God exists

[Borachio]

Yup. That's the rumour, alright.

 

[bhavv]

You have any idea how hard third year Hooman Biology exams are? I died in them.

Frigging genetics, the hardest thing I ever passed.

 

[Borachio]

I do have an idea, yes.

And my guess is that an MSc is round about twice as hard. And a Phd twice as hard again. And after that, I suppose, a person finds a job as a practicing microbiologist.

Don't they say that it takes around 10,000 hours to become expert in a field? What's that? 40 hours a week, 50 weeks a year, for 5 years?

 

[bhavv]

Yes ok sure you win.

 

[timtofly]

So something isn't happening even though its true?

Please stop, your posts are indeed nonsensical, as I find all theists to be. You couldn't convince me into your way of thought even if you were Jesus.

Mechanicalsalvation is not a theist. Having said that, most of his post makes sense to me and he puts more thought into them, than most posters. The difference between those who accept a God and a theist is that they have to maintain the relationship. Most religious people are not theist either. Their religion is what maintains the relationship. A theist accepts that God maintains the relationship. Another reason that God is not a concept. I suppose some have concluded that a concept can take over and rule a person's life, but how can a concept carry on any personal relationships that has real experiences, not just imaginary ones? We could just dispense with all reality, but then we are back to the point why do we mock the views of those who think that God is real. If everything is just imagination, why make such a big deal over the fact that some say God exists? Are there even concepts that some people feel threatened by?

Does a child believe that a parent is an illusion that just gets them through the first years of their life. Are teachers just an illusion on the way to an education. Is food just an illusion that maintains the body? How far are we willing to take our illusions?

I realize also that most have changed the definition of a theist in their mind, and made it some vague byword that covers all religions. Just another slight illusionary effect that humans are turning themselves into illusionist and leaving reality behind.

 

[Birdjaguar]

Thoughts do not = fact. So basically you are delusional.

Millions of other people have been thinking about god for longer than you have, and their religion is more than 6000 years old, and their conclusion is that this is (a) god:

To the Hindus there are gods and there is GOD. They have a pantheon of gods that are each manifestations of GOD in some form. Such lesser gods are subject to the laws of Maya (illusion) and and the great wheel of reincarnation just like all creation. They cycle through "lives" at a different rate when in the form of a god.

Nothing is "Infinite, eternal, permanent and unchanging" so God must be nothing.

You almost got it right. You merely missed a space.

"No thing is "Infinite, eternal, permanent and unchanging". If you begin with what i wrote as a fundamental assumption, you can build a very coherent view of existence that allows for both science and spirituality to be correct, but not necessarily everyone's view of spirituality and God.

Those people who demand evidence of god merely begin their thinking with a different set of assumptions which cannot be proven. They define truth and reality and knowledge differently than many religious people.

I think that we would all agree that there is a truth out there that accurately describes the nature of existence. My view from the outfield is not the same as the view of someone at home plate and all the while the stadium never changes.

 

[Narz]

There was a raving guy on the subway reading from the Bible & telling us we should all accept Jesus or we're going to hell.

"God loves you & is the ultimately compassionate being but if you don't accept Jesus as your lord & savior you will goto hell forever".

God sounds more like an angry, needy friend/lover who will ruin your life if you cut off the relationship than some sort of supreme being.

Of course I did not say that to the crazy man.

You almost got it right. You merely missed a space.

"No thing is "Infinite, eternal, permanent and unchanging". If you begin with what i wrote as a fundamental assumption, you can build a very coherent view of existence that allows for both science and spirituality to be correct, but not necessarily everyone's view of spirituality and God.

Those people who demand evidence of god merely begin their thinking with a different set of assumptions which cannot be proven. They define truth and reality and knowledge differently than many religious people.

I think that we would all agree that there is a truth out there that accurately describes the nature of existence. My view from the outfield is not the same as the view of someone at home plate and all the while the stadium never changes.

Why can't there just be "no thing", why can't "no thing" be empty? Why do we have to project our hopes/fears/fantasies onto the emptiness of existence? Can't we just leave "no thing" alone.

The answer of course is that religion/spirituality has been evolutionarily useful, building morale & bringing people together.

Spirituality & religion have never been about honoring all perspectives or truth. It's about feeling better & being unified as a community.

Even the newagey "God is everything, God is 'no thing', Jesus, Buddha, Allah are all my homies & point to the one true truth" type of people feel the need to claim their beliefs as truth.

You are right in that we don't have enough information to say definitely there's no God but in absence of evidence I'll carry out my life as if only my decisions for myself matter & treat the universe as uncaring & only responding to me when I do smart things. I feel like in our modern world this is adaptive & religion no longer is (show me the most religious countries & I'll show you the most backwards & self-destructive ones... mostly Islamic countries).

 

[MilesGregarius]

There was a raving guy on the subway reading from the Bible & telling us we should all accept Jesus or we're going to hell.

My response to those types: "I'm not saying the Bible's wrong; I'm saying YOU'RE wrong."

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

So something isn't happening even though its true?

Please stop, your posts are indeed nonsensical, as I find all theists to be. You couldn't convince me into your way of thought even if you were Jesus.

I am not trying to convince anybody I am merely presenting different perspective which no lazy mind has to feel offended by and no sincere thinker have to feel defensive becouse of...

Understanding/realizing God isnt primarily taking place on intelectual level (becouse of its natural limitations) even thought our mental faculty plays major part through its non-intervention and is eventually included in the illumination process.

 

[bhavv]

Hindus are crazy. 'SAI BABA CAN CURE AMPUTEES WITH CANCER!!!'

A cojoined twin is born - 'ITS A MIRACLE, IT IS GODDESS SHIVA REINCARNATED!!!'.

 

[Naokaukodem]

I am not sure what you are trying to say, but I've read through it twice and it doesn't seem to be related to what I was trying to say. So I'm going to assume that there's a misunderstanding happening here of some sort.

It's because the thoughts people have about God and his word are all related to it. It's the starting point of every. By studying people's thoughts about God you are indead studying the word of God.

 

[Naokaukodem]

No you are wrong. No two people are going to have the exact same idea of what god is, unless they are listening to and simply following the ideas of others (religion). God is purely a thought construct only, the possibility of such a concept as described by the abrahamic religions being real is incredibly unprobable.

No I'm right. Nobody is totally isolated or he would be nothing. Therefore you have to make you way through the ideas you encounter. People in Dark Ages never had a word from God. They even never could think he existed. God is a concept that started limited and spread all out thanks to Jesus.

By the way, what you encounter is partially the word of God, because he had one and made it spread. You to go to the source and clarificate things up by reading and talking mostly.

 

[timtofly]

No I'm right. Nobody is totally isolated or he would be nothing. Therefore you have to make you way through the ideas you encounter. People in Dark Ages never had a word from God. They even never could think he existed. God is a concept that started limited and spread all out thanks to Jesus.

By the way, what you encounter is partially the word of God, because he had one and made it spread. You to go to the source and clarificate things up by reading and talking mostly.

The majority of posters here in CFC-OT are unwilling to separate God from religion. I am not saying that is a bad thing. I just do not accept that God has to be limited to a religious experience, or some philosophical concept.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

Hindus are crazy. 'SAI BABA CAN CURE AMPUTEES WITH CANCER!!!'

A cojoined twin is born - 'ITS A MIRACLE, IT IS GODDESS SHIVA REINCARNATED!!!'.

Dont put all people in one bag like that. Many of the modern philosophers has eleborated on the ancient hindu scriptures and found great revelations and deep thruths there. Crazy examples you can find everywhere....

 

[bhavv]

The flying spaghetti monster could be god.

 

[timtofly]

The flying spaghetti monster could be god.

Or just another image like you posted of the Hindu god? Is there any difference between the two? They both seem to be a logical concept on how we attempt to reconcile God.

 

[bhavv]

The point is that the ideas are false ideas.

 

[warpus]

Those people who demand evidence of god merely begin their thinking with a different set of assumptions which cannot be proven.

You've got it backwards - Those who demand that we accept the existence of God merely begin their thinking with a different (and unreasonable) set of assumptions, which cannot be proven.

It is not possible to prove a negative, except for in very specialized cases. That's why our entire way of thinking here on Earth revolves around the fact that we put the onus of proof on the person making a positive statement - not on the person making a negative one.

 

[Naokaukodem]

The majority of posters here in CFC-OT are unwilling to separate God from religion. I am not saying that is a bad thing. I just do not accept that God has to be limited to a religious experience, or some philosophical concept.

Well the concept of God(s), unique or multiple, is definitely separated from the one of religion : you have atheist religions like Buddhism.

OK, you have religions without God(s), but can there be God(s) without religions ?

As stated earlier, it's unwilling to happen, because once God spread his word, you will hear it even partially.

Now, it's true that nearly every single society in the world, isolated from each others, has a God or Gods, even if they call them only "spirits". Some say that spirituality is the proper of man.

What I'm saying is that we all have a sense of God(s?), at least a superior entity, that drives us, because we are unable to do so ourselves, and without a positive superior entity to do so, we would just be lost in the ocean, abandonned to the local variations of the determinism. The wise man senses that when it comes to its senses. The fool, the miserable, the unlucky or the proud ignores this, because after all life has always been nice and seems to be so down to earth, so why fear mere thoughts that come from myself ?

Now why is there one God and not several ? It's because I believe one God only is stronger than several. Indeed, one God has the powers of all the others united, even superior. It uses superstition about how can I manage to get what I want with just one God among others, instead of one only, and also what could I get once I'm dead, because no one knows what is happening then.

It doesn't necessarily mean that God is just about superstition, but superstition may have been its main weapon in order to convince people of that time (in antiquity), and once you get a religion it's not superstition anymore.

 

[Mechanicalsalvation]

The point is that the ideas are false ideas.

Idea is just an idea. You can say its false becouse it doesnt correspond to reality which you are familiar with and which you have developed some trust but thats about it. If you want to make qualified statement on the topic you would need to give it some serious study and I can almost guarantee you that in process you would be able to learn one or two new usefull things .....

You've got it backwards - Those who demand that we accept the existence of God merely begin their thinking with a different (and unreasonable) set of assumptions, which cannot be proven.

It is not possible to prove a negative, except for in very specialized cases. That's why our entire way of thinking here on Earth revolves around the fact that we put the onus of proof on the person making a positive statement - not on the person making a negative one.

I got to laugh a bit. Seriously? Someone demands your acceptance?
On the other hand I wouldnt call anything which makes you look beyond yourself be it your next move or something labaled as infinity as unreasonable. Its quite natural and many things point out to transcendence including evolution.