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What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 2:28 pm
We have these people going around talking about they believe in god but not organized religion. What's the point? If god merely exists but is unable or unwilling to play a part in human affairs what difference does it make if we believe in him or not? Mere belief without a call to action has no virtue.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.
I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire
Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 2:30 pm
(This post was last modified: January 3, 2017 at 2:33 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
The point is deflection. They absolutely do believe in -their- organized religion, but they don't want to saddled with the apparatus' misdeeds..plus, it gives them license to bitch about all the other organized religions, which they would do anyway.
The vanishingly small number of actual deists we get are a special case. They'd probably agree with you, but nevertheless, they believe. They may not think that god interferes in human affairs, or cares whether or not we believe, they may not think that belief is virtuous in and of itself..or even that virtue is a subject with relevance to the divine, but none of that makes a deist a deist.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 2:41 pm
I think the point is to have the best of both worlds. They get to have the fantasy that they're going to live forever and they get to do that without the cost of time, money and effort involved with organized religion. Christianity is all about the denial of one's base desires, especially sexual desires. Organized religion takes money to keep going. That has to come from followers. And joining an organized religion is a commitment of, at the very least, time and money. That's a lot of trouble to go through. And you have someone else telling you what's right and wrong, making you feel bad for making yourself feel good.
Essentially they want the fantasy offered by religion without the work of attaining it required by religion. Since it's all a fantasy anyway, what's the harm in cutting out the part where some priest touches your naughty bits and takes your money?
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Side effects may include super powers or enlarged penis which may become permanent with continued use. Stop taking Killatol immediately and consult your doctor if you experience penis enlargement of more than 3 inches, laser vision, superhuman strength, invulnerability, the ability to explode heads with your mind or time travel. Killatoll is not for everyone, especially those who already have convertibles or vehicles of ridiculous size to supplement penis size.
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 3:03 pm
The granting of a pardon is an imputation of guilt, and the acceptance a confession of it.
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 3:23 pm
They are only willing to give up the icky parts of the delusion but still get to hold on to their lottery ticket.
Being told you're delusional does not necessarily mean you're mental.
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 3:52 pm
There may be no point, but beliefs aren't normally based on the value they produce.
It's far more rational to just believe in some sort of a creator, rather than believing that you know a load of highly specific information about it; or even worse, that you're actually interacting with it.
I've noticed that deism seems to often be a stepping stone for someone coming out of religion, before they progress to atheism. So this may be the biggest point it has 
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 5:51 pm
I don't even know how many of those who ascribe to "god without organized religion" would even think of it as deism. Just the idea os an ism seems so, well, organized. Like y'all said, they want the social perks and "just in case" safety valve of believing in god without the responsibility and/or obvious bullshittery of religious affiliation.
The god who allows children to be raped out of respect for the free will choice of the rapist, but punishes gay men for engaging in mutually consensual sex couldn't possibly be responsible for an intelligently designed universe.
I may defend your right to free speech, but i won't help you pass out flyers.
Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
--Voltaire
Nietzsche isn't dead. How do I know he lives? He lives in my mind.
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 6:01 pm
(This post was last modified: January 3, 2017 at 6:05 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
Well, it doesn;t really matter how many people who believe in god without all of the other shit think of it as deism, that;s just what it is. When you add the trappings of the other shit it ceases to be deism, deists don't have a divine safety valve (as that would be intercession, intervention).
For most people, the statement "I believe in god but not organized religion" can be translated to "I believe in the god of organized religion but distance myself from other adherents of the same for reasons™". That's a stranger thing not to realize, for them, imo. Cultural acclimitization, maybe, ignorance, a failure of imagination...for whatever reason, to those people, the term god only refers to one tiny little thing....and it;s exactly the same thing they object to in the next breath.
I am the Infantry. I am my country’s strength in war, her deterrent in peace. I am the heart of the fight… wherever, whenever. I carry America’s faith and honor against her enemies. I am the Queen of Battle. I am what my country expects me to be, the best trained Soldier in the world. In the race for victory, I am swift, determined, and courageous, armed with a fierce will to win. Never will I fail my country’s trust. Always I fight on…through the foe, to the objective, to triumph overall. If necessary, I will fight to my death. By my steadfast courage, I have won more than 200 years of freedom. I yield not to weakness, to hunger, to cowardice, to fatigue, to superior odds, For I am mentally tough, physically strong, and morally straight. I forsake not, my country, my mission, my comrades, my sacred duty. I am relentless. I am always there, now and forever. I AM THE INFANTRY! FOLLOW ME!
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 6:09 pm
Some people are just too uncomfortable not having answers for the big questions.
So, whenever they run up against something that humans do not currently have a REAL explanation for, they get to insert their god.
They get to put a check in the "explained" box in their minds, and revel in their sense of relief.
But of course, they are fooling themselves, as it really doesn't answer the question, it just sort of sweeps it under the rug.
You'd believe if you just opened your heart" is a terrible argument for religion. It's basically saying, "If you bias yourself enough, you can convince yourself that this is true." If religion were true, people wouldn't need faith to believe it -- it would be supported by good evidence.
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RE: What is the Point of Believing in God Without Religion?
January 3, 2017 at 6:27 pm
(January 3, 2017 at 2:28 pm)Rhondazvous Wrote: We have these people going around talking about they believe in god but not organized religion. What's the point? If god merely exists but is unable or unwilling to play a part in human affairs what difference does it make if we believe in him or not? Mere belief without a call to action has no virtue.
For some religion is the corruption of worship. even now most of you can not imagine any form of worship beyond the scope or scale religion offers. I believe this is be design of the religious.
What IF there were more to God than what the organized structure religion supplies for us?
Not to say all religion is bad, it is almost certainly necessary for most to establish a relationship with God. How ever for most of them religion can also be a detriment in that it can inturn replace God.
Look at how the pharasees worshiped. Their was a worship of Religion and not of God. Which is why they themselves found themselves with the very God they claimed to worship.
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