Collins: Why this scientist believes in God - Page 12

[sharkey]

Did God create man, or did man create God?

AC/DC blaring in the background.

Who made who, who made you?
Who made who, ain't nobody told you?
Who made who, who made you?
If you made them and they made you

[joshSCH]

I have no doubt that alot of religions come about as a result of wanting to find reason and in the absense of science the gods came about to answer these questions for the people. This may be the same for christianity but i still like the idea that there is a greater meaning to it all then just life and death. Infact when i think about the absense of god then i see absolutely no reason to continue on if all thats at the end of the line is nothingness.

I suppose that it is probably because of this that reincarnation came about.... just another thing to give the people a purpose.

You just answered the question yourself. "Infact when i think about the absense of god then i see absolutely no reason to continue on if all thats at the end of the line is nothingness." Some people can not deal with the fact that there is no purpose to life. It makes no difference what we do in our life.. whether we live or die.. This is the reason that humans unconsciously created god; It was a defense mechanism. As a strong believer in the nihilist philosophy, I myself believe life is purposeless and trivial in the overall picture of the universe. The purpose of life, is whatever you make it to be. The truth is, your life is in your own hands. Do what you wish, enjoy life while you can... Carpe diem!

[Rashakil Fol]

yea I know, but it's not that great of a metaphor. The 30-second theory he was relating to was too ridiculous to even use.. The whole way he wrote the argument was terrible, and only made atheists seem idiotic and crazy.

If you're following the premise that I wasn't being serious, you should read my posts as an attack on ignorant atheism, not on religion.

[sharkey]

Hey speaking of religion and the afterlife I once heard that the jewish do not believe in it. Is that a crazy lie or true?

Anyone here Jewish? I always get confused whether it's a religion or race.

[joshSCH]

haha.. I'm pretty sure the jews believe in an afterlife.. but I don't know for sure

[lasher511]

Ok, now I'm the lost one. I'm sure I could look this up to see if these are some version of barcodes and what they mean but how about sharing.

Lol no we are just testing out a bardcode scanner here and its inputting the bardcodes that i scan as text just completely irrellevent

[christina>you]

Hey speaking of religion and the afterlife I once heard that the jewish do not believe in it. Is that a crazy lie or true?

Anyone here Jewish? I always get confused whether it's a religion or race.

A Jewish identity is automatically bestowed on the babies of Jewish mothers (according to Orthodox and Conservative Judaism) and of Jewish mothers or fathers (according to Reform Judaism). This Jewish identity stays with them throughout life even if they don't actively practice Judaism.

[lasher511]

Hey speaking of religion and the afterlife I once heard that the jewish do not believe in it. Is that a crazy lie or true?

Anyone here Jewish? I always get confused whether it's a religion or race.

You know come to think of it im not entirly sure that they do the afterlife/ heaven is not really mentioned in the old testament apart from a few indirect things like that Judge or prophet who got carried away in that chariot before he died ( forgive me im rust on the old bible stories and cant rember his name). So i suppose it is possible they dont.

Do correct me if im wrong about that i may just be too rusty on the old testament

[joshSCH]

whoa.. having major problems with xp.. my virus protection software has all been deleted, my desktop is all screwy, and my firewalls won't start.. lmao.. microsoft...

[joshSCH]

are the jews not the exact same as the christians? The only difference is that they are waiting for god's son to come.. hey, at least my internet still works lol

[christina>you]

are the jews not the exact same as the christians? The only difference is that they are waiting for god's son to come.. hey, at least my internet still works lol

Lol glad your internet works!

Yeah, the only huge difference is that they believe the Messiah hasn't came yet. But there are several small things, such as worship and holidays. They also only use the Old Testament (Torah) as a reference to God.

[lasher511]

are the jews not the exact same as the christians? The only difference is that they are waiting for god's son to come.. hey, at least my internet still works lol

Yes that is the main differnce. Basically they still follow the teachings in the old testament 10 commandments etc. and although most of the stuff is still relevant and carried over into the new testament there are key things that Jesus said we did not have to do any more.

[joshSCH]

ah ic

[christina>you]

Yep... so what are your views as an atheist... concerning life after death and whatnot?

[joshSCH]

Yep... so what are your views as an atheist... concerning life after death and whatnot?

I'm a nihilist.. so I believe nothing exists after death. You didn't exist before you were born, and you cease to exist after death..:sad:

[sharkey]

Wiki wasn't clear only saying they believe the dead to be raised, that doesn't necessarily mean the same thing as the afterlife, just relife.

This site shows wide beliefs, indiffence to death, reincarnation, etc.

http://www.near-death.com/experiences/judaism06.html

[christina>you]

I'm a nihilist.. so I believe nothing exists after death. You didn't exist before you were born, and you cease to exist after death..:sad:

Ahh... that sucks. lol

But on a serious note, I really don't think I could be an atheist... I just feel like I have so much more hope in everything with God.

[joshSCH]

Ahh... that sucks. lol

But on a serious note, I really don't think I could be an atheist... I just feel like I have so much more hope in everything with God.

hah.. yea, it does kinda suck.. but wut can ya do?

I remember when I used to argue with atheists.. I always thought they were crazy people damned straight to hell lol..

[christina>you]

hah.. yea, it does kinda suck.. but wut can ya do?

I remember when I used to argue with atheists.. I always thought they were crazy people damned straight to hell lol..

Lol really? May I ask what changed your mind?

[joshSCH]

Lol really? May I ask what changed your mind?

A friend of mine who was atheist actually mentioned something eluding to discrepancies and such in the bible.. I hadn't ever really thought of God not existing up to that point. I just started thinking about it.. Thats what my hobby is, just to think about stuff that most people find insignificant lol.. The more I thought about it, the more the truth became clear to me.. keep in mind, it took me a couple years before I could actually break from Christianity, and consider myself atheist..

To this day I have never told my parents or any of my family lol.. They would be really pissed, probably disown me and make me go to some catholic college:rolleyes: hah, I still go to church EVERY Sunday.. reconciliation, adoration..:-|

But.. w/e.. only like a month until graduation!! What Christian denomination are you?

[sharkey]

From here http://www.lcms.org/pages/internal.asp?NavID=2235

Not sure if I can trust what Lutherans says about Jews though. I like the conservative view. I like "unclean" animals too though so it would never work out. :(

Like Josh said "Carpe Diem"! I'll add Caveat Emptor.

I think I need to go to bed now, see ya all.

Jewish Afterlife?

Q. Does the Jewish religion believe there is a hell? If not, what do they believe regarding the after life?

A. In an article titled "Understanding Judaism," the spring 1997 issue of the Christian Research Journal summarizes the "View of Life After Death" in the three branches of Judaism. According to Orthodox Judaism, "there will be a physical resurrection. The righteous will exist forever with God in the 'World to Come.' The unrighteous will suffer, but disagreement exists over their ultimate destiny."

Reform Judaism: "Generally, Reform Judaism has no concept of personal life after death. It is said that a person lives on in his or her accomplishments or in the minds of others. Some are influenced by varieties of Eastern mystical thought where souls merge into one great impersonal life force."

Conservative Judaism: "Conservative Jews tend toward the Reform view, but are less influenced by nontraditional ideas such as Eastern mysticism." The above-mentioned article, in summary, states: "[Jews] are more concerned about how to live right here and now than about being saved from hell in the afterlife." In fact, "salvation" is a "foreign term to most Jewish people."

[sharkey]

She's Protestant, as I was.

[christina>you]

A friend of mine who was atheist actually mentioned something eluding to discrepancies and such in the bible.. I hadn't ever really thought of God not existing up to that point. I just started thinking about it.. Thats what my hobby is, just to think about stuff that most people find insignificant lol.. The more I thought about it, the more the truth became clear to me.. keep in mind, it took me a couple years before I could actually break from Christianity, and consider myself atheist..

To this day I have never told my parents or any of my family lol.. They would be really pissed, probably disown me and make me go to some catholic college:rolleyes: hah, I still go to church EVERY Sunday.. reconciliation, adoration..:-|

But.. w/e.. only like a month until graduation!! What Christian denomination are you?

I see... but don't you think there's so much evidence concerning the existence of a God? I don't know, I guess for me there has always been enough proof.

Yes, I'm Protestant.

[sharkey]

Gotta share this before I go to sleep. My dad was in the service so we got to experience many different faiths.

The three that got me most.

Evangelical: They slap each other in the head and say things like be healed. They speak in tongues, I couldn't understand a word they said. They one step away from the snake people.

Gospel: This was an all black (almost, since me and a few other white people observed) church. Powerful music. It was shafted to the night (bases have one church that has to be shared at different times among the sects) but you couldn't sleep. As soon as I started nodding of the woman preacher would shout something about God and everyone would be all "Praise Jesus!, Thank you Lord!", etc. They were energetic and loud. Fun two.

Catholic: Sorry Josh. The worst for me. Everone stands up, I start to, they all kneel, I start to kneel and they're sitting. I couldn't keep in synch. He was directing them?? God must have been telling them when to stand, sit, kneel, do the rosary or whatever. Quite a workout man.

I love those uniforms though, sorry that was inapropriate.

[joshSCH]

Jewish Afterlife?

Q. Does the Jewish religion believe there is a hell? If not, what do they believe regarding the after life?

A. In an article titled "Understanding Judaism," the spring 1997 issue of the Christian Research Journal summarizes the "View of Life After Death" in the three branches of Judaism. According to Orthodox Judaism, "there will be a physical resurrection. The righteous will exist forever with God in the 'World to Come.' The unrighteous will suffer, but disagreement exists over their ultimate destiny."

Reform Judaism: "Generally, Reform Judaism has no concept of personal life after death. It is said that a person lives on in his or her accomplishments or in the minds of others. Some are influenced by varieties of Eastern mystical thought where souls merge into one great impersonal life force."

Conservative Judaism: "Conservative Jews tend toward the Reform view, but are less influenced by nontraditional ideas such as Eastern mysticism." The above-mentioned article, in summary, states: "[Jews] are more concerned about how to live right here and now than about being saved from hell in the afterlife." In fact, "salvation" is a "foreign term to most Jewish people."

wow.. never knew that..

I see... but don't you think there's so much evidence concerning the existence of a God? I don't know, I guess for me there has always been enough proof.

Yes, I'm Protestant.

I personally think theres much more evidence against the existence of a god.. but of course, none of us know for sure.. hmm.. maybe we are all wrong, and the universe is only 30 seconds old lol.. well i'm tired too, later:cool:

[christina>you]

Yeah, I better go to sleep soon too... but I'd like to say this one last thing....

Did you know that there were a lot of famous scientists that believed in God...? such as:

Johannes Kepler,
Galileo Galilei,
Gregor Mendel,
Albert Einstein (although he never came to belief in a personal God), he still recognized the impossibility of a non-created universe. The Encyclopedia Britannica says of him: "Firmly denying atheism, Einstein expressed a belief in "Spinoza's God who reveals himself in the harmony of what exists." This actually motivated his interest in science, as he once said as a young physicist: "I want to know how God created this world, I am not interested in this or that phenomenon, in the spectrum of this or that element. I want to know His thoughts, the rest are details." Einstein's famous epithet on the "uncertainty principle" was "God does not play dice" - and to him this was a real statement about a God in whom he believed. A famous saying of his was, "Science without religion is lame, religion without science is blind."
Isaac Newton was a genius, everyone knows that... but what was less known was the fact that he was devoutly religious and saw numbers as involved in understanding God's plan for history from the Bible. He did a considerable work on biblical numerology, and, though aspects of his beliefs were not orthodox, he thought theology was very important. In his system of physics, God is essential to the nature and absoluteness of space. In Principia he stated, "The most beautiful system of the sun, planets, and comets, could only proceed from the counsel and dominion of an intelligent and powerful Being."

[joshSCH]

Gotta share this before I go to sleep. My dad was in the service so we got to experience many different faiths.

The three that got me most.

Evangelical: They slap each other in the head and say things like be healed. They speak in tongues, I couldn't understand a word they said. They one step away from the snake people.

Gospel: This was an all black (almost, since me and a few other white people observed) church. Powerful music. It was shafted to the night (bases have one church that has to be shared at different times among the sects) but you couldn't sleep. As soon as I started nodding of the woman preacher would shout something about God and everyone would be all "Praise Jesus!, Thank you Lord!", etc. They were energetic and loud. Fun two.

Catholic: Sorry Josh. The worst for me. Everone stands up, I start to, they all kneel, I start to kneel and they're sitting. I couldn't keep in synch. He was directing them?? God must have been telling them when to stand, sit, kneel, do the rosary or whatever. Quite a workout man.

I love those uniforms though, sorry that was inapropriate.

hahaha, no your right. I hated those damn uniforms. And yea, it is a workout. I have to try to keep myself awake, especially during the sermon.. b/c our priest will walk around and ask people questions lol..

That gospel church sounds like fun lol.. They always portray black churches like that in the movies and stuff

[joshSCH]

wow.. idk wtf is wrong with my computer, ill be up all night fixin this damn thing..

[christina>you]

Ok.. I'm going to bed now. I hope someone read my post lol... it took me a while to type.

But night you guys! I'll be back tomorrow. :)

[lasher511]

I thouht taht einstein was jewish and refused to accept the possibility that there was no God even though alot of his theories seemed to say otherwise.... or maybe its someone else that im thinking of