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Do You believe in God ?

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 13.17
by eddie gallagher
Is it not a bit naive to believe in God given that spirits are all around us ? I know you're not really supposed to discuss this matter, or rather that people don't like to, so if you're uncomfy with this thread then why not just vote in the poll.

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 16.10
by cwathen
In a word 'no'. I think the concept of religion is possibly the single largest remaining caveman belief the civilised world has yet to shake off.

Quite how a large percentage of the world can believe in Christianity, a religion based entirely on a book, written 2000 years ago (and for the old testament, more than 2000 years ago) by underdeveloped humans barely on the brink of civilisation, and then not only that, but passed down and down, translated in and out of different languages, and then even what was undoubtedly still claptrap at the time is now bastardised claptrap - yet people live their lives by it; even when so many of the things in the bible which are attributed to God have now been disproved by modern science, and I have no doubt that over the hundreds and thousands of years to come, as humanity develops further, it will eventually be able to explain away everything in the bible.

I have yet to see a single Christian truly able to qualify their beliefs. If you ask one 'why do you believe in this rubbish', whilst the wording of the response you get will vary greatly both in content and delivery the answer they give is always a roundabout way of saying 'I believe in God because I do. So there'.

Relgion serves two main purposes, as an instrument of control, and of a comfort to the fear of dying (which for most people, and I would venture to say the vast majority of healthy people, is the single biggest fear a person has - such a powerful fear that few people will be willing to talk about it to any great length).

Religion has claimed the lives of more people in the world than any other cause. Quite why it still exists anywhere other than in underdeveloped third world countries I don't know.

As you may have guessed, I'm an agnostic and proud of it.

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 16.39
by iSon
Religion is awful. It's a very contradictory belief anyway.

A debate at my old college "Creation Vs Evolution" by a Proffessor from Leicester University or what. It seemed interesting, but he was a total nutcase. I am not joking. He believed that dinosaurs still existed in the congo, and if they didn't it was because noah couldn't fit them on his ark!! I mean, honest to goodness...he was standing up at the front telling this in all serousness.

Most questions that contradicted his belief was answered with "Read the holy bible and the good lord shall make himself known..."

Utter tripe. I don't mind people having religious beliefs, the church has come a long way in the sense that the church itself allows non-believers to have their own thoughts and opinions instead of trying to force religion onto everyone.

However, sadly, idiots like the one at my college who wasted an hour of my life with his rubbish - still exist.

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 17.03
by Pete
I do not believe in it, I think it's a load of old clap trap, like Ison.

People do, however, ask me why I celebrate Christmas. Well it's because I celebrate a true festival to the joys of capitalism, you get poor, others get rich. It sums up our modern lives so wonderfully.

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 17.20
by TVDragon
cwathen wrote:As you may have guest, I'm an agnostic and proud of it.
Well I've always agreed with you almost completely on this subject, so I can't really add to that. But you put agnostic -- so do you still keep an open mind about it all, after what you wrote?

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 17.45
by Marcus
Ah yes, I often get told off about celebrating Christmas. So I tell them "It's an excuse to get presents and have a piss up". Then I ask them why they celebrate it. After a moments hesitation (because they forget why) they reply, "Because it's our saviours birthday". Cue laughing.

Aren't any religious people going to defend their outdated beliefs?

Don't forget that Christmas is a pagan festival celebrating the winter solstice which the christians pinched.

So celebrate in style.

Posted: Fri 06 Feb, 2004 19.44
by cdd
Well, one thing's for sure, if there is a God, he's always against me!

Anyway, it's a shame there isn't an option such as "Open Minded" in that poll - I'm not one to dismiss something many people believe in and something that's been about for many, many years.

As it stands I'm probably closer to "No" because there's no proof at all for it. And I agree with so many of Sigmunds points: the whole idea of christianity is often completely contradictary. Another point against is the whole fact that there are so many religions. And there are so many points in the bible which I strongly disagree with.

But for me to drop something so large like that would be absurd, and I believe that perhaps there may be an element of truth behind some of what the Christian Bible says. And surely the fact that there are so many religions can <b>also</b> count in favour, since although it may have been distored wildly between religeons the base concept is the same.

<pre>The Scale of Religeousness

1 5 10
------------------------
<> I am here</pre>

Posted: Sat 07 Feb, 2004 01.32
by cwathen
TVDragon wrote:
cwathen wrote:As you may have guest, I'm an agnostic and proud of it.
Well I've always agreed with you almost completely on this subject, so I can't really add to that. But you put agnostic -- so do you still keep an open mind about it all, after what you wrote?
Wrong word, I meant to say athiest.

Posted: Tue 10 Feb, 2004 17.50
by Anonymous
cwathen wrote:
TVDragon wrote:
cwathen wrote:As you may have guest, I'm an agnostic and proud of it.
Well I've always agreed with you almost completely on this subject, so I can't really add to that. But you put agnostic -- so do you still keep an open mind about it all, after what you wrote?
Wrong word, I meant to say athiest.
Which somewhat undermines your original statement if you don't actually KNOW what you are. And you're proud to be confused?

It's what it looks like to me.

Posted: Fri 13 Feb, 2004 10.34
by cwathen
It is beyond belief how far some people will stand by their faith so blindly. Last night I was listening on Radio Devon (or rather 'BBC local radio for the west, south west, channel islands, and isles of silly' - yes it was that time of the night) to a phone in debate about the possiblity of embryo cloning to help see if it's possible to prevent debliatating conditions such as Parkinson's disease, and maybe even cancer eventually.

On came some bible bashing idiot claiming that it's wrong because the allmighty God has everything planned out for us and we shouldn't interfere with it. OK, that wasn't totally unexpected. What did cause my mouth to drop open was when he revealed that he had a serious disease (I think it was Parkinson's but if not it was some other serious debilitating condition) and treatment he'd received to control it has taken 20 years off his life, never mind the other years that will be taken off his life because of the condition itself.

He then went on to proclaim 'I'm able to say "Thankyou God, I accept what you've dealt me" because I know it's for my greater good'. Umm, I was speachless to say the least and it took several minutes to comprehend what he had said.

How anyone can hold onto beliefs like that these days is beyond me (and incidentally, I also don't understand people against this proposal. Cloning humans with the aim of creating two identical people is one thing, cloning embryos to try and cure disease is quite another. Such people are in the same boat as these idiots who claim we shouldn't legalise voluntary euthanasia because it's obviously much better to let people die of terminal cancer with no dignity and in excrutiating pain than give them the chance to end it earlier).

Posted: Sun 15 Feb, 2004 19.09
by tillyoshea
cwathen wrote:he revealed that he had a serious disease (I think it was Parkinson's but if not it was some other serious debilitating condition) and treatment he'd received to control it has taken 20 years off his life, never mind the other years that will be taken off his life because of the condition itself.
This is an incredibly irrational belief - how can some forms of treatment count as interference, and others not?

My beliefs are roughly aligned with those of Gill Grissom...I believe in God, but not in religion.