[edit on 8-11-2009 by Watcher-In-The-Shadows]

If one assumed that the part of the Bible about the Earth being 6000 years old is a misprint or "misconception," or even altered, then God is still pretty much a very valid concept. People have been brainwashed with the idea that since evolution exists, God must not exist. That's not true. There are many details about evolution that pretty much require "God" as an explanation. Same thing with the origin of anything.

Originally posted by np6888
If one assumed that the part of the Bible about the Earth being 6000 years old is a misprint or "misconception," or even altered, then God is still pretty much a very valid concept. People have been brainwashed with the idea that since evolution exists, God must not exist. That's not true. There are many details about evolution that pretty much require "God" as an explanation. Same thing with the origin of anything.

No they haven't- alot of people who believe in god believe in evolution- it's called evolutionary creationism or theistic evolution- take your pick.

Originally posted by loner007

Now anything with matter cannot leave the universe either. Some unknown force starts to push back any objects trying to leave the universe boundaries.

Have you been to the boundaries of the universe recently? Were you trying to leave?

As they say, why reinvent the wheel of a good point when a perfect quote already exists?

Over my years of internet browsing and forum posting, I've collected a few pages of good quotes that I deemed worthy of my list.
Here are a few poignant ones that address the topic of god, meaninglessness, evolution, religion, etc...




"I did not force them to do anything. They are merely practicing a faith they decided to believe. Why do you think people believe in God? ..It's because they want to. It's not easy living in this rotten world. There is nothing certain while living on this world. Do you get it? God didn't create humans. Humans created God."
- Londes, Cowboy Bebop Episode #23



Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?
Then he is not omnipotent.
Is he able, but not willing?
Then he is malevolent.
Is he both able and willing?
Then whence cometh evil?
Is he neither able nor willing?
Then why call him God?
- Epicurus



"Existence itself may be considered an abyss possessed of no meaning. I do not read this as a pessimistic statement."
- Hakim Bey



"Religion is what keeps the poor from murdering the rich."
- Napoleon



“Those who argue that art and philosophy are proof of human worth neglect to mention that, in the scheme we have devised, artists and philosophers are powerless and largely without prestige. Art, music, and philosophy are merely poignant examples of what we might have been had not the priests and traders gotten hold of us.”
- George Carlin



"As things get worse and worse for us, we're going to need more and more of all the things that give us relief and oblivion and all the things that get us revved up and excited. More religion, more revolution, more drugs, more television channels, more sports, more casinos, more pornography, more lotteries, more access to the Web--more and more and more of it all--to give ourselves the impression that life is nonstop fun. But meanwhile, of course, every morning we must shake off the hangover and forget about fun for eight or ten hours while we drag our quota of stones up the side of the pyramid."
- Daniel Quinn, Beyond Civilization



“I do not "believe" in evolution any more than I "believe" that the earth revolves around the sun. To say that there's "no proof" for evolution is very like saying that there's "no proof" that the earth revolves around the sun. Evolution has not been "proved," and it isn't taught in the schools as something that has been proved. It is invariably referred to as a theory, but in science a theory is not a conjecture that is "unproved," it is an organizing concept for evidence, and by this time, it has proved to be such an effective and persuasive organizing concept for the evidence gathered by so many earth and life sciences, that very, very, very few scientists doubt that evolution took place. Evolution makes sense of what we know about the world and about the community of life--and the theory that the world came into being all at once in its present form does not. It is untrue that the theory of evolution "completely denies the idea of God." It does nothing of the sort. Even the current pope recently acknowledged that. All it "completely denies" is that the world was created all at once, in its present form. If God is omnipotent, he could as easily have created a universe that evolved over billions of years as one that came into being instantaneously in the form we know.”
- Daniel Quinn

[edit on 8-11-2009 by NoHierarchy]

Originally posted by die_another_day
Before I didn't believe in God,
I thought of God as someone that only a weak person would turn to,

Then I became an agnostic,
I looked at the complexity of this universe and did not think it was a coincidence,

Then I became an atheist,
I realized that religion is the only thing that has convinced people that is an invisible man in the sky.

But now, I wish that God existed,
If he exists, then anything is possible,
One will not have to live in a mundane world with no purpose,
One can achieve his/her fantasies,
One can change the world.

See this is what makes me feel sick.
This is what makes me want to vomit al discourse into the face of the purveyor.

the very fact that the concept of "GOD" is referred to as a "PERSON" makes me want to actually slap the living chit out of the OP.

it's RIDICULOUS.

you actual set to write a piste about the most powerful force in the universe and you maintain that it is a PERSON..
oh my freaking ... FAAAAWK...

listen..

the only "god" that exists (and it does) .. is WITHIN you.

and this isn't some intangible hoody-gooru type thing.. this is literally the POTENTIAL for you to actually inhabit a body that is capable of GODLY DEEDS.

if you ACT ACCORDINGLY.. if you ACT AND BEHAVE as a god would..

and use sexuality to create within.. instead of obeying it's command ...obeying the animal spasm....

man i read threads like this and i seriously want to pull my hair out.

i can't stand it..

there's alot of work i need to do in regards to patience......


god isn't a person outside of yourself..

god is a potential foce .. your physiologcy can actually change in order to be one of many gody-types.. and when all are gods.. then god will inhabit the throne here in the kingdom and walk with us.. AS us..

don't get disillusioned as some "person" ..."out there"...

please.. no more fairy tale movie-story crap.

DO IT YOURSELF.

-

-

Yes, there is a god,

My daughter went into a diabetic coma two weeks ago, from Diabetic ketoacidosis,

Her body chemistry was unsustainable for life, and the doctors said she was near death, her heart stopped function right, and her cells were depleted,

Yes, her natural body was unsustainable and non-compatible for life, but something beyond nature sustained her.

Without the power of prayer, neither I nor her would have made it, God gave me and her inner strength,

She not only survived, she is back at work,

The power of prayer has seen me through many trials and tribulations in my life time,

I cannot imagine life without faith.

We shall sing on that beautiful shore
The melodious songs of the blest
And our spirit shall sorrow no more

[edit on 093030p://bSunday2009 by Stormdancer777]

Now my own comments on the matter:

I'm personally agnostic, I think it's fine to say, "I don't know."

Keep in mind, the vast majority of religions (of the salvationist Judeo-Christian brand) originate from a very small area of Earth we know as the middle east. During the agricultural revolution and the dawn of our civilization in the Fertile Crescent, Christianity/Judaism/Islam were spread to the four corners of the Earth coincidentally because the most imperialist civilization ever to exist adopted them. They won the wars and so they converted the spirits. These religions (especially Christianity) became quite imperialistic themselves, going on crusades and sending out missionaries to convert EVERYONE they could. This effectively destroyed entire cultures and stripped them of their own spiritual beliefs in favor of a narrow, European, Christian worldview. Just think, if East Asians or Native Americans or Africans or Pagan Europeans took over the world in a similar manner, we'd all be raised with entirely different spiritual teachings. It's all relative to how you were raised, and on the macro-scale, who won the historical wars.

I once heard a very good argument made against the unyielding belief in a god- the logic goes like, why do the religious automatically believe that the universe was created by a "WHO"? This is a religious person's unconscious logical (or illogical) assumption, that the universe must have been created by a "WHO" but never stop to think it could be a "WHAT" or even a "HOW". Plenty of spiritual beliefs attribute unknown phenomena to a conscious being, to gods of different elements/systems, even putting out offerings to please them. However, we all know that there is no "god" of the moon or of the planets or of fertile soil or rain. Or who knows... maybe there are, however, the explanations science gives us seem to be much more plausible and realistic when we actually seek to observe phenomena/elements in logical detail and cause/effect.

One thing I'll add, though, as a positive to god is some of the experiences people have had, specifically with things like astral projection and meditation. There's also the fact that most human cultures throughout history have held some sort of belief in a higher supernatural power. So who knows? Maybe all our ancestors might have been onto something, even if they couldn't put their finger on an accurate definition of god or the form it takes...

Thus my agnosticism with heavy leanings towards atheism.

When I think of God I tend to lean towards the non-abstract non-logical thinking of the ancient far east. A thinking which evolved their language to what it is today; very different to our Western tongue.

They believe there is an ultimate reality which underlies and unifies everything we see and experience. They call this reality the Tao, The Way, or the One, or the Whole. They believed the universe had a essence to it, or a cosmic process which all things are tied to.

They believed one who could recognize this flow and change patterns became one with the Tao. More or less living at one with nature.

In the words of Huai Nan Tzu, a philosopher of the second century B.C. :

He who conforms to the course of the Tao, following the natural processes of Heaven and Earth, finds it easy to manage the whole world.

It's more or less an idea that all things are connected to an ultimate flow of change. That reaching harmony is finding this flow in all things. A very difficult state of mind, and even more so in this day in age. They believed self-gain and self ambition is moving against this flow. Non-action is the acting with the Tao. Letting nature move unfettered. Very paradoxical and confusing stuff which needs deep thought.

Sacred-texts.com has some good online etexts on the subject if interested.



[edit on 8-11-2009 by Xtinguish]

Originally posted by die_another_day
Before I didn't believe in God,
I thought of God as someone that only a weak person would turn to,

Then I became an agnostic,
I looked at the complexity of this universe and did not think it was a coincidence,

Then I became an atheist,
I realized that religion is the only thing that has convinced people that is an invisible man in the sky.

But now, I wish that God existed,
If he exists, then anything is possible,
One will not have to live in a mundane world with no purpose,
One can achieve his/her fantasies,
One can change the world.

Humankind had a great destiny, we were to be more than children to God, we were and are to be Gods. It takes a lot of hard core learning to fulfill that destiny. There are many hardships and questionings and trials and purifications to get to that place, but the rewards are amazing and quite literally, beyond our current comprehension.

The biggest hurdle God has to bring us over is the inner desire to self-destruct and return to a glorious infant/mother bliss state of being. He has to slowly bring us out of that desire and into a desire to be more mature and enjoy the ups and downs in life instead of hating all the downs and not knowing how to enjoy the ups, as most of us tend to do.

And the second greatest hurdle is getting someone to want to live forever or to see the benefits of it, instead of fearing it. It is hard work, even for a God, to turn such new beings into Gods themselves, very hard work. You try it. ;-)

Teach them ethics, the price of bad behaviors, the many possible outcomes of different life styles, also the tragedies of abusing power. Try teaching newbie creatures how to be kind to each other and to share, even human beings can't seem to teach most of their offspring these two simple principles.

Finally, I offer these two things:

There are good things that will come out of this darkness. Many important lessons are coming from this trial we are under, these growing pains. And many people learn much more slowly than others, and to bring them in, God has to allow more leeway, even if it is quite horrendous to us. And whatever they take from us, we will get it back, and it will be better than before.

And as to why God is so silent right now:

I saw a streetlamp, one night, that was trying to flicker to life. Stars were shining beautifully behind it. But when the light came to full brightness, I couldn't see the little stars behind it anymore.