Is There a God? - Lol

[Florence]

All is one in Yog-Sothoth.

 

[D.Va]

There is only one God, and He sacrificed Himself in the form of His begotten Son, Jesus Christ. He is Triune: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.

how the hell did you complete account registration

 

[Picklepower]

So my problem is, if there was, which denomination, or religion would the correct one even be? and how would anyone know objectivley? You would have to do years and years of study to even get an idea, and even then, that conclusion could be wrong. I swear I'm not trying to be a fedora tipper here. I would say I'm agnostic.

 

[AnOminous]

Why Pascal's Wager is retarded is it doesn't even consider the possibility that God is actually a huge troll and just for the fuck of it sends you to Hell for believing in Him.

 

[TheFinalBoss]

I think it's absurd how us humans find ourselves so special as a species that we insist our 'gods' are both in our shape and created us in their image. We're basically primates who developed larger brains, and looking at other animals' anatomy shows tons of similarities to ours. Why can't we just see the greatness in the constant struggle of nature and it's organisms? How awesome it was that we won the chain of evolution through millions of years of battling for resources/growth? There's lots of proof for it.

But no, a few mysterious beings no one's ever seen plopped us down on here. Because humans are the shit. I just don't know man. If there was a god, they definitely don't give a fuck about us and aren't worth worshiping anyway, since I doubt there's benefits.

I'd rather just sit back and admire the brutality of the universe as it unfolds. Or pick up Buddhism. Buddhism is chill af.

 

[AnOminous]

My favorite quote about God is probably J.B.S. Haldane's possibly made-up quote that if there is one, He has an "inordinate fondness for beetles."

The vast majority of the biomass on the planet is not human, and there are absurd numbers of insect species, compared to anything else.

Most of these other nearly mindless species will probably outlast us when we use our cleverness to obliterate ourselves.

 

[Cheap Sandals]

See now, you say that but is it simply because it pleases the Christians? Is that the only option available?

I have no religious beliefs and like nearly everyone on the internet, I put a lot of faith in science to inform me of what the fuck is going on. So, if a Christian came up to me and asked, "You know, this whole quantum entanglement thing is kind of fucked up. Nothing travels faster than the speed of light, but two entangled bits of matter can be a galaxy apart and if you measure one and fix its state, the other one changes its state? You niggers even took a paper Einstein wrote intending to disprove this shit and added it to your own papers proving the phenomenon. How is that information being transmitted? Over what medium? How is it faster than c? Are you treating this as true because it pleases you?" I'd mumble something about everything related to quantum mechanics being insane but somehow it just works that way.

There are mysteries and contradictions involved in nearly every human endeavor because humans have an intellectual limit, along with all the other nonsense we bring to the table. So, if there was a divine, arguably a more important phenomenon than two particles talking to one another, I would imagine most information regarding it would be incomplete, contradictory or wrong simply given the limitations of the big-brained monkeys trying to interpret it.

I'll be frank and say I don't fully understand your meaning here. I don't understand why "I can't explain particle mechanics" and "there's a theoretical limit to human consciousness" equates to "there's a creator-god and the incoherence is a feature not a bug".

I kindly disagree. Incoherence is not a feature to me. If there's some magickal, super-amazing, terrific, ultra-powerful, ultra-brainy creature watching me, it's going to have to stoop a little and talk to me in a coherent, normal fashion if it wants my attention. If I'm just so unworthy and disgusting to the point where that's impossible, then obviously this supposedly allpowerful creature is not as skillful, powerful, or effective as claimed. Or I guess I'm so wonderfully powerful in all my stinky glory that its supposed holiness withers before its own creation like a total puss puss. Come on. Show yourself. It'll never happen. Because there is no omniscient, omnipotent being. I'm talking to Nothing.

Are there perhaps being out there that are brainier than us? I would imagine so! Are there beings out there kinder than us? Most certainly! Are there beings out there stronger than humans? Possibly! But is there a being alive that is fundamentally, basically, foundationally Better-With-a-Capital-B than us? No. And any being that approaches me, bodied or disembodied, and says "Hey, I'm Better than you, you loathsome turd, and you better acknowledge that on the daily if you know what's good for you." then I know straight away this being doesn't actually have my best interests at heart. I'd have to be a real self-hater to agree to those terms.

 

[Darndirty]

One thing I've never understood is the idea of god as almost a person, go look at the old testament it's filled with a God that has distinctly human emotions, jealousy, greed, vengence. If there is a God, I imagine it's so far removed from what we imagine it is is that we wouldn't even recognize it. This is why I'm agnostic, human religions are just too human centric for me to give them any credence. Hell we even made a human equal to God out of our own arrogance.

 

[AnOminous]

One thing I've never understood is the idea of god as almost a person, go look at the old testament it's filled with a God that has distinctly human emotions, jealousy, greed, vengence. If there is a God, I imagine it's so far removed from what we imagine it is is that we wouldn't even recognize it. This is why I'm agnostic, human religions are just too human centric for me to give them any credence. Hell we even made a human equal to God out of our own arrogance.

This is why, while I am unsure about the existence of some kind of creator, I am pretty damn sure the sky daddy of Islam, Christianity and Judaism just plain doesn't exist.

 

[ZeCommissar]

Another reason why Pascal's wager is exceptional is because of the fact that you could believe in the wrong god.

Also if it's the Christian God, i'm pretty sure he can see through you just acting like you believe just so you can get into heaven. That's like someone waiting the last 5 seconds to accept Jesus on their deathbed, it would be morally unjust for god to send them to heaven.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

The biblical God had his beloved Israelites committing racial genocide long before the nazis made it cool. I've even seen legitimate arguments that the ten commandments only applied to the chosen people, so little gems like "don't murder" simply didn't count when non-jews were the victims. Enough so to make me believe the torah is not especially less violent than the koran.

But racism and war weren't God's only hobbies, he loved endorsing rape and sexual slavery too.

 

[AnOminous]

One of the bigger reasons scriptural literalism is stupid as hell is that even Jesus often spoke figuratively and in parables.

 

[Pickle Inspector]

So my problem is, if there was, which denomination, or religion would the correct one even be? and how would anyone know objectivley? You would have to do years and years of study to even get an idea, and even then, that conclusion could be wrong. I swear I'm not trying to be a fedora tipper here. I would say I'm agnostic.

How would studying religions even help?

Some people seem to get into the mindset that just because something is old it's inherently more valuable or just because some religions have things in common then there must be some truth in it.

I'd rather just sit back and admire the brutality of the universe as it unfolds. Or pick up Buddhism. Buddhism is chill af.

Well an issue I have with Buddhism is the idea of karma and that people born into rich families or have unusually good looks or whatever must have been great people in a previous life but people born into poverty, warn torn countries or with deformities and illness must have done terrible things and deserve it.

 

[ES 148]

Personally, I quite enjoy thinking there is a giant supernatural eldritch creature manipulating all of us. Not trying to be funny or making a 'lel god is manipulative evil dood lel' joke, it's just a fun thing to think about.

 

[Sinner's Sandwich]

Who needs a god when you have Kiwifarms?

 

[Abethedemon]

I believe in a god. However, I'm skeptical to it existing. If one reads William James, he says that religion is real because it produces real results, and because people are changed and affected by religious motivations, that validates the existence for a god. My god, however, is very panentheistic, somewhat of an all consuming figure that both exists and doesn't exist, both good and bad emanate from it and everyone is somehow reacting to it in some way shape or form. My beliefs are very similar to Kabbalistic interpretations of Judaism interspersed with the occasional reverence for Odin and Freja. I think that since people believed in gods, they become legitimate channels to a greater reality. Even if that reality is false, it is still one constructed by humankind, and I believe humankind to be essentially good.

 

[melty]

Pascal's Wager is exceptional

You could have just stopped there.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

If one reads William James, he says that religion is real because it produces real results, and because people are changed and affected by religious motivations, that validates the existence for a god.

I'm not sure I follow his idea. The story of Santa Claus is used to elicit good behavior from children on the threat of losing their christmas presents if they don't pay heed to it. So Santa Claus can be a useful myth and have "real" power if it succeeds at giving children motivation to be good. But the fact that it works does not validate the existence of Santa Claus. Fictional stories don't become real just because they have the intended effect.

 

[Abethedemon]

Fictional stories don't become real just because they have the intended effect.

I feel like a concept of "deep play" could be a facet here. This very forum is evidence that there are people far too invested in works of fiction. To someone like CWC, Sonic is very much real, and the difference between fiction and reality for him is blurred. An interesting read is the ethnography by Clifford Geertz known as "Deep Play: notes on the Balinese Cockfight" where he states how the symbol of chickens fighting enters into a greater mythos of the phallus and of the island resisting change. The factor of playing a game such as cockfighting becomes such an intense emotion that stakes become ludicrously raised. So fictional characters aren't necsicarily real, but to the people who are so obsessed with them that it causes them to create ludicrous fanart, it is essentially a real force they tap into.

 

[Alec Benson Leary]

So fictional characters aren't necsicarily real, but to the people who are so obsessed with them that it causes them to create ludicrous fanart, it is essentially a real force they tap into.

But... this is a very bad thing. Tuning out reality in favor of an easy fantasy is damaging on multiple levels.