RE: Dear Atheists: what would convince you God/Christ is Real?
January 18, 2024 at 12:28 pm
(This post was last modified: January 18, 2024 at 12:30 pm by The Grand Nudger.)
One of my favorite summations of theistic religion actually comes from an atheistic religion. That gods are a genuine misapprehension of nature. Of the power that nature held (and still holds) over us...sure, but also, left to our own devices..which is to say without dogma or coercive institutions...we'd find everything in religion that we find in nature. Amusement and tedium. Joy, and also misery. Hope, and also despair. Motivation to great acts, and detestable ones. The affirmation of life and it's destruction. A wide angled glance at the totality of the historic religious landscape seems to confirm this notion.
That our sense of the wholeness or connectedness of all of life is warranted, and now..well demonstrated by our shared ancestry and the complex and quantifiable interactions between species and within environments. That a commonality of good, whether we choose to conceptualize this as relative or objective, is both possible and present between all alike things. That our physical impermanence is modified. In the lasting effects of our actions. In the quality of our character. In the memories of those that knew us. In the form of our children. That the world as it is is not all it could..or even should..be, and that we seek to effect change in it. That the totality of this relationship takes uncommon skill to put into words but is recognizable as such by all with that shared experience.
There are alot of good hypothesis as to how gods got attached. Maybe it's pure accident. We forgot along the way that we were talking about our granny, not a goddess. Maybe it's psychological aptness. We respond well to hierarchal structures and we place a premium on personal authorities. Maybe it's a socio-economic effect. Theistic societies outproduced and outperformed their then-current and now-defunct rivals. Maybe we embrace the power of end. In all of this, the most delicious bit..to me...is that we don't need gods to explain any of it, and existent gods add nothing to the thing itself.
That our sense of the wholeness or connectedness of all of life is warranted, and now..well demonstrated by our shared ancestry and the complex and quantifiable interactions between species and within environments. That a commonality of good, whether we choose to conceptualize this as relative or objective, is both possible and present between all alike things. That our physical impermanence is modified. In the lasting effects of our actions. In the quality of our character. In the memories of those that knew us. In the form of our children. That the world as it is is not all it could..or even should..be, and that we seek to effect change in it. That the totality of this relationship takes uncommon skill to put into words but is recognizable as such by all with that shared experience.
There are alot of good hypothesis as to how gods got attached. Maybe it's pure accident. We forgot along the way that we were talking about our granny, not a goddess. Maybe it's psychological aptness. We respond well to hierarchal structures and we place a premium on personal authorities. Maybe it's a socio-economic effect. Theistic societies outproduced and outperformed their then-current and now-defunct rivals. Maybe we embrace the power of end. In all of this, the most delicious bit..to me...is that we don't need gods to explain any of it, and existent gods add nothing to the thing itself.
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!
