Do you believe in A God?

HouseHippo · 20-09-2008 2:17am

I'll leave that to the Creationists

Tar.Aldarion · 20-09-2008 2:20am

Ah sure I love a good bit of fantasy.

HouseHippo · 20-09-2008 2:22am

Tara Le d'Arion wrote: »

Ah sure I love a good bit of fantasy.

The Missing page of the Bible:

Any similarities to persons living or dead is purely coincidential
The Bible 1.AD C Fox Corporation

London Irish · 20-09-2008 2:25am

AtomicHorror wrote: »

My take on it goes a bit like this. We have a tendency to look for causal relationships between all manner of patterns we encounter. We search for purpose, cause and effect. We needed in the past to do this quickly and based on very limited information- so we got leaps of faith. These kept us alive. We also rarely observed naturalistic creative forces and so we tended to assume that creation requires an intelligent agent. Throw in our natural fear of death, our need to rationalise morality (so we can regulate social groups) and out of that fun mix we get superstitions and finally religions.

Technically, the more we know the less we should need religion. But the traits in our biology and psychology that gave birth to religion took millions of years to evolve. To expect them to vanish in a couple of thousand years is a bit much.

Pretty much spot on....

Captain Ginger · 20-09-2008 3:51am

Well seeing as this whole world and all of you are a creation in my head then yes I do believe in myself.

CDfm · 20-09-2008 11:40am

Shelflife wrote: »

believe in mother nature

I knew it all the volanoes and hurricanes and the like - it just had to be a woman.

Global warming is just hot flushes.

Sir Digby Chicken Caesar · 20-09-2008 12:05pm

atheists 200 - god botherers 95

There's hope in this new Ireland after all.

CDfm · 20-09-2008 12:09pm

MistressMord wrote: »

atheists 200 - god botherers 95

There's hope in this new Ireland after all.

Ape Descendants-200

Created in Gods Image 95

The eff*** apes are taking over and its nothing like the movie

Galvasean · 20-09-2008 12:38pm

Descended from apes: 205
Created in God's image (which looks like an ape): 95

300 apes! :eek:

CDfm · 20-09-2008 1:15pm

Galvasean wrote: »

Descended from apes: 205
Created in God's image (which looks like an ape): 95

300 apes! :eek:

:eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek::eek:

ART6 · 20-09-2008 6:29pm

If you believe in God, and it turns out that He doesn't exist, then when you die you will not know about it. The lights will simply go out. If, however, He does exist and if there is a heaven as the bible says, then if you denied His existence you ain't going to be there. Religion then could be considered an insurance policy.

MooseJam · 20-09-2008 6:35pm

human physiology is pretty well know at this stage, and guess what there is no soul

Call Me Jimmy · 20-09-2008 6:44pm

ART6 wrote: »

If you believe in God, and it turns out that He doesn't exist, then when you die you will not know about it. The lights will simply go out. If, however, He does exist and if there is a heaven as the bible says, then if you denied His existence you ain't going to be there. Religion then could be considered an insurance policy.

But would a god prefer someone who is honest with themselves and says "I just can't believe in it. It goes against all the logic and reason I have been given" or someone who thinks that they can lie their way into heaven?

carlybabe1 · 20-09-2008 6:50pm

HouseHippo wrote: »

The Missing page of the Bible:

Any similarities to persons living or dead is purely coincidential
The Bible 1.AD C Fox Corporation

LOLz:D:D:D excellent, do you write for the simpsons?

aidan24326 · 20-09-2008 7:10pm

ART6 wrote: »

If you believe in God, and it turns out that He doesn't exist, then when you die you will not know about it. The lights will simply go out. If, however, He does exist and if there is a heaven as the bible says, then if you denied His existence you ain't going to be there. Religion then could be considered an insurance policy.

We've heard that one before ART6, and it doesn't any get better with the telling I assure you. Pascal's wager it's called by the way, and it's still a pretty stupid reason to believe in religion. To believe in the wrong one (and there's alot of them remember) would be the same as believing in none at all.

CreepingDeath · 20-09-2008 7:14pm

Most of us are skeptical about what is written in todays literature.

Why should we believe something written by people 2000 years ago with no where near the amount of worldly knowledge we have today.

Anyways... even if there was an afterlife, there's no absolutely no guarantee we'd be in the same priviledged position of being at the top of the food chain there.

Dave! · 20-09-2008 7:17pm

ART6 wrote: »

If you believe in God, and it turns out that He doesn't exist, then when you die you will not know about it. The lights will simply go out. If, however, He does exist and if there is a heaven as the bible says, then if you denied His existence you ain't going to be there. Religion then could be considered an insurance policy.

Except that it might turn out that you've been worshipping Yahweh, when the true god is Ba'al or Thor -- and then you have to spend the rest of eternity getting hit in the face with a hammer.

Not good.

CDfm · 20-09-2008 7:52pm

Dave! wrote: »

Except that it might turn out that you've been worshipping Yahweh, when the true god is Ba'al or Thor -- and then you have to spend the rest of eternity getting hit in the face with a hammer.

Not good.

A common Dave! religous beliefs are not all that bad. You get Christmas presents and easter eggs and they must bring a smile to your face in real life.:)

Many people need them as a source of a moral code even at a basic level - even if you dont believe yourself - Bono does.

Dave! · 20-09-2008 7:58pm

Nobody needs religion as a source of moral code. Would you be terribly shocked to learn that I don't steal or rape or pillage? How do you explain it?

CDfm · 20-09-2008 8:01pm

Dave! wrote: »

Nobody needs religion as a source of moral code. Would you be terribly shocked to learn that I don't steal or rape or pillage? How do you explain it?

Hugely - my problem with Wiccans is the dancing naked in the woods or in Tara.This is Ireland and you could catch a nasty cold if ya did that.

Dave! · 20-09-2008 8:04pm

Capital evasion there bud! My hero

Ross_Mahon · 20-09-2008 8:06pm

Not sure- 11.05%

Buddhists?

I hope in my afterlife...I'm a moderator :cool:

boneless · 20-09-2008 8:06pm

No, I don't.

Dave! · 20-09-2008 8:08pm

Ross_Mahon wrote: »

Not sure- 11.05%

Buddhists?

I hope in my afterlife...I'm a moderator :cool:

If you don't clean up your life, and I mean pronto, you could end up being an AH moderator!

Naikon · 20-09-2008 8:11pm

ART6 wrote: »

If you believe in God, and it turns out that He doesn't exist, then when you die you will not know about it. The lights will simply go out. If, however, He does exist and if there is a heaven as the bible says, then if you denied His existence you ain't going to be there. Religion then could be considered an insurance policy.

Lets envisage a little scenario.

Person1is a convicted rapist and person 2 is a UNICEF atheist.
The rapist asks for gods "forgiveness" on his deathbed, and
suddenly all is dandy in the catholic sense.

Person 2 is intelligent/not deluded enough to simply hide behind
the veil of Religion. He dies with hill moral dignity and superior sense of self.
The point is, the UNICEF worker is not "rewarded" for his good actions.
Contrast this to the rapist...

Think of all the resources religious institutions waste.
All this religious wish wash would be better spent on the important things in life, like helping your fellow man:(
Even if there was a "god" the Atheist heathen would be top among gods list.

CDfm · 20-09-2008 8:12pm

Dave! wrote: »

Capital evasion there bud! My hero

Moi - surely you jest.

Havent I spent time being savaged by Heretics on the Popes thread and you expect a witty retort. How unchristian of you.

CDfm · 20-09-2008 8:31pm

Naikon wrote: »

Lets envisage a little scenario.

Person1is a convicted rapist and person 2 is a UNICEF atheist.
The rapist asks for gods "forgiveness" on his deathbed, and
suddenly all is dandy in the catholic sense.

Person 2 is intelligent/not deluded enough to simply hide behind
the veil of Religion. He dies with hill moral dignity and superior sense of self.
The point is, the UNICEF worker is not "rewarded" for his good actions.
Contrast this to the rapist...

Think of all the resources religious institutions waste.
All this religious wish wash would be better spent on the important things in life, like helping your fellow man:(
Even if there was a "god" the Atheist heathen would be top among gods list.

Funnily enough while thats a very simplistic reading of Catholic thought on the subject and it is also a very good example.

I had a discussion a few years back with a priest concerning the death of a nun who died as a result of arson or something where the community of nuns were apologised to by the arsonist and wouldnt testify. He walked.

Now I would not agree with that and neither did the priest. In the context of religious belief forgiveness in a spiritual sense is with God.So that is one issue. The other was that the arsonist was still in the area and was a danger to the religious community and others so it was not their choice to make really -it was reckless.

Im not an expert but your example is not as far fetched as you make out.But then again asking for forgiveness from God is a tricky one it implies sincerity and repentance etc.So the guy is not necessarily on top-that may not be the soft option..

Neither is the atheist worse off as he gets no more or less than he has expected.

Believe it or not -while in general the Church doesnt support capital punishment - that does not mean that it always condemns it especially where there is no alternative and it is for the general good.

Galvasean · 20-09-2008 9:45pm

ART6 wrote: »

If you believe in God, and it turns out that He doesn't exist, then when you die you will not know about it. The lights will simply go out. If, however, He does exist and if there is a heaven as the bible says, then if you denied His existence you ain't going to be there. Religion then could be considered an insurance policy.

Except God is said to be omniscient. if so he will easily see through your attempt at deception and beat the crap out of you on arrival.

Lockstep · 20-09-2008 9:59pm

Naikon wrote: »

Lets envisage a little scenario.

Person1is a convicted rapist and person 2 is a UNICEF atheist.
The rapist asks for gods "forgiveness" on his deathbed, and
suddenly all is dandy in the catholic sense.

Person 2 is intelligent/not deluded enough to simply hide behind
the veil of Religion. He dies with hill moral dignity and superior sense of self.
The point is, the UNICEF worker is not "rewarded" for his good actions.
Contrast this to the rapist...

Think of all the resources religious institutions waste.
All this religious wish wash would be better spent on the important things in life, like helping your fellow man:(
Even if there was a "god" the Atheist heathen would be top among gods list.

Actually, in that analogy, your confusing Catholicism with most brands of Protestantism. Catholicism also requires a person to do good works to be saved, Protestantism merely requires faith in God.

It also teaches that it is useless to confess if you know you will sin again (intending to), confessing on your deathbed as a way of getting out of jail free doesn't work unless you seriously are sorry rather than just hoping to evade punishment.

Quite honestly, the whole "Atheists are intelligent" argument annoys me.

Canis_major · 20-09-2008 10:07pm

A mans gotta believe in something, I believe I'll have another beer

Do you believe in A God?

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