep going no matter how many times I blow it.

When I was 11 years old I came very close to falling 1400 feet to My death off a sharp cliff face near the top of a mountain in Quebec.  I shuddered, stopped looking down, and climbed to a safe place about 15 feet up.

I had to leave a home that I had completely paid for when My now ex-spouse threatened a murder-suicide.  I bought another house, this time in My name alone, and now it's paid off, too.  That's right:  I've paid off two mortgages.

I passed a key computer certification exam on the fourth try.  I passed My driving test on the fourth try.  I learned to play violin, clarinet, saxophone and flute in My 40s and 50s.  Mad DIY skillz, mostly self-taught, in just about everything one would need to renovate and maintain a house -- Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, drywall, masonry, roofing, door and window installation -- you name it, I've probably done it.  (Oh, and right now I'm learning how to speak Icelandic.)

For Me, the greatest joy is is to struggle through learning something new, and master it.  I like to win, and I win a lot.

You owe Me one hell of a big apology, you little brat.  I doubt very much you have what it takes to do it, though.

[Little Rik]

Faith in what?  

I hope you understand that what religions say is not necessary what God may or may not think.  

Why are you injecting religion into things?  I said cage of faith, not "religion."

Perhaps you should read what is written and think about what you reply, instead of machine-gunning your stock answers?

Didn't think of that, did you, Little Rik?

I have been around a bit Thump and I never find anybody that does not have faith in something except
someone who is going to commit suicide.
A student has faith in passing the exams.
A worker to be promoted to a better job.
Some atheists have faith that nobody create and run the universe.
I also have faith that God exist and run the universe.
Religious people have faith in their dogmas and so on.

Not to have faith in something is against our consciousness and that is next to impossible
because our consciousness tell us to go ahead all the time so I don't believe that you are an exception to the rule.
Faith may lead to progress and progress lead to higher consciousness which ultimately lead to God
knowing or not knowing that is why I mention God.  

[Little Rik]

Until  and unless your alleged god shows up in person and talks to Me directly, without any dumb-ass self-appointed mortal middlemen such as yourself, I'm just going to sit here in the "cage" and enjoy My life.

Gee, you expect that God........... shows up in person and talks to Me directly...........

I don't actually expect it to happen, because I believe that your god is imaginary and incapable of ever showing up in person.

However, I am totally incapable of religious faith.  My brain simply does not permit wholehearted belief in things that appear to be extraordinary, absurd, and/or unsupported by physical evidence.

What about if you would see someone who practice spirituality with bright eyes, shiny look and a terrific spiritual strength?
There are people like that around but I doubt that you would work out what that means and how they got that personality.

If it makes you feel any better, I don't believe in gods I actually like, either (Óðinn, Athena, Lakshmi and various deities from modern fantasy fiction).

I'm not a noob at this religion thing.  I read the Bible back in the early 1960s and tried for many years to find a belief system that I could believe in.  Nothing worked.  Nothing stuck.  Finally I just got tired of pretending to believe, sitting in various religious congregations or studying on My own,

Then we went through the same soup.
I also got sick of religions and when my parents stop pushing me I just gave them up for good.

and accepted that a non-supernatural universe made more sense.

Actually I did not do the mistake to put religions and God on the same foolish level.
And I am really glad I never did that.

Humanism and Stoicism adequately describe the way I see the world nowadays.

Actually Stoicism say...........To live a good life, one had to understand the rules of the natural order since they taught that everything was rooted in nature..........

One of these rules is to give equal importance to all our aspect of our life.  
Suppose you are on a cart pulled by 3 horses.
Each horse represent one aspect of our being.  
The physical the mental and the consciousness.
The natural thing to do would be to feed all 3 horses equally so all 3 would have enough energy to pull the cart of your life.
Considering that your main agenda at the moment is the material-mental progress then you let one horse to starve and that goes against the rule of nature which make a mockery of your Stoicism.  

Life can be cruel sometime especially when you don't put any effort in trying to win and overcome the challenges.

You really are an unpleasant and slanderous little prick.  You know nothing of what I've overcome, or of the innumerable wins.

Here's a big hint.  I don't pray for help.  I look head-on at a problem, even if it terrifies Me beyond the capacity for rational thought, and then I take the first frightened step towards solving it and keep going no matter how many times I blow it.

When I was 11 years old I came very close to falling 1400 feet to My death off a sharp cliff face near the top of a mountain in Quebec.  I shuddered, stopped looking down, and climbed to a safe place about 15 feet up.

I had to leave a home that I had completely paid for when My now ex-spouse threatened a murder-suicide.  I bought another house, this time in My name alone, and now it's paid off, too.  That's right:  I've paid off two mortgages.

I passed a key computer certification exam on the fourth try.  I passed My driving test on the fourth try.  I learned to play violin, clarinet, saxophone and flute in My 40s and 50s.  Mad DIY skillz, mostly self-taught, in just about everything one would need to renovate and maintain a house -- Plumbing, electrical, carpentry, drywall, masonry, roofing, door and window installation -- you name it, I've probably done it.  (Oh, and right now I'm learning how to speak Icelandic.)

For Me, the greatest joy is is to struggle through learning something new, and master it.  I like to win, and I win a lot.

You owe Me one hell of a big apology, you little brat.  I doubt very much you have what it takes to do it, though.

Well done Astr.
Unfortunately you tend to forgot the third horse that is left to starve.
How sad!  

[Thumpalumpacus]

A student has faith in passing the exams.
A worker to be promoted to a better job.
Some atheists have faith that nobody create and run the universe.
I also have faith that God exist and run the universe.
Religious people have faith in their dogmas and so on.

You're equivocating different connotations of faith, and it does your "point" no good. Are you really saying that your faith in your god is no stronger than the belief of a student that he'll do well in an exam?

If that's the case, I'd say firstly that you should look at the different meanings attached to "faith", and after that, perhaps you should look at the depth of the faith you claim to hold ... because let's face it, we've all known (or been, for that matter) students who have faith in being able to pass a test, only to learn upon grading that that faith was misplaced.

[Whateverist]

Watching this thread reminds me of the Whack-a-mole carnival game. Every time this thread appears among the recent posts, we rush to see if Rik needs another whack or to admire the whack someone else has already given him. Good form on that one, Thumper.

[Thumpalumpacus]

Well, that particular bit of sloppy thinking has always been a pet peeve of mine.