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How do you know God isn't dead?
#31
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 2:02 pm)lordxenu Wrote:
(April 25, 2013 at 6:27 am)smax Wrote: why is assumed that he is still alive and well?

This largely depends on which religion you pose the question to.

In many religions God is not exactly alive so as to die. Moreover, in those same religions, God is immortal he or she cannot be destroyed.

In other religions Gods do die. In Christianity, Jesus dies on a cross, only to resurrect again (hits vid_restart on the rcon panel).
In ancient Egypt, it was believed that Osiris died and was resurrected by Isis using a spell she learned from her father.

It is true that the power of Gods seems to diminish as science and logic prevail but that is something different. It has to do with us (humans) using God as an answer to that which was mysterious and unknown.

In practice, God dies when people stop believing in his existence. So Zeus, is dead, but Rama is not.
I doesn't matter if the God really exists in the first place. What matters is that there are people who believe in his existence and are acting accordingly.

I made the exact same point in another thread:

God is only as alive or dead as man makes him

Like minds, my friend. Like minds.

(April 25, 2013 at 2:04 pm)Maelstrom Wrote:
(April 25, 2013 at 2:01 pm)smax Wrote: Yeah, but couldn't the writers have come up with a better god to delude themselves with?

Writers with the ability to think more creatively should have been chosen to write the mythology.

(April 25, 2013 at 2:08 pm)thesummerqueen Wrote:
(April 25, 2013 at 2:04 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: Writers with the ability to think more creatively should have been chosen to write the mythology.

I nominate Tolkien. His shit made sense.

Same page. If you are going to take the time to make some silly shit up, make it some good shit.

(April 25, 2013 at 2:08 pm)Faith No More Wrote:
(April 25, 2013 at 1:31 pm)smax Wrote: I don't know, man, Godschild evidently spoke to him this morning. Speaking of which, I would have loved for more of the conversational details to have been divulged here.

I'm going to take a stab and say it was a very one-sided conversation.

Which one was doing the talking?
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#32
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 2:04 pm)Maelstrom Wrote: Writers with the ability to think more creatively should have been chosen to write the mythology.

That's what you get when the various writers have differing agendas. The first creation account is very bland. God creates everything by request, and he likes it, then he finishes up and relaxes. The second account provides a more active god and adds the story of Adam and Eve, which is plenty creative.

You see that dichotomy throughout. Lots of boring lists, punctuated by stories which are by turns interesting or dramatic or disturbing. If Quentin Tarantino had decided to make Inglorious Basterds as a religious book instead of a movie, it would have a strong resemblance to the Bible.
"Well, evolution is a theory. It is also a fact. And facts and theories are different things, not rungs in a hierarchy of increasing certainty. Facts are the world's data. Theories are structures of ideas that explain and interpret facts. Facts don't go away when scientists debate rival theories to explain them. Einstein's theory of gravitation replaced Newton's in this century, but apples didn't suspend themselves in midair, pending the outcome. And humans evolved from ape- like ancestors whether they did so by Darwin's proposed mechanism or by some other yet to be discovered."

-Stephen Jay Gould
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#33
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
He answers, sooner or later He answers, as for this mornings prayer some here might not want to know what I talked to God about, anyway it's personal, so not this time.
God loves those who believe and those who do not and the same goes for me, you have no choice in this matter. That puts the matter of total free will to rest.
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#34
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 2:08 pm)thesummerqueen Wrote: I nominate Tolkien. His shit made sense.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4ZUynhkal1I

Wheeeeee!!!!!!!
Please give me a home where cloud buffalo roam
Where the dear and the strangers can play
Where sometimes is heard a discouraging word
But the skies are not stormy all day
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#35
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 6:46 am)Godschild Wrote: I just spoke with Him.

And with Napoleon no doubt to the same conclusion regarding both.

"I felt it in my heart that he had to be alive else I would be an idiot for doing so."
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#36
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
Maybe if we wish real hard and all clap like crazy God will come back to life? Worked for that Tinker girl.

Rest in peace, God. You were awesome. Look at this world! Righteous work oh bearded one. You were the smitingest in your day; in the OT, no one messed with you.

Oh well maybe existence just gets old without life and death. We probably don't know how good we have it.

R. I. P.
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#37
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 6:27 am)smax Wrote: By the way, if god is alive and still interested in his humanity experiment, I challenge him to refix my head on backwards on my body by tommorow morning. I will then wear it that way for the rest of my life as a testament to his existence.

So, we'll all be putting this whole god business to rest within a day. Stay tuned for the results.

For the record, my head is still on strait. Glad we solved that mystery.
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#38
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 4:32 pm)Godschild Wrote: He answers, sooner or later He answers, as for this mornings prayer some here might not want to know what I talked to God about, anyway it's personal, so not this time.
Please, tell me how he answers to those who are dying every minute from hunger, thirst, disease etc
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#39
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 25, 2013 at 2:02 pm)lordxenu Wrote: This largely depends on which religion you pose the question to.

In many religions God is not exactly alive so as to die. Moreover, in those same religions, God is immortal he or she cannot be destroyed.

In practice, God dies when people stop believing in his existence. So Zeus, is dead, but Rama is not.
I doesn't matter if the God really exists in the first place. What matters is that there are people who believe in his existence and are acting accordingly.

Yes, as a matter of fact in ancient times gods only lived as long as people worshipped them. Worship was the food of the gods who died if they did not receive it. However an even more interesting concept of God is not a living being but undifferentiated universal consciousness as such, or Reality itself which generates energy which forms the universe as we know it. All the gods as well as all the material universe are generated naturally out of this essential Reality, everything exists for some extremely long period and then is re-absorbed to manifest again in a different formation.

But no one has commented on how really stellar and funny SMAX's initial post was. It was really good! I kept thinking how funny one line was only to hoot at the next one. And the one-liners kept coming. Great to the end. Thanks for a good laugh!
having passed through many states of believing I was right I have come to the place of finding "rightness" rather irrelevant to the project of becoming human
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#40
RE: How do you know God isn't dead?
(April 27, 2013 at 12:00 pm)wandering soul Wrote:
(April 25, 2013 at 2:02 pm)lordxenu Wrote: This largely depends on which religion you pose the question to.

In many religions God is not exactly alive so as to die. Moreover, in those same religions, God is immortal he or she cannot be destroyed.

In practice, God dies when people stop believing in his existence. So Zeus, is dead, but Rama is not.
I doesn't matter if the God really exists in the first place. What matters is that there are people who believe in his existence and are acting accordingly.

Yes, as a matter of fact in ancient times gods only lived as long as people worshipped them. Worship was the food of the gods who died if they did not receive it. However an even more interesting concept of God is not a living being but undifferentiated universal consciousness as such, or Reality itself which generates energy which forms the universe as we know it. All the gods as well as all the material universe are generated naturally out of this essential Reality, everything exists for some extremely long period and then is re-absorbed to manifest again in a different formation.

But no one has commented on how really stellar and funny SMAX's initial post was. It was really good! I kept thinking how funny one line was only to hoot at the next one. And the one-liners kept coming. Great to the end. Thanks for a good laugh!

Thank you, I'm glad someone saw the humor in it all.

(April 26, 2013 at 1:10 am)whateverist Wrote: Maybe if we wish real hard and all clap like crazy God will come back to life? Worked for that Tinker girl.

Rest in peace, God. You were awesome. Look at this world! Righteous work oh bearded one. You were the smitingest in your day; in the OT, no one messed with you.

Oh well maybe existence just gets old without life and death. We probably don't know how good we have it.

R. I. P.

Yes, sad affair, indeed! Funeral is in 3 days. Although, come prepared, I hear god is planning another resurrection.
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