"God is omnipotent, omniscient, and omnibenevolent" (hell, prophecy, atheism)
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I've studied the history of religion on my own time. I also own+read copies of the Tao Te Ching, the Analects, the Mencius, the Chinese Book of Songs, a collection of Hadiths, and a book on religions by Huston Smith. I've taken a class on Islam, an anthropology class, and a cultural geography class. I have a degree in history with a minor in geography.
There might be some difficulties, but the idea a person educated in the subject will automatically think as you is the height of arrogance.
No. Nevertheless, many have & have come to the opposite conclusion you have.
And you believe them? Are you afraid to do your own research and discover that it's all a huge fraud? Afraid you'll learn things that will shake your faith? Well you should be afraid.
There are times where an appeal to authority is valid or at least necessary. No one can be an authority in all things so you may need to believe an expert in a field you are unfamiliar with or at least a consensus of said experts.
Quote:
Originally Posted by sanspeur
Are you afraid to do your own research and discover that it's all a huge fraud? Afraid you'll learn things that will shake your faith? Well you should be afraid.
Petty insults and appeals to your own alleged superiority don't prove much.
To view religion as "all a huge fraud" is basically demeaning to human culture and society. Even religions that I don't think are true, like Hinduism, are not "frauds."
The idea learning things could "shake faith" is a bit more valid depending on the faith and depending on the terms. Still for me nothing I actually believed has ever really been shaken by anything I've learned. Things I never really believed, but that might seem required for what I do belief, has perhaps been shaken at times. Reconciling pre-Vatican II encyclicals with what I was taught/believed can at times be tricky, but I don't know which encyclicals are considered infallible. The things on Moses and El here were mildly distressing, but don't really say much about the actual beliefs I ever held. (And I still think are somewhat debatable anyway)
What I've learned of atheism in my decades of reading atheists is that I'm not interested in atheism. People like Asimov made atheism seem like a fun, if rather egocentric, way to live but the "New Atheists" really showed me how truly inhuman and unpleasant atheism is when taken to its logical conclusion.
And you believe them? Are you afraid to do your own research and discover that it's all a huge fraud? Afraid you'll learn things that will shake your faith? Well you should be afraid.
Whether I believe them is not the issue. The fact they exist is the issue.
That is your opinion. It is not clear to everyone. You are not 100% sure God is man-made.
Superstitions are frivelous actions whose purposes are to change or provide an expected outcome. Superstitions do not work.
su·per·sti·tion (spr-stshn)n.1. An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome. 2. a. A belief, practice, or rite irrationally maintained by ignorance of the laws of nature or by faith in magic or chance. b. A fearful or abject state of mind resulting from such ignorance or irrationality. c. Idolatry.
This God character fits in there quite easily. I know God doesn't exist. That's clear. That's why I specifically call myself an atheist.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Isaac Asimov
I am an atheist, out and out. It took me a long time to say it. I've been an atheist for years and years, but somehow I felt it was intellectually unrespectable to say one was an atheist, because it assumed knowledge that one didn't have. Somehow it was better to say one was a humanist or an agnostic. I finally decided that I'm a creature of emotion as well as of reason. Emotionally I am an atheist. I don't have the evidence to prove that God doesn't exist, but I so strongly suspect he doesn't that I don't want to waste my time.
-- Isaac Asimov, in "Free Inquiry", Spring 1982, vol.2 no.2, p. 9
Quote:
Originally Posted by Adam Carolla
Just to be clear: I am not agnostic. I am an atheist. I don't think there is no God, I know there is no God. I know there is no God the same way I know many other laws in our universe. I know there is no God, and I know most of the world knows that as well, they just won't admit it because there is another thing they know. They know they're going to die. And it freaks them out. So most people don't have the courage to admit there is no god and that they know it. They feel it, they try to suppress, and if you bring it up, they get angry--because it freaks them out because life is filled with tragedy and it's filled with worse than tragedy--the unknown. --Adam Carolla Source
Asimov seemed to indicate it was partly an emotional thing, which surprises me a bit, and Adam Carolla is well Adam Carolla. He co-hosted The Man Show and is a Community College dropout, not exactly an authority on "the laws in our Universe" or anything.
On other points "magic" is based in the notion that humans can invoke and control supernatural forces. Although some Biblical statements might seem to imply something like that, generally the Bible is quite clear people can not control supernatural forces to do whatever they wish. Nor is God or miracles deemed purely random. 2 c is something that can be open to widened interpretation. From some perspectives the pleasure scientists get from their devices is idolatry or a person keeping their classic car in mint condition is idolatry or watching movies is idolatry.
The first one "An irrational belief that an object, action, or circumstance not logically related to a course of events influences its outcome" could appear to fit God or religion if you look at it certain way, but doesn't if you look at it another. It depends on how you define "irrational" and "logically related."
Last edited by Thomas R.; 05-31-2010 at 10:07 PM..
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