you're telling me to grow up and you're the one bashing my beliefs. Exactly how mature is that? you are a bigot in the purest sense of the word. the first settlers came to this country to get away from people such as yourself that had too much power.

on that note does it mean order in any way? you have your beliefs.. i have mine.

i haven't lost touch with anything.. i have a firm grasp on reality.. not some imaginary friend or "entity"

however, i don't believe that there is some key aura or whatever that holds all life together. that is where we differ

warmth and love are human emotions.. there is nothing divine about them. you draw warmth and love from the people around you. there is nothing metaphysical to it. as i stated before they are just human emotions.

your opinion.. i disagree.

yes, but your statement implies that there is in fact proof. where is this proof? is it along the same lines as your WMD in iraq theory? there hasn't been any proof lately that they are still there so there aren't any?

i do have faith.. i have faith that there is no higher power or something that binds all life together or whatever it is that you personnaly believe. i do believe that you are correct when you say that we are just a small fish in a giant sea and are insignificant. you are absolutely correct there.

yes i am.. and your statement signifies what i feel is wrong with society. we as a society seek to place blame on something or someone other than ourselves when something goes wrong. i know i'm guilty of it from time to time. the problem is the idea of responsibility in the general populous has all but gone away but that's another discussion all together.

it's not sad at all. it's actually quite fulfilling. i had a very normal childhood. i have a very normal life with a very normal family. i don't have contempt for religion or spirituality, i simply choose not to believe in these things. take it as it is stated and stop trying to read into it.

humble myself? why don't you do the same and denounce your beliefs. i didn't think so.

way to result in namecalling when you don't get your way or don't have the aural capacity to get your point across. :goodjob: please explain exactly how it is that i'm gonna make your life harder.

the fact still remains that i do not believe in a god or whatever you want to call it. i am comfortable with that path and i will be the fist to step up and say "hey.. i was wrong" if i am.. and IMO that's a big if. so please, save the bible thumper attitude and have a legitimate discussion without namecalling or saying "i feel sorry for you" am i gonna sway your beliefs by calling them fairy tales or mythology? probably not. so give me the same courtesy.

 

I never once bashed your beliefs.

Lets take a look at what a bigot means here,

"One who is strongly partial to one's own group, religion, race, or politics and is intolerant of those who differ."

Like I said in a previous post, you can believe what you want. I don't care. Help me understand why you think I am trying to force anyone to believe the way I do?? I am not! One of the great things about this country is that you can believe and practice your religion without persicution. If you knew anything about my faith and persecution then you would have never opened your mouth and called me a bigot! This just goes to show how little you really know, haven't I said this same thing before in a previous post. Do the world a favor and end yourself so you can really find out who is right and who is wrong.

 

Why do people do nice things then. Or is a coincedence that they do something nice.? Emotions had to come from somewhere or something. They aren't just nothing. Seriously, fundamentals, learn them.

 

Death? Well, I am not sure what my exact beliefs are on death. I too believe in Paganism and that there are other workings at hand in somethings that happen to me and somethings that don't happen to me. I some what think that we are reincarnated to something else but I'm not sure if I believe that the reincarnation depends on how we lived our life before. Its said that if you lived an honest, fair, compassionate life than you will be reincarnated to something better than what you were. But if you lived a bad life, lieing, hurting and stealing than you will be reincarnated to something less than what you were. I do not believe that. I believe in "second" chances and no matter what you did or what you said throughout your previous life you get that "second" chance to do something different. Even if you were reincarnated to an animal like an eagle or bear or even a dog. All living creatures go through their own rough courses, hard times and good times.

I however do not believe in a God. I do not believe that there is one thing controlling EVERYTHING. Then when we die if he does not approve of how we lived or lives then our souls are banished forever to misery. I do not blieve that it was one person who told us how we should live our lives morally. I think the beginning people had just as much common sense then as the people do now. I mean did it take God to control the dinosaurs and tell them how to live their lives and if they killed then they went to hell? So does that mean that all carnivourus dinosaurs went to hell and all herbivore dinosaurs went to heaven? I look at death, murder and disease as population control, it may be wrong to kill but how would this world be if people did not die, we would be so over populated, over run with more disease and would have less and less money to take care of things.

I try not to think about things like "Why are we here?" "What is our purpose in life?" "Where are we headed?" Life is too short to think about things like that. Life can be cut short with no warning and no changing it. I believe in living your life to the fullest, however the fullest is, to each is own!

This is a very heavy conversation and people are going to get so rapped into their beliefes that they will get angry and carried away. Lets try to remeber people EriksShadow asked for OUR beliefs not which belief is right and which is wrong!! Take it easy everyone!

 

this is by far the mos hypocritical statement i have ever seen posted on this forum or any other for that matter. just because you belong to a partifcular faith does not keep you from being a bigot. you are being intolerant of beliefs that are not your own. that is the definition you gave correct? so please stop talking out both sides of your mouth.

why is it that emotions had to come from somewhere? that's an assumption based on your belief system. that is not an assumption i make.

 

You don't make any sense at all. You must not no how to read or something because you missed my point. Try reading it again but this time have a dictionary next to you so you can understand what each word means. Even better yet, have someone else read it to you.

So why don't you tell me where emotions came from then? Because they are something, something had to come from somewhere.

 

i'm done with this discussion. it's obvious that you can't communicate on a mature level. enjoy

 

Are you kidding me! Weaksauce.

 

just human emotions is right.

no other animals feel to the extent that we do. explain that? But then again, no other animals build like we do. No animals hurt like we do. But I don't disagree that we're animals. We are.

however, we are aware. That in itself I feel is more than enough proof of God.

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your opinion.. i disagree.

when don't we disagree?

isn't it funny. You're a Conservative athiest. I'm a Religious/spiritual liberal.

doesn't make much sense, if you ask me.

but still, I don't see how you can say science isn't undoing us, when clearly it is.

how ironic that when communication equipment is at an alltime high, communication between people is at an alltime low.

or ironic that a country founded on the basis of God is now the most Godless country in the world.

I do beleive we've done alot of right here. Things like social integration between the races, and giving women equal respect as men have. But we haven't really done those. There's still that racial tension amoung the groups. There's still women in power who aren't taken as seriously. And there's a reason for all of that. Because while we've tried to push on, we haven't. And I feel the problem is because we haven't come to a understanding as a population. I also feel the only way we can come to an understanding is through God. If we all have something in common, it makes us united. Yet, to speak of God in the old ways of faith is the problem. We need to have a new understanding of God, and in the way I understand him, I feel we can unite the major religions of the world, through tolerance and acceptance. And in this country of people from different origins, its hard to be united when we're not comming from one origin. Thats most likely why in other countrys, you can strike up a converstation with some stranger and not have them think you're a fucking looney, or look at a guy and not have them think you're a fag.

but again, science is undoing us. People worship their cell phones, or their cars, or their money, or their computers, or the tv. People don't dream anymore, and if they do, its about power, money, sex, and other such things. Because of TV, we now have a set standard of whats important in life, and thats getting famous, making a check, and having a huge house and other nonsense. Temporaryism......

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yes, but your statement implies that there is in fact proof. where is this proof? is it along the same lines as your WMD in iraq theory? there hasn't been any proof lately that they are still there so there aren't any?

but you're so obsessed with the notion that WMD are in Iraq. Where are they?

but there's quite a difference between weapons and God. And besides, I rather be wrong about the weapons....

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i do have faith.. i have faith that there is no higher power or something that binds all life together or whatever it is that you personnaly believe.

I guess you haven't been reading the other thread. It's a pity, considering how much I can tie togeather between things that arn't directly related.

Metaphore and simily speaks in the same way. In grammar, they allow the conveince of meanings without getting too deep. They say so little, yet speak so much.

so if you can tie unrelated things togeather, isn't that order? Isn't that proof that there is infact something that binds us all togeather?

hell, it would be foolish to say no. there's something that binds all of us togeather: Our minds. Sure, we all think differently, but we all think. What makes you and I the masters of our own mini-universe (ourselves) is what I feel is the total composition of God. We are all just a part of him.

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yes i am.. and your statement signifies what i feel is wrong with society. we as a society seek to place blame on something or someone other than ourselves when something goes wrong. i know i'm guilty of it from time to time. the problem is the idea of responsibility in the general populous has all but gone away but that's another discussion all together.

I don't need to prove to you what I've already seen. The fact is some things happen without an explination. For instance (all hypothetical), you're mom dies in a wreck. Sure there's an easy explination (drunk driver), but think about the events that lead to it. If your mom hadn't been out cheating on your dad, maybe she wouldn't have left the hotel at the same time the drunk left the bar. Maybe they wouldn't have wrecked.

thats what I feel is the funny thing about you.... you already have the answers, but haven't connected the dots. And I say that because you're right about most religions. Unfortunatly, you decided to rebute my veiws without taking into account how I feel about them. Click the link on my signature and read.

things do happen for a reason. If we ignore the signs, and if we continue doing whats "wrong" (and I say that because the only person who knows whats truely right and wrong is you), then thats when we're punished in life. Karma is a truth of the universe. Play by the rules or you're gonna get burned. Its just an old-fasioned approach. Still, its been throughout history, and still remains with us, for a reason. These reasons are because God willed it.

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it's not sad at all. it's actually quite fulfilling. i had a very normal childhood. i have a very normal life with a very normal family.

so whats normal? Thats the worst word you could have used here.

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i don't have contempt for religion or spirituality, i simply choose not to believe in these things. take it as it is stated and stop trying to read into it.

most people who have problems with God usually root it back to either a screwed up life, being pushed into beleiving something they don't, and generally having problems with a select religious group. Thats why I read into it.

however, since you're so "normal," I guess I was wrong.

see, I was atheistic as well. Being raised catholic, I thought the whole idea of faith was retarded.

I'll be the first to say my family, while "normal," is completely fucked up. I honestly think we're all fucked up in some way or another. Its just some people are less likely to admit their faults. Which is a big step in living a fufilling life.

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humble myself? why don't you do the same and denounce your beliefs. i didn't think so.

because I already did. I renounced catholisim, and went my own way. But God had other plans, and pulled me along through this pool of shit that has made my life for the past couple years. You wouldn't beleive the things I've seen. The people I've met. The drugs I've done. All the fucked up things that make me, and my life.

but the ironic thing is all this brought me closer to god. Why? Because of all the twists of fate I've gone through. Do you have any idea how many times I should have been arrested for posession of pot? At least 3 times, one of which was when I was pulled over by a state trooper while I was carrying a quarter-pound of weed with me (and I was smoking in the car, so it reeked. Not to mention I was nervous as all hell).

and love. Love is very important to me. Its like all my life I've been looking for the girl I want to marry. I've screwed up with women, and I've been screwed over by them, as well. But the ironic thing is the woman I love (who loves me just as much, if not more) has the same traits as me, but different opinions. And her birthday is the day after mine. Hows that for coincidence?

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way to result in namecalling when you don't get your way or don't have the aural capacity to get your point across. :goodjob:

hey, you know me. I'm still the same person who posts the same things in that other thread about Iraq. I still name-call. I'm just as human as you.

the thing is, we all name-call. Its just wether we actually say it or not that makes the difference. I'm sure in your head, you probably think I'm a fucking idiot for being so stupid with how I feel on things.

but I feel the only fucking idiots in the world are those who ignore God. Or those who beleive in multiple Gods. The fact is, there is only one God, and he is all, and it just breaks down from there into a series of Good and Bad, Man and woman, action and reaction, ebb and flow.

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please explain exactly how it is that i'm gonna make your life harder.

Well, I said "because of assholes like you. You're gonna make my life harder."

I didn't nessisarily mean you as in only you. So much as you as in people who think like you.

but the fact is God put me through these trials and tribulations for a porpous, and while I'm not positive on that porpous and the details of it, I'm pretty sure it has to do with trying to get everyone on the same level.

Sure, it sounds self-centered. I'd be a moron to say it isn't. But in my life, with the things I've seen, I've been able to do what people haven't as far as relating things. Its my specialty. So I feel my porpous in life is to preach the word of God, but in a different light then what has been done in the past.

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the fact still remains that i do not believe in a god or whatever you want to call it. i am comfortable with that path and i will be the fist to step up and say "hey.. i was wrong" if i am.. and IMO that's a big if.

yeah, thats what I was figuring. And the fact is, I really don't care about you. You're not really in my life save for type on a computer screen. If you don't want to beleive in God, thats your perogative. But that still doesn't stop me from thinking you're a fucking idiot.

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so please, save the bible thumper attitude and have a legitimate discussion

first of all, I'm no bible thumper.

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without namecalling or saying "i feel sorry for you"

secondly, I'm a 21 year old punk-ass who challenges athourity, and have only been in this state of mind I'm now in for what, 6 months to a year? Imagine how I'll be 5 years from now with a degree in philosophy and my eyes twords the end.

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am i gonna sway your beliefs by calling them fairy tales or mythology? probably not. so give me the same courtesy.

for someone who doesn't beleive in God? No. Not that forgiving.

 

That's a sad attitude for someone who professes such a deep spiritual way of life. It's no wonder we are such a "godless" country if "religious" people have such a close minded and unforgiving nature. I'm sure that's exactly what Christ was striving for.