Do YOU believe in God? - Page 3 - GoFuckYourself.com

theWatsonian · 03-04-2002, 06:21 PM

My dog believes in me.

Serge_Oprano · 03-04-2002, 06:29 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by theWatsonian
My dog believes in me.

so does mine!

eroswebmaster · 03-04-2002, 06:30 PM

Funniest far side cartoon I ever saw was two fleas camping on the backside of a dog sitting around a campfire...one flea looks to the other and asks:
"Do you really think there's a dog out there?"

spacedog · 03-04-2002, 07:36 PM

Serge.. I saw a post of yours on another BBS, & I'd like to chat with you....
Hit me up on icq 112771690

Serge_Oprano · 03-04-2002, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by spacedog
Serge.. I saw a post of yours on another BBS, & I'd like to chat with you....
Hit me up on icq 112771690

shit!

I make about 500 posts a day all over the net,
now I have to scratch my balls what were you taking about....

was it in reference to
http://spamwealth.com ?

Martin · 03-04-2002, 07:58 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Serge_Oprano

shit!

I make about 500 posts a day all over the net,
now I have to scratch my balls what were you taking about....

was it in reference to
http://spamwealth.com ?

Scratching your balls helps you think Serge? That's a new one!

Serge_Oprano · 03-04-2002, 08:27 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by Martin

Scratching your balls helps you think Serge? That's a new one!

yes, but only if I scratch MINE!
;-)))

spacedog · 03-04-2002, 08:33 PM

Gee.. can't get that man to talk about anything...lol
Now he's not russian either..lol

Scootermuze · 03-04-2002, 08:36 PM

I don't think we have a drop in a bucket's worth of knowledge as to what all there really is out there, or what things are really about, or that we will ever know..
All we know is from the human perception of things.. We basically learn what we need to know in order to survive, with the exception of a few.
Does anyone know what actually takes place when a mother knows that her sibling is hurting or has been harmed even though they are thousands of miles apart? Or a child that knows all about the personal life of some older guy, since passed, that lived in another country?
And the guy who was afraid of water for no reason; only to find out, quite by accident, that the phobia was due to the fact that he had been a submariner in a past life and drown when the sub was attacked. He proved without a doubt that he knew things that he could not have known otherwise. I could go into detail about that one, but this isn't the topic.
All I am saying is.. just because we can't explain some things, or some things seem unbelievable, we have a tendancy to create our own explanations where they are no longer unexplainable; making us ok with it.. I think this is because of our standards of perceiving and thinking. Things DO happen that we can't explain.. things DO exist that we can't explain. But we choose to bury our heads in the sand because if we accepted these things as being true in their actual form, then the total thought/belief process would be fedexed to Hell (no pun intented) in a handbag.
Some scholars have said that if the Dead Sea Scrolls were translated in the terms of their day, religion as we know it would vanish.. maybe not a bad thing, unless of course you are a believer in religion.
Just one more thing.. If God does exist, who made him a religious entity? That was a manmade thing, just as religion itself is.

Oh well.. it made sense to me..

LiveDose · 03-04-2002, 08:38 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by LadySharlot
Yes, I believe in God--No, I do not believe in Organized religion.

Yes--there IS a difference. :D

Lady Sharlot :-)

Right on Lady Sharlot, I agree 100%!

UnseenWorld · 03-05-2002, 01:39 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Danny_C
Oh, I got a company mixed up with a person, I think. I said Pascall... that's suppposed to be Pacal (in case anybody wants to do some research), as in Pascal's Wager.

I did a little research for you, and found a good reading on Pascal here. http://www.utm.edu/research/iep/p/pasc-wag.htm If you've ever used the "better safe than sorry" argument, read this to learn where your line of reasoning originated.

A little history first: philosophers had been debating since Socrates whether or not there was a God. Theists (starting with Plato himself) tried their hardest to come up with proof that a God exists (including some of the one's I mentioned, like the design argument). All of these efforts failed, and theists finally were forced to resign to the fact that if there is a God, his existence just can't be proven. So then theist philosophers tried a new strategy: basically, they said, "We can't prove he exists, but belief vs. disbelief is still a decision every person needs to make, so we're going to prove that the best option of the two is belief." That's where Pascal comes in. It was a great try, but just like the "evidence" that God exists, it's too simplistic, and is full of holes.

If you guys don't know much about the history of religion, you should really do some research. It's pretty interesting how mundane and political it all really is. It's fun to trace back the progression, and to see how current religions evolved into what they are today. Christianity, for all its denouncement of paganism, is largely inspired by paganism. For instance, there was a pagan holiday on December 25, and on that day they would hold a ritual in which they would decorate a tree, etc. When Christianity came along, they didn't want to give up that ritual (it was too much fun, I guess), and Christmas was born. You know December 25th isn't really Jesus's birthday, right?

Another interesting thing I've learned: the soul doesn't come from the bible. It comes from Plato (as a depiction of Socrates awaiting execution), and was based on simple reasoning (though flawed reasoning). It would take forever to explain his theory, but the idea of the soul was basically borne out of Plato's fear of losing all the knowledge he had attained during his life. So he put together some logical evidence that he thought proved that the body was finite, but that the reasoning (the mind, the soul) was infinite, and could never decay. He was the first person to ever suggest that the body and the mind (soul) were seperate. He believed that, during life, a philosopher's goal was to prepare for death by acquiring knowledge during life. That knowledge then became immortal, as a part of the soul, even after the body had long since decayed. The idea of the soul stuck, and we've believed in it ever since... even though his reasoning has been torn to pieces by philosophers over the years.

I'm pointing these things out because I think people tend to take them for granted. But when you learn where many of the concepts we've always assumed God told his disciples actually originated, it puts them in a different light. They were just philosophical debates in the beginning - no more, no less. Then somebody came along and decided to use them to advance his political agenda, and the masses, promised an eternal afterlife (along with the prospect of hell if they didn't obey) flocked the churches in droves. Religion has been our burden ever since. Think about it.

The trouble with Pascal's Wager is that Pascal was more a genius as mathematics than psychology. Looking at belief formation, while someone might acknowledge that he SHOULD believe in God, a belief in God is highly unlikely to result from that acknowledgement, that is simply not how beliefs come about.

Danny_C · 03-05-2002, 02:04 AM

eroswebmaster:

I respect both sides of the debate, and I have every bit of respect for your argument. I just don't think the fact that people find God when they face death validates faith in any kind of rational way.

Also, I think you mistook my argument as being atheistic. I'm not an atheist. My argument, if you read it again, has encouraged agnosticism... for people to just admit they don't know. In that respect, I think we're on the same side.

But I am taking an active side for agnosticism. I think people tend to assume agnostics are just people who haven't decided yet. It's actually a school of thought that encourages disbelief one way or the other.... to keep an open mind, so that answers might come some day. If those answers come in the form of a voice in your head, unfortunately, then that's actually called delusion.

Speaking of which, doesn't it bother you that so much of religion has come from voices in people's heads? God told Moses, and God told Abraham to kill his son, and God told Jesus... if God told me to kill my son, I wouldn't be glorified in a book for my devotion to God - I'd be locked up, and rightfully so. Yet so many lives have been lost throughout history due to these schizophrenic people who were hearing voices. People devote their entire lives to following the instructions of the voices in people's heads 2000 years ago.

eroswebmaster · 03-05-2002, 02:10 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Danny_C
eroswebmaster:

I respect both sides of the debate, and I have every bit of respect for your argument. I just don't think the fact that people find God when they face death validates faith in any kind of rational way.

I never said to face death validates faith...but what it does is put our little asses and big ego's in check...especially those who think they are above believing in any deity. (and no this is not pointed at you.)

Now other life changing events that I have either experienced first hand or events members of my family have had have validated my beliefs.

RedShoe · 03-05-2002, 03:17 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Scootermuze
And the guy who was afraid of water for no reason; only to find out, quite by accident, that the phobia was due to the fact that he had been a submariner in a past life and drown when the sub was attacked.

Oh well.. it made sense to me..

I occasionally (secretely) leave GFY for a couple of weeks at a time to get some work done. I returned just in time to see a debate of great interest to me: "is there a god?"

So far I've enjoyed it. I've laughed, and chuckled, but nothing made me laugh as much as the above statement.

"...the FACT the he had been a submariner in a past life..."

LOL AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Are you joking? Damn. Hey either way it was freakin' hilarious.
The ideas of past lives sounds just as crazy as the idea of religion.

Serge_Oprano · 03-05-2002, 04:31 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by spacedog
Gee.. can't get that man to talk about anything...lol
Now he's not russian either..lol

man learns 3 years to talk and for the rest of his life he learns how to keep his mouth shut!
;-))

bhutocracy · 03-05-2002, 05:15 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by RedShoe

"...the FACT the he had been a submariner in a past life..."

LOL AHAHAHAHAHAHA
Are you joking? Damn. Hey either way it was freakin' hilarious.
The ideas of past lives sounds just as crazy as the idea of religion.

i got a bit of a chuckle out of that one too..

03-04-2002, 06:21 PM	#101
theWatsonian Confirmed User Join Date: Feb 2001 Location: PB4L HQ Posts: 1,737	My dog believes in me. __________________ <a href="http://www.watsonian.net"><img src="http://www.watsonian.net/archives/cjpb6.gif" border="0"></a><a href="http://www.adultplatinum.com/wm.html?id=567353"><img src="http://www.watsonian.net/archives/adult_platinum_85x85_03.gif" border="0"></a>

03-04-2002, 06:30 PM	#103
eroswebmaster March 1st, 2003 Join Date: Jul 2001 Location: Seat 4 @ Venetian Poker Room Posts: 20,295	Funniest far side cartoon I ever saw was two fleas camping on the backside of a dog sitting around a campfire...one flea looks to the other and asks: "Do you really think there's a dog out there?" __________________ For rent - ICQ 127-027-910 Click here for more details

03-05-2002, 02:04 AM	#112
Danny_C Confirmed User Industry Role: Join Date: Feb 2002 Location: Philadelphia, PA Posts: 2,160	eroswebmaster: I respect both sides of the debate, and I have every bit of respect for your argument. I just don't think the fact that people find God when they face death validates faith in any kind of rational way. Also, I think you mistook my argument as being atheistic. I'm not an atheist. My argument, if you read it again, has encouraged agnosticism... for people to just admit they don't know. In that respect, I think we're on the same side. But I am taking an active side for agnosticism. I think people tend to assume agnostics are just people who haven't decided yet. It's actually a school of thought that encourages disbelief one way or the other.... to keep an open mind, so that answers might come some day. If those answers come in the form of a voice in your head, unfortunately, then that's actually called delusion. Speaking of which, doesn't it bother you that so much of religion has come from voices in people's heads? God told Moses, and God told Abraham to kill his son, and God told Jesus... if God told me to kill my son, I wouldn't be glorified in a book for my devotion to God - I'd be locked up, and rightfully so. Yet so many lives have been lost throughout history due to these schizophrenic people who were hearing voices. People devote their entire lives to following the instructions of the voices in people's heads 2000 years ago. Last edited by Danny_C; 03-05-2002 at 02:05 AM..

03-04-2002, 07:36 PM	#104
spacedog Yes that IS me. Bitch. Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 14,149	Serge.. I saw a post of yours on another BBS, & I'd like to chat with you.... Hit me up on icq 112771690

03-04-2002, 08:33 PM	#108
spacedog Yes that IS me. Bitch. Industry Role: Join Date: Nov 2001 Posts: 14,149	Gee.. can't get that man to talk about anything...lol Now he's not russian either..lol

03-04-2002, 08:36 PM	#109
Scootermuze Confirmed User Join Date: Dec 2001 Posts: 4,513	I don't think we have a drop in a bucket's worth of knowledge as to what all there really is out there, or what things are really about, or that we will ever know.. All we know is from the human perception of things.. We basically learn what we need to know in order to survive, with the exception of a few. Does anyone know what actually takes place when a mother knows that her sibling is hurting or has been harmed even though they are thousands of miles apart? Or a child that knows all about the personal life of some older guy, since passed, that lived in another country? And the guy who was afraid of water for no reason; only to find out, quite by accident, that the phobia was due to the fact that he had been a submariner in a past life and drown when the sub was attacked. He proved without a doubt that he knew things that he could not have known otherwise. I could go into detail about that one, but this isn't the topic. All I am saying is.. just because we can't explain some things, or some things seem unbelievable, we have a tendancy to create our own explanations where they are no longer unexplainable; making us ok with it.. I think this is because of our standards of perceiving and thinking. Things DO happen that we can't explain.. things DO exist that we can't explain. But we choose to bury our heads in the sand because if we accepted these things as being true in their actual form, then the total thought/belief process would be fedexed to Hell (no pun intented) in a handbag. Some scholars have said that if the Dead Sea Scrolls were translated in the terms of their day, religion as we know it would vanish.. maybe not a bad thing, unless of course you are a believer in religion. Just one more thing.. If God does exist, who made him a religious entity? That was a manmade thing, just as religion itself is. Oh well.. it made sense to me..