I'm not really buying this, so I'm going to break protocol, and hope you'll reciprocate. I was a complete, avowed atheist when a close family member died young. I was a wreck, and somehow I got it into my head that I was going to die similarly very soon. I was terrified, so I started reading at page 1, and watching religious programs, even though I didn't believe in god at all. I started to pray, even though I didn't believe in god at all. I prayed for "faith". A few days later something happened to me that I have recounted to very few people. This experience not only shattered my atheism, but it mocked it, and it laid it to waste with irreversible clarity. I was at once terrified and exhilirated. I enjoy this very short video. Here's a guy whose apparent conversion was somewhat similar (although I'm not looking for anything in any church), but apparently not quite as dramatic. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ml0FqyFYfrU
Again I am happy for you that you have Faith....but I also had an experience where I was shot multiple times in the field and because we were so deep in country and because I was the Team Leader....I could only take one dose of Synth-Morph so I could with hep walk out of these many miles over multiple hours of travel. I could not take more than one injection at a time because even though the pain was unbearable to do so would have knocked me out causing my kids to have to carry me slowing us down even more. I can tell you I saw and experienced all sorts of things in that state of near death pain agonized trauma. But I understand it was my mind trying to cope. AboveAlpha
I have never been an Atheist....as well I have never been Religious nor have I ever believed in any GOD in the conventional sense. I believe that it is much more complex then that. AboveAlpha
The problem with internet discussions is that the metaphors cannot be colored by physically expressed emotions. They're singular. I can no more perceive that Perilica grad Ameriku, who is obviously an impossibly intelligent and extremely educated man, is any more or less a person with whom I'd wish to converse with face to face.
Well....the vast majority of Atheists are peaceful just want to be left alone people with really no agenda. They tend to get testy....and so do I....when Religious Extremists start uttering nonsense which might in some political sense mess with them. AboveAlpha
I would like to expand on that. My Dad who was and still is and extremely highly intelligent man as well always instilled in me the concept of being skilled in both mind and body once told me....anyone who thinks their either to smart...too good or too exceptional to sit down with you and have a drink and a discussion is a Mental Midget. I have found him to be correct over a very long period of time. AboveAlpha
I not sure about the agenda, but I otherwise basically agree. What do you make of atheistic beliefs with respect to your own?
I look at proven realities and probability. Probability dictates that a GOD existing in any way in a Judo-Christian-Muslim manner is EXTREMELY LOW in probability....but not 100% Thus I keep an open mind. AboveAlpha
It depends on what you classify GOD as being. If GOD is connective Quantum Particle/Wave Form action of Quarks that exist at and between a numerical minimum and maximum within all Hadrons...ie...Protons and Neutrons and are blinking in and out of existence but exist never less or more than a a specific minimum and maximum in such Hadrons as I feel they are transferring and interchanging between other Hadrons in alternate Divergent Universal States of Reality within our One Universal Infinite Grouping which is one Infinite Group out of Infinite Infinite Groups well then......we would barely be scratching the surface of what I might consider a GOD. But this GOD is NOT a single or individual entity but most likely a collective consciousness. AboveAlpha
Sometimes it comes from experiences that lead one to believe in the existence of a God. Not mere talk. And not only of a positive nature. It is the existence of evil that I have observed that could mean something more is going on here than what science has discovered thus far.
the premise of the thread is directed at die hard believers in the literal translation of Genesis. lets not split any hairs about it. The thread is not about evolution per say, but a case against it. which from my take on it is only about religion in the strictest sense of the word for some people. I don;t see why evolution cannot be seen as part and parcel to Intelligent Design. and i don;t see why atheists cannot fathom that all that it is , every aspect that is discovered scientifically isn't brought about by some sort of perfect wisdom. Then there is the sheer beauty of it all.. take fruit ..i mean wow it's fun , it tastes great , smells wonderful, is pleasing to the eye and is nourishing and aids in health.. Why does it have to be so nice…it could look and taste like cardboard and you would be hungry enough to eat it anyway… but no it's all beautiful.. why? why not everything be some bland science experiment , cold and without any thing leading to ,sheer beauty. why the beauty eh. why not just colourless tasteless existence. It doesn't make any sense to go to all the effort in the wisdom behind it all to produce beauty.
It's just a tad sad that all the bases have to be covered for an endless possibility style existence to actuate . God is that guy scrounging to make ends meet or cope with cancer and so on. The only thing that makes it all bearable is eventually you die. tad depressed tonight…sort of looking at it from that angle… maybe cause i have been trying to annoy the anti Jewish clan here at PF..lol… i'm wracked with some sort of guilt for being a dickhead
Nicholas Cusa believed our Universe to be INFINITE....he was wrong. Our Universe is in fact FINITE and we can see to it's edge. However what is Infinite is the Multiverse which Cusa at that time had no understanding of and could have never even dreamed existed. Cusa is a relic of the past regardless of any contributions specific to detailing his belief other planets surrounded other stars which we now have proven as we have discovered over 300 planets and this will exponentially increase in number year to year. We are on the very edge of becoming more than we currently are as we have the ability to manipulate our Genomes via Genetic Engineering to radically increase of intelligence as well with genetically designed biological grown neural connections to our brains will be capable of instantaneous downloads of information directly to our brains. This is now far distant in time Sci-Fi....this is RIGHT NOW. AboveAlpha
From my POV, the human mind is capable of generating the most remarkable things, and that it is more reasonable to ascribe these to the human mind rather than some external force. Example- i talked to a mornom missionary in China, asked him whey he was there and how he could believe such a ridiculous story! (kind of blunt of me... ) He said he prayed long and hard, for an answer to whether it was true. Finally, he got it, he was not praying or thinking about it when it came to him with overwhelming clarity and power... YES it is all true. Now, i think if he'd not been so easily satisfied but just kept praying, he'd presently have gotten another message... NO, its all fake! The more extreme the stress on the mind, the more powerful the 'blowback'. As the victim or an attempted murder, I could relate my own experience with that kind of thing! Now, you may be right, and it may be that God spoke to you. Have you ever considered other possibilities, tho?
You have generated the most remarkable thing. You may ascribe this to your mind rather than some external force. However, I too have generated the most remarkable thing which I may ascribe my to mind, rather than some external force. I believe I have responded to you. Do you share my belief? What are the range of possibilities?
