Religion

[Dauphin]

Is it so hard to conceive God with one's senses?
Why must He hide in a midst of vague promises and invisible miracles?
How are we to believe the believers when we don't believe ourselves?
What will become of us, who want to believe, but cannot?
And what of those who neither will nor can believe?

God does not reveal himself to us in material form because he is inconceivably beyond us. To see God's essence would require you to be equal to him.
As well, if all of your spiritual desires were to be fulfilled by God himself, then one cannot truly progress in faith.
Indeed certainty is impossible for us men, thus all things require the Kierkegaardian leap of faith. Hamlet was damned by his hesitation in acting, you see.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, yet have believed."

[Sisyphean]

God does not reveal himself to us in material form because he is inconceivably beyond us. To see God's essence would require you to be equal to him.
As well, if all of your spiritual desires were to be fulfilled by God himself, then one cannot truly progress in faith.
Indeed certainty is impossible for us men, thus all things require the Kierkegaardian leap of faith. Hamlet was damned by his hesitation in acting, you see.
"Blessed are they that have not seen, yet have believed."

All of these answers but one
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Does Orthodoxy not teach that the inability to know God exists is a Modernist belief? Sincere question. I only know Lamentabili Sane.

[ghost of forum past]

I closed the previous thread about religion. I just want thing to be a little broader.

- Do you believe in God ?

- What believing in god mean for you ?

- Do you prefer monotheist view or polytheist ? Why ?

- Do you agree with the thing "we beleive in god because we fear his judgment" ?

- atheist : do you feel your moral differing by those who beleive strongly in god if "revendicated" atheist ?

1) No. Technically I'm agnostic.
2) In my mind, believing in something is elevating a conception of what could be and claiming that it exists or can exist without any evidence. You could say the same thing for many ideologies. There's nothing inherently wrong about doing this, so long as you do not conflate your belief with reality.
3) No preference since I don't believe in any. That being said, I think that believing in numerous specialized gods is sort of an intermediate step to believing in one god - if there are many beings that have special powers that we cannot see, why couldn't there be one being that has every special power? A single god, especially in the Abrahamic religions, is a more abstract representation of an ideal force for good, and so it makes more sense to me.
4) I know there are some religious people that this applies to, but I hope those that do not think this outnumber those who do. I understand that people aren't perfect but I think the reasons you do something matter.
5) I find the thought that you have to be religious to be moral to be misguided. Anyone can conceive of a good that is greater than oneself, but that doesn't mean you have to believe that it takes the form of a conscious entity.

I have always found religion fascinating. I was raised as a Christian myself but that didn't stick long.

[Dauphin]

All of these answers but one
f8e836e3f61efbb9732d2c76ab392d8d.jpg

Does Orthodoxy not teach that the inability to know God exists is a Modernist belief? Sincere question. I only know Lamentabili Sane.

This is true, I could have been more clear in that regard but I didn't feel like forcing myself to be 100% accurate in my wording at the time.

[gone]

Never again a vicious word
on broken violins!
I once heard The Master play
on only two strings.
He stood among the trees
playing His favourite instrument,
song after song, chant after chant,
crystallised pain,
and I knew:
That violin was me!
Others would not have considered me worthy
of playing, but in His hands I was enough!

- Bo Setterlind, 1964

[ooo]

1. something like that.

2. accepting that life is bigger than what we think. that we have no control on it. that we're little. that we're all tied together. that love reigns supreme.

3. i don't care for these things

4. no, god doesn't care of what we do

5. none's an "a-theist".

[jason_m]

- Do you believe in God ?

Yes.

- What believing in god mean for you ?

I believe in God because there have been so many paranormal 'patterns' to certain aspects of my life. Assume that things are simply a 'roll of the dice.' Then, at times, I have been beating the odds like crazy, at other times, the deck has been stacked way against me. I don't know how this is possible without a spirit world, and therefore without some form of God. (And I mean just crazy streaks of both good and bad 'luck.')

- Do you prefer monotheist view or polytheist ? Why ?

I prefer a monotheist view. I cannot understand how the universe could be run by a 'committee' or 'group.' Just like any dominion, there is only one ruler.

- Do you agree with the thing "we beleive in god because we fear his judgment" ?

Yes and no; people must make their own choices, but it is hard to say that believing in God does not influence those choices...

- atheist : do you feel your moral differing by those who beleive strongly in god if "revendicated" atheist ?

Does not apply. Before this thread, I used to think atheist = anti-religion. I now think atheist = died-in-the-wool empiricist.

[xerx]

- Do you believe in God ?
- Do you agree with the thing "we beleive in god because we fear his judgment" ?

It's not an empirical question, so I just don't think about it. I feel the same way about all spirituality.


- Do you prefer monotheist view or polytheist ? Why ?

The outward symbolism that's meant to convey spiritual feelings makes no difference. Whichever religious community offers more equality is preferable to anything driven by stratification and social control.

[Cheebs]

- Do you believe in God ?

No.

- What believing in god mean for you ?

I don't know what it means because I don't have any connection to a god or goddess (yet?).

- Do you prefer monotheist view or polytheist ? Why ?

I don't really have a preference on that but polytheism would be interesting because I've never actually tried it before.

- Do you agree with the thing "we believe in god because we fear his judgment" ?

Since I am agnostic no and since I grew up in the South I hate everyone who spews stuff like that. Fuck off. You're just making it look like you're desperate for people to throw Andrew Jackson's face in your dog dish. There's nothing illuminating about fear tactics yelled in ye olde english.

- atheist : do you feel your moral differing by those who believe strongly in god if "revendicated" atheist ?

I am not atheist but I have been heavily egoistic ever since I left Catholicism because there is no point in being moral if there is no punishment in the afterlife.

[ContractedCriminalboy]

- Do you believe in God ?
Yes I do

- What believing in god mean for you ?
It means believing in and following God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit

- Do you prefer monotheist view or polytheist ? Why ?
Henotheist. God the father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit are all three separate beings united in one purpose. Though may be considered monotheist in that we worship one God, the purpose of these three as one and not individually.

- Do you agree with the thing "we beleive in god because we fear his judgment" ?
No. Why do fear the judgement of a being you do not believe in? Unless it's some sort of Pascal's wager. If you actually mean "we worship God because because we fear his judgement" then yes and no, love of the Lord is what motivates worship but fear of his judgement helps motivate keeping in line with his commandments.

[WVBRY]

Well, polytheism has historically been more tolerant than monotheism.

[Luk]

- Do you believe in God ?

Nope. Also not religious.

- What believing in god mean for you ?

Taking a leap into illogic because it feels good or because it comes with benefits.

- Do you prefer monotheist view or polytheist ? Why ?

Doesn't make a difference. Religion is religion. Assess it for its logic and consequences.

- Do you agree with the thing "we beleive in god because we fear his judgment" ?

One can stop fearing His judgement by disbelieving Him.

- atheist : do you feel your moral differing by those who beleive strongly in god if "revendicated" atheist ?

Agnostic actually.
Yes. I refuse to take the leap into religion because I find it fundamentally wrong to delegate one's morals to other beings. You lose something that makes you a person.
So my morals can be quite different from most people's. It's an independence I don't want to lose.

[gone]