To many, belief in God seems natural and normal. And, in fact, in our society, God is such an important and integral part of things, as he's often mentioned along with Family and Apple Pie, that he kind of gets Grandfathered into acceptance. He seems normal, and mundane, and Part Of It All. But, if you stop and think about it, this whole concept of God is pretty weird. Here we are, normal (god-fearing) Americans, living in the 21st century, having witnessed science unlock DNA, having witnessed the horrors of the holocaust, and the nuclear bomb, and all the other advancements of human thought and ideas, and we no longer believe in demonic possession or ghosts or curses or witches, and yet we still passionately believe in (in some of our cases, inerrant) supernatural truths from a book of what are basically tribal traditions written down 2000 years ago, full of bigotry and hatred and ignorance (albeit also full of some good ideas and some fine writing), which talk about a powerful supernatural deity who smites other deities that look like calves, lives up above the clouds, mysteriously impregnated a woman at one point, told one of his followers to kill his own son, and is basically a powerful fairy." It _should_ sound weird. If you believe in a Christian God, fine, more power to you. But you SHOULD take a step back and realize how potentially out out of context that God is with the rest of the world. If you find a way in your personal faith to reconcile those differences, or find strength from that tension, or what have you, then hey, more power to you, I'm glad you have a spiritual foundation for your life that you find pleasing and fulfilling. But if you're claiming that "why, my Christian God myth is, umm, American and normal, whereas the idea of an invisible pink unicorn is laughbale and insulting. That analogy is pointless! You're just being an insulting jerk!" then you're being intellectually dishonest.
A thought on theism
by IronGland 16 Replies latest jw friends
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the_classicist
and we no longer believe in demonic possession or ghosts or curses or witches
I bet people actually consider themselves witches or "wicca", an old friend of mine included, would take offense to that.
There is nothing worse than smug atheism. Knowledge by faith, its taught in basic philosophy these days. I thank God that he isn't "American and normal." God is not supposed to be.
Let all mortal flesh keep silence,
God is beyond all human cogitation.
and with fear and trembling stand;
ponder nothing earthly minded,
for with blessing in his hand
Christ our God to earth descendeth,
our full homage to demand. -
Satanus
I was thinking along similar lines a little while ago. We must be infected w the same demon Seriously though, i was wondering why it seems so normal for people of all different religions to think there is a god out and about, when there has been zero evidence in reliable secular history of it.
Classicist
Edit your veiled empty threats, and since you made it, you too.
S
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the_classicist
I didn't mean that to be a threat . It's from the ancient Liturgy of St. James (4 AD?), its meant to convey the whole concept of the rex tremendae maiestatis.
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Satanus
keep silence
fear and trembling
demand full homage
Let some foriegner come into our land and demand the above, it would be threatening. While i know that your god is imaginary, no threat at all, you are free to worship him as you wish. I do however, resent that you would pronounce that he is going to, or should do this or that to people of earth, and that people should be terrified of your god to the point of shaking.
S
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talesin
God is a concept ...
by which we measure our pain.
John Lennon
t
Edit: Hi, Satanus *waves* ;)
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Satanus
Hi talesin. *walks over* ((((talesin))))
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talesin
{{{{Satanus}}}} good to see you!
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bebu
If you believe in a Christian God, fine, more power to you. But you SHOULD take a step back and realize how potentially out out of context that God is with the rest of the world. If you find a way in your personal faith to reconcile those differences, or find strength from that tension, or what have you, then hey, more power to you, I'm glad you have a spiritual foundation for your life that you find pleasing and fulfilling.
This is a very strange comment, because it is the atheist rather than the theist who finds himself in the minority. There are billions of theists in the world, who find God relevent in their life (context), science advances notwithstanding. Antony Flew is a a perfect example--science did not push God out of his context, but instead revealed to him the relevence of God.
bebu
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talesin
bebu
very true ... Theists: Einstein, Ben Franklyn, and many other scientists, as I discovered when I did some research last year.
t