Paradoxes

[DÛke]

I have a question that my teachers and parents have not been able to answer me for the past 6 months or so. I've been doing so personal research about common paradoxes, and I must say that one of my favorites has become those of God's.

My question is, do you believe in God?
I once did believe in God's existence, but after failing to realize the complete truth, should one really believe in a higher supreme being that is supposed to be the master and creator of us all? I don't think so. I like to think I'm of my own will anyway.

My parents told me they believe in God, but they had no complete answer. My mom said because it was a "common" thing to have such beliefs, and that it was part of our "religion". Well, yeah, all I did was laughing when I heard that answer.

Teachers never reply with a complete answer, not to my questions anyway. They got tired of arguing why God exists, so they dismissed me right off. Well, duh! I'll argue with them, they can't support their answer.

The most common reply I get is "Yeah, just because..." Yeah? Just because of what exactly?

I believe in the supernatural, and I believe in miracles, but my believing in God has faded away.

Do you believe in God? I'm just curious...

 

[Landkiller]

My take on this :

God could exist. It is a possibility. But, it is not based on fact. So, it has no importance to me. If God exists, and if God wants me to go to Heaven, then God will introduce circumstances to me and my mind will change. I will not believe in something merely on the basis that other people believe it. This isn't a complete argument, but it's a good summary of my opinions.

 

[Ransac]

Do you believe in cheese? If so, then you can believe in God. You can believe in ANYTHING. I believe in God, but I can't believe that the Democrats hae even stuped to an all time low by dragging this damn election to court. Just believe or don't believe in what you want.


Ransac, the philosophical type

[Orgg's Note: Hey, 'pub boy- Bush was the first to sue!]

 

[Phyrexian Pie-Eater]

While most people believe in God as an actually physical(or whatever) being, you could also think of him as a metaphor. Like God isn't a person persay, more of a role model. THE role model. He is a made up entity that is there to act as a guide so people don't screw things up too much. So are most rules in the bible.

Like the whole jewish people not eating pork thing. That breaks down like this: people ate (spoiled) pork. They got sick. They said "i don't like being sick. what made me sick so i won't do it again" some guy realized it was the meat. so he said "God commands us not to eat pork, it's bad"

As for a creator, that can be explained as such: science. We've got it pretty much down. Big boom, stuff flung around, stuff collects, planet forms, chemical reactios, Life, evolution.

One of the main reasons the idea of God is still around: people are afraid. While God is a role model, he is also a scare tactic. "I don't want to get killed." "Um...God said...Don't kill and if you do it you go to hell...but wars are ok, cuz we need them...yea." Another good reason for God: People like to fight. What better reason to go off and kill thousands of people than to say "God" said to. Or some people don't take it that far, and they just argue the existance of God/Which god is the right god/Problems in the holy texts, ect.

Thats my part. Ohh, and though it sounds like I don't belive, i do. I am currently a Goddest. I belive in (the Christian) God, i'm just not sure what denomination to pick. Catholics are some of the most ignorant stuborn people(religiously) and they don't have fun. Non-denominational is just a wussy way out. So does anyone have a good one that i could join?

 

[DÛke]

...Pie-Eater; by the way, how did you know God was a he? Maybe it's a [/i]she[/i]; or an it. It's not your fault. Common people have formed the idea of God being a "he". Yeah…whatever.

I think one of the many possible explanations of "God" is that humans don't like to feel alone in this vast universe. They want someone to be their leader; they want an explanation for what is up and why we're here. I think that there's a chance that they're asking a delusional entity.

What's the meaning of this crazy game anyway? What's the purpose? Why? It's funny when one thinks about, because one could never find an answer.

 

[nodnarb24]

IT'S ALL A SCAM!!! Churches make billions of dollars a year, TAX FREE!!! It is the biggest scam in history!!!

Remember I'm just a raving lunatic.

 

[Hawaiian mage]

I've taken up every religion in existence. Just in case...

I haven't believed in any sort of god for a long time. It just doesn't make sense any more with the new knoledge that we have.

And I myself hate christianity. The right concepts are there... But when other culters are compleatly destroyed just to try and make someone else believe that some guy named Noah managed to carry two of 72000 species of insects, and decided to as well bring all the animals that acording to the bible are evil and a pestelence to man kind.

I'm an athiest all the way.

 

[K9Archmage]

Once i went to a russian camp. It is odd how all of the russian kids there didn't believe in God. I don't believe in God myself.

Hoipa

 

[Mr_Pestilence]

Assume for a minute that God does exist...why would God be a male/female? Doesn't this imply that there is another God-like entity with whom God has sex?

Just a thought...

 

[DÛke]

...nice thought Mr_Pestilence.

It is true, what Mr_Pestilence said. If one must assume that God is a he or a she, wouldn't that mean that God has an intercourse with another being? Most likely, another "supreme" being?
What if God is an "it"? That means it does not belong to either kind; "it" is simply "out of this world". It all seems weird, and the more one should think about it, the more blur it becomes, and the less believe it releases. What if we really are God's "children"? That's another mind shattering thought.

If God exists, one needs prove to his existence, not a theory, a law, or a paradox.

 

[Apollo]

Well, in my opinion, matter had to come from somewhere. There is no reason anything should exist unless something else made it.

But, assuming that is true, then where did God come from? My little mind doesn't get it, so I try not to think about it much.

 

[Chaos Turtle]

I wonder how many people are confusing a belief in "god" with a belief in whatever "holy scripture" they happen to be most familiar with.

For example, I have almost no belief whatsoever in the Old Testament of the Bible, inasmuch as it's percieved by many as an historical document.

I do not believe that any entity set out and created the universe in a few days (by any interpretation of "day") nor do I believe that the Garden of Eden fable is literally true. Neither do I have any faith in the truth the Deluge Story (the Great Flood) nor in any of the other stories of "god's" punishments upon mankind.

I do not believe that there are physical realms known as "heaven" or "hell."

But I do believe in "god" in a way.

I am a spiritual person.
I believe that there is a purpose and order to the universe which is evidential of a concious mind (or minds) involved in its design.

I believe that a being of such power is utterly beyond the scope of the human mind to comprehend. It is without emotion, or judgement. The same is true of my beliefs regarding the spritual/physical state of said being and where it resides, as well as where the spirits/souls of passed mortals reside.
Utterly beyond our imagination are these things and thus -- impossible to please, appease, worship, describe, influence, etc.

Not only can we not know what "god" wants, we cannot even understand the nature of "god."

How did I come to these conclusions?
I didn't. They're not conclusions at all, but a description of my present understanding (opinion) of the nature of existence.

But I can tell you that the breakthrough came when I considered this paradox:

"Can God make an object so heavy that He cannot move it?"

Think about it.
Either option rules out the other, and points up the utter futility of trying to imagine a truly omnipotent being.
The solution to the problem is to understand that the nature of "god" defies anything our ridiculous little minds can conceive, and that there is no point in us trying.

...

I could go on for hours, maybe days.

Anyone who is capable of intelligent, reasoned discussion on this subject is welcome to contact me by email for further mutual enlightenment.
And so you don't worry yourselves overmuch: no, I don't mind being disagreed with at all.

 

[Phyrexian Pie-Eater]

Because I'm a white middle-class male age 15-55. We run this country. We also run Christianity. Therefor we made God out to be a "He" and a "Father" The above comment was not me being an ass, or racest or anything, I'm just stating the facts. And real quick b4 I get back on topic, I'd just like to say i'm a liberal moderate and I'm not like KKK type of white sepremecy boy.

How can you hate a religion because of one of their beliefs? If that were the case, then there wouldn't be any religions today. Every holy book/scroll/tome/whatnot has things that don't work out in today's society. I mean I personally don't agree with the whole no gay/lesbian thing in the Bible, because being gay is a trait, not a choice the person makes. But you still belive in the religion because it has good ideas behind it.

As of now I only have things with a few religions: Catholics; don't get me started on these guys...
Non-Denominational; these are the whimps of Christianity.
Wiccans/Witches/Mystics/ect; anyone who honestly believes that they have the ability to cast spells(we do it in a game) should be sent to the dark ages where they belong.

 

[DÛke]

...to answer Chaos Turtle's question: my Mom "suggested" that I am a "Muslim". I didn't say anything, I knew it for a long time; since a very young age, and I accepted it as an "influenced" opinion because I didn't question. When one asks me my religion, I simply say: "Independence". "What's that?" They say, "My own religion and beliefs", I reply.

Why are there so many different "books" containing different information about what God wants from the humans? The Koran differs from the Bible, and they both differ from other "books".

Can't our little God make up his/her/its mind or what?

There is something that bothers me when I have the time to think about it: if I say I don't believe in God, or a greater entity, than why am I here? What is the purpose of being here? If I say I believe in God or a greater entity, than who/what is that being? Why does it have the "control"? What does it want from us? The common question I would ask if I did believe or not is: why? Why do we spend so many years living only to meet the crossing point later? I don't understand; I really don't, and this makes me laugh. Is there a reason why I must die...or live? No.

Who or whatever is responsible for what is going on, "it" sure has a whimsical mind...

I believe that there is a purpose and order to the universe which is evidential of a conscious mind (or minds) involved in its design.

-Chaos Turtle

I used to think that too. Whose are those minds? I say minds because if there is a greater power out there it is not alone. It has it's own kind (my opinion). So, our universe is designed? Sure. It has to be. It can't just have made itself up. Who or what, and why was it designed and to fulfill whose desires, I truly have no idea.

If God wants me to prey, or to go to the church, or whatever, I must see this “God”. I will not obey, or follow any rules, and I’ll ignore all suggested consequences or praises that are to be done to me when I’m dead (do we really die?) by something that no one has ever seen, or back up as an existing “thing”.

 

[nodnarb24]

CT: In ancient babolonian texts their are actually records of a great flood that is like the great flood in the bible. Also was written around the same time.

Duke: You will probably never see a "god," in your life for you to prey to, atleast in christianity, "blind faith." I know it sucks. I also need some form of proof.

 

[Hawaiian mage]

Design in the universe? I thought we all knew it's compleat choas with a few recognizable patterns.


All I have to say is that we are really lucky. I'm quite cirtain that life began becuase of an amazing coincidence. A peice of blue algea DNA was created, and it multiplied. And did so for the last billion years.

Oh well, I don't really have much else to say about that. Most of you knew that any way...


God was simply created to explain what we did not know. Back then they had no technology or understanding of anything they could not see. With the inventions made of the past milenia, our fragile dreams of comfort and optimism was permenetally destroyed by messing with what we did not need to know.

 

[DÛke]

Back then they had no technology or understanding of anything they could not see.

-Hawaiian Mage

As a matter of fact, we still don't have enough technology or the proper understanding of everything we know or see. Just to clear that up.

God is another story though. I don't think it exists, and if it does, and I will be "punished" for my beliefs, than God is a very self-conceited being.

 

[Deadman]

I don't beleive in the bible, or anything like that.
But I do beleive in God.
ANd I don't beleive that God would punish you for not beleiving in Him/Her/It.
I beleive that God would look at you're life, what you have done and why, and then you're fate would be decided.
BTW: Theres a very good reason why mst people don't like to talk about such things, it's the main rule of freindship: Never talk about Religion or Politics.
Usually the argument ends with both people yelling and screaming at each over and hating each over for the rest of their lives.
I've seen that many times, I never get involved in these arguments, because I like to stay freinds with people.
I'm not about to argue with you, of why I beleive, or why I should/shouldn't. I'm just giving my opinion on it, and now oyu'll hear no more from me on this.
Stay cool

 

[Zero]

Oh well. I dont believe in god.

 

[DÛke]

...with you Deadman, not at all man. I just want to know why you believe in God. You wouldn't ruin our friendship if you tell me.