Do you believe in God?

IRALB

[quote:post_uid0="Freak"][quote:post_uid0="skinartia"]I can't stand Christianity...fucking contradicting scripture that people follow blindly like the sheep they are. And their fucking bible even calls them sheep! Idiots...[/quote:post_uid0]
Have you actually read the bible? I've read through about half of it, and it's actually really interesting to read. There's some cool stuff in there.

I'm not religious at all in the way of following any sort of set religion, but I still pray every now and then, probably just to motivate myself. I think that's what religion is, motivation, for some people it's all they have. As long as people aren't vomiting their beliefs down my throat, I'm perfectly fine with (and even admire) a lot of religious people.[/quote:post_uid0]
Must say I agree whole-heartedly. The bible is quite a good read, it doesn't have to be a brainwashing 'scripture', if you read it you won't start thumping it.

I myself don't follow a set religion, I would like to say Im Buddhist as well, but its tough to completely follow it, you can have the mindset, I do somewhat. But can you really consider yourself a Buddhist in the world were living in right now? I mean typing about your creedence involving a possession-less faith on a keyboard is somewhat of a contradiction as well, right?

Honestly, I don't know a good load of what Buddhism really is, hell I spell it wrong half the time, so disregard my comments if there not accurate, but I think I'm on the right track here, I think that Buddhism is a true faith, perhaps the only one, and I would love to truly follow it, but I know right now I cannot. But from what I know with our lives, and lifestyles, you can't completely follow it.

I myself do believe in a higher power, be it a "God" or whatever, I have faith, but I don't follow a particular religion. Freak said it best, as long as the preaching doesn't go down the throat, then I'm fine with it, and do myself admire a lot of religious folk. Faith is a good thing, whichever way you practice it. People need something to believe in.

Skittlaz

I'm not a fan of God.

And religious extremist upset me; bin Laden, Tipper Gore, George Bush, people like that.

Miakal

[quote:post_uid0="I*Ride*A*Little*Bike"]I myself don't follow a set religion, I would like to say Im Buddhist as well, but its tough to completely follow it, you can have the mindset, I do somewhat. But can you really consider yourself a Buddhist in the world were living in right now? I mean typing about your creedence involving a possession-less faith on a keyboard is somewhat of a contradiction as well, right?[/quote:post_uid0]
There's a difference between a lay Buddhist and a Buddhist monk. Even a Buddhist monk, though, is allowed some possessions.

It's not necessarily about having possessions, it's about placing value in them.

Meditation is important in practicing Buddhism because it helps to understand and live, but just understanding the religion is helpful too.

IRALB

[quote:post_uid0="Miakal"][quote:post_uid0="I*Ride*A*Little*Bike"]I myself don't follow a set religion, I would like to say Im Buddhist as well, but its tough to completely follow it, you can have the mindset, I do somewhat. But can you really consider yourself a Buddhist in the world were living in right now? I mean typing about your creedence involving a possession-less faith on a keyboard is somewhat of a contradiction as well, right?[/quote:post_uid0]
There's a difference between a lay Buddhist and a Buddhist monk. Even a Buddhist monk, though, is allowed some possessions.

It's not necessarily about having possessions, it's about placing value in them.[/quote:post_uid0]
I was implying something along the lines of that. ::

Reilly

God? GOD? No.

Even if a God does exist it doesnt change anything. Our fate? What the f*ck? Our God decides our fate (APPARENTLY) so whats the point in praying? If we pray, do we get a yellow umbrella, and if we dont, we get a yellow umbrella, because God decided so. Thats really whats never made sense to me (And it was described, VERY poorly, its been a while since I last really talked about religion) that nothing changes nomatter what, things just, happen, nothing happens for a reason, nothing, not even 1 thing. If you meet your future wife at the end of a really shitty day she's only going to be your wife because you like her and get to know her, meanwhile there are tons of other women that could form the same bond with you in the right situation. Thats why not many people are special, if you think your girlfriend is speeeshal its only because you connected with her better than any other girl in your area, if you lived halfway across the globe you'd find another 'speeeshal' girl.

Thats my daily dose of positive thinking, where were we again? Oh yeah, nowt God.

Give it time

Dr. Giganto

[quote:post_uid0="Reilly"]God? GOD? No.

Even if a God does exist it doesnt change anything. Our fate? What the f*ck? Our God decides our fate (APPARENTLY) so whats the point in praying? If we pray, do we get a yellow umbrella, and if we dont, we get a yellow umbrella, because God decided so. Thats really whats never made sense to me (And it was described, VERY poorly, its been a while since I last really talked about religion) that nothing changes nomatter what, things just, happen, nothing happens for a reason, nothing, not even 1 thing. If you meet your future wife at the end of a really shitty day she's only going to be your wife because you like her and get to know her, meanwhile there are tons of other women that could form the same bond with you in the right situation. Thats why not many people are special, if you think your girlfriend is speeeshal its only because you connected with her better than any other girl in your area, if you lived halfway across the globe you'd find another 'speeeshal' girl.

Thats my daily dose of positive thinking, where were we again? Oh yeah, nowt God.[/quote:post_uid0]
Just because someone believes in God doesnt necessarily mean that they believe our lives are pre-determined. Dont you think its possible that if God exists, he/she/it could have created everything and just observes what goes on without being directly involved.

Now, if you dont believe in God, thats fine, I respect that. But if thats your only reason for being atheist, then your thinking is a little short-sighted.

Also, one interesting argument i heard justifying why people should believe in God is based on game theory, which was developed by John Nash, who won a Nobel Prize, and was the subject of the movie A Beautiful Mind. The argument was:

Let's say you dont believe in God. Then, there are two possibilities: either God exists, or he doesnt. If God exists, and you dont beleive in him, when you die you go to hell (a negative outcome). If God doesnt exist, then nothing happens to you when you die (a neutral outcome).

Now, if you do believe, and God exists, then you go to heaven when you die (a positive outcome). And if he doesnt exist, then nothing happens after you die (a neutral outcome, with the only downfall being that you believed in something that didnt really exist).

And the conclusion is that, given those options, the logical choice would be to believe in God, because the results in the afterlife are either positive or neutral, whereas if you dont believe, the results are either negative or neutral. Although, if anyone believes for this reason only, then its a little silly. But, i just thought it was an interesting way to look at it (probably because i'm a dork, and a fan of Nash's work)

skinartia

Heaven is a Christian theory. Quit cramming it down people's throats. I'm not buying into that bullshit. Believing in god doesn't give you a ticket into Heaven, that's even stated in the Bible. You can believe in that all you want but if you don't follow those "rules" you're still going to go to Hell.

::

"I hate every bone in your body but mine.
I can't wait 'til I can hate you tonight."

~Poison

Drunksader

What's Nirvana then? Or the Holy Land that all those suicide bombers believe they get an express ticket to when they incinerate a bus? Even the pagans believed in heaven - the Elysian fields and the Pantheon (though the latter was more of a place where the Gods hung out and shot pool). It isn't just a Christian construction. You need to mellow a bit.

And you don't even need to follow rules to earn your wings - some genius threw Last Rites into Catholicism - if you beg for forgiveness before death, you pretty much get a ticket straight to heaven.

skinartia

I have to "beg" for forgiveness?! f*ck that! According to Christianity, almost everything I do is my ticket to hell.

Nirvana isn't Heaven. It's achieving enlightenment within yourself.

Yes, Greek mythology had somewhat of an equivalent to Heaven but that version seems to be very different than Christianity's version of Heaven.

::

"I hate every bone in your body but mine.
I can't wait 'til I can hate you tonight."

~Poison

Drunksader

"beg" was a poor choice of words. Pardon me.

Whether Nirvana is a state of enlightenment or not is irrelevant - it is still a goal that those who believe in it base their beliefs around, much like going to Heaven is the goal of Christianity. Same applies to Greek mythology - there's still someplace you go after you die and if you follow your faith you will get to the most desirable of destinations in the afterlife.

Your point, Skin, was that Heaven was a Christian construction. I disagreed and noted several examples, including the Holy Land of Islam (which you didn't touch upon) to show that other religions, perhaps every religion, has some belief in a beneficial afterlife that can be attained through certain deeds. And while not all of these examples may be exactly similiar, they still exist, and that shows that "Heaven" is not something drummed up by Christianity, but rather exists in some form or another across many different religions.