God and Amputees.

[Linhjah]

It has nothing to do with how you're raised, it depends on the type of person you are.

I disagree with this. You are the type of person you are largely because of the way you were raised. Just because your beliefs are different than those who raised you does not mean those individuals did not have a hand in shaping those beliefs - in shaping you.

 

[Mirewen]

lmao, I LOVE this statement!

Can't rate you up right now Mire, but know that I would.

Just remember me when you can

 

[Shyrra]

Going to church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Hahaha, this is a great parallel! XD

 

[Acks]

One thing I've always been curious on is how the religious feel about God and the conditions of the extremely poor/starving. There are plenty of these people who have firm beliefs and would love the opportunity to improve their lives, but don't get it and die young and suffering.

I ask because most people who say "Master Plan" or whatever come from extremely privileged situations (like a roof and more than enough food).

 

[Eleibfrid]

I don't follow religion because there's too many of them with each of them telling us different things. I'm not saying that there is no God, i'm just saying I don't like his fanboys. The only thing in common with every one of them is that nothing has been proven in any of them - it's nothing *but* faith. There were even wars among people (Crusades, current day terrorists promoting 'Jihad', etc) that boiled down to "my god/religion is better than your god/religion". Would God (I use that term loosely) really want us fighting over Him? Does He in fact like one group of people more than another? If he loved us all equally, why are there holy wars? Human ideals, blah blah, I know. I'm just saying.

I live my life by my philosophy: just live your life as you want to live it. I think that if you just lead an overall good life, then you will have nothing to worry about.

 

[Legomyeggo]

Gary: Hey Stan.

Stan: Oh brother.

Cartman: Uh oh, the jilted lover returns.

Gary: Listen, I just wanted to let you know you don't have to worry about me tryin' to be your friend anymore.

Stan: I don't?

Gary: Look, maybe us Mormons do believe in crazy stories that make absolutely no sense, and maybe Joseph Smith did make it all up, but I have a great life. and a great family, and I have the Book of Mormon to thank for that. The truth is, I don't care if Joseph Smith made it all up, because what the church teaches now is loving your family, being nice and helping people. And even though people in this town might think that's stupid, I still choose to believe in it. All I ever did was try to be your friend, Stan, but you're so high and mighty you couldn't look past my religion and just be my friend back. You've got a lot of growing up to do, buddy. Suck my balls.

Cartman: Damn, that kid is cool, huh?

 

[Bela]

This is why, even as a devout Christian, I don't go to church. Organized religion in many ways is corrupt and I refuse to tell people of a different religion that what they believe is wrong. Just like I don't appreciate when other religions try to tell me that my beliefs are. That is what tolerance is for. I spent 6 years in a Christian School and I loved it, to each their own. Going to church no more makes you a Christian than standing in a garage makes you a car.

Exactly how I feel. I'm very solid on my beliefs, but I won't do the church thing. It's too much about changing things to suit THEM and benefit THEM, rather than the people going.

 

[Taurothar]

I've always been a firm advocate that faith is beautiful but beliefs are deadly. I have what I consider to be true faith that living a good life will be rewarded. Do good things, and good things shall be done for you. Is it not selfish to only be a good person because you want it to get you into heaven? I'd rather be a good person because it's the right thing in my morality. There in lies the difference between faith and beliefs. Faith means having your own ideas about how your life should be. Beliefs in general are what everyone else thinks your life should be.

The bible teaches belief and very little faith. If you believe that Jesus was the son of god, it's because you have faith. But if you have faith in god, it does not mean you have to go to church every week and ask for forgiveness for being a human as he created you. I don't apologize to any deity for my actions, I only take responsibility in this life for them. I have faith that should I be judged, I will be judged based on my impact on others, not on my ability to perform rituals or not color outside the proverbial lines.

As for what causes lack of belief and lack of faith? I can argue that it's not how you're raised but what kind of person you are. I can also argue that what kind of person you are is dictated by how you are raised. This one is easier to argue because there's fact in it. The first option requires that you have some innate personality traits that would occur no matter what. This I believe is true in the case of things like homosexuality, mental illness, and other psychological switches and chemical balances that indicate things about us. (please don't think I'm making the allegory that homosexuality is a mental illness, I'm merely stating I believe it's an innate feature to personality and not something you can be raised into or out of).

The second option really means that even if you're spoon fed religion as the truth, if you have a scientific brain, or a long study of logic, you'll question the book and arrive at one answer or the other. I'm of that group personally. My family was never religious but we were Christian. I was told Jesus is my god as a child, and I believed it. Now, I don't know for sure. I consider myself agnostic because I don't have enough proof of anything to come to a logical conclusion. I questioned my faith, but I have faith in multiple outcomes all being determined by how I live my life.

I don't need a belief structure or a book to tell me that if I'm good to others, that it's the right thing to do. I don't need stories every Sunday morning to tell me how my morals should be. My morals are something I've come up with on my own. Religion serves those that can't do that for themselves. I respect its place for that. Religion has no place in my life for that same reason. Will I raise my future kids as Christians? Probably not. I will show them the options, and if they choose that it is right for them, they can be any religion they want. I suspect that through my example they'll likely choose the same path that I have.

I guess Rufus in Dogma has the best way to put it:
Rufus: He still digs humanity, but it bothers Him to see the shit that gets carried out in His name - wars, bigotry, televangelism. But especially the factioning of all the religions. He said humanity took a good idea and, like always, built a belief structure on it.
Bethany: Having beliefs isn't good?
Rufus: I think it's better to have ideas. You can change an idea. Changing a belief is trickier. Life should malleable and progressive; working from idea to idea permits that. Beliefs anchor you to certain points and limit growth; new ideas can't generate. Life becomes stagnant.

 

[Zephayra]

because honesty is a lot better in those instances than being lied to. (re: my aunt told her two young daughters that their dog was SLEEPING when it had gotten hit by a car. Those two still don't know their dog died).

Off topic: This irks me. Not talking about death doesn't make it go away. It's stupid that people tell children that death is just 'sleep'. Why teach something that will later have to be untaught when they are older?

 

[Tristam Green]

Off topic: This irks me. Not talking about death doesn't make it go away. It's stupid that people tell children that death is just 'sleep'. Why teach something that will later have to be untaught when they are older?

I was wondering your viewpoint on this, what with your dealings in the uh...business of death, as it were.

 

[chinis]

"With or without religion, you would have good people doing good things and evil people doing evil things. But for good people to do evil things, that takes religion."

All I can say on this.

 

[Neisan]

Off topic, I know, but didn't the Greeks refer to sleep as 'little death'? Or maybe I'm reading too much mythology involving Hypnos (Haha, A Christian... who reads Greek mythology. Guess that makes me a heretic!).


I personally stopped going to church after an incident irl, and now believe that while there is a God, there has been a lot of wrong committed under his name by humans. I also believe that a lot of rituals that people do for 'worship' are completely unnecessary as well.

 

[Linhjah]

Off topic, I know, but didn't the Greeks refer to sleep as 'little death'? Or maybe I'm reading too much mythology involving Hypnos (Haha, A Christian... who reads Greek mythology. Guess that makes me a heretic!).


I personally stopped going to church after an incident irl, and now believe that while there is a God, there has been a lot of wrong committed under his name by humans. I also believe that a lot of rituals that people do for 'worship' are completely unnecessary as well.

You know what the French call an orgasm? La petite morte. "The Little Death." Come on, Tiffany. Let's die a little.

That is all I remember about little death and a foreign language.

 

[Elemmire]

I am hardly anti-religion, but I love stuff like this. I often find myself debating religious inconsistencies with "devout" christians, and it always ends with: "It is all part of God's plan, and we can not understand the intricacies of his plan" heh.

Cool find, Trippy.

you know what's awesome about an atheist? they are essentially the same as a religion they can't disprove God's existence.. they can perhaps fuck up a religion's beliefs with logic but you can't truly prove or disprove God.. so when they get all angry at someone who believes in God, I like to point out how they are essentially the same as that person in their BELIEF that there is no God. rawr agnostic ways ftw!

Oh, also, I love when people take the Bible so... hmm.. as if it really was written by God.. remember, the pen (or whatever it was then) was in the hands of men not God, men (as in humankind, not gender) can not be trusted.

 

[Zephayra]

I was wondering your viewpoint on this, what with your dealings in the uh...business of death, as it were.

The rule of thumb is "If a child is old enough to love, they are old enough to know about death." Obviously a child under 5 just doesn't have the capacity of understanding the finality of death, but the best policy is to be very honest, and not generalize, else you lead to children fearing that they will die soon, or they will die if they get sick, if parents tell them "Grandma died because she was sick" .

But back on topic!

I'm not especially religious. My dad and his family were Polish Catholics, and my mom's family was Anglican. I was never confirmed in Catholic church, nor did I really go to church with my parents growing up. I have an idea of what I believe in, and its my own personal belief.

However, that doesn't stop me from genuflecting at the alter during a Catholic funeral mass, bowing my head during the Lord's Prayer, or saying Amen after any hymns.

I agree with Morwen, Faith is a beautiful thing, especially during times of grief and sadness. It's just not my thing, but I still respect it, and I'm still humbled every time I attend any church service. Blind faith isn't good, but the coming together of a community, even if its brought in based on something as simple as believing in a God or following a certain belief system, is an awesome sight.

I'm not too crazy about the rules of organized religion, but I love seeing people come together to aid and comfort someone they might not even know well during a time of death.

 

[Tyrath]

you know what's awesome about an atheist? they are essentially the same as a religion they can't disprove God's existence.. they can perhaps fuck up a religion's beliefs with logic but you can't truly prove or disprove God.. so when they get all angry at someone who believes in God, I like to point out how they are essentially the same as that person in their BELIEF that there is no God. rawr agnostic ways ftw!

Oh, also, I love when people take the Bible so... hmm.. as if it really was written by God.. remember, the pen (or whatever it was then) was in the hands of men not God, men (as in humankind, not gender) can not be trusted.

Nice. Not having a belief is a belief.

Did someone divide by zero?

 

[Tristam Green]

Nice. Not having a belief is a belief.

Did someone divide by zero?

No, it's just that someone is sitting on the fence and thereby thinks it looses her/him of any responsibility to remain civil in the matter.

 

[Grandphoenix]

Adam Corolla, said it best in my opinion "Agnostics are just pussy atheists."

 

[Alyada]

BAD HUMAN! BAD! People are allowed to believe what they like, it doesn't make them idiots just because you dont agree.

If logic, reason, and science dictate that there is no god, and yet you still deny all evidence, you are proven to be an idiot.

I'm sorry, but there is no other way around it. The proof is right in front of you.

God is an old way of thought from an old world. Get with the times.

 

[Stine]

If logic, reason, and science dictate that there is no god, and yet you still deny all evidence, you are proven to be an idiot.

I'm sorry, but there is no other way around it. The proof is right in front of you.

God is an old way of thought from an old world. Get with the times.

Science hasn't proven God doesn't exist and Christianity doesn't disprove science (although some extremist believe that ><).