I believe in God although I think everyone's idea of God is similar and different in many ways. I think all the things we see and have seen in this world I would be ignorant in a way to not think that something divine had no influence in the help and creation of this universe. Even for many people that say they do not believe in God they sure do pray to a being they don't believe in a lot when a gun is held to their head or they encounter a trying period of their life. The Bible, although many times has been quoted as the "will" of God was in fact written by "man" and only the apostles know for sure whether God spoke to them or not, the rest is relies upon "our faith." I think every human would be hard pressed to believe every single writing in the Bible and accept it as total absolute truth, since just about everything in the Bible can be interpreted in a million different ways. However many of the monotheistic religions have the same fundamental beliefs which could be proof enough as to the existence of something divine out there, and even the polytheistic religions have a supreme ruler of the other gods.
I also solidly believe in an absolute good and evil. Many misconstrue absolute evil as your dog dying or something bad happening to you or a member of your family. This is still free will, examples mentioned above can not be viewed as good or bad but merely as actions. Absolute evil would be the actual thought that manifested itself in the head of the individual that maliciously killed your dog or a malevolent spirit occupying a house where as absolute good could be interpreted and seen as the thoughts and actions of a giving individual who is sacrificing or giving something to you in return for nothing or an exorcism.
This leads us fundamentally to what "thought" is. Although we have psychology, neuroscience, philosophy, and many other sciences to help us try to understand "thought" we still do not know its composition. No one really knows what matter or particles comprise thought, one can not recreate thought in any laboratory like we splice atoms and remove particles. Not even the best supercomputers and animals of earth are capable of "true thought(original art, music, ideas, beliefs)" and not every single person can recreate the same exact thought of another, only their own perception. The science of what comprises thought and what it is truly made of is beyond even the human mind in comprehension, much as the comprehension of God, its something you can feel is there and can put a understanding on but I doubt any one can fully comprehend the full magnitude of a higher power, I don't think we are even meant to, much as animals and supercomputers are not meant to form "true thought." So to me thought is the hidden attribute, or the "soul" of man so to speak. The more comprehension and understanding we have on the above the more questions and beliefs we have for them, it is an endless cycle, but then again, the above are just my "thoughts"

I was once really close to this girl who was a Jehovah's Witness.. now there is a depressing religion.. lol But If there is a Heaven and Hell.. I'd really hope that people with good hearts don't end up suffering for all eternity just because they were raised to believe in something else.

I agree. Although if the catholics are right then we're just screwed, period.


However I do bash the Christian Coalition quite a bit, but not on their religion itself but on their personal bullshit ideals

anybody talking about the big bang need to do your research, people pretty much know its bullshit by now heh. as far as "theory" of evolution thats like calling gravity a "theory", how do you prove it? get your head out of your ass and open your fucking eyes, thats how haha.

as far as organized religion, i think its good for people who have no mind of there own, no naturally occurring moral center, and at a loss when left to there own devices; as long as the sheep herder possesses these.

as far as the belief in god in general, i think its our own ego that cant see passed how miniscule and animalistic our trivial lives are. THERE MUST BE SOME GREAT FORCE GUIDING ME, SOME PURPOSE OF MY EXISTANCE OTHER THAN TO EAT SLEEP FUCK AND DIE I JUST KNOW IT OMG. do i think there is some kind of purpose to our existance, does anything we do matter? to tell the truth, not really. i enjoy some parts of life, id like to make something of myself but in the end none of it really matters.



so in closing,

FLAME ON!

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Everyone is right, and according to everyone, everyone else is going to hell. So see ya guys there

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dammit murph dont follow my post with a smiley, im trying to get a rise out of the fanatics its so fun haha

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Murph's post is the best post yet!

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I agree with Ruby for the most part. Heh. Granted, I'd like to think that humankind is more than just a bunch of sex crazed animals.

Will you have sex with me reinheld?

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Job 10: 20
The mikey's have a plan. Djay isn't all powerful.

LOL good one Ruby. I find it funny how people get so upset when topics about religion come up. Some find it easier to just dismiss someone, "You believe something different from me, so you must be a braindead loser fanatic who has no life!"
In no way was I preaching to you or anyone else. If you wish to completely discard Christian beliefs that's ok by me. I'm not here to change anyone's mind, because I respect other people's beliefs. Most of the people were participating in an intelligent civil discussion. I was merely stating my point of view, since that's what Matti was asking for. I'm sorry if you really believe that people who believe in God are brainless morons who can't think for themselves, but I could give you more than a few examples of brilliant people who are Christians. To stay in the realm of science for example, my cousin has a doctorate in physics and works for NASA, working as a "rocket scientist", and is a Christian.
This is a topic that intelligent, and not so intelligent, people have disagreed on for thousands of years, so I guess I should not expect anything less here. Thank you to those who can express their opinions in a way not designed to attack people. I guess that's all this "fanatic" has to say for now.

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"I got the fever, and the only prescription is more cowbell!"

im not directing anything at any ONE person in particular, i just have alot of angst for religion in general heh, you wanna see real angst though start a thread on veganism haha

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The sad thing is we're all just getting the same exposure and ideas about world religion being North Americans or Europeans. It feels like a world where everyone you see is Christian, but really, it's not.

And if they're wrong, they'll never reach nirvana or they'll be smited down by shiva. Poor them

From what I can find its still the most popular and accepted theory (not meaning its true) that fits in explain why and how the universe expands as it does. What did we replace that with if its bullshit, I must've missed something, haha.

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Retired 8/21/06
Don't click this link.

i do not belive everything the bible has to say, and i do not agree with everything my church teaches, but overall i do belive in a god, i think anyone who was raised going to church will belive in god unles they have a tragic incodent that makes them belive otherwise.

tragic incident? Bubonic plauge tragic enough for you?

do you past just so you can hear yourself talk? i mean seriousley ponuh, that wasnt really even funny

when i say tragic incident, i dont mean like a swelling or inflaming of ANYTHING or even a sickness, i mean like the storys about a man losing all hope or faith, some one who went to church every sunday and never got anything he prayed for, nothing ever came through for him, and one day somthing tragic happens such as his wife getting stuck by a train, or the death of a loved one, or anything within that catagory.

Do YOU listen to your history teacher before you post?

The black plauge caused so many god faring christians to re-exam their faith, "question" it for the first time. but thanks for playing

Were talking about "Do you believe in god" not who is the bigger nerd

I don't believe in 'God' as some supreme being floating in the heavens, but I do like to believe in the concept of god, as something that is responsible for everything. The concept of god that I believe in is more like an event in time and space and whatever. It starts everything and ends everything but has no control of what happens in between. So this theory leans more towards the scientific explanation of god because in it, the concept of god is just an event that sets the evolution/devolution of everything into motion. We are something that has evolved in between and nothing more. So, what we want to believe, understand and try to explain to ourselves really has little significance in the big picture. I believe that god can be summed up in an equation, but at this point in time our knowledge of the universe (and/or potential megaverse that it belongs to...er, that's antoher story) is too limited to come up with that equation. I often wonder if lifeforms that may have evolved in previous contructions of the universe were ever to figure it out before everything got reset. Do/Will we even have a chance to figure it out or do we allow ourselves to devolve before we reach the point of understanding? Anyways...

As for after-life and before-life states of being, well I believe purely in energy. The souls and ghosts that are so talked about in all the religions around the world are perhaps just metaphors for the energy that a) is harnessed somehow to create new life(or something else) and b) released from something that has passed or been destroyed. In this theory I believe in re-incarnation in a sense. Not the one where your consciousness is passed to another newly born being but rather one where the energy that was you gets appropriately redisbursed to the area where you die. Perhaps most of us just become the green grass that grows 6 feet above their body, that is a good enough afterlife for me^^.

How does everything start though? Well, it starts by ending. The end is the catalyst for the beginning and this cycle goes on for infinity. Infinity is a very difficult concept for humans to grasp seeing as our lives have a set timeline and time is a relevant concept to all our science so our can a universe based on time also be host to the physical concept of infinity. Well, this point is where us scientists are forced to have a little faith of our own I guess, lol, we either accept it or ardently seek out alternative theories and explanations. Of course this is just a theory I lean towards and have thought about a lot, it bests suits what I have learned thus far in my life. It is not set in stone and is happily open to other ideas, because afterall,when we close our mind to all other possibilities, that is when we truly die,IMO...

All in all, i believe that many of the major writings of the religions around the world are really nice metaphors for the things I talk about above, although many of those metaphors are wildly misinterpreted, while others are not. Also the writings have many things written into them that have nothing to do with faith but are rather stories made by men to influence other people to do things on the pretense of faith. Science is the same, but based on empirical research, not much faith but many assumptions...

Well, there's much more to my thoughts on this than I have written but just thought I'd throw up the basics of what I believe to see what other people think.

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Mules:
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Rahstenfound - Upper Jeuno Bazaar Whore

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I have to say, while I don't believe in god, the bible is a good source of morals that our society should be based on. Well, atleast most of the time anyways (abortion and homosexuality come to mind, but let's NOT get started on those subjects).

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My views follow very closely to Rahsten.

And I also agree with karta...

Christianity is a decent set of principles to better your life. On the base level, it's not bad. Then you get the people INVOLVED in the religion, the figureheads, popes, ect, and they go and muddy it all up into something I dislike very much

*Holds up one finger*

When you achieve true enlightenment, you will understand.

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I belive in God and Jesus Christ.

Am I a good catholic? Probably not. But I believe and that's what matters most... since really, that's all there is to it.

If you choose not to believe that's certainly your choice. I hope you like fire and brimstone cause that's basically what you're going to get by not beliving.

As for science for being the "new" religion that's just crazy talk. I will never ever worship my computer, or my car, or my toaster, no matter how evenly toasted my bread comes out. Right now string theorists are up to 11 dimensions in their explanations on how the whole universe works. Do they have it all figured out? Nope. Maybe some day science will prove to everyone that God exists but that's not what people should be waiting for. After all, beliving in God is what it's all about. If you were in God's shoes how easy would you make it for people to believe in you?

Things like that are just silly to say. So because some people don't believe in the same religion as you they are condemned to hell...
Well, in that case I guess that if you don't believe in what I do then when you die the energy/matter that makes up what you are now won't be recycled back into the universe. Welcome to my hell.

So tell me, what happened to all those people who died before Christianity was conceived? Are they in hell just cause they didn't know about 'God' yet?

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Mules:
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maybe its cause we try to replace God by messing with cloning etc.
and this would prob anger him. In the bible God flooded the world because people were sinning terriblely but look at society now, we have the power to kill millions of people at a time

EDIT: I do believe in God for my own reasons, i'm catholic