So, what do you believe?

[LuvToFly 0]

This subject came up in another thread - but was not the focus

So, what do you think about this? Figured it's a good question since we all risk death -

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky

[Antithesis 0]

I believe that my relationship with what I believe is God is personal

I travel the land, Work in the ocean, Play in the sky

[PeteH 0]

I believe in myself.

If I want to achieve something, I have to work for it. I can't rely on any other person or fictional character.

I try to live my life in a way that in the end I'd have as few regrets as possible. And so far I've learned that I end up regretting things I didn't do rather than things I've done.

If I'd die tomorrow, I'd be happy with my life so far.

I'm an agnostic.
Used to call myself atheist, but I soon realized that atheism denies the existence of gods. It's not possible to prove gods exist/doesn't exist.
And even if someone could prove there's a god, I wouldn't waste my life worshipping him. I'd just continue to live for myself.

I really do hope (and think there's 99.999999999999... % chance for me being right) that when I die, that's the end of my conscious.
Worst thing I can imagine is living forever (in any place/form). That would be my hell.

[3ringheathen 0]

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I'm an agnostic.
Used to call myself atheist, but I soon realized that atheism denies the existence of gods. It's not possible to prove gods exist/doesn't exist.

I agree with much of what you wrote, but this is silly.

Atheism means that one doesn't believe in god(s).
Nothing more.
There is no claim or requirement to disprove anything at all. Nor is any sort of denial involved.

Compare god belief with the tooth fairy (or ghosts, car key gnomes, whatever):

Do you believe in the tooth fairy?

Can you prove the tooth fairy doesn't exist?

Are you in denial about the existence of the tooth fairy?

-Josh

If you have time to panic, you have time to do something more productive. -Me*
*Ron has accused me of plagiarizing this quote. He attributes it to Douglas Adams.

[mjosparky 4]

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I believe that my relationship with what I believe is God is personal

What he said.

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[pds 0]

i believe that this thread was dead the 5 time it has come up in the last year and yup... still dead.

oh yeah... i believe it is a classic troll.

namaste, motherfucker.

[feuergnom 28]

seems like many people are watching the poor guy

edit: "Gott ist tot!" (Nietzsche)

2nd edit: hey maybe we could hijack it. BOOOOOBIES!

The universal aptitude for ineptitude makes any human accomplishment an incredible miracle

dudeist skydiver # 666

[mjosparky 4]

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i believe that this thread was dead the 5 time it has come up in the last year and yup... still dead.

oh yeah... i believe it is a classic troll.

Walks like a duck, quacks like a duck, acts like a duck, smells like a Troll.

My idea of a fair fight is clubbing baby seals

[Amazon 7]

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hey maybe we could hijack it. BOOOOOBIES!

Hey some culture worshipped them...

Just think of all those mother goddess paleolithic cultures. Many Many figureines with boobies..

[PeteH 0]

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I'm an agnostic.
Used to call myself atheist, but I soon realized that atheism denies the existence of gods. It's not possible to prove gods exist/doesn't exist.

I agree with much of what you wrote, but this is silly.

Atheism means that one doesn't believe in god(s).
Nothing more.
There is no claim or requirement to disprove anything at all. Nor is any sort of denial involved.

I should've used word atheist and not atheism.

However you are not right about that claim / denial part.

So-called strong atheists believe there are no gods, and that means they say gods don't exist.
Some even clearly say that it's impossible that gods would exist.

I know there are weak atheists that are closer to agnostics as they are only sceptical about gods but 'cos both call themselves atheists, I don't want myself to be mistaken for them.

Besides agnostism describes me fine as only thing I know is we can't be sure of anything.

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Compare god belief with the tooth fairy (or ghosts, car key gnomes, whatever):

Do you believe in the tooth fairy?

Can you prove the tooth fairy doesn't exist?

Are you in denial about the existence of the tooth fairy?

I don't believe in tooth fairy (in a way that it surely exists).

Nobody can prove tooth fairy exists / doesn't exist. There's only probability that's between 0 and 1.

I don't say tooth fairy exists or doesn't exist (strong atheist would say that tooth fairy doesn't exist), since I can't prove it.

But existence of tooth fairy (or gods) doesn't affect in my life.

[LuvToFly 0]

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hey maybe we could hijack it. BOOOOOBIES!

Hey some culture worshipped them...

Just think of all those mother goddess paleolithic cultures. Many Many figureines with boobies..

Believe it was probably the whole depiction of a woman that was worshiped. Any less, would have degraded her to a sex object, and that would have reduced the people obsessed with breasts to mindless idiots
Now where have I seen that before?? hmmmmmmm.

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky

[Amazon 7]

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Any less, would have degraded her to a sex object, and that would have reduced the people obsessed with breasts to mindless idiots

Now where have I seen that before?? hmmmmmmm.

Uh the Furor over Janet in the SUper Bowl?????

I am sure both of them are going straight to hell for that....

I cant wait to see the Pat Robertson/ Jerry Fallwell comments on this one...

[LuvToFly 0]

[tunaplanet 0]

I believe one's religeon is something personal and should be kept to one's self.

Forty-two

[metalslug 36]

What about deism ?
The available options dont make allowance for the deist viewpoint.

[LuvToFly 0]

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What about deism ?
The available options dont make allowance for the deist viewpoint.

..knew there would be some type of belief we'd miss... no exclusion intended -

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky

[Nightingale 0]

I guess I'd be closer to a deist than anything...

[Tonto 1]

You're showing your ignorance in option 4.

Buddha was no god. He never proclaimed himself to be a god, and no buddhist worships him as a god or anything else other than a dude with some good idea's on how to stay cool in a world going to shit.

I suggest you follow your god, and leave others to follow theirs, or not - as the case may be.

t

It's the year of the Pig.

[skybytch 273]

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I believe that my relationship with what I believe is God is personal

I don't mind discussing what I believe in person with a good friend... but discussing religion on the internet? Nah. Too many people with too many different beliefs in too many varying degrees of strength and committment. Too easy for the discussion to turn from "this is what I believe" to "this is what everyone should believe" or "your beliefs are ridiculous."

But hey, who knows? Maybe this thread will be different than the other "religion" threads I've had to moderate here. . .

[WrongWay 0]

I'm what you'd call a hardcore agnostic. It may seem strange but I have a belief in some kind of supreme being, but not God by name, though it could be. However, I strongly disagree with strict religions such as Christianity because of many personal reasons, as well as the fact that they recruit. I have no problem with Christians themselves whatsoever, so whoever is gonna slam me for that last comment, I have many friends that are "born again" Christians. If that works for you, awesome, but it doesn't for me, so please don't push it on me.

So there ya go, agnostic and happy.

Wrong Way
D #27371 Mal Manera Rodriguez Cajun Chicken Ø Hellfish #451
The wiser wolf prevails.

[mr2mk1g 10]

Forgive me if I'm wrong but I always understood it that Buddha isnt a God - just a bloke who taught a way of life and Allah is the same entity as "God" just Muslims believe that Mohamed was sent as his prophet whereas Christians believe that only Christ was sent.

[SkymonkeyONE 4]

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I believe that my relationship with what I believe is God is personal

I agree. I also think this is another one of the many, many religious/political/patriotism/etc. threads that I loathe so much about talkback. Nothing turns my stomach more than one group of people bad-mouthing another group simply because they interpret things (written, spoken) differently than one another.

[vonSanta 0]

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Besides agnostism describes me fine as only thing I know is we can't be sure of anything.

Aye. It's an often misused term "agnostic". Most use it as "I don't know whether there is a god/gods or not" and associate it with sorta being in between.

It actually is an epistemological statement as well as a religious one. "I believe that the existence of god(s) cannot be proven. As such, one can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist - it tells nothing about your personal beliefs or lack thereof, except that you do not believe that the existence of god cannot be proven.

agnosticism:
n 1: a religious orientation of doubt; a denial of ultimate knowledge of the existence of god; "agnosticism holds that you can neither prove nor disprove God's existence"
2: the disbelief in any claims of ultimate knowledge (syn: skepticism, scepticism)

Would also like to comment that strong atheists only make up about 2% of the population (source: alt.atheism). The vast majority of atheists just lack a belief in say the Christian deity (or any other deity for that matter) - just like you probably lack a belief in Nirfur, God Of All Things Yellow And Furry.

WrongWay, you'd be an agnostic theist, then. If you want to include your belief in a deity, you gotta add the "theist" bit . And I don't consider your beliefs odd - it's the most sensible approach IMHO, from which you get the benefits without a lot of disadvantages. Organised religion is too easy to turn into population control for my taste, but there are many who disagree and prefer set rules and a good life FAQ.

The use of the term agnostic is a bit of a pet peeve of mine, so bear with me for seeming like a nitpicking tard. Normally I'm just the latter.

Me, I'm gonna keep my beliefs (or possibly lack thereof) to myself

Santa Von GrossenArsch
I only come in one flavour
ohwaitthatcanbemisunderst

[LuvToFly 0]

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Forgive me if I'm wrong but I always understood it that Buddha isnt a God - just a bloke who taught a way of life and Allah is the same entity as "God" just Muslims believe that Mohamed was sent as his prophet whereas Christians believe that only Christ was sent.

You are correct in that statement.

The words used in parenthesis were not meant to be literal, but an example of what people consider to be deity.

Although it may be true to a Buddhist that Buddha is regarded as "a mere prophet," to many in the Western world, he seems more highly revered in that he has statues throughout the world where people congregate, and an entire faith is named after him.

So in terms of names and religions, as Christ became Christianity, Buddha became Buddhism. This does not make him a deity for sure - but it draws the association with deity for a lot of Westerners - to whom this is largely addressed.

You and the other poster obviously know the distinction, and I also trust will anyone who is Buddhist -

Thanks -

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky

[LuvToFly 0]

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I believe that my relationship with what I believe is God is personal

I agree. I also think this is another one of the many, many religious/political/patriotism/etc. threads that I loathe so much about talkback. Nothing turns my stomach more than one group of people motherfucking another group simply because they interpret things (written, spoken) differently than one another.

Not really sure what you are talking about. No ones been jamming anyone else on this thread.

Also, remember the main purpose of the post was the poll. The question was what do you think about the concept of God, not what groups of people do you loathe or hate. I am kind of surprised at folks that have chimed in to angrily say that their religious beliefs are their own business, when no one has asked them for them, or to reveal them. What's that all about? Hey folks, you can just enter your vote on the poll, or cruise and dump out without doing anything. But no one is asking anyone to cough up anything about what you believe.

Having said that, I do think folks have been very respectful of other people's views on here when they have been voluntarily expressed - and the evidence of that lies largely in the thread as a whole -

However, I will say that there are a lot of threads in TalkBack where your use of profanity fits right in with the topic. This is not one of them.

It's like a TV Dude. Do you turn on shows you hate, and sit there and get all pissed off because they turn your stomach?

You just change the channel. If you don't like this kind of stuff, you just don't watch it, right? So, if you are not interested in a way to participate, and it pisses you off, you may want to forego this thread.

"The helicopter approaches closer than any other to fulfillment
of mankind's ancient dreams of a magic carpet" - Igor Sikorsky