too much god

[El Blanco]

Evil clone? Or evil clown?

[Protoclown]

Perhaps it could be...both?

[george]

there is no contradiction there ronnie, i try hard to be an honest, kind, and friendly person. i treat people with respect, and have managed to make a few decent friends along the way. that is not god, that is me. as for family, when you have been through hard times, and childhood with people you never walk away from them cause they are part of you and how you think. again, that is me, not god.

i have talked with how i feel about this with proto. i want to believe there is something more, some link that ties us all togehter in the end. that i can pray and hope for a better world and that somehow the people who need it will be blessed. but, i have no faith, just hope.

but when i watch the news and george bush is going on and on about god, and going on and on about us needing to pray to god, and the news always going on about this church, or that church, and pushing the magic man to make things feel better i get the sick feeling they are trying to keep me calm long enough to get three inches into me.

[Ronnie Raygun]

Look, he's not talking to you personally. He's talking to us as a nation. And the majority of people in this country including the prez. believe in GOD.

If you don't, that's cool.

That doesn't mean everyone else has to shut up about it.

[mburbank]

Trust me, they are not on the same side. You are reading N;ado incorrectly. Ask naldo if he thinks it's possible for a Hindu, Bhuddist, Mulsim or in fact anyone who does not accept jesus Christ as their personal savior to be on God's side. I think the difference of opinion will be greatly illuminated.

[Helm]

I am an agnostic. I hold reason the greatest asset of the human mind, and with it, such ultimate terms like all-powerfulness we like to attribute to god are shown to be fallacies.

I believe faith to be a man-made contraption created so as shake off the overwhelming fear that there's no absolute purpose for humanity, and that it's actually up to said humanity to make a purpose for itself. I also believe faith to be some sort of sanctuary from the fear of death. I fear death as well, but do not claim to understand either the why, or how.

I am also an ethical relativist, and as such, I believe the notion of a God dictating what is good and true for all, a base fairytale for people that choose to be simple themselves.

If some sort of higher intelligence exists, it is neither all-powerful, nor a thing of universal goodness, and definately not here to make you feel better.

[Jixby Phillips]

SO HOW DOES GOD STAY IN THE SKY DOES HE HAVE A JETPACK OR SOMETHING

[AChimp]

I hate how people thank God or Jesus when they win awards. Why the fuck would God give a shit about an award when there are people suffering? And why would God help that person win as opposed to helping everyone else win, too?

I believe faith to be a man-made contraption created so as shake off the overwhelming fear that there's no absolute purpose for humanity, and that it's actually up to said humanity to make a purpose for itself.

Faith is a cop-out. It is intellectual bankruptcy. If the only way you can accept an assertion is by faith, then you are conceding that it can’t be taken on its own merits.

[Jixby Phillips]

IS GOD A GHOST OR SOMETHING?!?!?

[theapportioner]

Atheist.






I suppose it is possible that a Christian (or other flavor of) god exists, but then I'd also have to concede the possibility that Galactus will try to eat the planet one day and that the Fantastic Four will have to save our asses. And even if there exists a more abstract, undefinable "higher intelligence", its actual existence would likely be utterly irrelevent to human reality.

[FS]

God is this beardy immortal old guy with an everlasting erection, who lives on the clouds and lays on his back all day while women cater to him. There's no men in heaven The only time he lifted a finger was to touch Adam to give him superpowers, turning him into He-Man.

On a serious note, sometimes I miss the feeling of believing there's a guy out there who'll make sure I'll turn out alright. It's a feeling I remember only from my childhood, but it was quite powerful and enpowering. Unfortunately, no matter what the zealots may think, it's infinitely more difficult for one to start believing than to stop believing.

Making God the posterboy for one's cause is a thing of all ages.

[Helm]

God is this beardy immortal old guy with an everlasting erection, who lives on the clouds and lays on his back all day while women cater to him. There's no men in heaven The only time he lifted a finger was to touch Adam to give him superpowers, turning him into He-Man.

What's not serious about that???

[posterchild]

This is what I think.
The idea of God was created by people because they need a reason to continue being good-hearted. People get tired of being "sin-free" when they are watching the hedonists soak up the self-gratification that being a sinner provides.
They start wondering why the hell they follow the straight and narrow when nobody else is.

This is where God comes in...

The notion of an eternity of jubilation in exchange for a life-span of purity is the incentive to remain unsoiled amongst all of the filthy filthy souls destined for fire and brimstone.

Not only that, but God serves as a wonderful answer to any question that can't be answered indefinately. Who created me? Who decides my destiny? Who put the stars in the sky?
Duh, if you can't figure it out it must have been God.

This, of course, is only my opinion...

[Helm]

Only nitpicking, but it's actually the other way around. The hedonists decided to break out of the ethical norm. Gods of all kinds, and their moral dictates and their followers existed before that.

Now if by hedonists you're speaking broadly about any sort of man that operates outside of christian(or whatever) morality, then supposedly yeah, they predate gods.


However, you make a valid case as to religion being defensive tactics to ethical subjectivism, but that happened much later in the french revolution.

[AChimp]

Deities have traditionally been created to explain things that humans cannot or will not (as in refuse to) comprehend. You can see this plainly in the polytheistic religions where they have gods for every known phenomenon.

"Hey! It hasn't rained for weeks and our crops are dying."
"Zartok the Wet must be angry with us!"
"Let's sacrifice a goat to Ko'chal so the ground becomes more fertile."
"I think it's not raining because we live in a fucking desert." :/
"KILL THE BLASPHEMER!!!!!"

[Helm]

Achimp:

[womanwithballs]

Deities are also created to control the believers through guilt and fear. It's the same thing as a "societal norm." Do what is expected of you and you will spend your life on earth as a normal (gasp) person and in a paradise after you die. PFFFFFFFFTTTTTTT What a price to pay to fit in.

[ItalianStereotype]

point taken and rejected. shut the fuck up.

[AChimp]

Actually, the newbie has a valid point.

Religion has always, always, always turned into a source of power for the people in charge. If it didn't, there would never have been any conflict between the Catholic and Protestant churches when Luther came up with his new concept of Christianity while in the throes of agony brought on by chronic constipation.

Europe in the Middle Ages might as well have been a theocracy. Egyptian pharoahs were considered to be actual gods and had the ultimate level of power over absolutely everything. It's also been shown that the Sumerian priests had very strict control over their entire civilization.

EDIT: This actually reminds me of a quote some of my friends told me about. I think it's by William Blake:

"Your vision of Christ doth be my vision's greatest enemy."

[kinot]

I've always thought that God (If s/he does intervene with the universe) is as powerful as you want it to be :/. Anyways, I just don't like the whole "Muhammad is better than Jesus cause...." debate since it is practically Clash of the Titans again.
I have always thought about death when I was very young (I think about 2) , I cried for a bit, but then I came to this conclusion: "Worm Food". I told my mom about this and she kind of helped relieve my thanaphobia (sp?) by telling me that death is like life being asleep forever... (edit: Or you help nature by giving back nutrients/energy in the earth/universe. I can't remember)

I used to believe deeply in God in a way that he helps guide my life but I let myself overcome the fear of being punished of blasphemy in the afterlife. People overtime grant God for their abilities and successes but even when I did believe in an intervening God (I was once a Christian for 5 years ) I have always thought, "That wasn't God, that was you! You should be more proud of yourself since it was only you that did it." Having God help you in your life is almost like cheating in a way. There are other people in this world that need God more than we would ever have.


ps. My thoughts on the afterlife has changed, but I dont want to go more in detail to that. The famous Epicurus quote about "death ceasing to exist" helps explain most of it.

psps. I know my sentence structuring is horrible :P

[GAsux]

"there is too much god on tv. every time i change a channel, they are chatting about god"

Where are you from? I never see Jenna Jameson on tv.

[womanwithballs]

At the risk of pissing off the Italian one, I'll speak again.

Why would any child do something to please a god that he cannot possibly comprehend? Why isn't doing the right thing good enough? Why do we need to have a fear of god or hell as an excuse to be "good"? I find the entire concept condescending. I'm going to do what I consider the right thing because it makes me feel good, not to secure my spot in heaven or keep me out of the fires of hell.

[Jixby Phillips]

THIS WOMAN HAS BALLS!!!!!

[poopyone]

Originally Posted by AChimp

I hate how people thank God or Jesus when they win awards. Why the fuck would God give a shit about an award when there are people suffering?

He helps them win awards because starving people are ugly, and god HATES ugly people.

Sometimes, I don't wear pants. That's when I think to myself "maybe I should wear pants", then I brush it off as crazy talk.

[sadie]

thank GOD for that.