God

[SDR]

we will all know the answer one day.

Well, no, we won't. Because if there is no God, we will just die never knowing the answer, it's not like we could be dead and go "Aha, so there is no God, now I know!"

[SDR]

When did Christian become synonymous with God?

Because Christians believe in God, right? I'm not sure what you mean by this.

[Shifty]

When did Christian become synonymous with God?

Because Christians believe in God, right? I'm not sure what you mean by this.

I think he meant to phrase that in reverse, as in "Since when did God become synonymous with Christianity?". I assume he's talking about how, when brought up in discussion, people always assume the god you're talking about is the Christian god and not the god or gods of different religions.

[Jason Forever]

Yeah I believe in a "higher power" maybe not the same kind of God most believe in. I just think something created existance, it didn't just come to be by accident or out of the blue.

[Deathscythe]

Yeah I believe in a "higher power" maybe not the same kind of God most believe in. I just think something created existance, it didn't just come to be by accident or out of the blue.

And what if it is? I once read that gunpowder was made by accident. And if not that, I'm sure some of the greatest inventions were made that way (in the strict sense, the human race even exists by accident). Why should life in general, or the universe in total, be any different?

[Batty!]

When did Christian become synonymous with God?

Because Christians believe in God, right? I'm not sure what you mean by this.

So do Muslims and Jews.  People are talking about Chrstianity and this thread has nothing to do with Christianity.  The point I am trying to make is that God and Christianity is not the same thing.  You can believe in God and say fuck you to Christianity.

[Kat]

When did Christian become synonymous with God?

Because Christians believe in God, right? I'm not sure what you mean by this.

So do Muslims and Jews.  People are talking about Chrstianity and this thread has nothing to do with Christianity.  The point I am trying to make is that God and Christianity is not the same thing.  You can believe in God and say fuck you to Christianity.

Humm...maybe because Christianity is more known?

I dunno  :grin:

[SDR]

When did Christian become synonymous with God?

Because Christians believe in God, right? I'm not sure what you mean by this.

So do Muslims and Jews.  People are talking about Chrstianity and this thread has nothing to do with Christianity.  The point I am trying to make is that God and Christianity is not the same thing.  You can believe in God and say fuck you to Christianity.

People are talking about Christianity because it's their own personal religion and therefore why they believe in God. The reason nobody has mentioned Muslims or Jews is because no-one that has posted here is Muslim or Jewish. Nobody who isn't Christian has brought up Christianity.

[SDR]

Yeah I believe in a "higher power" maybe not the same kind of God most believe in. I just think something created existance,

That's a bit of a paradox isn't it? Nothing can create existance because that thing would have to exist already to create it.

[Maniac]

Yeah I believe in a "higher power" maybe not the same kind of God most believe in. I just think something created existance,

That's a bit of a paradox isn't it? Nothing can create existance because that thing would have to exist already to create it.

Very true but that is only if you believe in the religious theory of "In The Begining..." if you want to go with the scientific theory then there's no paradox involved.

Dark

[random guy]

can't help but wonder if religion is just a way for people to find comfort in things that afflict them

like sumone said,

"religion is the opium of the masses"

or sumthing to that extent. for some reason im thinking it was karl marx. maybe not

[Quorthon]

Nope, god is a lie.

[SHORTY]

And what if it is? I once read that gunpowder was made by accident. And if not that, I'm sure some of the greatest inventions were made that way

Yep. Ben Franklin was high on coke and decided to fly a kite during a lightning storm. Thus accidentally inventing electricity.  :laugh:

[SoulOfVoorhees]

Not at all.

My philosophical outlook does not permit me to believe in a God; I view the world as entirely immanent (this means that this world is a 'closed system', so to speak, with nothing 'beyond' or, conversely, 'beneath' it). I therefore could not believe in the Judeo-Christian God - nor would I want to, given my qualms with most of the tenets of those religions - e.g., guilt, which is cruelty turned back in on itself once it is no longer permitted to express itself; the denial of suffering, which is an integral aspect of this life, of this existence; and so forth.

Paganism holds much more of an appeal for me, but not of the sort practiced by modern Wiccans and neopagans, which is little more than Christianity with a few new gods and one great Mother Goddess (no different from Yahweh) presiding over them all. Rather, I find a great aesthetic kinship with the real pagans, like the Celts, Gauls, Visigoths, etc.

But neither am I a secular humanist, like Richard Dawkins. I subscribe to the philosophies of Arthur Schopenhauer and Friedrich Nietzsche (the World as Will - to Life or to Power, depending on whom you ask). For Schopenhauer, this life is bad because our world is literally one Will which manifests in individual human bodies and 'forces' them to stay alive, hence the Will to Life. He held that all acts of egoism were the result of this Will, and the best thing you could do for yourself is take up the life of an aesthetic ascetic, i.e. an art-loving hermit.

For Nietzsche, however, the 'character' of the Will is not one which merely 'forces' us to remain alive and reproduce, but actively compels us to 'overcome' ourselves and others, even at the expense of our lives. For Nietzsche, guilt and morality are tools whereby one Will to Power undermines another and causes it to turn back upon itself rather than naturally expend itself, as it is wont to do. This outlook permits for acts of self-creation and self-mastery, and both implicitly deny concepts such as a static soul. Think of the feeling you might get while listening to a powerful piece of heavy metal or while slamming around and a mosh-pit and you'll get something of the idea.

That, in a nutshell, is my -- 'religion'.

[AnimalRage]

Sometimes I believe in God and sometimes i don't.