Do you believe in God?

[UKMikey]

Literally quotes by the “beloved” Founding Fathers on this nation & its relationship with Christianity.

 

[Brett]

Literally quotes by the “beloved” Founding Fathers on this nation & its relationship with Christianity.

That would require them to read the bible or any of the Founding Fathers stuff.

 

[Liquid]

Render unto Caesar what is Caesar's, render unto god what is god's.

 

[R55NA]

Don't believe in any God, but I wouldn't mind if there was one. If one day, this looming figure appears in the sky, and its "God", why not? Would make the day a tad more interesting.

 

[Hun200kmh]

Especially if God's announcement related to the imminent end of this litle experiment with basically genetically altered and downgraded celestial beings (by "celestial" I mean alien, of course, God forbid - pun intended - we get spiritual about this)

 

[TRLWNC7396]

We shall see.

 

[TexRex]

lol

No, we shan't.

 

[UKMikey]

If the dead are going to rise from their graves around the time of the Apocalypse, wouldn't that make it a zombie apocalypse?

 

[Danoff]

Cargo cult - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Today I learned about the existence of "cargo cults". These are religions among isolated natives that grew up around the appearance of cargo drops to soldiers stationed near the natives. The natives generally grew to believe that the soldiers' behavior was a form of prayer to a god that would bless the soldiers with gifts of cargo drops to aid them. The natives would then perform the same rituals to these gods in hopes of obtaining the same cargo. These cults grew to include prophets (like John Frum) and came complete with apocalyptic deliverances of cargo at the end of the world.

What's really striking about these cults is that they formed independently among different groups based on the same kinds of input, and it suggests something fundamental about the way that the human mind is vulnerable to religious superstition. Throughout all religions, certain memes crop up repeatedly (such as immortality, and others). What exactly the god is, or how many gods, or what ritual is needed seems much less consequential to our brain latching on a propagating the meme than a more fundamental concept that we all desire - such as immortality. The fact that so many religions crop up, even something as specific as a cargo cult, repeatedly, and that they share similarities which can be tied to the way our minds think, suggests that religion is a sort of computer virus that the human mind is susceptible to. When the right meme comes along, our brains will accept it and spread it. Cargo cults are a neat controlled example of this kind of behavior.

I'm taking all of the above from Richard Dawkins.

 

[Ghost Lap]

We're all going to die one day and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So what happens when you die? Think about it real hard because death is going to get us all one day, every single one of us.

 

[R3V]

Think about it real hard

If we can't prevent it, why?

 

[McLaren]

Think real hard about what? Whatever you're attempting to lean into with that statement, can flow the other way as well.

You didn't believe and there ended up being a God in death.
You were a devout believer and there ended up being nothing.

 

[TexRex]

We're all going to die one day and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So what happens when you die? Think about it real hard because death is going to get us all one day, every single one of us.

I have no dream recollection; as far as I know, sleep for me is uneventful. Why am I supposed to believe death will be at all different?

In the meantime, I choose to not indulge in delusion even as some are so keen to.

 

[Danoff]

We're all going to die one day and there's nothing you can do to stop it. So what happens when you die? Think about it real hard because death is going to get us all one day, every single one of us.

Already has. We were all dead for far longer than we've been alive.

 

[TexRex]

Already has. We were all dead for far longer than we've been alive.

It's an interesting proposition. I expect being dead subsequent to living is functionally no different for the individual from not yet living, but the two are certainly different for those around each of us.

 

[Exorcet]

We're all going to die one day and there's nothing you can do to stop it.

Even this becomes less certain every day. Biological immortality has already occurred in the natural world. It's only a matter of time before it's a genetic engineering project.

 

[Ghost Lap]

I have no dream recollection; as far as I know, sleep for me is uneventful. Why am I supposed to believe death will be at all different?

In the meantime, I choose to not indulge in delusion even as some are so keen to.

You can believe in whatever you believe in, I just think that the question is probably the most significant question you could ever ask yourself, because it's the only thing that you can ever be sure of. I can't ever be truly sure that even my own life is real, it could be like a really detailed dream for all I know, but I can be sure that I along with everyone else will die one day.

 

[TexRex]

You can believe in whatever you believe in, I just think that the question is probably the most significant question you could ever ask yourself, because it's the only thing that you can ever be sure of. I can't ever be truly sure that even my own life is real, it could be like a really detailed dream for all I know, but I can be sure that I along with everyone else will die one day.

This is idiotic. Really, truly, aggressively stupid.

 

[Ghost Lap]

This is idiotic. Really, truly, aggressively stupid.

It's a fact, we're all going to die one day.

 

[TexRex]

It's a fact, we're all going to die one day.

In the meantime, I choose to not indulge in delusion even as some are so keen to.

 

[Joey D]

You can believe in whatever you believe in, I just think that the question is probably the most significant question you could ever ask yourself, because it's the only thing that you can ever be sure of. I can't ever be truly sure that even my own life is real, it could be like a really detailed dream for all I know, but I can be sure that I along with everyone else will die one day.

It was all a dream, I used to read Word Up! magazine
Salt-n-Pepa and Heavy D up in the limousine

Seriously though, this is the kind of take your stoner older cousin has when he's had way too many bong rips before family Thanksgiving.

 

[Danoff]

It's a fact, we're all going to die one day.

Even this becomes less certain every day. Biological immortality has already occurred in the natural world. It's only a matter of time before it's a genetic engineering project.

I think someday there will be a human that is the last human to die. Not because all of the humans a dead, but because the humans stopped dying. I have wondered if I was born within the last few hundred years of immortality. Literally one of the last generations that won't live forever.

 

[Famine]

So what happens when you die? Think about it real hard because death is going to get us all one day, every single one of us.

What happened before you were born? Think about it real hard, because birth has got all of us.

 

[TRLWNC7396]

This is an intriguing conversation. Gives some questions to what and why.

My personal belief is that we lived with God before we were born, as His spirit children. This mortality is another step in our existence, and death, and the life after, are the next step.

We shall see.

Oh, and...

When we are born, we have a 1 in 1 chance of dying. Because, overall, the world wide mortality IS 100% (in the end).

So, what are you afraid of? Dying?

Or living?

Live like you are dying. And enjoy everything you can. It's always good to do so. Even when it's hard.

 

[HenrySwanson]

I can't ever be truly sure that even my own life is real

How do you define "real"

 

[TRLWNC7396]

How do you define "fake"?

Same difference. What you believe is what YOU believe.

It's almost a confirmation bias from the beginning of any argument.

 

[TexRex]

My personal belief is that we lived with God before we were born, as His spirit children.

Why?

 

[TRLWNC7396]

Why not? I choose to.

 

[TexRex]

Why not? I choose to.

Every choice, every decision we make, has some foundation, whether that foundation is rational or not. Why have you made the choice to believe that?

 

[Famine]

we lived with God

Which one?

before we were born, as His spirit children.

On what basis?

Miscarriage must be awfy difficult to explain in this particular belief.

When we are born, we have a 1 in 1 chance of dying. Because, overall, the world wide mortality IS 100% (in the end).

The mortality rate of all humanity - defined by the number of deaths from the condition divided by the number of those affected by it - is 93%.

Live like you are dying.

Probably best to live like you're living. Fatalistic beliefs tend to result in a lack of respect for other people's lives - because they're also dying, so what does it matter if you speed them along a bit? See: literally every newsworthy murder this month for grievous offences like getting into the wrong car by mistake, ringing a doorbell, or tending to your own garden.