Well... the greatest, longest standing question in philosophy and religion and all that stuff has been answered, and the results are almost as I expected. Let me explain the options you had:
Question: Is there a God?
- 'God' with a capital G is the dude in the bible who created the world in seven days and created man in his image and then made women out of his rib or whatever it was. If you believe in this God, then you also believe in the Devil and Heaven and Hell and all those stories.
1. Yes of Course - you are a Theist
- This means, yes, there is a God with a capital G and he is omnipotent, omnipresent and omnibenevolent. The Biblical God. This received 6/19 votes or 31%
[Edit: Ok, you can take this option without believing in all the stories, and the God you believe in is the Christian one - just that not all parts of the bible are taken literally - sorry !!! >_<]
2. No, its Impossible - Atheist
- You should have chosen this one if you dont believe in God, the Devil, Heaven, Hell, anything the Bible says, or indeed, anything that any religion says. 1/19 votes or 5%
3. Maybe - Agnostic
-You haven't made up your mind yet. You are waiting for more evidence to decide either way, and you don't feel the need to pick a side. 1/19 votes or 5%
4. Not in the Biblical style
-Perhaps you believe in a god, or gods, without a capital G - or a heaven and hell that are not the same as the ones portrayed by the bible. Perhaps you believe in some other guiding force or ideal or reincarnation. Or maybe you are a scientologist. This got 10/19 votes or 52%
5. Does it Matter?
-I did wonder if anyone would actually pick this, because in the end, does the fact that God may or may not exist actually make any difference to anything we do, or the result of our work and time here on Earth? 1/19 votes or 5%
Guess you all want to know what I chose - well it was option 4; you may have been able to tell by the tone of this piece that I am skeptical about the possibility an all-seeing, all-knowing and all-good being can exist. However, I believe in something else - and the only real term for this is a 'god' - I believe that the world itself is our god - it gave us life, it feeds us, it protects us, it can destroy us in an instant - and through all things on this Earth flows a kind of energy, an eternal spirit that keeps us close and bonded as one living, feeling, breathing unit.
We are animals - different from other animals, but still, we are not special, our existance is based on chance - we got lucky that various genes came together this way, proved to work, allowed us to survive and now here we are - in the position of most powerful and dangerous species in the world. Some might say thats because God put us in this position. I say prove it. It could just as well be aliens that dropped us here, or a big space portal leading to a distant corner of the Universe that the first people fell through, hundreds, thousands, millions of years ago or whatever.
I also believe that when we die, we go back into the earth that created us, our atoms and molecules joining with new particles, and we become new things - reincarnation of a sort - the plastic that makes up your milk bottle was once atoms that could have been part of a person, or part of a star or part of anything imaginable. As for your conscious, your spirit, your energy - what you think makes you human and special, what allows you to love and be happy or sad, or angry - that departs to your own paradise - not a Heaven, where the angels and good people hang out - but your own, eternally peaceful idea, where you are happy, able to do as you please and are always contented. Of course, if you think you are going to Hell when you die, then your idea of the afterlife might not turn out to be so rosy when you get there - your own personal hell.
Well thats my belief - sorry for being so deep there but this is quite a serious subject - I dont know if there is a religion out there for people who share my beliefs - maybe I should start a cult or something *lol*.
Now, I know Osayo has been dying to get his teeth into this debate, but to start things off, it can be clearly seen that most people do not believe in a capital G 'God' - some do, most don't - some don't really even care or haven't thought about it. So, explain your choices guys.. tell me what you do/do not believe in and why you believe so.
I will not tolerate any criticisms of religion or hurtful comments directed against members of a particular faith - I know most of you will never consider saying such things, but it is all too easy to tun a 'does God exist' debate into a 'all religions are evil and God is bullshit' statement - so please dont - the issue here is your own personal beliefs, not to attack those of others.
Esmie xXx
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9 comments:
Random Person: Osayo, do you believe in magical pink unicorns?
Me: I have no reason to. No.
Random Person: But, what if they exist on a planet like millions of light years away. You can’t prove they don’t exist.
Me: Ok, maybe they exist. But until I have credible evidence, I have no reason to believe they do.
LOL, I find it amusing the post-poll description of #1 is defined as a strict Literalist selection, when the overwhelming majority of people who would answer 'Yes, of course' belong to sects with a more sophisticated understanding of scripture. My parents will be very disappointed in me.
WTf did Syd say?
I think he was thinking option #1 meant you believe in the bible literally instead of looking at much of it as analogies.
Most 'yes of course' people don't really think the world was created in 7 days etc...
Regarding omnipotence, I don't think it is possible. Can God create a stone so heavy that even he can't lift it? Regardless of the answer to that question, there will be something he can't do.
Omnipresent is a similar concept that I think is impossible. If God can exist everywhere in time, that would mean he knows the future. If that is the case we do not have free will since, the future is already known by someone, God, and we cannot change our minds. If our future is already pre-determined, and we have no choice, then how can there be sin?
Just thought I would share a few more thoughts on the subject, I have many more, but look forward to hear what others think.
I think you did a really good job summarizing the various viewpoints but like Syd said, not all who believe in "God" take the Bible literally. Some do like some take the Koran literally, that whole deal with 72 virgins when ya die stuff.
Like you said I believe there is something, a god if you will. What or who that all is or what it all means I have no idea, I just think there is something somewhere. True I don't have any "proof" just my own experience in some situations that have occurred in my life. It's nothing tangible, nothing I can show you or anyone but just what I feel or have experienced.
I guess though if one needs "proof" one should look at the beauty in nature, a glorious sunset or the feeling you get when you're with someone you love and you feel that connection or that spark. I like to thing of that as god.
It was me that picked "Does it matter". And the reason I picked that is, well it shouldn't matter, or at least it shouldn't make a difference to the way we live our lives. We should all live to the best of our strengths and and abilities whether there is a god or not. This is a basic Humanist philosophy.
OK guys, so I edited the meaning of Option 1 to make it a little more broad - because true, I forgot to include an option for people who do not take the bible literally but still believe in the God within it. So thats sorted, and hopefully that will cheer Syd up :)
I feel what Karl says is very true, and I also agree with Kaj. I get the feeling Osayo picked option 2 :)
But - I'd also like to ask this:
If you are an atheist and it was proved God DOES exist, or a theist and it was proved that He DOES NOT exist, would it change the way you live your life - would you start/stop going to church, would you start doing more/less good deeds or would you start/stop praying?
I picked number three, but was torn, I do not believe in a god, but would stop just short of saying it is impossible for one to exist. I just do not have evidence one does.
If it was proven that one did exist, I do not think much would change in the way I live my life.
Things naturally balance out in life. If someone is good to others, good things come to them.
Things should always be questioned and blind faith in any philosophy is not good.
Think of a cookbook, it has many recipes. Maybe there is one everyone says is amazing and I should follow it and it will be good. But, what if I am deathly allergic to one of the ingredients.? The people pushing the recipe and certainly not the book are going to tell me this. I need to have some objective knowledge outside of these sources of information otherwise bad things will happen.
I think it is good to question everything and try to find balance.
Hmmm, since I don't go to church or do good deeds as it is, I don't think I'd start if I discovered God did not exist.
As for the rest, I guess it would depend on what turned out to be the truth; probably I'd just be a very depressed adherent to America's secular religion.
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