What's your Religion?

I know. 2012 is going to be the end. I'm going to pack a light lunch anyway.

 

What a hilarious thread! Odd for a truck website, but what the hell. I'll bite...

Atheist. (KABOOM went the world...)

 

The thing that cracks me up about 2012 is the calendar ends. Big deal. What are people 500 years from now going to think when they look back at our calendars? Does anyone have a calendar that goes on infinitely? How about even to the year 3,000? I have watches that only go 20-30 yrs max on their calendars. So is the world gonna end in 30-40 years because those calendars stopped? Maybe the just stopped doing the math to continue the calendar? It obviously was projected out far further than the race itself lived. Maybe it would go to 2212 if they'd lived another 200 years and updated the calendar.

Or:

 

John Cusack is a Scientologist? NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

 

I think the mayans ended it in 2012 because i don't think Mexico is gonna last longer with this economics, corruption, narcs, etc etc.... BTW we have presidential election and congress that year, coincidence?

 

That's cool, if you start the Norse religion back up count me in. We can raid other villages and then listen to led zeppelin in the great hall.

 

Everyone is an Atheist- it's just that someone who calls him or herself an Atheist believes in one less than the person who thinks they are not an Atheist.

Except Pantheists and people who think everything ever is god. And some others who I just cant describe. Those guys are awesome.

 

Actually, there are people who still worship the Norse Gods, the Egyptian Gods, the Sumerian Gods, etc. Various branches and individuals of Paganism.

 

I like cheese... it makes me fart

 

I am Baptist, raised Baptist still am Baptist....I dont attend church frequently...I figure God should understand.

 

Science was not listed as an option. I guess Christians would call me an atheist.

But, I consider Science my religion.

 

Sure, but there are certainly dead religions- that was the point.

 

I suppose it depends upon your use of science.

Do you use science like a hammer or a telescope or an atom-smasher?

Or do you use science like it already has all the answers, and there are no other answers?

Or, do you use it in some other way?

 

Oh snap, I call the Viking Helmet with Horns, and I'll work on getting the skull cups to drink from. We can sail round the horn in search of wenches who drive 4x4s, and even more awesome Tacomas to bring back to the motherland.

 

It's pretty bold of you calling someone elses point of view less valid than your own.

That's judgement, and I dont like judgement. I think you can criticize someone without judging, even though sometimes it's necessary.

 

I read that John Smith went out into the woods with a man considered "challenged" in order to read from some "sacred book" which became a major pillar of their existence? Is that true?

 

My friend lived in a really dangerous neighborhood in the Bronx, and said the only folks who could walk through the neighborhood at night without being bothered were the suit and hat wearing, bible carrying, mormons. They walked without fear, for nobody would F with them.

Until someone shot a bunch of them, and then all bets were off.

 

Raised Presbyterian, and always will be!

 

You lose me when you say you are a religious scientist. However, I like debate with creative, respectful folks. I'll do my best to be creative and argue respectfully as well.

I have a very logical and intelligent friend, christian as well, who said to me "faith is a form of logic." That seems like bending the rules. Logic is a simple rule, true or false. Complex ideas are either made of logical rules, or chaos. Physics is not chaotic in this way, at least, thats my understanding about the world. Random bizarre things do not just materialize. We could, someday, have a very good understanding (nearly perfect understanding?) of the events of any scale.

And just because I have not done experiments prove the validity of something, this does not mean its not possible. You could give me a set of instructions and conditions that anyone could replicate anywhere- and we could get the outcome predicted by the math.

But I ask you to prove the existence or nature of god, the creator, (or at least show the signature or brush strokes) and I await your answer.

This idea of God is not something anyone has replicated. It seems like a personal experience- exactly like a dream or a desire, a wish come true or a hope acted out as a self fulfilling prophecy.

Our brains are set up to protect us- sleep, hunger, breathing- all these are automatically triggered. When "chaos" of the misunderstood or dangerous world is upon us, God is evoked. Crops go bad, disease strikes, thunder and lightning seem larger than life- to a primitive people, this protection makes sense. You're a grown up scientist in the year 2009, and yet you rely on magical stories- and not just any stories- particular magical stories.

How can you allow this when the rest of your life is mechanical and logical? Flip a light switch, and something predictable happens. Light on, burns out, wires cross and start a fire- etc.

To ask a question that has been asked before- did you not stop to ponder why we know it's true that when you drop a broken egg you will not get an egg that's new?

Also, I believe it is the creationist who has the burden of proof. The atheist, me, can sit here and smugly and comfortably say "I have no more reason to believe in a particular god than I believe in Harry Potter as a real boy." The Flying Spag Monster is an example of this. That FSM church has an "old text" that has "prophesy" and it talks about morals and ideas just like the bible. So, it is decidedly the believer's responsibility to bring the truth to the rest of us- unless it is not true or provable.

Perhaps that is the will of God. But I can not believe God would go to such lengths to hide its existence. And if God is omnipotent, then pain and disease prove god to be a vengeful god, full of wrath for the innocent. If god can not stop the pain and suffering, then it is not god! Etc...

And I will leave you with one last thought: Could God microwave a burrito so hot that God itself could not eat the burrito?

Mike