Morgan Freeman "I think we invented God."

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I am surprised how many atheist are on the forum, you have greater faith than I,

This gets parroted a lot by theists, and is just so silly.

Atheists generally believe things for which there is sufficient reason and evidence whereas theists like yourself believe things for no good reason whatsoever....................the very definition of faith.

But if it were true, and atheists had more faith than you and your fellows, wouldn't that (in your eyes) be a reason to congratulate someone? for you isn't faith a good thing?

At least be consistent

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
That's if you believe god isn't natural

Gods defined by all major religions are supernatural (definition: of, pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal).

We most certainly do invent attachments and characteristics that are affiliated with finite dwellers and insist those are of the infinite Presence. We compose the strangest scenarios to satisfy a part of us that cannot exit ourselves without becoming contaminated and distorted. The "conversion app" to go from infinite to finite or finite to infinite itself defies definition. Yet many KNOW infinite Presence is there. Just no way to transfer it to anyone else since it much pass through the domain of space-time.

reply to post by Stormdancer777

I am surprised how many atheist are on the forum, you have greater faith than I,

It takes just as much faith not to believe than to believe, and hope dare I say.

That's like saying it takes just as much as faith to believe in unicorns than not to believe in them...which of course is nonsense

Originally posted by rhinoceros

Originally posted by Barcs
Nope, sorry. I know plenty of atheists that believe in life after death.

That's quite interesting. Personally, I don't know a single person who believes in life after death or a soul. At least in the traditional sense, our personality supposedly mirrors our soul. Problem is, that personalities can dramatically change due to physical harm. A good blow to the head can turn a loving husband into an abusive asshole, etc. This quite heavily implies that our personality is 100% tied to our physical body. When that is gone, it can no longer exist. Maybe in the future we can replicate our neural networks in hardware, and thus bypass death (in a sense), but still.. no soul.

Yeah, I definitely agree. My friends that believe in life after death that don't believe in god certainly don't believe in heaven or hell or any religious interpretation. They generally believe in reincarnation (Buddhism), and some see "god" as more like the universal life force / collective consciousness. I don't consider that god, however, just a label for something else. Some are into chakra meditation as well, so I don't think they believe that the soul is their personality, they believe that it is an extension of the body that gives them their 'awareness' and connection to the universe. Most believe the spirit evolved along with the body.

Originally posted by MrXYZ
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

I am surprised how many atheist are on the forum, you have greater faith than I,

It takes just as much faith not to believe than to believe, and hope dare I say.

That's like saying it takes just as much as faith to believe in unicorns than not to believe in them...which of course is nonsense

We are not talking about unicorns.

Originally posted by rhinoceros

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
That's if you believe god isn't natural

Gods defined by all major religions are supernatural (definition: of, pertaining to, or being above or beyond what is natural; unexplainable by natural law or phenomena; abnormal).

I realize that, but he is not supernatural, and isn't this really about if religion has been wrong all along

supernatural

of or relating to an order of existence beyond the visible observable universe;

Meta physical

of or relating to the transcendent or to a reality beyond what is perceptible to the senses

occult
Beyond the realm of human comprehension;


Well heck, once the fact that the earth was round was beyond the realm of human comprehension.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777

Originally posted by MrXYZ
reply to post by Stormdancer777

 

I am surprised how many atheist are on the forum, you have greater faith than I,

It takes just as much faith not to believe than to believe, and hope dare I say.

That's like saying it takes just as much as faith to believe in unicorns than not to believe in them...which of course is nonsense

We are not talking about unicorns.

It's a metaphor...both unicorns and god have ZERO objective evidence behind them.

Originally posted by Prezbo369

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I am surprised how many atheist are on the forum, you have greater faith than I,

This gets parroted a lot by theists, and is just so silly.

Atheists generally believe things for which there is sufficient reason and evidence whereas theists like yourself believe things for no good reason whatsoever....................the very definition of faith.

But if it were true, and atheists had more faith than you and your fellows, wouldn't that (in your eyes) be a reason to congratulate someone? for you isn't faith a good thing?

At least be consistent

Does it get parroted? I had no idea, I was on the verge of atheism, and I still don't see how you can prove god doesn't exist.

But I don't care, I really don't care, I am fine with you not believing, but you are not fine with me believing.

I respect your opinion, I am just having a conversation,

reply to post by MrXYZ

It's a metaphor...both unicorns and god have ZERO objective evidence behind them.

I understand, I have questioned, I have had doubts, but experiences make me lean towards believing.

It all boils down the the experience. It is a personal and inward journey.

That's why I should have kept quiet.

Plotinus sixth Ennead
The soul always leaves something of itself above.

Have we just forgot our divine origins, and have run away from the source?

Retrace the path from which we came and in so doing learning to know oneself, and so to know god.

Isn't that also what Science is all about?


The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious. It is the underlying principle of religion as well as of all serious endeavour in art and science. He who never had this experience seems to me, if not dead, then at least blind. To sense that behind anything that can be experienced there is a something that our minds cannot grasp, whose beauty and sublimity reaches us only indirectly: this is religiousness. In this sense I am religious. To me it suffices to wonder at these secrets and to attempt humbly to grasp with my mind a mere image of the lofty structure of all there is.

Einstein

reply to post by Stormdancer777

Either that, or the creator doesn't think the way we think. I always wondered how god could let suffering continue, but how many times do you consider an ant, for example.?

Well that depends, seeing that I mostly see or notice ants out on sunny days I suppose to most people it comes down to. Do they consider the ants with a magnifying glass or without.

And in any case very few actually notice ants at all, and almost none think of the ant's at all even if they see one. So going by that and the whole as above so bellow thing and lets just say for theory purposes that GOD exists. Well then I suppose you could say ya in a way were made in gods image. And seeing as we don't care about ants, then why should this being people call GOD care about the ants of the universe, the ants being us.

Originally posted by openminded2011
Can you definitively know the origin of that universe? If not you can neither disprove or verify that a creative intelligence was involved. Neither position carries more weight than the other because neither can be proven.

At no point did I claim I could. The pertinent question is not whether I, you or anyone else can. It is are we willing to try. If a creative intelligence is found along the way, a prospect I regard as highly improbable, so be it.

Arguing that you may be right because I cannot disprove something that has never been proven is asinine.

I dismiss deities based on the fact that no objective evidence has ever been presented for any of the multitude that man has utilized over the centuries.
Give me objective evidence to the contrary, I will happily concede my mistake and continue to expand my knowledge base from there.

Can you say the same ?

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I still don't see how you can prove god doesn't exist.

I don't see how you can prove unicorns don't exist. Now, it's just plain obvious that the Flying Spaghetti Monster exists. There's no argument.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
I am fine with you not believing, but you are not fine with me believing.

Are you supposed to be "fine" with that? I think atheists have a problem with the believers because of all the negative effects of schizophrenia.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
It all boils down the the experience. It is a personal and inward journey.

Can that be rephrased as, "If you believe, then you will believe"?

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
Retrace the path from which we came and in so doing learning to know oneself, and so to know god.

Isn't that also what Science is all about?

Science is about a lot of things. Regarding the god concept, science attempts to explain why people hold irrational beliefs.

Originally posted by Stormdancer777
The most beautiful and deepest experience a man can have is the sense of the mysterious.

That's called ignorance.

Originally posted by Noncompatible
Give me objective evidence to the contrary, I will happily concede my mistake and continue to expand my knowledge base from there.

I agree. Is there an atheist who doesn't think the same?

Originally posted by Stormdancer777

Does it get parroted? I had no idea,

I find that hard to believe from someone who's been on these forums for the past 5 years but yeah pretty much any thread debating evolution/creationism will eventually see such a claim being made...........before being shutdown and subsequently shown to be a fallacy. I blame Ray Comfort.

I was on the verge of atheism, and I still don't see how you can prove god doesn't exist.

The proof of burden lays with those making a claim. Atheism is the response to the claim made by theists that a being we describe as a god exists and is responsible for everything and anything. So its not up to atheists to prove that claim to be false, its up the theists to prove their claim to be true.

Being 'on the verge of atheism' tells me you have at least at some point lost some/all of your faith, what was it that then allowed you to continue with these beliefs? (if it's what many vaguely describe as an 'experience' don't bother answering this question)

But I don't care, I really don't care, I am fine with you not believing, but you are not fine with me believing.

You don't care that I'll be tortured in a lake of fire/punished for eternity? doesn't seem very christian to me.......but then its christ that's going to permit such actions in the first place, so maybe it does...

reply to post by NorEaster


The notion that, "there's nothing new under the sun" is a general truth, but absolute absurdity. What of the notion of nothingness, or the concept of zero or a negative??

I think true innovation is the result of brain farts or mini strokes or what have you. The first response is adequate to fill in the rest.