I do not believe in the god touted by religions but I do hope there is something more powerful out there. For right now I have to accept the null argument (there is no god); Without proof I cannot accept the contrary. There is a little part of me that hopes that existence or life is something like the short story "The Egg" by Andy Weir. It is an excellent short story and worth the read and its in the spoiler below for anyone interested. Spoiler The Egg By: Andy Weir You were on your way home when you died. It was a car accident. Nothing particularly remarkable, but fatal nonetheless. You left behind a wife and two children. It was a painless death. The EMTs tried their best to save you, but to no avail. Your body was so utterly shattered you were better off, trust me. And that’s when you met me. “What… what happened?” You asked. “Where am I?” “You died,” I said, matter-of-factly. No point in mincing words. “There was a… a truck and it was skidding…” “Yup,” I said. “I… I died?” “Yup. But don’t feel bad about it. Everyone dies,” I said. You looked around. There was nothingness. Just you and me. “What is this place?” You asked. “Is this the afterlife?” “More or less,” I said. “Are you god?” You asked. “Yup,” I replied. “I’m God.” “My kids… my wife,” you said. “What about them?” “Will they be all right?” “That’s what I like to see,” I said. “You just died and your main concern is for your family. That’s good stuff right there.” You looked at me with fascination. To you, I didn’t look like God. I just looked like some man. Or possibly a woman. Some vague authority figure, maybe. More of a grammar school teacher than the almighty. “Don’t worry,” I said. “They’ll be fine. Your kids will remember you as perfect in every way. They didn’t have time to grow contempt for you. Your wife will cry on the outside, but will be secretly relieved. To be fair, your marriage was falling apart. If it’s any consolation, she’ll feel very guilty for feeling relieved.” “Oh,” you said. “So what happens now? Do I go to heaven or hell or something?” “Neither,” I said. “You’ll be reincarnated.” “Ah,” you said. “So the Hindus were right,” “All religions are right in their own way,” I said. “Walk with me.” You followed along as we strode through the void. “Where are we going?” “Nowhere in particular,” I said. “It’s just nice to walk while we talk.” “So what’s the point, then?” You asked. “When I get reborn, I’ll just be a blank slate, right? A baby. So all my experiences and everything I did in this life won’t matter.” “Not so!” I said. “You have within you all the knowledge and experiences of all your past lives. You just don’t remember them right now.” I stopped walking and took you by the shoulders. “Your soul is more magnificent, beautiful, and gigantic than you can possibly imagine. A human mind can only contain a tiny fraction of what you are. It’s like sticking your finger in a glass of water to see if it’s hot or cold. You put a tiny part of yourself into the vessel, and when you bring it back out, you’ve gained all the experiences it had. “You’ve been in a human for the last 48 years, so you haven’t stretched out yet and felt the rest of your immense consciousness. If we hung out here for long enough, you’d start remembering everything. But there’s no point to doing that between each life.” “How many times have I been reincarnated, then?” “Oh lots. Lots and lots. An in to lots of different lives.” I said. “This time around, you’ll be a Chinese peasant girl in 540 AD.” “Wait, what?” You stammered. “You’re sending me back in time?” “Well, I guess technically. Time, as you know it, only exists in your universe. Things are different where I come from.” “Where you come from?” You said. “Oh sure,” I explained “I come from somewhere. Somewhere else. And there are others like me. I know you’ll want to know what it’s like there, but honestly you wouldn’t understand.” “Oh,” you said, a little let down. “But wait. If I get reincarnated to other places in time, I could have interacted with myself at some point.” “Sure. Happens all the time. And with both lives only aware of their own lifespan you don’t even know it’s happening.” “So what’s the point of it all?” “Seriously?” I asked. “Seriously? You’re asking me for the meaning of life? Isn’t that a little stereotypical?” “Well it’s a reasonable question,” you persisted. I looked you in the eye. “The meaning of life, the reason I made this whole universe, is for you to mature.” “You mean mankind? You want us to mature?” “No, just you. I made this whole universe for you. With each new life you grow and mature and become a larger and greater intellect.” “Just me? What about everyone else?” “There is no one else,” I said. “In this universe, there’s just you and me.” You stared blankly at me. “But all the people on earth…” “All you. Different incarnations of you.” “Wait. I’m everyone!?” “Now you’re getting it,” I said, with a congratulatory slap on the back. “I’m every human being who ever lived?” “Or who will ever live, yes.” “I’m Abraham Lincoln?” “And you’re John Wilkes Booth, too,” I added. “I’m Hitler?” You said, appalled. “And you’re the millions he killed.” “I’m Jesus?” “And you’re everyone who followed him.” You fell silent. “Every time you victimized someone,” I said, “you were victimizing yourself. Every act of kindness you’ve done, you’ve done to yourself. Every happy and sad moment ever experienced by any human was, or will be, experienced by you.” You thought for a long time. “Why?” You asked me. “Why do all this?” “Because someday, you will become like me. Because that’s what you are. You’re one of my kind. You’re my child.” “Whoa,” you said, incredulous. “You mean I’m a god?” “No. Not yet. You’re a fetus. You’re still growing. Once you’ve lived every human life throughout all time, you will have grown enough to be born.” “So the whole universe,” you said, “it’s just…” “An egg.” I answered. “Now it’s time for you to move on to your next life.” And I sent you on your way.
Fine. That matters little to me. I read all different view points. If you prefer to only read one view point and not anything else, that's fine. It might be closed minded of you, but it's not really anything I'm that concerned with.
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You know how I said I refuse to identify myself as an atheist because I find people who actively do to be even more insufferable jerks than almost all Christians I know? Yeah, this thread in a nutshell.
I am not a fan of militant atheist either but i am also not a fan of militant religious people so meh...but I do understand why both exist.
There is meaning in what I posted. If you don't understand or want to clarify, you may ask. If you are not interested or made up your mind, no problem.
I think that story is basically what Buddhists believe - there is no me, there is no you, we are all one (including "God" I think).
I think he's pretty much shown that he's not interested in any beliefs that are different than his own, and has clearly made up his mind.
The problem there lies in that you were viewing God in a Western/Abrahamic sense of a man-God. That's why I often times avoid the word God and use phrases like higher power, cosmic force, the entity/ies, etc... because in the way we generally think of it, "God" is a person like Zeus throwing lightning bolts from up high demanding to be obeyed. What if those people came into this life agreeing to suffer those hardships? What if their purpose is to get us into disgust over their condition, get off our rears and help them? And what if the Eastern religions are right and there's reincarnation? What if a higher power told them that if they come in a suffer this lifetime, they'll be given a healthy and fulfilling life next time. Also, life isn't fair. How come I wasn't born a gorgeous, rich white women with large breasts? Then everything I wanted in life would be taken care of just because of what I looked like and some rich guy would probably take care of me. How come I wasn't born with the athleticism, hand-eye coordination and height of Michael Jordan? Assuming I work hard, have a good attitude, and don't get injured, I'd make millions, be set for life and be adored for doing something as irrelevant as playing a kids game. Heck, while I'm at it, why are any of us different from each other and how come anything bad happens? What's life without suffering?
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The idea that all of this around us, ourselves including just randomly occurred is hard to fathom.. It's example is if you put a few monkey's in a room and let them type a way and you expect that they write shakespeare... impossible. If anyone's interested they should look into Antony Flew's book There is a God. He was the flagbearer of Atheism for decades. Basically your equivalent of Richard Dawkins but larger than him and more influential on a philosophical standpoint, and he "converted" to theism due to scientific/dna reasons in 2004.
And if anyone claims that there could be multiple universes and therefore an unlimited amount of possibilities and we just won the lottery, then you should know that is just a nice idea. Like my idea that a God most likely exists.
I think most atheists are aware of Flew's conversion, and think nothing of it. As for me, I'll go with Apathetic, if that can be considered a view on an Immovable Mover.
I don't like either, but even though I have utterly no desire to convert anytime soon, I would take militant Christianity over militant atheism, because my huge, huge problem with atheism as it's defined over the Internet is that it's an incredibly materialist ideology that outright scorns the concept of belief - and if there's any ideology which will end up creating the Last Man, it's that.
The correct answer is I don't give a damn. I used to answer these questions with a resounding no. Then I realized, regardless of whether a god exists or not I do not and will not give a damn. So that's my answer. Don't care either way. But if I had to choose, then no; I do not believe in a god as of yet but there is always going to be a possibility that one does exist since there is no evidence proving that there isn't.
