Religion.

Stinkfoot, agreed 100% my friend. Organized religion is something I distance my soul from, but I keep my body and mind close to only because it's wonderful to share the love of God with other people, no matter what the difference in opinion as to what God is, is :tongue: I read the Qua'ran and the Bhagavad Gita on a daily basis, and meditate and pray on japa mala with the names of Krsna as well as Allah, and often refer to God as God. But I see the love of God in everyone, even those who hate the very thought that they may have a soul according to myself or others. Organized religion, in my opinion, causes nothing but seperation (I consider myself Hindu but was reading a Hindu magazine last night, wow, talk about elitism!) but at the same time it is a means with which to share love with God with fellow people. Only, it is getting more and more rare to find actualy devotees rather than frightened, self-interested gold diggers.
Stinkfoot thank you for taking the time to read and reply to my thread with an open mind, you have long had my respect and it only grows with our time spent here. In the end, as long as we cling to being positive and optimistic, help each other when we lose sights of happyness and love, and are willing to take the time to accept each other for our differences, then I believe we are on the right path, however we walk on it and whatever road signs we designate
Namaste! -

 

o so thats why he was such a condecending asshole about my poll. he wanted to be the ONLY one. LMFAO.

 

Are you talking about me?

-I think you'll find your thread hasn't got a poll
-I was only telling you.. because it's a waste of time when there is already this thread

 

Personally I believe in a God, just because i believe that our entire universe didnt just materize out of nothing. Even if you believe in the Big bang, as I do, as an explaination for the Universe, where the hell did the big bang come from. I just believe that if was no type of "higher power at all" then nothing would exist.

 

i agree there's a god. something had to control the way the universe formed so perfectly. i mean look at the earth. how was is so strategically placed far enough from the sun so that we wouldn't melt or freeze. someone must have created the food chain because everything just fits so perfectly. i do not however believe that this god gives a shit if we think of him or not. do animals have religions? no, and neither should humans. i mean ya there alright for the elderly, but when a religion is killing people, i do not think that this is what god had intended.

 

religon is overated

 

Just as something must have created the big bang... something must have created a God... it's not logical to just cut of the infinite regress with a 'God' figure.. how can something have not been created? Maybe the universe has been here forever...

 

Worst argument for God ever.

It's no miracle that everything is 'strategically' placed... the earth had to be a distance from the sun.. the place that it is now allows humans and animals to live... but why is that amazing? it had to be somwhere in the solar system... if it was nearer the sun then perhaps strange plant life that can survive the heat would have grown... if it was further away.. perhaps nothing would have grown.. but just by random, it is in the position you see it today... which led to plant and animal life... but thats no miracle, it's just what came from the earth being where it is.

 

Edyb, your a wonderful person my friend, but your making this more difficult than it surely must be lol :tongue:
Think simpler, because it is only human consciousness that gets tangled in it's own web of complexity and confusion, confounded by the apparently overwhelming nature of universes within universes within universes etc.
Every action has an equal and opposite reaction, right? So, the universe is expanding, that much is obvious. Everything is moving away, out from it's beginning. Eventually, if the laws of physics is what we are basing our perception on, the universe must retract, the expansion will reverse and go backwards. End of the universe, the death of Brahma. This also takes an undestanding that beyond the microcosmic universes within each of our subatomic particles, well beyond even the reflective macrocosmic form (or the Absolute Form of God, if you will), there are more universes, all containted within some sort of substance not yet realized by man for obvious reasons. My theory is that it's a dream matter, but that's just my opinion and not exactly relevant.
What Im getting at is, there only needs be a creator of the creator, someone who created God, if your understanding of God is based off of the limitations of human consciousness, ie, we can only manipulate that which is (imagination) into different fragmentations of the whole. But God in my understanding, IS the whole, as well as the 'fragmentation' which is only so beceause of our dualistic comprehension of parts and figures, mechanics and operations, good and evil, right and wrong, night and day, dreams and reality, etc.
Nobody created God because God is not a 'thing', not a person, not even a spirit. It is beyond ANY thought we may have, and the only way to realize God is to feel it, not physically, not emotionally, but by disconnecting. When you sit for meditation, unplug all of the chords connectnig your sense telephones to the operating system of your brain, a sort of 'nothing' goes on that makes people smile harder than when there tripping on mushrooms. Why is that?
That's the soul, the Kingdom of Heaven within you, the realm of the Buddha, the beginning of the universe, the end of creation, the source of all knowledge, whatever. It's there, doesnt matter what you call it, and in that realm where time and space cease to exist, as well as the identification with the lumpy, bloody mass known as the body and the confused, obsessive mind ridden with desire, a sort of pure innocence becomes your manifested reality.
Self reflection is great if you want a better personality, but soul reflection will show you that all thoughts we have are wrong and right at the same time, because who is judging them? Surely it isn't God.
namaste

 

Actually if your interested edyb, click the link in my sig for my journal, I think I may have made more sense in my latest enrty. I know my writings are a bit long but if you find the time please let me know what you think. The key is mental revolution, always look for yourself
namaste

 

I am a christian and Believe in God to the upmost

Many famous Atheists have set out to disprove God and have only helped the efort in proving it such as: Leee Strobel in the book "Case for a Creator" he discusses the scientific aspects of why there is a God and he completley dismisses any thought I would have ever had of Darwinism. To believe that there is absolutly no Higher Being whatsoever is somewhat ignorant

I would encourage any Atheist to seriously try and Disprove there being a God, I was also once an Atheist but the evidence is to convincing for me to try and fool myself into believing that there is no God

 

I guess I'm agnostic
I'm really spiritually searching.
Recently, I've been getting into a lot of Buddhist readings and it sits really well with me (in my mind, my soul and such)
I'm still not sure though...

 

I doubt most people are fully capable of grasping the concept of God... I'm not sure I'm able to myself. Most religion' depicting a "supreme being" concept infinitely limit how the followers grasp the concept. They get so fixated on the notion that someone is watching their life, counting swear words, and issuing demerits when the vague definition of "sin" is breached that they miss the point entirely. Life is a cup to be drank deeply from. The wisest, most decent, intelligent people I've met are the ones who dared to step outside the rigid dogmatic box imposed by sectarian sets of rules. Others seem to just miss the forest for the trees.

 

I bet the Anunnaki and Nephilim will be coming soon and then you'll see what this "god" really is. 2012

 

it's not a bad arguement, man. i realise things would be different, but take a look around you. how does everything fit so perfectly together? not just temperatures and what plants/animals can survive in those temperatures, but just how the earth formed and all the food we need is readily available. not a bad arguement in my opinion, but whatever you can think whatever you want.

 

No, I'm an agnostic. No one can be sure of anything, we don't know shit, nor should we proclaim to, about the unknown and misunderstood part of the universe. I would like to believe there's something... something beyond us... and I am very interested in spirituality and eastern philosophies... but... I refuse to believe or not believe in something that we can't know.

And being religious is close-minded. Just like attaching yourself to a political party. Or anything, in fact.

 

Idk if you actually read all of this thread, but it seemed most people said they were atheist because they couldn't be proved anything at all. Anything meaning, if there is a God, if there isn't, which religion has it right, etc.. Example, I stopped at "Cogito, ergo sum" so I would ask you how can you prove to me that Christianity is, without a doubt, the only correct religion. Basically you can't. Just like I can't disprove it isn't.

So my views are, if we can't prove anything, why bother? Why not live life as deeply, fully as one can in the moment? That's what I aim to do, hopefully if there is some sort of afterlife that will count for something.

 

This argument will never, ever, end.

Neither side can be proven 100%.
Fucking drop it already.

 

well...i don't quite understand how that even works. sounds mighty uncomfortable. personally i'll stick with smoking, eating or vaporizing my pot, but to each his own, i guess! i'd think the stems would be particularly troublesome...



as for me, i consider myself "spiritual" but not "religious" which is a tired and lousy saying but true in this case no less.

my ideas about reality could be described as fanciful, blasphemous, unscientific, pseudoscience, stupid, or iconoclastic, and i rarely discuss them. however i believe in them to a degree enough to where i must say i am neither an atheist or truly agnostic; i definitely believe in higher powers.

i suppose if i had to put together various words to try and describe my ideas, i'd say i was a polytheistic neopsychedelicist who believes in a supreme being or beings with other divine entities in the mix who do the "grunt work." as far as i'm concerned "god" (the Big One) doesnt really meddle with creation much. more of a unifying, moving, emotional entity by which all things are possible....a creator, and in the end the ultimate void and nothingness by which we are all united.

angels, demons, and "lesser gods," as well as othe divine beings and monsters of our varied legends and tales, are all of essentially the same stock and status. these are the divine powers which i believe to hold more sway in the day-to-day goings on in the multiverses. if you want some actual influence in reality, they are the ones to which i feel it is most sensible to turn.

i believe there is a spirit or soul in almost everything living, and even a type of spirit/energy in many nonliving things (mountains are definitely holy, as is the sky, celestial bodies, oceans, rivers, the earth itself)

i'm open to the idea of a hierarchy of entities, of reincarnation, and the idea of karma. i do not, however, believe that human beings are anywhere close to the top of the chain. in fact, i'd place us quite low. our cleverness and medlesomeness is our greatest downfall.

i believe in multiple universes/demensions/realities, and believe there may be spiritual, and perhaps even physical interaction among them.

i do not believe in any form of "hell" in the western sense.

i believe that just as the divine beings of our existance may soil their spirits and fall, and become very evil, base creatures...well, similarly the lower creatures (like us, animals, forests, plants, mountains, etc.), by merit and virtue, may raise to holier heights, and that while humanity on the whole may be despicable, certain individuals deserve recognition as holy people and in some cases saints or even demigods. for this reason i donot find it wrong to worship/pray to natural forces or creatures, or ancestors or saints.

i believe that nothing can be known as fact, with or without science, and that the heart and soul are more important than mathematics or measurements.

i believe much of reality is illusion, and much illusion is reality.

i believe in a great void of nonexistance, a vision of heaven and peace. a godless, demonless, humanless, emotionless void...pure nothing...no hunger, no pain, no cold, no heat, no thought, no music, no emotion...just peace. an infinite realm of harmony for those lucky enough to reach it for eternity rather than to be allowed a brief glimpse.

i believe psychedelics CAN open up divine windows and doorways, can be tools to reach spiritual ends. i dont think they're for everyone or that they're necessary, though, and i dont think its good to overdo it or to use them for many other reasons than spiritual ones.

i believe christianity on the whole is a dead, lifeless religion. at least for the bulk of christians. its a social club more than anything.

i have no names for deities and do hold faith in or contempt for any deities of any of the myriad religions of this world, present, past, or prehistoric (our earliest historic cultures had very complex belief systems...its foolish to not believe that prehistoric peoples had their own religions....quite possibly in as many or more forms than we currently witness)

while i may have different viewpoints on different modern religions, i believe that anyone who truly believes in something and tries to be a good person and live their faith is a person worthy of praise and honor.

i believe that as nothing can be known for sure, my ideas are just as likely bullshit as those of everyone else, and while my beliefs make my world more beautiful, meaningful, and wonderful, they are probably mostly wildly incorrent.

im not sure that time or space really exist in the way we commonly assume them to.

i think deer are particularly sacred.

i dont think its profane or wrong to worship, honor, praise, or perform prayers or ceremonies for the lesser deities, and find it more sensible than singing songs and reciting prewritten prayers in an expensive building to a deaf an blind (or at least inactive) King of Gods.



but like i said, this is probably all bullshit, and while i live my life with these beliefs, i dont expect ANYONE to take them seriously but me, so i almost never share them with anyone. a number of christians i know would actually be pretty disturbed by them....and i really dont care to try to upset anyone or make them worry about my soul, and i know i wont convert anybody to a hoky nonreligion.

i believe the modern connotations of the word "cult" have almost destroyed an honorable and timeless tradition of small groups of people following teachings and beliefs of a religious nature that simply need not apply to everyone nor to exlude the ideas and teachings of other belief systems...in fact, in ancient times (rome, greece, egypt) the "religions" of the people we read about were not at all unified, but comprised of a multitude of cults. people belonged to one or several, and had favored deities to which they chose to pay homage for whatever reason. in recent times, there have been a number of cases of some people forming such groups to gain self-serving manipulative power over others, and many cult "leaders" have gone mad with power or were simply mad all along. i think publicity of these instances has caused many modern people to think they must either be atheist or stick witht a "safe" established religion, that these are somehow better than "cults" (hmmmm....wait....so how many people made up christ's original "church"?)

i think true spirituality is timeless, indescribable, unknowable, mystical, real, easily witnessed and accessed, and powerful. i believe modern religions are all on a semi-correct path, but fall short of being dead on. i dont believe in one ultimate universal truth such as jesus dying on the cross for our sins the end.

but what do i know....i'm just a young guy with his fantasy-riddled head in the clouds who may have eaten one mushroom too many in the past several years.

either way whatever your faith is, even if you dont believe in god, keep your heart on the right track, behave well, be good to people, BE GOOD TO ANIMALS AND THE EARTH, be as peaceful as you may reasonably be, and live with love, and you are a good person

 

i respect your ideas, but i must say that i think the uncertainty and mystery about us only hints at a greater, more wonderful, more beautiful, more spiritual existance....

as far as i'm concerned if we knew it all, it would take all the fun, the love, and the beauty out of it!