The great and all powerful religion thread!

[zabu of nΩd]

I have a strong feeling that we'll never know the true answer to everything.

 

[ohiogrinder]

Dodens, do you consider Agnosticism and Atheism to be actual religions onto themselves or something completely different?

 

[zabu of nΩd]

They're not religions... they're philosophies...

 

[ohiogrinder]

They're not religions... they're philosophies...

good answer. the thing I like about atheists and agnostics is that they don't advertise a strict moral agenda like christians and others do. I mean, they have morals, but they don't try to 'convert' people.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

All that atheism/agnosticism is is an opinion on whether there is a god. It really has nothing to do with morals. Any moral standpoint on the part of an atheist or agnostic is purely coincidental.

 

[AchrisK]

What I was getting at was that it, since it makes no sense for something to come from nothing, there is no logical way to articulate a theory explaining how matter was/is/can be created.

Of course, we can go off of the law of conservation of matter, and assume that the universe's matter has always existed, but that's basically just turning a blind eye to matter's existence. If every other phenomenon we've observed has a cause, why wouldn't matter have a cause?

Yeah, there is obviously a point at which even if things were explained to us, I doubt we would understand. Talking about God being outside of time and without beginning, or the beginning of matter. These concepts just boggle the mind and seem to be impossible...yet here we are.

 

[Hatebreeder]

good answer. the thing I like about atheists and agnostics is that they don't advertise a strict moral agenda like christians and others do. I mean, they have morals, but they don't try to 'convert' people.

I've always lived my life in such a fashion, but I have also always been Christian. Don't worry, they exist; not all Christians are evangelical pricks.

 

[zabu of nΩd]

Yeah, it's always easy to miss the forest for the giant loudmouthed pricks when it comes to religion.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Yeah, it's always easy to miss the forest for the giant loudmouthed pricks when it comes to religion.

.

 

[~Derek~]

I have a strong feeling that the true answer to everything will turn out to be drastically different than anything our minds have ever formulated.

Like that there is a God in fact, but he's not perfect and it didn't matter what religion you are or how you lived your life. That's not what I believe by the way.

 

[zoidberg]

Like that there is a God in fact, but he's not perfect and it didn't matter what religion you are or how you lived your life. That's not what I believe by the way.

 

[Hatebreeder]

Like that there is a God in fact, but he's not perfect and it didn't matter what religion you are or how you lived your life. That's not what I believe by the way.

This is what I've been pushing in my ideals for years. How could a God who is "perfect" and incapable of evil create something that is the antithesis of everything he is?

 

[zabu of nΩd]

'Cause he's a badass.

So, are you actually Christian? You sound more like a Deist or something.

 

[AchrisK]

This is what I've been pushing in my ideals for years. How could a God who is "perfect" and incapable of evil create something that is the antithesis of everything he is?

Yeah, this is a weird thing.

I have heard it explained (not that it can be fully explained or understood) that it stems from God wanting to make people with free will. In order for people to really have free will, they have to have choices and be able to make decision themselves. In order to have people freely choose God there has to be the opportunity not to choose God. In order for people to choose good of their free will, there must be an alternate choice. In order to truly love, there must exist a whole range of interrelational choices. Assuming God made us, he could have made us follow him in a robotic way. But apparently he wanted thinking individual who could make choices of the will.

 

[Hatebreeder]

'Cause he's a badass.

So, are you actually Christian? You sound more like a Deist or something.

I really don't know what category I fit under, my beliefs are pretty scattered across philosophies. I really just use Christian as a working title to gain credibility amongst my main demographic (I go to a Christian school with only 450 people, all basically Christian).

But yes, I am a bit of a deist.

 

[Rabid Headbanger]

Why contemplate god when you can just get drunk and urinate on a car?

 

[~Derek~]

This is what I've been pushing in my ideals for years. How could a God who is "perfect" and incapable of evil create something that is the antithesis of everything he is?

I just think the Bible is unreliable on a number of things, even if I was a Christian, I would certainly be of the more liberal United Church of Christ/Universalist Unitarian type. Like God being perfect in the Old Testament, he was full of wrath and vengeance, but the people who wrote the Bible in that time were the same way, so maybe they made God into their own image. Hell is a concept that predates Christianity and Judaism and was a big part of the world's first monotheistic religion Zoroastrianism, and the God-Devil/good and evil battle came from that religion also. And Jesus in the New Testament and God in the Old Testament are totally different, why is God supposed to change over time? I know all thee people claim they say see angels and seen Jesus's mother Mary appearing to them but the stuff these people say doesn't equal out to what the Bible really seems to be. The hardest thing I've had as an ex-Christian was these people saying they've seen supernatural people from the Bible, it's not like the other things that can so easily be disproved(Near Death Experiences, feelings of what you thought were the holy spirit and the Devil are in fact you7r mind) and I try in my mind to dismiss it as "these people are just nutty" but then again I've had this stuff embedded in my head my whole life and it's that fear of these supernatural sightings being true that brings about fear of Hell despite the fact that to me the Bible is a totally unreliable book. I am an atheist but I really would like to feel comfortable with my own death, insetad of thinking all these what-ifs, then again, it's just this irrational fear of Hell I've had embedded my whole life.

 

[Son of Evil]

Actually, Zoroasrianism is preceded by Hinduism, which is the first Monotheistic religion. Yes, Monontheistic...There is only one Lord Vishnu. Avatar is a manifestation of Lord Vishnu on earth. The remaining Demi-Gods are simply subservient, i.e., Angels. Some people tend to worship the angels, and the scholars mistook that as Polytheism.

Buddha is an avatar of Vishnu too. He has been prophesised in Hindu scriptures.

Mithra, the God of Zoroastrianism, is a demi-god in Hindu scriptures. Anyway, I practice Hinduism and strongly believe in it, but of course, Except for Islam, I am tolerant of all faiths, even Atheism (Heck, Buddha deliberately led people to Atheism).

 

[Satanstoenail]

All I know is if I don't live to see The Singularity happen, I'm gonna be pissed.

 

[~Derek~]

Actually, Zoroasrianism is preceded by Hinduism, which is the first Monotheistic religion. Yes, Monontheistic...There is only one Lord Vishnu. Avatar is a manifestation of Lord Vishnu on earth. The remaining Demi-Gods are simply subservient, i.e., Angels. Some people tend to worship the angels, and the scholars mistook that as Polytheism.

Buddha is an avatar of Vishnu too. He has been prophesised in Hindu scriptures.

Mithra, the God of Zoroastrianism, is a demi-god in Hindu scriptures. Anyway, I practice Hinduism and strongly believe in it, but of course, Except for Islam, I am tolerant of all faiths, even Atheism (Heck, Buddha deliberately led people to Atheism).

I thought Hinduism had 3 main gods/goddesses?