View Full Version : Do you believe in God?
madmaxine
01-19-2008, 09:44 PM
If you could imagine going to heaven, what would it be like ? I really wanna know
My vagina during sex. Its the place to be, yo!
NO, verdadmente, in mi opinion, Life is a big Test. If you pass, you get to exist in a state of bliss (Heaven). If you fail, you have to go back and keep on living on this Earth until you get it "right"....It's all relative for each individual.
& If you're just plain evil, you're just static or an object. You don't matter.
Madcap
01-19-2008, 09:46 PM
My vagina during sex. Its the place to be, yo!
I'd have mentioned that, but i'm attached to my ego and didn't want to see Maxie tear it away and flush it. :(
My vagina during sex. Its the place to be, yo!
NO, verdadmente, in mi opinion, Life is a big Test. If you pass, you get to exist in a state of bliss (Heaven). If you fail, you have to go back and keep on living on this Earth until you get it "right"....It's all relative for each individual.
& If you're just plain evil, you're just static or an object. You don't matter.
So...what happens if there's no more humans on earth ?
pixiekittie
01-19-2008, 09:49 PM
I was born and raised as a Catholic. Do I still practice my religion? Nope. Do I categorize myself as Catholic? Not anymore. As far as believing in God? I'm not sure anymore. I used to, but nowadays it just sounds like a joke to me. There are too many things within the religion (as far as what they preach) that contradicts itself.
I do think there is a higher being. As far as what, I have no clue.
Delilah27
01-19-2008, 09:49 PM
Yeah No Evil boogie men in my religion or punish lands...to scare people into being good...
Just do what you have to do, don't hurt anyone, and respect nature and yourself. Really quite simple and makes sense. (I don't wish to get flamed...that's a REALLY GENERAL statement of the religion there's much more depth)
Each to its own...just respect mine I'll respect yours...
Fuck if it was only that simple... -.-
Madcap
01-19-2008, 09:49 PM
So...what happens if there's no more humans on earth ?
http://www.stripperweb.com/forum/showthread.php?t=104953&highlight=World+without+us
Lapaholic
01-19-2008, 09:51 PM
DEar God No!!!
Lunarobverse
01-19-2008, 09:55 PM
The best part about the "banana video" for me is that monkeys open them from the other end! (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7ARLsUbjec)
...not that that proves or disproves anything. Just sayin'.
I meant to our souls, Madcap -_-
Madcap
01-19-2008, 09:58 PM
I meant to our souls, Madcap -_-
What do our souls have to do with no more humans on earth?
That's assuming any such thing as a soul exists. Quite debatable, that one.
Sultry Siren
01-19-2008, 10:00 PM
I believe in God, I've just had too many freaky things happen in my life that could not be explained away.
I've known exact moments when people have died, known when a couple of girlfriends would have their babies even though medical science argued against what I knew. There have been many other things too numerous to mention here but I knew things with no logical way of knowing and no way to explain it.
One of the most powerful was getting a strong sense of WAIT 10 MINUTES before a group of us girls was leaving for Chinatown in Vancouver. I told the girls and they said no way that we would be late for our plans. I convinced them to humor me and we left. Long story short we came across a multi car accident and the police man who was directing cars past it told us that it was a good thing we did not arrive there 10 minutes earlier or we would have been a part of the mess.
God warning me to wait and I heard Him??
I also believe in God because there is far too much injustice in this world and if evil or satan is the cause I love to have a knowledge that God ultimately settles the books and we all get what we truly deserve in the end. It eliminates the need for vengeance, jealousy, holding grudges, or passing judgement on anyone.
Let God deal with us all good or bad.
Organized religion is something that has done more damage than anything isolating people and condemning people without full knowledge.
The religious wanted to stone an adultress, and treat a Samaritan woman like trash but Jesus put em all in their place and made people look at themselves and realize they were more guilty than the guilt they tried to push. He took up the company and companionship of those the religious hated, or used, or made examples of.
I've lost well over half of my family to disease, cancer, and have gone through 6 years of fricking hell that took a real toll on me. However, knowing that those who caused and are causing the harm and tearing things apart in my life will have to answer to someone higher than I for what they have done gives me the peace I shouldn't have.
Someday the books will balance even if it isn't today.
What do our souls have to do with no more humans on earth?
That's assuming any such thing as a soul exists. Quite debatable, that one.
Ughh I was talking to Maxine, she said that we would live again and again until we had it "right". I took it to mean reincarnation. What happens to the theory of reincarnation if there isn't anyone left to re-incarnate to ?
Madcap
01-19-2008, 10:06 PM
Ughh I was talking to Maxine, she said that we would live again and again until we had it "right". I took it to mean reincarnation. What happens to the theory of reincarnation if there isn't anyone left to re-incarnate to ?
Strictly speaking, Reincarnation is an eastern concept. You don't reincarnate as a human all the time according to it's inventors (Though what an ant can do to move up the chain is beyond my kenning).
You're being a pain.....let me rephrase to what if there is no more life ?
madmaxine
01-19-2008, 10:10 PM
One of the most powerful was getting a strong sense of WAIT 10 MINUTES before a group of us girls was leaving for Chinatown in Vancouver. I told the girls and they said no way that we would be late for our plans. I convinced them to humor me and we left. Long story short we came across a multi car accident and the police man who was directing cars past it told us that it was a good thing we did not arrive there 10 minutes earlier or we would have been a part of the mess.
This kind of thing has happened to me a few times. Once, I skipped my exit to the 120 Bypass in California to miss a big accident- I found out from the radio. Second, I was walking out to the bus after school and I stopped short of a high gymnasium window for no real reason- just as a volleyball came crashing through the glass- I remember dumbly watching the pieces of glass shatter on the asphalt. & Third, I was running away from a bad situation & in the nick of time a new friend drove by and recognized me- I jumped in his truck and begged him to take me out of the area before I was dragged back to where I didn't want to be....
All anecdotal, sure. But it all happened to me. I don't feel the need to "sell" people on God or the afterlife because it's one of those things people have to choose for themselves. I am sharing my experience to be heard. I am far from Ideal, I think I get further from it every day..LOL
To answer Sand's question- you're not including the possibility that there could be Existence elsewhere beside this Galaxy at this point in our perceived Time....Hence, a "chance" for another World to play out.
Madcap
01-19-2008, 10:13 PM
You're being a pain.....let me rephrase to what if there is no more life ?
Anywhere in the universe? Then i'd imagine the great experiment would be kaput by that time. Any answers would have been had already.
As for reincarnation, the next level would have had to be reached by then.
That's assuming there is only one universe (There very likely is an infinite number, rendering all of this moot).
Frankly, reincarnation loses me pretty quick. But i have read a little about it.
teeth_of_the_hydra
01-19-2008, 10:13 PM
I am a pantheist, so yes, I believe in divinity. I was raised by a Christian mother who openly and somewhat hysterically "lost god" when I was about 7. My Jewish father was never sociable enough to want to go to synagogue, and anyway I would have pitched a fit, because synagogue sounded boring. So my childhood was quietly atheistic, or at least devoutly secular. Then I grew up, and I got really sad, and then really happy. Then sad again, etc. The process of figuring out how to get more of the happiness and less of the sadness taught me to listen to what I would like to refer to as The Abundant Universe.
Since I will sound kinda schizo describing how I think The Abundant Universe is communicating with me, I will leave that part out for now, but I will elaborate if you're curious. Talking about this generally gets me made fun of, especially since I'm, you know, supposed to be educated, so I tend to keep quiet.
But I will say this. The best way I can characterize T.A.U. is that it's kind of like a songbird. It doesn't speak in words, and it isn't always in plain sight. You have no way of knowing where it is and who it visits when it's not right in front of you, but you're sure it's flying somewhere, singing, because that is its nature. Even when it gets very close to you, it won't let you touch it. It asks nothing of you and doesn't seem to be troubled if you shoo it away, for you are only denying yourself of its presence. But if you sit very quietly it will come; it alights on the branch outside your window and sings, and if you stay still and make no sudden sounds you can hear every note of its song, for the fact that it is singing is clear and unmistakable.
Madcap
01-19-2008, 10:19 PM
& NO Madcap, they're not ZOMBIES!
They only tell you that so they can get close enough to eat your brain. :D
http://content.answers.com/main/content/wp/en/d/d9/Thriller_Video_Clip.jpg
Blade
01-19-2008, 10:25 PM
My vagina during sex. Its the place to be, yo!
Then i REALLY wanna go to heaven!
Yes. I believe in God. Yes. I believe he is looking out for me and has a plan for me. And Yes... he definitely has a sense of humor. :D
StarryEyes
01-20-2008, 02:50 AM
I'll stop thread-jacking after this, but what do you think the afterlife will be like ? What do you think you will see in heaven, or the afterlife ?
OK guys, I'm going to share a story with you and I swear to you with all my heart it is true.
I once had a near-death experience. My spirit buzzed out of my body and floated up near the ceiling of my room. I knew what was happening and I wasn't scared. It was peaceful, even fun to be out of my physical body. You could float! There was nothing unnatural about the experience. I was at total peace.
I decided that I was not ready to further progress into my death, because I just was not ready, so my spirit slammed back into my body and I woke with a jolt.
After returning to my body, I saw a beautiful white light. There was no doubt in my mind that this was the light of God. We reviewed my life and then God gave me an assignment, one that will be of benefit to myself and to others. You could sense how all-knowing and all-powerful this light was. Whoever it was, they were the Boss. I sensed how much God loved me. He knew about all the screwed up things I did, and he was very pleased with the way I turned my life around. He told me what my purpose in life was and it was all really a beautiful experience, one I will always cherish and remember like it happened yesterday. It wasn't a dream, it was not a hallucination, it was real. It was realer than real, if that makes any sense.
I have always believed in God, but after this happened, YES, I am a believer. I have become more sensitive to people's feelings, I pay attention to my surroundings more, and my intuition has become more highly developed. I pray and meditate every day and I really love my life and where it is going. I see my life in a totally different way now.
It was miraculous, and I feel really lucky that I got to go to the other side and back.
Not trying to push my views on people, just wanting to share what happened to me.
StarryEyes
01-20-2008, 02:58 AM
^^Yep. Wow's a good way to describe it.
And what you said was right. God has a great sense of humor.
Melvis
01-20-2008, 03:13 AM
Least we can all agree Hell is endothermic. =D
umtum
01-20-2008, 04:12 AM
I grew up in a Catholic household. I don't believe in a "god" as described by any religion I have known, and I don't know that "believe" is the right word. Belief implies that I think my thoughts are the truth. Ultimately, I don't know anything, except for the fact that I don't know anything but this fact.
I have spent a lot of time digging into the depths of my own consciousness with amazement. And I found the universe there, and it is loving, and I connect with it in ways difficult to explain here. I have found a lot of answers there and it is very beautiful. That is my perception of it for the time being.
Science has not answered everything about the universe so things happening outside of current scientific explanation are a given. If science disproves my beliefs then I will almost certainly reconsider them.
Zinaida
01-20-2008, 04:22 AM
No. We know so little of the universe(...and beyond...). I don't believe that the universe is a moral structure, I don't believe in karma.
Phil-W
01-20-2008, 04:42 AM
I'm an athiest and I'll give brief reasons.
A God by definition must be omnipotent.
The universe we live in is vast - billion of galaxies, billions upon billions of starts, planets beyond number, and in all probability life elsewhere in the universe.
For a God to be omnipotent they must be aware of all that is happening throughout the universe at all times, and be able to affect any event that they wish.
The amount of information a God would have to store and process in real time to do that is unimaginable - and if you can't store and process the information, you can't be omnipotent.
Phil.
I_luv_dancers!
01-20-2008, 08:52 AM
No.
I cannot believe in an omnipotent omniscient being without evidence - and that means real, scientific evidence - not an old storybook written and edited by men with an agenda.
And I believe the world would be a LOT better off without religion and the concept of "faith". Barring absence of religion, real separation of church and state would be a great start. We don't have it here in the US - don't fool yourselves thinking we do.
AlexxaHex
01-20-2008, 09:41 AM
I am my own God. I believe in the power of humanity, and the power to control your own reality. Satan is a very good representation of all that is human, so I identify as a . We believe in Sin as being more positive than "virtue/abstinence", which goes against our natural human feelings and functions. I also like to take responsibility for my own actions.
As far as "God" existing in the Christian sense, I think that such a thing can exist in people's imaginations. I believe the Bible is a fictional story or collection of stories, and I think it's absolutely ridiculous to base your life on a book because other people have put it in your head that this is what you are "supposed" to do. "God" is a behavioral tool for people who can't think for themselves, IMO.
I'm curious whether you believe or don't believe in God and the reason why?
.
As a strict objectivist by nature, I remain at best, a skeptical Agnostic.
AznExtasy
01-20-2008, 09:50 AM
Yes, I believe in God. I don't believe in christians.
StarryEyes
01-20-2008, 05:58 PM
OOPs I forgot to add regarding my experience---suicide is never the answer to problems. There are many rewards for "hanging in there" and getting through the difficult times. So PLEASE do not commit suicide---bad idea.
StarryEyes
01-20-2008, 06:00 PM
P.S. I am very happy to see how people are expressing their beliefs on here in a peaceful way. The folks on here are making me proud.
Lunarobverse
01-20-2008, 06:06 PM
In the past I would've been asking a lot of pointed, snarky, grumpy questions of the folk who disagree with me.
Now I'm content to just put my views out there and quietly read what others have to say. It's so much more entertaining and friendly that way.
Maybe I'm getting mellow in my later days.
hardkandee
01-20-2008, 06:07 PM
Just for my own curiosity: Has anyone gone from being an atheist to a believer?
michele_b
01-20-2008, 06:18 PM
P.S. I am very happy to see how people are expressing their beliefs on here in a peaceful way. The folks on here are making me proud.
I agree. The first thought that went through my mind when I saw this post was uh oh, this may cause some religious controversy. I am glad it is peaceful and everybody is posting their beliefs freely.
michele_b
01-20-2008, 06:19 PM
Just for my own curiosity: Has anyone gone from being an atheist to a believer?
Good question. I would like to know too.
StarryEyes
01-20-2008, 06:35 PM
^^ Yeah. Me too.
TigersMilk
01-20-2008, 06:38 PM
Just for my own curiosity: Has anyone gone from being an atheist to a believer?
I haven't but I've gone from Catholic>Baptist> there is spiritual presence but its not a god.
I think a persons God is whatever they want it to be. Its all fine by me.
Yet, ever since I discovered a little thing called the big bang and evolution I have dismissed the Bible entirely.
Madcap
01-20-2008, 06:48 PM
"I'm in ur heaven, punishin yah sinnaz."
Just for my own curiosity: Has anyone gone from being an atheist to a believer?
OOOOOOoooo... I'm curious, too...
hardkandee
01-20-2008, 06:55 PM
Y'all stop trying to bogart my question! :D
Lunarobverse
01-20-2008, 07:15 PM
Lee Strobel is a journalist who claims to have been an atheist before converting to Christianity. He's written several books arguing for the existence of God, the historical basis of Christianity, and the tougher philosophical questions of faith.
To my view he's done a poor job of it, since the only sources or interviews he's done (in the one book of his I've read, "The Case For A Creator") are people from The Discovery Institute. I suspect his conversion involved a contract for a book deal. But others may be interested in what he has to say.
Sometime in the past few years, there was an older English atheist who supposedly had a deathbed conversion, but I can't remember the fellows' name and my google fu is failing me right now.
Madcap
01-20-2008, 07:36 PM
Lee Strobel
Ugh. That's all you needed to say. Strobel claims he set out to write a book denouncing christ and wound up finding god, but upon reading the book Helen Keller could tell you that isn't exactly true. That was a witnessing book from day 1.
a skeptical review of it you may find interesting.
Lunarobverse
01-20-2008, 08:27 PM
Madcap, did you read the rest of my post after the first two words? :)
I think you and I agree. I was just aiming for "more diplomatic" in how I phrased it.
I can't tell if you're agreeing with me or disagreeing.
Madcap
01-20-2008, 08:38 PM
Madcap, did you read the rest of my post after the first two words? :)
No, no, no, no, i read it. I was just commenting on Lee Strobel. Not commenting at you, just at his mention. When i run the board i modded for years, that bastard was the bane of my existance. How he was suuuch an atheist and found god after researching, as if i might do the same "if i'd just read some about Jeeeeesus" (despite my reading every goddamned thing i could get my hands on regarding religion and, well, not meeting any magic spooks in the sky due to reading what turned out to be the iron age version of the velveteen rabbit). I am trained, TRAINED I SAY, to bristle at the mention of Lee Strobel.
The last sentance was aimed at you because i thought you'd find the review interesting.
nicole84
01-20-2008, 08:46 PM
I'm agnostic. Mostly because I don't care enough to be an athiest.
I was raised with a jewish mother and a christian father, and learned a bit about both, and then explored Wicca on my own for a while. I believed as a child, and in 9th-11th grade, became a 'Jew for Jesus' for a while. Then I became an agnostic. It fits me best. My own personal experiences have made me think this way (not even the bad ones, just my day to day ones). Though even when I was at my most religious (like, bringing only a bible to read at sleep away camp, lol), I always believed in the Big Bang, evolution, etc.
I think the world really would be much better off without religion, or as was stated earlier, at a minimum, total separation of church and state
Lunarobverse
01-20-2008, 08:48 PM
Ah, got it.
I think sometimes that I'm an atheist because I've read the Bible (three times at different times in my life), many many books on the historicity of the Bible, and apologists like Lee Strobel or, say, C. S. Lewis, or Michael Behe, or others too numerous to mention.
It isn't lack of research that led me to my God-denying ways, that's for sure.
Madcap
01-20-2008, 08:51 PM
a link to the board i moderated for quite a while. I quit a few years ago. Thankless job that pays dick-and-nothing.
Now it's practically nothing but when i was modding it, it got 1000 posts a week (Not due to me, but due to the activity on MSN that was around then).
UtahMike
01-20-2008, 08:53 PM
I believe in God, regularly attend church and am active in it. I have had personal experiences with God and had prayer answered many times, especially about finding things I have lost. I cannot prove this to you, but it is sufficient proof for me. Neither can you disprove my experience.
I think most contemporary Christians have a mistaken idea about sin and think it is nothing more than conservative sexual morality. I believe sin is our estrangement from God, and our consequent tendency to treat our fellow humans poorly.
Most of the other members of my church would think I am terribly sinful to go to strip clubs, but I have decided after long consideration that God never said not to look at beautiful women and that appreciating all the beautiful things that God created (women, kittens, sunsets, etc.) is a good thing to do.
Science and religion do not address the same questions, so they are completely compatible. Science answers when and what, religion answers Who and why.