religion

[$lmjimy311]

whats the belief variety around here? i consider myself a hindu. but i wouldnt consider myself the biggest one either, i do question my faith at times but i don't think that that takes away from anything.

[Element]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG5lczmV44Y" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

he says everything i'd say but a lot more eloquently.

so you think the universe was created by a lotus flower. may i ask how a lotus flower existed before the universe?

just sayin'

[$lmjimy311]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VG5lczmV44Y

he says everything i'd say but a lot more eloquently.

so you think the universe was created by a lotus flower. may i ask how a lotus flower existed before the universe?

just sayin'

this pretty much sums up the general hindu belief
"Before time began there was no heaven, no earth and no space between. A vast dark ocean washed upon the shores of nothingness and licked the edges of night. A giant cobra floated on the waters. Asleep within its endless coils lay the Lord Vishnu. He was watched over by the mighty serpent. Everything was so peaceful and silent that Vishnu slept undisturbed by dreams or motion.

From the depths a humming sound began to tremble, Om. It grew and spread, filling the emptiness and throbbing with energy. The night had ended. Vishnu awoke. As the dawn began to break, from Vishnu's navel grew a magnificent lotus flower. In the middle of the blossom sat Vishnu's servant, Brahma. He awaited the Lord's command.

Vishnu spoke to his servant: 'It is time to begin.' Brahma bowed. Vishnu commanded: 'Create the world.'

A wind swept up the waters. Vishnu and the serpent vanished. Brahma remained in the lotus flower, floating and tossing on the sea. He lifted up his arms and calmed the wind and the ocean. Then Brahma split the lotus flower into three. He stretched one part into the heavens. He made another part into the earth. With the third part of the flower he created the skies.
The earth was bare. Brahma set to work. He created grass, flowers, trees and plants of all kinds. To these he gave feeling. Next he created the animals and the insects to live on the land. He made birds to fly in the air and many fish to swim in the sea. To all these creatures, he gave the senses of touch and smell. He gave them power to see, hear and move.
The world was soon bristling with life and the air was filled with the sounds of Brahma's creation."

now do i believe this necessarily, no. but one of the things i've always questioned is the creation story. i do believe in the karma system, i do believe there is "something" and i do believe in reincarnation based on the ladder system which is reliant on the karma system.

[KyleRayner]

i want to believe in some religions or god, but i don't. i envy people who believe. i believe in something, nothing else makes sense not even science. ok so big bang, but what before then? nobody has any real answers. However, I find it hard to believe there's some big guy up there who loves us all, just likes to watch us gang rape and murder and torture each other

[fatlip]

atheist

[311junkee]

i want to believe in some religions or god, but i don't. i envy people who believe. i believe in something, nothing else makes sense not even science. ok so big bang, but what before then? nobody has any real answers. However, I find it hard to believe there's some big guy up there who loves us all, just likes to watch us gang rape and murder and torture each other

this sums it up for me...especially the last statement.

experience is where it's at, not spirituality or science IMO.

science is the only one of the two that can back most things up factually though.

[Alexnova]

Orthodoxy

Feel free to ask me any questions.

[Nate]

If you follow any religion I can tell you that you're wasting your time. We are lucky enough to have this life. You're aren't going to get anything more.

[Nate]

And Jimmy, Hinduism is regodamndiculous. Holy shit. How can fall for that crap?

[Alexnova]

If you follow any religion I can tell you that you're wasting your time. We are lucky enough to have this life. You're aren't going to get anything more.

I got your grave ready, you know the thing you will ultimately look forward to.

[Element]

i beg you theists to read "god is not great" by christopher hitchens. this shit really can't believed by a thinking person.

[Element]

i believe in something, nothing else makes sense not even science. ok so big bang, but what before then?

who created god?

CHECKMATE

[Element]

If you follow any religion I can tell you that you're wasting your time. We are lucky enough to have this life. You're aren't going to get anything more.

I got your grave ready, you know the thing you will ultimately look forward to.

you were dead for billions of years before now, and didn't give a shit.

[Alexnova]

i believe in something, nothing else makes sense not even science. ok so big bang, but what before then?

who created god?

CHECKMATE

Considering God is uncreated...

And I can sum up Hitchens argument pretty quickly "God doesn't exist, and I hate him!"

[Element]

yes, you don't need to follow your own logic because god is UNCREATED! it says it right here in this book!


you're too dumb to read anything written by CH, fuck off.

[Tehshewz]

Atheist.

Ill believe it when i see it.

[Alexnova]

you're too dumb to read anything written by CH, fuck off.

I don't care much for the "pop atheists" society has to offer, atheism had better arguments made by theists a long time ago. But if you want to read up on some good atheist commentary I suggest Diagoras of Melos, Theodorus of Cyrene, Critias, Democritus and Strato of Lampsacus.

A few modern books I would recommend: "Socratic Logic" by Peter Kreeft, "Beyond Good and Evil" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "The Genealogy of Morality" by Friedrich Nietzsche, "Against Ethics" by John Caputo, "The Stranger" by Albert Camus, "No Exit" by Jean-Paul Sartre, "Why I Am Not a Christian" by Betrand Russell, "Christianity For Modern Pagans" by Peter Kreeft, "The God Who is There" by Francis Schaeffer, "Escape From Reason" by Francis Schaeffer, "God and Other Minds" by Alvin Plantinga and "The Recalcitrant Imago Dei" by J.P. Moreland

That should get you more familiar with basic philosophy. However, I would implore that you get over your bias against Christianity and theism in general. Go read books on this subject, real books by real philosophers, not some hack-job done by a Richard Dawkins or a Kirk Cameron.

[Element]

read most of it.

got a positive argument for god? first of all define him.

[fatlip]

look at you assholes arguing over beliefs


wanna know why i'm atheist? because i don't give a shit. who cares what other people think? this entire topic is troll bate

[Alexnova]

read most of it.

got a positive argument for god? first of all define him.

Jesus Christ

Defining him in existence?

I would point you to St. John of Damascus' book An Exact Exposition of Orthodoxy, third chapter (I believe, I don't currently have it in front of me). To put it concisely:

All things that are mutable have a Creator
All things within our experience are mutable
Therefore, all things within our experience have a Creator

Due to the impossibility of an actual infinite regress - one is possible in mathematics, but cannot be actualized - logically there must be a beginning point. This is not a case of special pleading, for God being simple (uncomposed) and therefore immutable would not require a beginning point, for He exists outside of time. We say He exists outside of time because time is the measurement from one movement to the other, but if God does not move (that is, if He is not corporeal or composed of parts or capable of changing) then there is no measurement of time and thus no need for a beginning. Matter simply doesn't have this capability as it is composed of parts. Therefore, God must exist.

"No man has yet breathed all the air; no mind has yet contained or language embraced God’s substance in its fullness. No, we use facts connected with him to outline qualities that correspond with him, collecting a faint and feeble mental image from various quarters. Our noblest theologian is not one who has discovered the whole - our earthly shackles do not permit us the whole - but one whose mental image is by comparison fuller, who has gathered in his mind a richer picture, outline, or whatever we call it, of the truth."
-St. Gregory the Theologian (Nazianzus).