Why I care about religion

[stockli]

Originally posted by ghi
i care because religion gives more logic answers than science for Qs about mistery of life;where we came from, our mission here,where are we heading,

We came from our mother, our mission here is to make babies, we are headed to extinction.

[ghi]

Originally posted by stockli
We came from our mother, our mission here is to make babies, we are headed to extinction.

  There are 4  colours  of skin on the earth; white, black,yellow and red, and same 4 colours of clay and dust covering the planet, proves the biblie myth :God made us out of clay ,but he did add the soul
If you  watch yourself in the mirror,you see the dust and mineralals,colected from the earth and yes, they will stay here ,that's not all of YOU!  the most important part is what makes you able to understand what are you watching in the mirror, and i belive that mysterious energy ,soul comes from outside, from God, or other dimension, doesn't just come from mother,makes babies and die,
 i've seen on Discovery some kind of insects live few minutes, our life comparing with the infinite univers  over our heads looks even shorter, and can't resume to material stage only,  
sorry for my poor english

[Yeager]

there is absolutely positively no doubt in my mind that there is a God and that he does indeed care for each one of us individually.
====
are you sure about that ?  

[SkyRock]

Originally posted by ghi
There are 4  colours  of skin on the earth; white, black,yellow and red, and same 4 colours of clay and dust covering the planet, proves the biblie myth :God made us out of clay ,but he did add the soul
If you  watch yourself in the mirror,you see the dust and mineralals,colected from the earth and yes, they will stay here ,that's not all of YOU!  the most important part is what makes you able to understand what are you watching in the mirror, and i belive that mysterious energy ,soul comes from outside, from God, or other dimension, doesn't just come from mother,makes babies and die,
 i've seen on Discovery some kind of insects live few minutes, our life comparing with the infinite univers  over our heads looks even shorter, and can't resume to material stage only,  
sorry for my poor english

Just a little tidbit of info, Elephants mourn their dead for years, and many animals are able to see themselves in the mirror and understand that it is themselves that they are looking at.  I believe that our species past a stage of development where our ability to discern ourselves with our surroundings, created a gap.  This gap was subsequently filled by faithbased religions.  It is very creative and quite honorable, yet falls way short of our ability to seek the factual truths as our ablilities to discover these truths become more advanced.

[GtoRA2]

Originally posted by Yknurd
Hmmmmmm....somewhere there is a joke about Darwinism and AWMac's posts as they start from bold, brash statements, turn into rebuttals and lies, morph into personal attacks and obfuscations and finally evolve into denials and non-sequitars.

They do make for a good laugh though.

[Engine]

Originally posted by Tachus
Actually, I never took that position. If you look at my post which followed the one you quoted, I said the atheist and the believer, both came to a conclusion that could not be proved.

However, as I pointed out in that post, this is done all the time by people, (I would venture to say, yourself included), and it is not necessarily irrational. The only way to avoid this, is to"never" draw a conclusion about a great many things in life.

We hold many things to be true, that we have never "Seen", nor can we "Prove". The structure of the atom is a great example. You've never seen one, I've never seen one, but based on observations we have drawn conclusions about them. (There are allot of other examples of this is science.)

The origin of life is another. I would say life began some time in the past. However, I can't prove it began. Perhaps, life has simply always been. You can't prove otherwise. Even if we accept that life began sometime in the past if we use your line of reasoning, no one can ever draw a "Rational" conclusion about how life began, because we can never prove it.

So unless a person walks around refusing to every draw a conclusion (which seems irrational to me) they ultimately we accept a certain number of things as being true, without "Proof"

Best regards,
--Tachus

Hiya Tachus,

Sorry it's taken me this long to respond.

With regards to drawing conclusions without evidence: Yes, we all do this every day. However, our significant conclusions and beliefs are ones that allow us as individuals and as a society to function. For instance: I will behave as though you have a consciousness, despite not knowing for certain... therefore I won't kill you and take your property. But in the end, I think we're forced to admit we -don't- know much for certain, but we still have to draw conclusions and act as though we do. Yeah, I know, it's solipsistic (sp?)

Basically, these are practical conclusions that help us function. Most of them are supportible with evidence or experience (i.e. - I believe this chair will support my weight, like it did yesterday). The objective existence of God is not.

[moot]

Religious thought needs no reason.
Scientific thought is incompatible with anything else.

The leap of faith that we're not brains in jars was covered by Descartes.. Everything downstream from it can still be rational: You assume your senses aren't being fooled on the whole, and henceforth make rational arguments from them.
Taking the other way from that fork in the road, you are headed down a rabbit hole that goes nowhere, fast.

And of course, there in lies the problem. Who decides, what is the proper evaluation? Who decides the standards?

Reason.

[SkyRock]

Originally posted by moot


Reason.

Very well said, Moot!:aok

[Furious]

The idea that "faith" is prerequisite for a belief in non-existence just doesn't hold water.

If I said I could turn myself into a rocket and fly to the sun and back in a second, you would not need "faith" to believe I couldn't.  It's ludicrous.  It can be rejected out of hand with no further thought of effort required.

The same could be said of a god that created the entire universe and everything in it.

[moot]

Prove it so we can all dismiss it out of hand. Test the theory beyond doubt or, failing that, it'll remain a hypothesis unless you or anyone else chooses to take a leap of faith and make it their belief without evidence.
One of the easiest proofs for god being unarguable either way is its infinity.  
Do you know infinity like you know the reasons for not being able to change into a rocket, etc?   Those and an infinite being (or whatever) aren't comparable.  Belief in non-existance of something that can't be proven either way is a leap of faith.

[AKIron]

If there is indeed an intelligent creator of our space and time then at some point all of our doubts and disbelief will seem very foolish. If there isn't, then at that same point, it won't seem anything.

[Furious]

Originally posted by moot
...Belief in non-existance of something that can't be proven either way is a leap of faith.

Because you, or others, do not view the idea of an all powerful being that created everything and watches everything as ludicrous, you have a difficult time dismissing it out of hand.  

Others have no problem doing so.  No faith involved.  

The flying spaghetti monster is an example of the way some people express how absurd the idea of an all powerful deity is to them.  It's just makes no sense.  It does not take faith to believe it does not exist.

[JB88]

BLASPHERMER!!!!

forgive him oh great noodly appendage...forgivvvvvvvve!!!!!

[SkyRock]

Originally posted by moot
Prove it so we can all dismiss it out of hand. Test the theory beyond doubt or, failing that, it'll remain a hypothesis unless you or anyone else chooses to take a leap of faith and make it their belief without evidence.
One of the easiest proofs for god being unarguable either way is its infinity.  
Do you know infinity like you know the reasons for not being able to change into a rocket, etc?   Those and an infinite being (or whatever) aren't comparable.  Belief in non-existance of something that can't be proven either way is a leap of faith.

I totally agree, and therefore, I do not believe that there is no GOD, but that there is an incapability of humans on this planet to even come close to understanding what God might be like.  It is the only reason I will never buy into religions based on the fact that they were born from an intelligence level which was in it's infancy at best during the times most religions were being formed.  I was raised in the church and it wasn't until I was tutored from the 11th grade to the 12th grade in the bible(was actually part of the course to read old and new testemants) that I found something wrong with.........faith!   I found that my curiosity was challenging my faith.  It was a horrible and a very guilt ridden journey, yet in the end, I found a peace that was overwhelming.  I do not believe religions of this world.  I also, through my education in the sciences, do not believe that God is disproven, just that humans do not have the capacity of understanding to attain the conception of what apparently is the power that exists in the Universe that ultimately may be considered.....GOD!  The human soul, not much unlike tracing your roots, can be mapped through history from when burials started to take the form of decorating the dead.  It is not inherently without hope, yet very hopeful in our quest,  to understand what is the "math", "reason", "purpose", and ultimately our "goal" for being alive!

Mark Magill 8/21/07:aok

[DYNAMITE]

Originally posted by JB88
BLASPHERMER!!!!

forgive him oh great noodly appendage...forgivvvvvvvve!!!!!

NEVER!!!!  The Flying Spaghetti Monster is a VENGEFUL Spaghetti Monster!!!