A thought on God.

GracieRuth said:
ach, no, it's really no big deal. Once you know it's pretty boring. :D It's a Jewish tradition, a way of showing respect to the name of G-d. If you ever attended Jewish prayers, one of the things you would notice is that every time we get to the yad hey vav hey (roughly YHVH) we don't articulate the name. If it is during prayers, we substitute "adonai" (lord) and if it's just casual conversation we say HaShem (the name). Very religious Jews will even substitute El Shakkai for El Shaddai, etc. Anyhow, we never destroy religious texts: we bury them. The tradition of spelling it G-d came from the desire that the name of G-d never be destroyed, even by accident, even degrade in cyberspace. I'm sure that's WAY more than you needed to know. I should have just stuck with "It's a wierd Jewish thing." :D
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Thanks for sharing! That was actually quite painless and interesting. Hmm, perhaps I should engage you in conversation more often :tongue1:
 
The comment seem e-x-c-e-s-s-i-v-e-l-y dragged on & on & on.

A typical argument involving my kids:

Jim: I said you were wrong.
Harry: I know I'm right
Jim: I still think you're wrong
Harry: well, your wrong for thinking I'm wrong
Jim: Does that make you right?
Harry: Yes!
Jim: No!

Oh yh, a thought on God......erm, God is Infinity.
 
GracieRuth said:
Most of the atheists I'm friends with find Dawkins to be an embarassment, not too different than how most Christians feel about Pat Robertson.
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I agree with Gracie ^^^^^^^^^^ Dawkins argues that religious fundamentalism is a detriment to society, but he is an anti-religious fundamentalist which causes just as much problems---- Two wrongs don't make a right.... I am an atheist and I can't stand him...

I will agree with you, however, that most atheists contemplate god for the majority of their life. I have read a-lot of books for theism and against... I don't know- I guess that I am an Agnostic-Atheist.... I think it is highly improbably, but there still is a small chance.....
 
Forensic1104 said:
While I believe in creationism, one must realize that we are not the center of god’s creation, there are 400 billion galaxies in the universe, each with a multitude planets, hosting the possibility of life. To assume that the creator is simply focused on us, and that god is ours alone, is ignorant. Really wrap you head around that number 400 billion galaxies, some galaxies so large, they make our own look like the tip of a pin when compared.
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That is a fact; and so is this:

One estimate puts the human brain at about 100 billion (10^11) neurons and 100 trillion (10^14) synapses.
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Matt3737 said:
That is a fact; and so is this:
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And the elephant has 200 billion neurons, twice as much as a human. While I understand the desire to be special in the eyes of the maker, we must accept the fact that we are a speck in the grand scheme of things, and whether someone chooses to deny the existence of god or not is irrelevant in the big picture. I am currently one of 7 billion people on one planet in one galaxy surrounded by 400 billion other galaxies, and that is only the ones we can see......To address you point head on.....I deny the unicorn, I think on this weekly, it is not real nor has it ever been real, but we have paintings of it so I should question the validity of my own thoughts. Again, Keep in mind that I am a creationist, but in that concept I accept the choice of freedom of belief and will support any belief with the exception of Nihilist because I find it hard to support the belief of those who believe in nothing, if that makes sense. How can you support someones belief if they have none? You are free to believe in not believing...sounds like a paradox
 
GracieRuth said:
ach, no, it's really no big deal. Once you know it's pretty boring. :D It's a Jewish tradition, a way of showing respect to the name of G-d. If you ever attended Jewish prayers, one of the things you would notice is that every time we get to the yad hey vav hey (roughly YHVH) we don't articulate the name. If it is during prayers, we substitute "adonai" (lord) and if it's just casual conversation we say HaShem (the name). Very religious Jews will even substitute El Shakkai for El Shaddai, etc. Anyhow, we never destroy religious texts: we bury them. The tradition of spelling it G-d came from the desire that the name of G-d never be destroyed, even by accident, even degrade in cyberspace. I'm sure that's WAY more than you needed to know. I should have just stuck with "It's a wierd Jewish thing." :D
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i'm glad you shared this - thank you. i have seen god spelled without the o many times and wondered about it.
 
Making interpretive comparisons based on differences in scale is an irrelevancy. That is akin to me saying that because I am part of a larger macroscopic context, that bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic phenomena are meaningless or less meaningful by comparison.

Again, let me clarify my position by saying I am not directly contradicting your viewpoint, I am simply trying to instill some thoughtful reflection.
 
Matt3737 said:
Making interpretive comparisons based on differences in scale is an irrelevancy. That is akin to me saying that because I am part of a larger macroscopic context, that bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic phenomena are meaningless or less meaningful by comparison.

Again, let me clarify my position by saying I am not directly contradicting your viewpoint, I am simply trying to instill some thoughtful reflection.
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Sounds logical.
 
Matt3737 said:
Making interpretive comparisons based on differences in scale is an irrelevancy. That is akin to me saying that because I am part of a larger macroscopic context, that bacteria, viruses, and other microscopic phenomena are meaningless or less meaningful by comparison.

Again, let me clarify my position by saying I am not directly contradicting your viewpoint, I am simply trying to instill some thoughtful reflection.
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I know exactly what you are doing, and by all intents and purposes a life lived in constant denial of god is still giving recognition to the concept and perpetuating the concept through action. Atheists in their constant denial of religious belief do as much preaching about god as those who follow a religious ideology and while the nature of their interpretations are negative in tone towards the concept of a deity. It would better to simply ignore the entire process than to combat the philosophy of religion, because by doing so they are inevitable granting exposure to the concept of religion, in turn becoming a marketing platform for religion to build from.
My point is that most religious people, who focus on god, believe that their religion is the only correct religion and that their god is the only god, who will save only them. In the entire vastness of all existence, only these people, at this point in time, on this singular planet have the right to claim their thought of god as correct and all others false.
 
It would better to simply ignore the entire process than to combat the philosophy of religion
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I'm more inclined to promoting clarity in communication. No one achieves success without knowing defeat.
 
Just a couple comments.

Intelligence is not a factor of quantity, but of efficiency. Those with a higher intelligence actually use LESS of our brains, because we think efficiently. Too many braincells, moreover, can cause problems. My son is autistic, and his MRI shows that he has an inordinate amount of neurons in his prefrontal cortex.

Next comment:

Religiousity doesn't necessarily imply an "I'm right and you are wrong" mentality. Not only could I care less if anyone becomes a Jew, I actually think the world is much more beautiful with diversity. The way I see it, it is a miracle that we have even evolved to the extent that we can percieve a spiritual dimension. To think we perceive it clearly is arrogant. Judaism can be summed up as ethical monotheism -- that Creator exists who is concerned with how we treat each other. But how you define G-d is anyone's best guess, whereas loving your neighbor as yourself is much clearer. So, I'm less concerned with what anyone believes than how they act towards others. You can be Muslim, Christian, Atheist, or believe in pink lunar elephants, but if you are a good person, you are A plus in my book-- and trust me I am a very very religious person.
 
GracieRuth said:
Just a couple comments.

Intelligence is not a factor of quantity, but of efficiency. Those with a higher intelligence actually use LESS of our brains, because we think efficiently.
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Source?
 
Hoggle said:
It would be nice if I could get that information that I asked for without you butting in making false accusations. I mean, considering Im genuinely interested and all.
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My sincerest apologies, good sir.
 
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Matt3737 said:
I'm more inclined to promoting clarity in communication. No one achieves success without knowing defeat.
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It is easy to create clarity in communication when dealing with global language such as math or music, but the ideas that attach them self to philosophy are often misrepresented through translation, with religion leading the way in terms of lack of clarity. Contemplating the existence of god whether in denial of his existence or not, has torn the world apart over who is right and who is wrong. We see men strapping bombs to their chests and blowing themselves away in the name of god, fanatics are destroying clinics that promote safe sex, and all the while we are to accept the ideology that all of this hate is in god’s name. Religion was designed to promote unity through compassion and somewhere along the way, the world has forgotten that. I do not disagree with your initial statement, but I think this is a volatile issue that has consumed the world and will continue to escalate to a point of global chaos, you cannot achieve clarity with some people, some people just want to watch the world burn…….
 
It is easy to create clarity in communication when dealing with global language such as math or music
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I don't follow. Could you put that into a mathematical proof or musical ensemble?
I'm just teasing, of course.
 
Kurt G
 
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