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Wifflingpin> What happens if you reach the top and realise that the journey has not been worth it?
Beer_Good>That was my first reaction as well when I read Whiffling's post! :D
What if someone prefers the valleys or the plains?
And how does the saying 'You can take the girl/boy out of valley but you cannot take the valley out of her/him.' saying fit into all this? ;)
Stanislaw Lem once said something that I feel is perfect for this ocasion:
"Once you have reached the top, you realize that every road leads down"
Maybe people are just irational? :D
There's nothing at the top but a view of what you're missing being up there!
So come on all you stream followers, follow them down the hill. It's an easier trek, and I can promise you a beach at the end of the trip! With Ice-cream! :lol:
God is like an ocean. Each religion is like a stream running down to the sea. So follow the stream down. You could leave the stream, but you might get lost. You could find a different stream, but it might be hard. But, eventually, whatever stream you follow, you reach the ocean.
Of course, many people by the stream think only of its refreshing qualities, so they picnic in a pretty spot, and there they stop.
Atheists, perhaps, are those who do not care for streams. There is nothing to stop them from going down to the sea, but maybe no reason why they should, especially as it is deep and maybe full of monsters. They look down on the picniccers, and say, "no thanks - keep your cool refreshing water, we've got our own bottles of brandy." They look at those going down the streams and say that there is no point in going down to a place of mud and seaweed, and they laugh "look at all those bumblers, they can't even agree on which stream is best." Not surprising, since many of the travellers are wasting their efforts on trying to call to travellers in different streams, to tell them they are going the wrong way.
Agnostics wander near the streams, not daring to walk far away, but not daring to get their feet wet either.
Some streams reach lakes and go no further, some turn into foetid swampland, some get culverted and end up behind dams getting pumped into reservoirs - which religions are they? Care to expand? ;)
But a nice switcheroo, nevertheless - respect!
Whiffling, as much as I have enjoyed your allegorical representations of the almighty, they are becoming magnificently redundant.
However, worry ye not, for I bestow unto thee a dancing banana.
:banana:
(In fact, god is like a dancing banana. Indeed! He is, indeed! Ever mocking his own human creations, he is himself a silly reminder of our origin; of our being as apes on enormous ego trips.)
Behold! I give ye! ..........
the dancing banana: :banana:
ThatIndividual,
I think you may be on to something there. It is obvious to me now that my banana allergy only began when I became an atheist!
Perhaps if I were to embrace religion again, I would be able to enjoy bananas once more!
On second thoughts, I never liked bananas that much. ;)
You know that's funny... now that you mention it, I am also mildly allergic to bananas. they give me a dreadful stomach ache (like no other food.)
I am, however, not an atheist. (Takes far too much faith to be an atheist!)
I think there's anough for a thesis here. :D
yeah, that's a good point.Quote:
Originally Posted by beer good
I've been a filthy heathen all my life and weathered 13 years of Religious Education completeyl unscathed.
But on the other hand, i've always tried to be a good person. even in primary school my teacher said how helpful and considerate I was towards the other kids... lots of times I just feel I want to help people and there's no real motivation behind it.. I'm not some kind of goody-goody preacher who tells everybody that being altruistic is a good thing.. it's just something I do and I don't even care if people will help me in return or will be grateful or whatever...
well, hehe, i voted dunno, because I certainly don't believe in the kind of god most Christian denominations would have us believe in. but on the other hand I also believe there's more to human life than just material things or the laws of natural sciences...
--> so, what does that make me (apart from a rambling bore? ;) )
Agnostic or something... not sure... lol anyhow, here's the reason I don't like believing in a God. Even though I loved seeing my Grandma believe in him and everything... it was just marvelous, the reason I don't really like believing in a God is pretty much the same reason. Now this is just one reason, and it's not too major, and as a matter a fact its not even something you have to do. Basically it's putting faith in him, that everything will turn out fine, that everything will turn out spectacular, but the reason I don't want to do that, is simply because it feels sort of like "as long as there is a God and you believe in him nothing bad will happen" or somewhere along those lines, which isn't necessarily true. Well... basically what I don't really like is the fact that it's not you... it's not coming from you... it's not "I know it will happen", it's "I know it will happen because God is with me"... ok... having God with you is good but... I'd rather take the "I know it will happen" because it's just a stronger certainty... it's coming from me, and it's a true feeling... it's not just because God exists, it's just because it simply is and shall be, it's trusting myself, and not God, to make sure that everything will be alright, to know that everything will be alright and with the belief in God, that sort of loses it's quality and uniqueness or something... it kind of feels as if we're in despair and the only reason there's hope is because of God or something... or perhaps... I'm just rambling or something... O.o I don't know.
I absolutely love the first, or maybe its the third Gymnopedies.
I quite enjoy classical music.
have you ever listen to Faure's Pavane.
I prefer the gnossiennes personally, they have a deliciously melancholy tinge to them. If you're ever in Normandy, go and visit Erik Satie's house in Honfleur. It's been converted into a bizarre, surrealist museum. There is quite honestly nowhere quite like it.
I believe that there is no god for the same reason that I do not believe in the existance of fairies. It is merely a matter of common sense.
The idea as you stated it does sound silly, but it's not incorrect. Correctly stated, the position is more like this: in the absence of an all-knowing Being establishing a transcendant law, why should any moral law established by a human being be binding? A law established by a Divine Being carries authority that overrides human dysfunction and "preferrence." Without a larger law above and beyond human opinion, we fall into the trap of having to allow other cultural practices that violate what we morally believe. And, since both cultures' laws were made by men, then neither has priority over the other. As such, we now must allow atrocity.Quote:
Originally Posted by beer good
No - the absence of faith does not mean that the Christian becomes a socio/psychopath; it simply means that the stable, unchanging nature of morality is gone, and I am now free to decide what kind of moral framework I wish to exist within. That's only a good thing if I am a "good" being - but what if I'm not?
Nothing wrong with "living the good life" as long as your idea of "good" doesn't deprive me of my rights and freedoms.
Only under your definition of "common sense." We who believe in God call our view "common sense" as well - so perhaps you've got an argument that differs from mine?Quote:
Originally Posted by Oceallaigh