If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out...

[farranpoison]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

Sure, I'd rather believe than not, but it's not something I can "choose" to do, no more than I can "choose" to disbelieve in gravity or "choose" to believe in Zeus. Especially the idea of doing so for dishonest reasons. If God is that powerful, he would have the ability to see through my ploy to get into Heaven.

Think about death this way. You weren't inconvenienced at your non-existence 1,000 years ago, why would that change after you die? In reality, I think immortality is the cruelest punishment you could inflict on a sentient being.

True, immortality sucks. (Zas lol)

If you had any wish in the world, ask for an end to world hunger or something. People who wish for immortality will always have to cope with people they love dying and not being able to join them. And world peace is a myth.

But hey, I think what people like about religion the most is that when you die, you can see your loved ones that died before you. That's reason enough to believe for me. When I die, I wanna sit back, relax, and wait for someone I knew to come. Then I'd pick up a beer from God's bar, toast my friend, and say, "So, how'd you end up here? Wait, you choked to death? LOL IDIOT!"

Thanks for the little spar, Felix. It's times like these that it's fun to argue with others. Especially if they're not screaming in your face. :)

Oh, and I'll crack up if the gods of H.P. Lovecraft actually existed. That would be hilarious.

 

[KoshTheKoala]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

To be fair, it's not belief in a higher power that potentially ruins society. It's following an organized religion and holy book written 1500-4000 years ago that does.

There most likely will never be proof of either side of the equation simply because that's the nature of this issue. At least in Christian terms (I'm sure for others as well), God is a matter of faith itself. To prove God's existence would essentially disprove him. While paradoxical, it's the crux of the whole issue.

I'll explain. Religion is faith of that which cannot be proven. If you prove it, it's no longer faith. God is an entity established upon faith for his existence. if you remove the faith by 'proving' existence, you remove the existence altogether.

Now, what is more of a human issue is our worship, interpretation and psychological views developed through the religion established for this unprovable deity.

Proof in God will not disprove him, but it will render all religious institutions worthless and thus destroy what is quite possibly the single richest organization in the world (the Roman Catholic Church).

I think so. Whatever his name was, when I finished watching part one of the documentary, I wanted to find him and punch him in the face. He was going to this one Christian school and asking them why they thought God made the world and why they should believe in evolution instead.

He says that he doesn't want to force the kids to believe in evolution, but to open their minds to other possibilities... although his tone and what he talks about makes it clear that to him, if you still think there is a God after learning about evolution, YOU ARE STUPID.

Asshole.

That's not what he's saying at all, so you're getting mad at what's essentially your imagination.

It's been known for hundreds of years that religion is probably the best way to control the masses. How do you stop the poor from killing the rich and taking all their money? Put the fear of god into them. How do you legitimize your unjust war? God told me to do it.

I'm all for Pastafarianism.

That is all :D


-Manta-

Reformed church or the orthodox church of the FSM?

And wasn't there some study in TIME magazine that produced the possibility that faith/religion helps people live longer?

No there wasn't.

I just don't like Dawkins. I think that he's a great scientist, and that he's done quite a bit of good for the scientific community, but the man's terrible and biased attitude towards religion makes me angry. He's on my hit list along with Blagejovich and the people who made that blasphemous movie version of the Golden Compass. Oh, and the people who made the non- existent Tsukihime anime.

He's biased because he believes he knows the truth, just as you are for believing you know the truth, and pretty much everyone else is for thinking they know the truth.

 

[Gegliosch]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

There most likely will never be proof of either side of the equation simply because that's the nature of this issue. At least in Christian terms (I'm sure for others as well), God is a matter of faith itself. To prove God's existence would essentially disprove him. While paradoxical, it's the crux of the whole issue.

I'll explain. Religion is faith of that which cannot be proven. If you prove it, it's no longer faith. God is an entity established upon faith for his existence. if you remove the faith by 'proving' existence, you remove the existence altogether.

Now, what is more of a human issue is our worship, interpretation and psychological views developed through the religion established for this unprovable deity.

I agree with Kosh. If god exists, he doesn't need anybody to believe in him. Only the church needs the people to believe, rather than to know. If there was any evidence, religion wouldn't be such a good tool for manipulating the masses.

 

[KingAce]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

Sure, I'd rather believe than not, but it's not something I can "choose" to do, no more than I can "choose" to disbelieve in gravity or "choose" to believe in Zeus. Especially the idea of doing so for dishonest reasons. If God is that powerful, he would have the ability to see through my ploy to get into Heaven.

Think about death this way. You weren't inconvenienced at your non-existence 1,000 years ago, why would that change after you die? In reality, I think immortality is the cruelest punishment you could inflict on a sentient being.

I remember writing a long response to your post in the other thread, but somehow it isn't there.
And right now I don't feel like responding just yet.

 

[Y-Disciple]

If I had $1 for every time God bailed me out..

About my whole Big Bang statement, I'm not trying to push religion on anyone. I said it was my opinion, and I personally believe that that can prove his existence. To those who disagree, I ask you what your explanation for the beginning of time is? I think it should get an explanation other than "it just happened."