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Author Topic:   The Essence Of Faith & Belief.
Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 10 of 189 (630902)
08-29-2011 4:30 AM
Reply to: Message 9 by Larni
08-28-2011 1:06 PM


Re: This is my idea.
I would be looking to examine the properties of the world and infer characteristics about the god from that.
If we do that would it not suggest that god is mostly interested in a) his own survival and b) trying to get laid?
I always liked the idea of an old man in a cabin with his cat, vaguely aware and smiling through the tears. Balancing between the bitter and the sweet.

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Replies to this message:
 Message 11 by Larni, posted 08-29-2011 5:55 AM Dogmafood has replied

  
Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 12 of 189 (630910)
08-29-2011 9:28 AM
Reply to: Message 11 by Larni
08-29-2011 5:55 AM


This is not my idea.
If that is where the evidence leads should we shy away from conclusions simply because they conflict with what we want?
No, we should only follow the evidence. I am sure it is what god would want us to do.
Honestly, when I contemplate the mystery of existence I find my thoughts bound and sullied by the relatively primitive ideas of the ancients. How can we be witness to the awesome majesty of the cosmos and assign it’s creation to some creature with childish emotions. It seems to me that god would be concerned with things like the speed of light and the properties of dna and other things of which I have no awareness.
The idea of a personal god is beyond the pale of reason and only serves to illuminate our desire for there to be such a thing.

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Replies to this message:
 Message 13 by Larni, posted 08-29-2011 11:59 AM Dogmafood has replied
 Message 18 by Phat, posted 08-29-2011 12:58 PM Dogmafood has replied
 Message 82 by Phat, posted 11-26-2014 12:18 PM Dogmafood has not replied

  
Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 29 of 189 (630963)
08-29-2011 4:01 PM
Reply to: Message 13 by Larni
08-29-2011 11:59 AM


The nature of gods
As an aside the psychologist in me does wonder about the need for certainty biblical literalists seem to have about the nature of their god.
It has always astounded me how child-like our gods are. Why should a Universal deity insist on being worshipped? Why should it be vengeful or jealous? Why would it have any ego at all? Does the ego not arise from comparing oneself to one’s peers?

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Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 30 of 189 (630964)
08-29-2011 4:08 PM
Reply to: Message 18 by Phat
08-29-2011 12:58 PM


Re: The Evil One
If I am imagining a God, and that God doesnt stack up to the ways that I was taught that such a God should be, what am I to make of it?
The creation or imagining of god is our projection of utopia. The embodiment of hope and desire for perfection. You should disregard the projections of others and go with your gut.
If there is a god and he made some laws then those laws can not be broken. They are (edit; would be) the laws of nature. The gods of old are the first hazy attempt to understand those laws. Science today is the heartfelt and honest pursuit of understanding those laws.
Does it make any sense, at all, that an eternal creator would require a book to manifest itself in the world?
Edited by Dogmafood, : correct teh historical record.

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Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 35 of 189 (630974)
08-29-2011 5:11 PM
Reply to: Message 32 by iano
08-29-2011 4:52 PM


Re: This is not my idea.
What about all of the suffering that is caused by the conditions of the Universe that do not involve us or our freewill. I would not lay blame at god’s foot for the malfeasance of man but what of the sick child or the victims of nature?
Indeed, are we not all victims of nature with her limited resources, fierce competition and piss poor hygiene? Are these not the roots of ‘evil’ in man?

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 Message 32 by iano, posted 08-29-2011 4:52 PM iano has replied

Replies to this message:
 Message 37 by iano, posted 08-29-2011 5:47 PM Dogmafood has replied

  
Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


Message 54 of 189 (631140)
08-30-2011 4:52 PM
Reply to: Message 37 by iano
08-29-2011 5:47 PM


Like the good in man that counters his evil, nature too consists of a balance: the good in nature that provides for us and gives us much joy, is tempered and balanced by the contamination caused by mans evil.
Did you mean that the good in nature is balanced by the evil in nature? How has man’s evil contaminated nature? How is man to blame for childhood cancer or malaria or polio or MS or trisomy 21 or earthquakes that kill thousands and cause untold suffering? Man is a product of nature. Saying that man has contaminated nature is like saying that water has got itself all wet. Nonsense.
Combined, the stage is set for our being exposed to a sense of heaven and a sense of hell. The question is set: which will we chose.
Take the myth of Cain and Able. Had god not required sacrifices and offerings there would have been no problem. It was god’s pride that led to the fall, Cain was just following his ‘god given’ instinct and pride. Had god’s favour fallen equally upon them there would have been no problem.
To your point about having arrived at the truth, I do not think that truth is a static thing.
Even though, for the longest time, I ‘knew’ that only 1 is exactly equal to 1, my mind is open to the realization that 0.999...9 is also exactly equal to 1.
If you let your imagination run free, could you not imagine a god with more godly qualities than the god of the bible?

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 Message 37 by iano, posted 08-29-2011 5:47 PM iano has not replied

  
Dogmafood
Member (Idle past 348 days)
Posts: 1815
From: Ontario Canada
Joined: 08-04-2010


(1)
Message 66 of 189 (631498)
09-01-2011 10:30 AM


The essence of faith is desire. We do not have faith in things that we do not wish were so.

  
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