Board index » Word on the Street... » News & Debate




Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 865 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 44  Next
Author Message
 Post subject: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:41 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Got Some
 Profile

Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:37 am
Posts: 2465
Location: A dark place
I have been on a spiritual "quest" for some years now. I really, really want to believe in something, anything. I have many christian friends that I truly respect and love that seem to have this depth to them that I don't have. That "depth" is spirituality. They have a quite reserve and calmness to them that is something to be admired. My mother is a Buddhist that attends Unitarian Universal meetings and after decades of soul searching, has really seemed to find an inner peace. I have many Mormon friends that I have respect for and even though I don't agree with the politics, most of them seem to have an inner peace that I just don't have.

Then my father died and I realized that he, like me, always seemed to be searching. And then it dawned on me, searching for the truth is a kind of spirituality. The search for meaning is what it is to be human and maybe us agnostics/searchers are really the most spiritual people on Earth. Maybe these people that have found "inner peace" or the "holy ghost" have really just given up or have let fear taken over. It would be a lot easier for me to believe in God, then to know that when I die, that's it. I won't see my family in the "afterlife."

So I have come to realize that this "depth" that religious people seem to have, the thing that makes them seem so stoic and full of inner peace, is really just emptiness. A void in their quest for knowledge.

None of this is to say that agnostics are better than religious people. I just think that this void - the void that allows really smart people to believe in god - is a built-in defense mechanism that allows people to get on with their lives.

I didn't sleep much last night...

_________________
Do you like crappy amateur photography? Check out my photo blog here.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 2:46 pm 
Offline
User avatar
AnalLog
 Profile

Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:36 pm
Posts: 25824
Location: south jersey
cb would be proud

_________________
Feel the path of every day,... Which road you taking?,...


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:36 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Supersonic
 Profile

Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:10 am
Posts: 10993
Gender: Male
i'm a quaker

_________________
i8pork wrote:
being on the internet is fun as hell. :comp:


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:42 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Coast to Coast
 Profile

Joined: Sat Sep 22, 2007 6:21 am
Posts: 23078
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Gender: Male
viewtopic.php?f=12&t=97898

_________________
For more insulated and ill-informed opinions, click here.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 4:49 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Supersonic
 Profile

Joined: Tue Oct 19, 2004 12:10 am
Posts: 10993
Gender: Male
theplatypus wrote:
http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=97898

i enjoyed that thread

_________________
i8pork wrote:
being on the internet is fun as hell. :comp:


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:08 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Got Some
 Profile

Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:37 am
Posts: 2465
Location: A dark place
theplatypus wrote:
http://forums.theskyiscrape.com/viewtopic.php?f=12&t=97898


One of my friends told me they were incredibly offended by this because it was clearly pro-life propaganda. :shock: I'm pro-choice.

_________________
Do you like crappy amateur photography? Check out my photo blog here.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:19 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Unthought Known
 Profile

Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:52 pm
Posts: 8288
Standing above the crowd, He had a voice that was strong and loud and I Swallowed his facade cuz I'm so Eager to identify with Someone above the ground, Someone who seemed to feel the same, Someone prepared to lead the way, and Someone who would die for me.

_________________
Sweep the leg!


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 5:51 pm 
Offline
User avatar
The Maleficent
 WWW  Profile

Joined: Sat Oct 16, 2004 11:17 pm
Posts: 13551
Location: is a jerk in wyoming
Gender: Female
turned2black wrote:
None of this is to say that agnostics are better than religious people. I just think that this void - the void that allows really smart people to believe in god - is a built-in defense mechanism that allows people to get on with their lives.


I wouldn't disagree, but feel it necessary to note - that's the point of 'belief' - to get on with one's life. If that's what people need to get through- even really smart people, that's fine. If you don't need that, that's fine too. What's not fine is to waste a lot of effort on searching for something to believe in - you either do or don't (unless you're ready to join a cult)
Not wanting to be a dick, just stating an observation.

_________________
lennytheweedwhacker wrote:
That's it. I'm going to Wyoming.
Alex wrote:
you are the human wyoming


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 6:15 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Got Some
 Profile

Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2006 1:37 am
Posts: 2465
Location: A dark place
malice wrote:
turned2black wrote:
None of this is to say that agnostics are better than religious people. I just think that this void - the void that allows really smart people to believe in god - is a built-in defense mechanism that allows people to get on with their lives.


I wouldn't disagree, but feel it necessary to note - that's the point of 'belief' - to get on with one's life. If that's what people need to get through- even really smart people, that's fine. If you don't need that, that's fine too. What's not fine is to waste a lot of effort on searching for something to believe in - you either do or don't (unless you're ready to join a cult)
Not wanting to be a dick, just stating an observation.


I don't think the search for some deeper "belief" in life is ever a waste. Even if that "belief" is that science holds all the answers. If we as agnostics shut out everything "spiritual" than we are no better than evangelical christians. I'm not searching for something to believe in, I'm searching for the truth. That's the problem with politics and religion today, everybody seems to know the "truth" even though they have spent very little time searching for it.

_________________
Do you like crappy amateur photography? Check out my photo blog here.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Wed Aug 22, 2012 7:02 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Got Some
 YIM  Profile

Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:32 pm
Posts: 1061
Location: Baltimore, the Land of Pleasant Living
There were two young college girls drinking on top of a bridge last night in Ellicott City Maryland. They were 19 years old sitting there looking out at the city from the railroad overpass that goes over main street, as their last get together before school starts. It is cool spot on the bridge as there is a sidewalk for people. One of their girls was going to James Madison University, the other University of Delaware both Juniors.They took pictures on their phone of them playing and their feet hanging over the road below and posted them to their twitter, "Levitating" they wrote and and put up the photo at at about 11:51. Behind them a CSX freight train rumbled past at 25 mph. About few moments later the CSX train out of West Virgina derailed suddenly topping over, spilling its contents and burying the best friends in coal. Police recovered thier bodies this morning from under the mountain of coal still seated on the edge of the span.

:(

Why? Why does he allow event like this to happen?

http://www.wbal.com/article/93224/2/tem ... r-The-Coal


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:14 am 
Offline
User avatar
a joke
 Profile

Joined: Sun Oct 17, 2004 3:08 am
Posts: 22978
Gender: Male
resonance of distance wrote:

Why? Why does he allow event like this to happen?




Their parents probably didn't pray enough, or give enough to the church.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 12:23 am 
Offline
User avatar
Red Mosquito, my libido
 Profile

Joined: Sun May 21, 2006 2:02 am
Posts: 91597
Location: Sector 7-G
They probably touched themselves at night too.

_________________
It takes a big man to make a threat on the internet.


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:51 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
that just makes them go blind


Oh wait. maybe they didn't see the train!

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 4:54 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Global Moderator
 Profile

Joined: Tue Nov 30, 2004 4:02 am
Posts: 44183
Location: New York
Gender: Male
I used to be a 'religious people are stupid' style atheist. But one of, if not the, smartest people I've ever met was a deeply religious man, and that really caused me to rethink my position. However people respond to the fact of their small place in an infinite universe is up to them. Religion becomes troubling when it undermines the skeptical doubt that makes it possible for people to live alongside one another peacefully. But non religious views can lead to the same place. The problem isn't religion. it is fundamentalism.

_________________
"Better the occasional faults of a Government that lives in a spirit of charity than the consistent omissions of a Government frozen in the ice of its own indifference."--FDR

The perfect gift for certain occasions


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 5:52 pm 
Offline
Yeah Yeah Yeah
 Profile

Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2005 12:23 am
Posts: 4187
stip wrote:
I used to be a 'religious people are stupid' style atheist. But one of, if not the, smartest people I've ever met was a deeply religious man, and that really caused me to rethink my position. However people respond to the fact of their small place in an infinite universe is up to them. Religion becomes troubling when it undermines the skeptical doubt that makes it possible for people to live alongside one another peacefully. But non religious views can lead to the same place. The problem isn't religion. it is fundamentalism.


:thumbsup:


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 7:48 pm 
Offline
User avatar
losing relevance
 Profile

Joined: Fri Mar 24, 2006 11:39 pm
Posts: 9251
Location: Somewhere Expansive
Gender: Male
if I could "like" the opening post I would


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 9:41 pm 
Offline
Yeah Yeah Yeah
 Profile

Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:44 am
Posts: 3539
Location: England
Gender: Female
stip wrote:
I used to be a 'religious people are stupid' style atheist.

So I'm not making it up. Some people really do think along these lines?


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:07 pm 
Offline
User avatar
AnalLog
 Profile

Joined: Mon Oct 18, 2004 11:36 pm
Posts: 25824
Location: south jersey
Fortuna69 wrote:
stip wrote:
I used to be a 'religious people are stupid' style atheist.

So I'm not making it up. Some people really do think along these lines?

i'd guess at least 50% of atheists believe they are smarter for not believing in a higher being.

_________________
Feel the path of every day,... Which road you taking?,...


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:12 pm 
Offline
Yeah Yeah Yeah
 Profile

Joined: Wed Feb 13, 2008 9:44 am
Posts: 3539
Location: England
Gender: Female
turned2black wrote:
I have been on a spiritual "quest" for some years now. I really, really want to believe in something, anything. I have many christian friends that I truly respect and love that seem to have this depth to them that I don't have. That "depth" is spirituality. They have a quite reserve and calmness to them that is something to be admired. My mother is a Buddhist that attends Unitarian Universal meetings and after decades of soul searching, has really seemed to find an inner peace. I have many Mormon friends that I have respect for and even though I don't agree with the politics, most of them seem to have an inner peace that I just don't have.

Then my father died and I realized that he, like me, always seemed to be searching. And then it dawned on me, searching for the truth is a kind of spirituality. The search for meaning is what it is to be human and maybe us agnostics/searchers are really the most spiritual people on Earth. Maybe these people that have found "inner peace" or the "holy ghost" have really just given up or have let fear taken over. It would be a lot easier for me to believe in God, then to know that when I die, that's it. I won't see my family in the "afterlife."

So I have come to realize that this "depth" that religious people seem to have, the thing that makes them seem so stoic and full of inner peace, is really just emptiness. A void in their quest for knowledge.

None of this is to say that agnostics are better than religious people. I just think that this void - the void that allows really smart people to believe in god - is a built-in defense mechanism that allows people to get on with their lives.

I didn't sleep much last night...


I don't think its fair to say it's a void, that's just your interpretation. I gather spritual people would disagree about there being a void. That's all, surely?


Top
 
 Post subject: Re: I'm pretty sure there is no god
PostPosted: Thu Aug 23, 2012 10:14 pm 
Offline
User avatar
Unthought Known
 Profile

Joined: Fri Jul 10, 2009 5:52 pm
Posts: 8288
pure atheism seems to rely on a belief that we can quantify the unknown and unknowable so its almost as absurd as religious belief IMO, but definitions of atheism and what a God could be seem to vary from person to person.

_________________
Sweep the leg!


Top
 
Display posts from previous:  Sort by  
Post new topic Reply to topic  [ 865 posts ]  Go to page 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 ... 44  Next

Board index » Word on the Street... » News & Debate


Who is online

Users browsing this forum: No registered users and 13 guests


You cannot post new topics in this forum
You cannot reply to topics in this forum
You cannot edit your posts in this forum
You cannot delete your posts in this forum
You cannot post attachments in this forum

Search for:
Jump to:  
cron
It is currently Thu Mar 28, 2024 1:02 pm