You see, that is the whole problem, you all talk as if there is only one god when some believe there are dozens.

River

I prefer the Buddhist take on it. "Gods would be a good idea, if there were any."

The historic Buddha, a great teacher and not a god, nor even a prophet, stated that we should all take gods very seriously, as they represent the hopes and fears of humanity projected into the supernatural. He said this over 2,000 years before Freud.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:06 pm I prefer the Buddhist take on it. "Gods would be a good idea, if there were any."

The historic Buddha, a great teacher and not a god, nor even a prophet, stated that we should all take gods very seriously, as they represent the hopes and fears of humanity projected into the supernatural. He said this over 2,000 years before Freud.

Wow, great commentary. He was that far ahead of me. Amazing. :-\

Jess we live in a very sinful world and thats because man choses to be that way not God.God wants you to be with him forever but it is up to you if you dont want to beleave you have a choice.A true beleaver in God will think like him and not get upset at how another beleaves.I have said this befor and I beleave it because the more i read the bible the more I understand him.If Jesus were to walk the earth as he did 2000 years ago he would find the archive a place he would love and want to hang out in.He wouldent compermise what he teaches but would teach with love.Their is so much to learn and so little time to learn it but I do know God loves everyone of us no matter who we are.But remember God hates the sin not the sinner and I should know as I have comitted every sin their is if not in real life in my mind their is no diffrence in the sin of the heart.When I say I love you guys I mean it and so dose God.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2007 9:06 pm I prefer the Buddhist take on it. "Gods would be a good idea, if there were any."

The historic Buddha, a great teacher and not a god, nor even a prophet, stated that we should all take gods very seriously, as they represent the hopes and fears of humanity projected into the supernatural. He said this over 2,000 years before Freud.

O.K.,

Let us look at it like this.

What the African-Americans have referred to for years as "SOUL" has squarely placed the ghost in the machine. There can be no denial that man is more than the sum of his biological parts.

IF you want to know what I am talking about, only look in the mirror. Look at Jesus (our Jesus) and see the love in his eyes for people that he doesn't even know.

Look at the fear in the eyes of many of those who do evil to people and to other living things.

Look at the soul and you are looking at a what I am talking about.

Why do we love if there is nothing but nothing?

Bagoas (imported) wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2007 3:29 pm I cannot be an atheist because that requires too much faith. I can no more prove that a Supreme Being does NOT exist than I can prove that it does.

I have no

Rambler56 (imported) wrote: Fri Jun 22, 2007 10:04 am belief in a god of any sort.

That, by definition means that I am an atheist. Similarly, I have no active belief in harpies, hippogriffs or hobgoblins. I don’t have to disprove the existence of these mythical creatures in order to have no belief in them; however, is someone challenged me to disprove the existence of them (or the existence of a single omnipotent creator of the universe) I could provide quite a few arguments based on reason, history, empirical evidence and modern scientific theories. I do believe in the four-fold cur

A-1 (imported) wrote: Sat Jun 23, 2007 5:45 am e of Epicurus: gods are nothing to fear; death is

nothing to feel; ills are easy to bear; good is easy to deal.

Why do we love if there is nothing but nothing?

I fail to see how the existence of a benevolent god (or even a bunch of malevolent ones, for that matter) is necessary to explain love. Any decent ethologist could point to the animals which exemplify how sexual attraction and higher emotions evolved. Most animals (other than, perhaps, during the period when St. Francis was preaching to some) have little knowledge of revealed religion, and tend not to be egregious theists. We love because of glandular secretions, instincts, social programming, psychological needs, and millions of years of evolution.

Not believing and denying are not the same thing. I do not BELIEVE that "God" exists. I do not, however, assert that "God" does NOT exist. Indeed, as a thorough-going agnostic, I believe NOTHING. I acknowledge that the existence of a Supreme Being may be a tenable hypothesis, but I do not know whether such a being exists or not. I am content to leave it at that.

That does not make me an atheist.

Say Jess1456, I'd like to challenge your theory, and it is just a theory!! I hear excuses to not believe in God like, if there is a God, then why do bad things happen to good people, why not ask, why do good things happen to good people, and good things do happen to good people everyday, just seems like we as negative people don't reflect on the good/positive things in life, just the bad/negative!!! I'll agree with you when you say there are religious people that do attrocious/abominable things, because the appostle Paul killed the christians BEFORE HIS CONVERSION, and he did it cause his stupid religion taught him that this was right, but afterward he admits that he did this out of ignorance, AFTER HIS CONVERSION!!!!! The stupid preacher that led his religious followers to commit suicide at Jones Town in Giana I believe it was, is another example of a stupid religion that led people to do stupid things, but that doesn't mean that all faiths are misleading!! Again, it was the religious people that put Jesus on the cross, so in essence, there is evil in alot of the religions in the world, but again, that doesn't mean that they are all evil, but there are a few faithful christians that do alot of good in the world, you just don't know or acknowledge them, because human nature again reflects on the negative not the positive!!! There are religious people that don't believe in the supernatural, like the Sadducces of Jesus's time, although the Pharisees did believe, but there is an unseen/invisible paranormal/supernatural world that exists, parrallel with the seen world that most people don't acknowledge or even think about very much, and if you don't believe me, just look at the testimonies of those that play with a quija board, what do you think makes a quija board work, it's the supernatural spirit world!! I don't suggest using or playing with a quija board cause it can bring alot of bad luck and misery to those that use it if they don't know how to use it and if they don't know what they are doing, and most people who play with one don't know what they are doing, just like you don't know what you are saying when you don't believe in God. The good book says that the Fool hath said in his heart, there is no God, and I agree, only a fool would not believe in God, and I'm sure you say that I'm a fool for believing, which there are two kinds of fools, a fool for Christ's sake, and a fool for the world's sake, but everyone is a fool in someones eyes guaranteed. I would bet my life that there is a supernatural entity that created all of this, cause it didn't just all come into existence by itself or on it's own, that's why we call him the creator, makes sense so far right?? There are atheist that have read the bible to try to prove there is no God, but ended up proving and believing that there is ironically/paradoxically!!! My point is, there are a few really good people out there that belong to a religion that makes a difference for the better in the world, but it's just not that many, most religious people are just hypocrites and just play church and do more harm than good and give religion a bad name, and I'll agree with you on that issue 100%. Religion has done more harm than good to the world for the most part,"BUT NOT ALL OF THEM!!!!!''

Keep in mind that humans have worshipped tens of thousands of gods over the past millenia. Christians, Jews, and Moslems DON’T believe in all but one of them. I just don’t believe in one more than they don’t believe in.

JesusA (imported) wrote: Sat Jun 23, 2007 11:48 am Keep in mind that humans have worshipped tens of thousands of gods over the past millenia. Christians, Jews, and Moslems DON’T believe in all but one of them. I just don’t believe in one more than they don’t believe in.

Christians say there's only one god, but don't they really have more than one? What the hell is the trinity, anyway? Can any Christian actually explain it? Father, Son, and the Holy Ghost, but they're not three, but one? And who was Jesus, anyway? Did he exist before he was born to Mary? Is he a separate being, or was he just a little part of God that God inserted into Mary? How did he do that anyway? Does God have a dick, or did he just mind fuck Mary. Please...inquiring minds want to know.

And what about Satan? What is he, if not a god? Calling him a fallen angel, does that make him less than a god, if he can defy God, if God will someday have to defeat him? If we blame sin on Satan, and God allows Satan to exist, doesn't the blame ultimately rest with God?

Hey, I don't mind the idea of God, but at least give me one that makes a little sense, one that is any more feasible than all the other gods man has invented. Even the Jewish religion makes more sense. At least, it doesn't have this Trinity crap.

Of course theirs, a guy that lives in a burning bush on a mountain, that likes to have sheep sacrificed to him, that orders genocide, the destruction of cities down to the last child, that has persecuted his chosen people for centuries for the slightest fault, isn't one I'd particularly want to believe in, either.

As long as we're making up gods, let's make up fun ones. I think the Greek and Roman gods were more fun -- and made just as much sense. Why did we ever do away with them?