65 replies to this topic

[Ender]

I'm pretty confused. On one hand, there are things in our world that are just too perfect to be an accident -- animals could've appeared without ways to reproduce, for example. It just seems like we were MEANT to be here, and I don't see how it could all be a cosmic accident.

On the other hand, it just seems too hard to believe that there is some almighty being out there who has always existed and appeared when there was nothing and all of that.

-shrugs-

[foogie]

no.

god is something that was made up by people to get children to finish their vegetables at the table, and to clean their rooms when told to.

[powerman5000]

I care if God exists, but unlike many religion followers I don't constantly worship and I don't pray to get my test grades up. I am not the greatest person in that sense, but I do care. Some things that I have thought about or that have happened make me believe in God.
For the longest time I was atheist, but something in my life really changed that, something that not even I could make sense of. Not a miracle, just something that wouldn't end up matching normally as two fitting pieces of a puzzle in my life. Something that gave me comfort when there was none available.
Now, I personally believe that you should live life to the best of your ability and help others as much as possible. I don't think that God always interacts or that He needs to. I think that sometimes He just watches the outcome of His eventual creations and destructions. I don't see why He can't create things to make their own path while still leaving them the opportunity to connect. Basically, I don't think you should rely entirely on God, but rely on yourself and others, He isn't a tool.

It is good to be kind to your God and show Him that you appreciate him, but he made the universe so that it could run. Killing others due to their religion is wrong, even if they don't believe in the same God or deities as you.

I agree with a lot of what Ink said. Me being a Christian, maybe I can help you understand something that...well, a lot of you don't understand. God doesn't help people get a Lexus, just as he does not help those starving children in Africa by magically giving them food. That's exactly why we area here. He is counting on us, as his followers, to do these things that he would do if he was on the Earth. God does not set your path for you. God does not make you do ANYTHING on this Earth. He just presents you with these choices, seeing if you will take the right path. Life very much resembles a test with God being your professor. Best example I can come up with. The professor presents you with all these questions after giving you the tools to make the right decision and to make a good grade.

And for the record, I think that you guys that are "selfish-believers" are totally wrong. That's even worse than not believing in him at all.

But, also, I can see why a lot of you guys do not believe in God. You never see him, he doesn't DIRECTLY affect your life, and who is to say there are not other Gods? But that's where faith comes in. Which I have a great amount of. And like STM said, focus on family, friends, and personal things...just keep God balanced in there as well.

I'm not arguing any of you guys' opinions. Just presenting mine to you in the hopes of you maybe understanding the Christian religion a little more than you did. If you have ANY questions or things that or more in depth that you would like to know, please PM me or add my MSN. I think I have a tight enough grasp on it to answer any questions or concerns you may have.

[serina]

I do care though very unsure my kids are getting christianed on 9th sept and my son sed yeah i will b mum just incase i dont want to go to hell when i die so even at 11 they wporry bout these things

[Highly-Advanced-Cube]

tbh i dont care because if i die i hope that it will all end and that i wont have to live on and go to SCHOOL again if you know what i mean...

[Jewbert]

-UGH-

I detest religion. I used to be "Christian" because of my family and being "raised" in church and all that. But then I got a mind of my own. My family doesn't even KNOW now that I'm athiest. They don't talk to me about it, which is how I like things.

&& no. I wouldn't care if "God" exists. One more thing for me NOT to care about. Let the little scared folks bow to him and be afraid of him. I don't give a shit. When I die, I die. That's all there is to it. From the Christian view, only the soul goes to hell anyways, and if souls existed I'm pretty sure they wouldn't have nerve endings to feel pain from the fire. Bahahaha.

[/Max]

Christians don't go around calling Buddha a "stupid fatass"

The Buddha was extremely skinny and said to be very attractive, just so you know--nice understanding of other religions, though! Way to look at all of your options of faith.

And I like how 'god' and 'Jesus' have become synonymous in Western society, as mentioned in this post. Jesus was a good man. Not the son of God, but a good man.

[edit] Second part was alluding to the actual post, not the quote.

Edited by /Max, 02 June 2007 - 02:25 PM.

[phalkon]

see, that's the weird thing. God shouldn't *be* synonymous with Jesus because technically speaking, even Biblically speaking they aren't the same person. Jesus was God's son born to mankind. much like Hercules was the human son of Zeus. (although in truth, there could not have been a god named "Hercules" because they never based their names off of each other (Hercules is based off of his "mother's" name "Hera")) and even when Jesus was on the cross, he looked up and asked God "why have you forsaken me?"

Jesus performed miracles, kicked ass, and took names, and you know what, he never forced his ideals on anyone, he was a "follow by example" kinda guy. so why is it that everyone hates Christians? who knows, but notice that it's always the non-Christians who get angry at Christians when they defend their beliefs. my *BEST* friend is an atheist, i have another friend who is a Buddhist, her brother is a Druid, and their parents are Pagan (sounds like a sitcom, i know!), but i don't look down upon them at all, i love them, they're great people. would i be better friends with them if we all shared the same belief? who knows, but what you believe in partially makes you who you are.

eh... i digress.

[LastI]

Yes, I care if God exists, and infact, I know God exists, yes, in todays society, people deny theres a God, and when theres anything that remotely has the word "God" in it, people say its a violation of freedom of religion. Example: Some California courthouses had the 10 commandments removed from them. I dont agree with it. And to be honest, I dont care what any of you think about if theres a God or not, I know theres a God, and you'll never convince me to change my beliefs, and I know where I'm going when I die.

[Sean]

You know, I've never been a god believing fellow, but recently, I think he might be out there. So yes, I do care if God exists. I know he does.

[Mr. Hobo]

No. All I care about is if we have an afterlife where you keep your memories/thoughts/consciousness. I'll do what I do regardless of the possibility that God's judging me, whether it's donate 5$ at fund raiser or lie to my teacher and say I did do my homework. If someone wants to do something good it shouldn't be out of fear of punishment or promise of reward but out of goodwill but humanity sucks and I guess we'll have to take what we can get

[Sweeney]

God is a product of ignorance, not enlightenment.
Heaven and hell are, resectively, the positive and negative reinforcements of a social control system.
Jesus was Jewish.
Buddah never claimed to be deific.

[Random]

Not really.

[phalkon]

buddha may not have claimed it, but he self-insinuated it. who really just sits under a tree or goes on a 10 mile hike just to "be enlightened"? he knew he would have followers at some point. everyone who does things like that knows that. look at Hitler. you think he really thought the whole Nazi movement would end with his death? hell no. there's still dumbass red-neck barkers who think that "if you aren't white, then you aren't right"

i mean look at Scientology... that's quite possibly the biggest load of shit ever create by man, and yet people follow it blindly, possibly more aggressively than other "religions" (even though it's a CULT). people seriously believe the spirits of dead aliens inhabit their bodies and cause bad feelings... how is that AT ALL harder to believe than Jesus Christ being the Son of God and dying on a cross for the sins of humanity?

ugh... i don't like to argue. especially when i'm drunk x_x

i'm going to bed.

Edited by murderkill, 02 June 2007 - 08:36 PM.

[Sweeney]

buddha may not have claimed it, but he self-insinuated it. who really just sits under a tree or goes on a 10 mile hike just to "be enlightened"? he knew he would have followers at some point. everyone who does things like that knows that. look at Hitler. you think he really thought the whole Nazi movement would end with his death? hell no. there's still dumbass red-neck barkers who think that "if you aren't white, then you aren't right"

i mean look at Scientology... that's quite possibly the biggest load of shit ever create by man, and yet people follow it blindly, possibly more aggressively than other "religions" (even though it's a CULT). people seriously believe the spirits of dead aliens inhabit their bodies and cause bad feelings... how is that AT ALL harder to believe than Jesus Christ being the Son of God and dying on a cross for the sins of humanity?

ugh... i don't like to argue. especially when i'm drunk x_x

i'm going to bed.

Buddah has never claimed to be a god. Buddhism has never claimed Buddah to be a god. In fact, nobody thinks Buddah is a god, save those ignorant of Buddhism's teachings.
Like you.

In fact, I am still rather stunned that you just compared Buddah to Hitler...

Can I ask ignorance of what?

You know I'm just being curt to rile some unenlightened peoples.

I simply referred to the use of religion to explain inexplicable phenomena, such as comets, rainbows and the like, before the scientific truth was known

[Sweeney]

Well, it's definently not a product of ignorance though. It's fair to say that things like the Catholic church used it to explain unknown things, but there's nothing wrong with that, they truly didn't know, now they can come back and say "Oh, this is how it really works."

*nod*
Agreed.
I just... went for a more dramatic phrasing?

[phalkon]

yeah, most of the "bad views" that anyone has on any religion is thanks to the Catholics and the earl early Protestants...

no just understood anything back then XD

but yeah, i'm still sticking with my views on Buddha... he knew people would follow him.

[Warlord]

Meh i dont like this discussion, nice idea though.
But honestly... nope.

yet you have jesus in your avatar. smooth.

[Hater_Boxden]

I always had a "whatever happens, happens" attitude about life and always uncomfortable with a power above saving and not saving us here down below but when i got into a car accident last week just before my birthday, i have to admit that before i went to sleep i got down on my knees and thanked God that i was still alive (yea the crash was pretty bad). But do i care? Not really. It would be nice to know but none of us ever will. Are there things i think can't be explained by science? Definatley.

[Le Chango]

I believe he exists. And even if he didn't, it's better to believe just in case .

[nox]

if you guys wouldn't mind, could you create a new topic in the debate section for arguing the validity of religious beliefs? cause this topic was put in the general section for individual opinions, not arguing.

Edited by nox, 04 June 2007 - 03:49 PM.

[Gen]

I just know that god exists...He protect me every single day...I know that he exist...Not that I believe on what church says at all, but I just know that he's looking for everyone...And well...Sometimes you don't need to see the thing, you can feel it, like the wind...You can't see the wind, but you feel it...You just have to open your heart

[hinro]

It makes life easy for some people to believe that they have 0 control and some giant puppeteer in the sky will protect you.
If you believe and spend you whole life following a book and there is no god you wasted your life. if you live and be happy and there is a god, you're barked. so either way you lose.

[Freystein]

Hinro there is a such thing believing in a god and still having a good life. There have been a lot of studies that show that people who believe in god live happier and healthier lives.

[LastI]

Really, it depends on your definition of the word "Good", because theres a vast difference in what we think of when we hear the word "good" and what God considers to be "good".