Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirty Harry
I care very much about the god question. The metaphysical is fascinating to me. The are two main differences between you and me. The first is that I want there to be a god and I want to believe, but you seem to want not to believe. It's like you don't want there to be a god. We are similar in that faith alone is not enough to sway us. At least not right now. So whereas neither of us have faith, I at least have hope.
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I echo Beebs here. None of the gods available are worth worship. Even if the Christian god appeared to everybody, and showed he was real, he/it still wouldn't be worth my worship, and I'd still rather rebel and never kneel to anybody, ever. If you are the kneeling to a superior power type, when said deity (at least yet) hasn't proved they are worthy of worship to us, then feel free longing to bend the knee to such a power. I am just not that kind of person, and don't think anybody else should be either. Somebody demanding you kneel to them, throughout history, has general led to terrible atrocities. Gods are no different, as a casual stroll through any religious book will make apparent.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Dirty Harry
I have hope for something other than nothingness after death.
Definitely not the Christian god.
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Who doesn't? You think atheists are happy with just dying after 60-100 years? Just because we wish and hope something would happen, doesn't make it more likely to happen, or lend validation to such a very human (and understandable) hope/wish. Perhaps that is the real difference between us. For a long while, I did wish there was a god, until I was introduced to the idea that having somebody controlling my every move and putting people through so much suffering in life would make such a god, on this planet, a terrible thing, not worth worship.
So again, I ask you to think about certain things here. You want there to be a god, and you want to believe, what implications would that make for this god? Even if it wasn't the Christian god, or any kind of god that we have any knowledge of, what kind of deity would it have to be to put people through so much suffering, for tens and hundreds of thousands of years, disease, rape, starvation, dying of thirst, natural disasters, etc?
With human existence being how it exists in reality, a god worth worship seems almost impossible. Even if he showed up, how would you justify worshiping one who clearly does such a terrible job? Don't you think about these things?