I dont mean to bring this topic to life again, Purrfect, But how in the world are you a minority in not believing in God? Only a handful of people I know really believe in God. Our nation is spiritually poor, and its a joke to pretend like you're the exception. Stop kidding yourself.

Kinda funny when you say no one you know believes in God. Three thousand years of scriptural history talks about an adversary, the devil, who believes in God. I didn't say 300 years. In the most primitive societies thruout history, even the most obscure pagans, inherently and intuitively sense God, even it be distorted.

In just the city where I live, (Lake Forest area) my wife and myself are involved in a Evangelical Christian Church with 80,000 members. http://www.saddlebackchurch.com

Ray Bradbury often stresses: God thumbprints Thee with a particular character. Be not another. Not grandfather nor mother or father. You are unique....

Not a god, but a prophet. He interprets life and the human experience, he does not create it.

quote:

Originally posted by WildGravity:
...But how in the world are you a minority in not believing in God? Only a handful of people I know really believe in God. Our nation is spiritually poor, and its a joke to pretend like you're the exception...

According to a BBC poll, 10% of Americans do not believe in God. According to a YouGov poll, 40% of British people do not believe in God. (Source.)

To stay on-topic: I do not believe in God, but I do believe in Ray Bradbury. Therefore (to me) Ray Bradbury is not a God.

A belief in a god, be it God the Father, Thor, Ra or whatever you want to name it, allows for "magical" things to be explained quickly. "It's god that performed this miracle." If the situation is bad, "it is the will of god (we have angered the gods)." That's all you have to say. No research required. No more thought needed. And should you dare to dispute what was said, you are an infidel or a fool and should probably not be allowed to live. And throughout history, it has been a battle of "my god vs. your god". Christians vs. Jews. Muslims vs. Christians. Catholics vs. pretty-much-everything. A case might be made for: "no god = no war".

We godless types do not feel a need to go rattling our swords. We pretty much live and let live.

I should have known that the people of faith would try and get all up in my grill. Goes with the territory.

It's been noted here before, but more intelligent folks than any of us on the old board-a-roony here have come to take either position and write about it very thoroughly, coherently, and convincingly.

______

As a Christian, my understanding of God is ruined by some basic activities:
Fornication
Adultery

I become blind!
Never thru my strength or ability or trying so gosh darn hard prevents me from that blindness. If Jesus Christ, who had the power to overcome all these things, lives in me, only then do I have any power to deal with myself...
_______________________________

Yup. A quote from Proverbs that's sure to be popular with modern Americans:
"Trust in the LORD with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding." (KJV)
So said Solomon, the epitome of Wisdom. But of course, we're so much more enlightened than our ancestors.

I love this. My point is once again illustrated.

If you want to retain control of a group of people, of COURSE you're going to tell people to not "trust" (believe) their own research or study! That would fly in the face of what your god has told you thru whatever magical means. You would need to maintain, filter, manipulate and control all the information the group receives or doesn't receive.

Sounds conspiratorially familiar, yes?

Motive?

Peter, the apostle, had something to say about this:
In 1st Peter he writes:
"Christ never sinned, and he never deceived anyone. He did not retaliate when he was insulted. When he suffered, he did not threaten to get even. He left his case in the hands of his Father, who always judges fairly."


Braling II: I often think how difficult it is, no, impossible, for those (like myself a few years ago) to see anything but what our brains and emotions and nature tells us. In that, we are trapped. We only think what are brains and emotions permit us. I never knew that it was God that first must take the initiative. The most fundamental concept or the smallest smattering of knowing God is a gift from God. Author C.S. Lewis finally came to grasp that meaning, tho late in life. J..R.R. Tolkien wrote about it in the Lord of the Rings. Robert Louis Stevenson wrote about it. Even New Yorker bad boy Normal Mailer is on a personal journey to discover the God of scripture. Did you see his latest book? There are a lot of poeple in the media who woke-up. Stephen Baldwin, actor of the famous Baldwin brothers, 'woke'-up' after the bombing of the World Trade Center and gave his life to Christ, and has perhaps the largest Christian ministry focused on skateboarders. But he has a younger brother that is falling thru life without a paraciute. Stephen's bad boy lifestyle that he lived, he now, uses his then life as an example of a man in sin. Chuck Norris loves to preach Christ. He has a great example. Ther are many othjers. Jane Fonda is an example of someone with so much baggage that she is having a tough time understanding Christ. No one said it was easy.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: Phil Knox,

Motive remains the same for most people: power and/or money. Makes people feel good about themselves.

If we feel we aren't our best, we tend to be dismissive of others. That is not to say that any of us are better or worse than anyone else. It's just the way some people feel.

Personally, I find that I can learn something from anyone. And I usually do.

The new testament has a lot of admirable writings. Let's not forget that that same "father" is also the one who gets credit for global destruction in the flood of the old testament AND there's the matter of Sodom and Gamorrah (sp) and Jericho and Egypt....doesn't pay to piss off the gods. :-)

Don't get the gods angry? Let's not forget that the same Father is the one that also was also happy to crush his Son, Jesus Christ.

(That's the exact words used in scripture, crush, and happy!)

Really? "Happy"? Wo! Well I think Jesus was a good person. I say anyone that turns water into wine can't be all bad. "And here's to another wonderful day!" (burp)