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Author Topic: Drew Richmond credits God for going to OM  (Read 20284 times)
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SmokeyJoe
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« Reply #25 on: September 11, 2014, 05:54:14 EDT »

Creek walker, and bandit: trust me, I know the concept of God is deeply rooted and complex. I have studied it, not only from a Christian perspective, but from a Hindu, Muslim, and Buddhist perspective as well. Buddhism is an atheistic religion anyway. My parents were Hindu but they never forced me or indoctrinated me into religion. It was always my choice.

The concept of something coming from nothing... Technically, nothing (truly nothing) cannot even be defined or shown. One cannot say "Something cannot come from nothing", because no one can define or show what truly "nothing" is. If one were to say "God" created it, then what created God? Is he "nothing"? We truly cannot comprehend it, but my approach isn't to just put it on faith, I'd rather just say I don't know, but if we will ever find out, we'll find out through science. Not sure it will happen.

Most scientists advocate the big bang theory because it is the closest thing we have to an explanation, based on scientific observations and mathematics. I can accept it.

You know, if we want to actually understand why we are here, we should consider the 4 universal forces - strong, weak, EMF, and gravity. Without gravity, the galaxies and stars would not have formed and there would have been no life. Gravity truly created us. 

I'm not a spiritual guy in the religious sense. I do medidate daily and it's excellent for health purposes and to clear the mind. I don't believe in faith, destiny, an afterlife, or that "everything that happens has a purpose". I think the universe works on cause and effect, and everything has a beginning, is preserved, and ends. Everything. I don't think humans are any more special than any other form of life. I don't think that we're all that important in the grand scheme of things. Some of the philosophical concepts behind Hinduism do ring true with me, but I don't subscribe to the higher power aspects of it. 

Maybe the whole thing is just a big ass experiment.

Well said Nut. Allow me to put it in very simple terms. People are afraid to die. They want to believe life does not end beyond all reason, logic, evidence. The most devout Christians will often say (paraphrasing) "life is tough, but it is better than the alternative"... in other words I don't think anybody is all that sincere in their faith, but they want to believe, and undoubtedly some are convinced.
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JeffCountyVolFan
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« Reply #26 on: September 11, 2014, 06:46:45 EDT »

Well, that isn't fact. That is your belief. A fact has to have tangible proof to back it up.

 I can respect your belief, but I don't agree with you on that. I don't mean offense.


No offense taken.  Maybe would have been more agreeable to you if I had said "You seemed to mock the 'idea' that God would see one human as being relevant.."

I believe that God finds us all relevant.  That is my belief.

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Creek Walker
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« Reply #27 on: September 11, 2014, 06:47:23 EDT »

Well said Nut. Allow me to put it in very simple terms. People are afraid to die. They want to believe life does not end beyond all reason, logic, evidence. The most devout Christians will often say (paraphrasing) "life is tough, but it is better than the alternative"... in other words I don't think anybody is all that sincere in their faith, but they want to believe, and undoubtedly some are convinced.

I knew a gentleman in his late 60s who was diagnosed with colon cancer last year. It was advanced and the prognosis wasn't good. His doctors wanted to start him on chemo and radiation treatments...they said it would give him a few more months to spend with family and would help ease the symptoms. His exact words were, "Are you nuts? I've been saying for years that I want to meet my savior. Why would I want to take medicine just to buy a few more months on this earth?" He lived happily and peacefully right up until the day he died, despite his cancer.

I don't know if I would be so strong if faced with similar circumstances, but I know many who have been. You're just as guilty as 'Nut is of stereotyping something you really don't understand. It's easy to broadbrush modern Christians and say they're just clinging to faith because they're afraid to die. But, really, it goes back to the historical record we have of the church's beginnings. The historical record tells us that several of the 12 disciples to Israel died pretty terrible deaths because they would not renounce their faith and "admit" that Jesus Christ was a fraud. These were men who walked with Jesus during his time on this earth; men who claimed to have seen him alive and well after he was dead and entombed and his corpse disappeared. They knew first-hand whether their faith was real. And they walked to their death unashamedly and, presumably, without fear. If the Christian faith was a sham, if everything that Jesus claimed to be true when he walked the earth turned out to be false and ended when he died, would those men have been willing to face execution themselves? It's one thing to stand by something you THINK is true. It's probably not too hard to stand by something you KNOW to be false but you're looking out for the reputation of someone who was a friend. But to KNOW that it's a sham and go to your death anyway? I have several good friends -- none of whom I would allow myself to be crucified for to protect their reputation while knowing they aren't who they said they are. The faith of the first Christians speaks volumes about Christianity.
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Volznut
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« Reply #28 on: September 12, 2014, 02:11:00 EDT »

Well said Nut. Allow me to put it in very simple terms. People are afraid to die. They want to believe life does not end beyond all reason, logic, evidence. The most devout Christians will often say (paraphrasing) "life is tough, but it is better than the alternative"... in other words I don't think anybody is all that sincere in their faith, but they want to believe, and undoubtedly some are convinced.

Well, that is a mystery to many, and yes, people are scared of death. To me it's just a part of life, everything has a life cycle. We're not special.

I have been asked before what I as an atheist believe happens to us after we die, and my answer is always, we cease to exist. In a sense, it is what it was like for us before we are born. To me that's just natural.

People also believe what they want to believe.

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Volznut
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« Reply #29 on: September 12, 2014, 02:14:08 EDT »



I don't know if I would be so strong if faced with similar circumstances, but I know many who have been. You're just as guilty as 'Nut is of stereotyping something you really don't understand.

If I don't understand it, I will say so. Of course there is a ton I don't understand. I would never claim to, and I would never say oh well, it's God, he works in mysterious ways.

 As for stereotypes, They usually come from experience. I know they don't hold true for all. Not much does.

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