POG Philosophy and Religion thread

[amplify]

You can see from many of mets responses that his concept of being religious does not revolve around believing something, it revolves around doing things.

By contrast many Christians identify themselves precisely as "believers". This is their concept of being religious.

The two approaches interact, people believe things because of ritual, and perform rituals because of beliefs.

[DiggertheDog]

Originally Posted by Mark_K

I think Pascal's wager (and tradition) plays a part in my belief. (Better safe than sorry )

However, God has spoke to me (through other people and/or circumstances) about 5-6 times throughout my life.

Also, I defined several complex and fairly unlikely life goals during my teen years. EVERY single one of these goals have been answered. Almost to the point I'm hesitant to ask God for anything else.

BTW, what would be the smallest thing God would have to do to make you a believer?

Good question. Let me think about it.

[DiggertheDog]

Originally Posted by metsandfinsfan

i could say that the bible predicts the holocaust

i could say it had to happen so the jews would get Israel

I could say that Jews are now more accepted throughout the world because of the holocaust, and it could have been part of a master plan

i am not saying i definitively believe in any of the above. but they are all valid answers

It might be valid - in the loosest sense of the word.

Do you think it is a credible explanation?

and

Do you actually think that the creation of Israel is directly connected to God's plan involving the Holocaust? Above all other explanations?

[well named]

You're all going to hell for having conversations in here while I'm on vacation

[DonkDonkDonkDonk]

bring on damnation! I welcome it with open arms.

[metsandfinsfan]

Originally Posted by DiggertheDog

It might be valid - in the loosest sense of the word.

Do you think it is a credible explanation?

and

Do you actually think that the creation of Israel is directly connected to God's plan involving the Holocaust? Above all other explanations?

1 it's a possibility

2 is harder to answer. When lots of people believe in a prophecy, they can make it happen. christians believing in the prophecy is a big part of the reason that many countries didn't get involved until very late

[metsandfinsfan]

Originally Posted by amplify

You can see from many of mets responses that his concept of being religious does not revolve around believing something, it revolves around doing things.

By contrast many Christians identify themselves precisely as "believers". This is their concept of being religious.

The two approaches interact, people believe things because of ritual, and perform rituals because of beliefs.

Good post

[kcaw]

Originally Posted by DonkDonkDonkDonk

A) evolution isn't at all a question about how things started, that's like saying gravity doesn't explain how our brains work.
B) God is also a scientific hypothesis just like everything else
C) Just because we may not be able to explain itdoesn't mean that there is some sort of intelligent design to it.

I love how ppl gloss over this

[kcaw]

Just because we can't prove God designed us...

[Supine]

and the fact that israel and jews in general have won many wars that they had no business winning

I'm a cool internet atheist, and this is the most disturbing comment for me.

Just 1 example

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Rebellion

[kcaw]

Originally Posted by bsball8806

I just realized that I'm arguing against a religious person

the joke's on me

this is really bad

[kcaw]

Originally Posted by Supine

I'm a cool internet atheist, and this is the most disturbing comment for me.

Just 1 example

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jewish_Rebellion

sure the comment was bad, but if you were a cool internet non-atheist you woulda found other disturbing posts

[DonkDonkDonkDonk]

Originally Posted by kcaw

I love how ppl gloss over this

as they should?

[kcaw]

So you ASSUME that undirected random interactions not only created life(unknowable how such a thing could have happened currently), but also that it somehow magically was able to replicate itself and, I dunno give a few billion years become self-aware.

I don't believe that spontanous generation just happens. I don't care what combo of chemicals under whatever conditions you imagine and giving you any amount of time. I don't believe random elements formed sentient beings. And no one else can either, except for some a priori assumption that all things are explainable due to naturalism.

[Supine]

Originally Posted by kcaw

sure the comment was bad, but if you were a cool internet non-atheist you woulda found other disturbing posts

But those I've seen 1000x before