Off Topic Post

The reason I am agnostic rather than atheist is the same reason I am not religious.

Most civilisations have their own version of "god".  Australian Aboriginals have their dreamtime stories to explain how the world came to be.  NZ maori believe that one of their gods went fishing and caught either the north or south island (I don't know which) of NZ.  The romans and the greeks all had different gods.  Indians have gods that they worship.

So I can't say that gods do not exist but I can't say that one version of god better than another either.  Just because Christians were better at self promotion (is this why americans are mainly christian????) shouldn't be the basis of who I believe in.

And BC, start your own religion.  that way you can make sure that it follows all the ideals you want.  19. i have slept with more girls than guys.  I am sure you will have plenty of followers

threebanger:

There is a staggering amount of ignorance being displayed in this thread regarding the basis of our system of laws and moral theory. We will only continue to survive as a society because our laws are derived from judgments about what is considered moral and just, most of which has been historically derived from Christianity. Throw whatever temper tantrum you want and claim that you will do as you see fit, but in the end most of you will end up conforming to a system that was begun to be established when Moses came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments.

The only alternative is to accept the dangerously misguided view that morality is relative and is determined in the eye of the beholder. This leaves its adherents claiming that the same act can be viewed as moral by one party and immoral by another, and neither are wrong. This is of course impossible. Rape is either moral or immoral. Murder is either moral or immoral. Abortion is either moral or immoral.

If you take the position that in some cases it is this, and in other cases it is that, this leaves most of you who recite your humanist mantra of "I'll figure out what's right for me" with the impossible and foolhardy task of arguing that both sides of a contradiction can be true.

If you need the ten commandements to tell you that rape and murder are wrong well then let god science have mercy on your soul.

PrestonLuv:

Religion and Spirituality have brought countless amounts of courage, happiness, hope and love to the Newton household.

PrestonLuv:

my religion teaches individual responsiblity and how not to rely on others if you're able to do it yourself.

not quite sure which religion you are talking about....

"If evolution is real then why isn't there only one species? If we all started evolving at the same time what happened? Evolution is bullshit"

"For a long time I considered that whole theory. Once you stop and look at how delicate the ecosystem is, once you begin to get a small grasp on how complex and wonderous just the human body is, it becomes more and more difficult to believe that this was the result of just some cosmic accident. In fact it is nearly impossible."

Gold Jerry, Gold!

Maybe ecosystems are too delicate and complex for you to grasp but for some of us they are not.

The thing I find most humorous about this ‘debate' is some people have studied biology extensively and it would seem that these folks might have a good grip on the theory of evolution and what it really means. If I have a question about theoretical mathematics, I am going to ask someone with a PhD in theoretical mathematics and I highly doubt I am going to argue with his answer (lol, I might argue, that's just me, but think how stupid I would sound doing so). But for some reason, many religious kooks (and I use "kooks" in the most positive way possible here) think they have some sort of grasp of the situation because they read the bible (a strong biology textbook...in Texas or Kansas maybe, lol) and can, therefore, intelligently discuss the issue.

To head off the eventual "then you should listen to the theoretical theologians for the same reason" arguement...theologians are not scientists, they are creative mythologists using a fairytale written to control and manipulate the masses as a foundation.

Jennifear:

This is disproven.  Matter cannot be created or destroyed, so gas "appearing" out of nowhere would make no sense.  Since there is matter, there always has been matter, so my best guess is that it was always here, but I don't claim to know the first thing about it.  Ask a scientist.  They'll have a better idea.

the idea that everything "poofed" into existance does seem like a stretch.  however, the idea that either the universe has always existed, or if god poofed it into existance, that god has always existed is a bit more of a stretch. 

time must have a beginning, or else an infinite amount of time would have to have passed... and that makes no sense.
i suppose in the case of god, one could say god transcends the laws of our universe... that he transcends time and it's not a problem if he's always existed, my feeble brain just cant comprehend his complexity.
and id like to say 'well, you know, i suppose that makes sense.'  but then when a 6-year-old was telling me about a leprechaun sitting with his pot o gold at the end of a rainbow, id try to tell him rainbows dont have tangible ends that meet the earth... and hed tell me 'leprechains are magical, dude!  they dont have to bow down to your interpretation of reality!'  and id have to say 'well, yeah, i suppose that makes sense.'
maybe after i die, ill get to meet god and he can drop some knowledge on me... until then, ill stick to believing in things that have been proven.  and if god cant respect that and condemns me to eternal damnation, then fuck that guy.



and thanks eye knows for the props on the story.  people, it's a bit long, but it's on page 2 and well worth the read.

everyone should watch

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BqeG6CecYTw

organized religion is absurd. any religion is absurd. didn't read everything, but bfactor and jennifear seemed to make the smartest statements. saw some awesome stupidity in this thread. if you dont think the big bang is how the universe is created, you are stupid. as for the evolution comments...lol. every religious person should stop being religious. really, think about what you are saying. god? lol. it is no use to talk sense into religious people, it is the reason they are religious in the first place.

before the big bang there was no time.

aholthaus33:

chstone:

aholthaus33:

Do both Buddhism and Hinduism believe in reincarnation and over different lifetimes moving up levels of enlightenment or something similar to this?

Yes...and no.  I do not know if I really understand the difference and my teacher's answer were usually unsatisfactory.  They both believe in reincarnation.  Hinduism believes in "moving up" each time you are born based on your previous lives(ie your karma.)  You can move up from plant to animal to human, to human in a better life, etc.  Buddhism is slightly different.  As far as I understand, your thoughts/actions/level of enlightement stay with you.  But its not "you."  Yeah like I said I don't really understand the difference and the Buddhist version seems to be more complex.       

i really need to look into this more.  reincarnation is so fascinating to me.  a friend of mine that im getting to know well has spoke with me some on it.  he is convinced that we have known each other before.