Do You Believe In God?

[Kid Dynamite 7031]

Having become a little more reflective as I fast approach 30 Ive been thinking more and more about this recently. I've never bought the whole 'God' ticket. For a planet thats 4.5 billion years old, I struggle to subscribe to an ideology thats only been around 2000 years and has zero provability in the face of scientific fact.

 

Looking around at the world and seeing trees, plants, animals, the sun and moon, things that have evolved naturally over hundreds of millions of years . . . to me that is pretty miraculous. I've been reading a lot on Pantheism and to me it seems like a pretty good way to live your life.

 

 

Pantheists do not propose belief in a deity; rather, they hold nature itself as a creative presence. Pantheism reconciles science and religion through ecology leading to strong environmental awareness.

 

Pantheists believe in Divine Immanence. To the Pantheist, divinity does not transcend reality; it surrounds, and is within. All share divinity. This leads the pantheist to personal ethics of tolerance and understanding

 

There have been pantheistic elements to many ideologies over the years. Stoicism, Taoism, Hinduism . . . all taught reverence for the world we live in. Instead of worrying about one possible God and what will happen in the afterlife, I'd rather worry about the here and now. The way we are going the planet will be fucked before our kids kids are in their old age!

 

In the grand scheme of things human beings mean fuck all. We are just another species. And when the next ice age comes along, or the Sun decides to fire some solar flares our way we'll be fucked. People talk about 'The end of the world!' if we don't drastically cut the human effect on the planet. There's no such thing though. The world is going isn't going to end. It's the human race that will end. This BP fiasco just sums it all up for me! We are shitting in our own backyard on a daily basis, planet wide, and your average Joe is more interested in getting on the sofa in time to watch the X Factor or Big Brother.

 

Bit of a random rant, but just what's been in my head recently. Funnily enough the Church is very anti-pantheism and takes every opportunity it can to take a swipe at it. I suppose Christianity is too profitable at the minute!

 

There's been a canny few famous people that have had pantheistic beliefs over the years

 

 

- Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.

 

Albert Einstein

 

- What else is nature but God?

 

Seneca the Younger

 

- I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos. Look at the sun: If there is no sun, then we cannot exist. So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred; trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.

 

Mikhail Gorbachev

 

- I have respect for life in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. But I don't believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or for a natural on the next roll of the dice.

 

Frank Sinatra

 

- In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

 

Aristotle

 

- And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.

 

William Shakespeare

 

- We are part of Nature as a whole whose order we follow

 

Benedict Spinoza

 

- All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature.

 

Zeno

 

- Unfortunately (and most likely tragically), this knowledge of our interconnection to the Universe (Nature, God) has been lost (or is naively considered as not important) to modern day humanity. We are 'bleeding at the roots because we are cut off from the Earth'

 

D. H. Lawrence

 

- One grand great life throbs through earth's giant heart,

And mighty waves of single Being roll

From nerve-less germ to man, for we are part

Of every rock and bird and beast and hill,

One with the things that prey on us, and one with what we kill.

 

Oscar Wilde

[Tom 14011]

You need a drink.

[Guest alex]

The world will end actually. So there.

[Craig 6682]

Stevie and Wacky will be loving this thread...

 

Answer to your question however is 'no'.

[Kid Dynamite 7031]

They can love away

 

The world needs more love!

[Craig 6682]

They can love away

 

The world needs more love!

 

Dare I ask what the new job is?

[Kid Dynamite 7031]

http://www.ypte.org.uk/

[Guest Gordon McKeag]

Having become a little more reflective as I fast approach 30 Ive been thinking more and more about this recently. I've never bought the whole 'God' ticket. For a planet thats 4.5 billion years old, I struggle to subscribe to an ideology thats only been around 2000 years and has zero provability in the face of scientific fact.

 

Looking around at the world and seeing trees, plants, animals, the sun and moon, things that have evolved naturally over hundreds of millions of years . . . to me that is pretty miraculous. I've been reading a lot on Pantheism and to me it seems like a pretty good way to live your life.

 

 

Pantheists do not propose belief in a deity; rather, they hold nature itself as a creative presence. Pantheism reconciles science and religion through ecology leading to strong environmental awareness.

 

Pantheists believe in Divine Immanence. To the Pantheist, divinity does not transcend reality; it surrounds, and is within. All share divinity. This leads the pantheist to personal ethics of tolerance and understanding

 

There have been pantheistic elements to many ideologies over the years. Stoicism, Taoism, Hinduism . . . all taught reverence for the world we live in. Instead of worrying about one possible God and what will happen in the afterlife, I'd rather worry about the here and now. The way we are going the planet will be fucked before our kids kids are in their old age!

 

In the grand scheme of things human beings mean fuck all. We are just another species. And when the next ice age comes along, or the Sun decides to fire some solar flares our way we'll be fucked. People talk about 'The end of the world!' if we don't drastically cut the human effect on the planet. There's no such thing though. The world is going isn't going to end. It's the human race that will end. This BP fiasco just sums it all up for me! We are shitting in our own backyard on a daily basis, planet wide, and your average Joe is more interested in getting on the sofa in time to watch the X Factor or Big Brother.

 

Bit of a random rant, but just what's been in my head recently. Funnily enough the Church is very anti-pantheism and takes every opportunity it can to take a swipe at it. I suppose Christianity is too profitable at the minute!

 

There's been a canny few famous people that have had pantheistic beliefs over the years

 

 

- Try and penetrate with our limited means the secrets of nature and you will find that, behind all the discernible concatenations, there remains something subtle, intangible and inexplicable. Veneration for this force beyond anything that we can comprehend is my religion.

 

Albert Einstein

 

- What else is nature but God?

 

Seneca the Younger

 

- I believe in the cosmos. All of us are linked to the cosmos. Look at the sun: If there is no sun, then we cannot exist. So nature is my god. To me, nature is sacred; trees are my temples and forests are my cathedrals.

 

Mikhail Gorbachev

 

- I have respect for life in any form. I believe in nature, in the birds, the sea, the sky, in everything I can see. If these things are what you mean by God, then I believe in God. But I don't believe in a personal God to whom I look for comfort or for a natural on the next roll of the dice.

 

Frank Sinatra

 

- In all things of nature there is something of the marvelous.

 

Aristotle

 

- And this our life, exempt from public haunt, finds tongues in trees, books in the running brooks, sermons in stones and good in everything.

 

William Shakespeare

 

- We are part of Nature as a whole whose order we follow

 

Benedict Spinoza

 

- All things are parts of one single system, which is called Nature; the individual life is good when it is in harmony with Nature.

 

Zeno

 

- Unfortunately (and most likely tragically), this knowledge of our interconnection to the Universe (Nature, God) has been lost (or is naively considered as not important) to modern day humanity. We are 'bleeding at the roots because we are cut off from the Earth'

 

D. H. Lawrence

 

- One grand great life throbs through earth's giant heart,

And mighty waves of single Being roll

From nerve-less germ to man, for we are part

Of every rock and bird and beast and hill,

One with the things that prey on us, and one with what we kill.

 

Oscar Wilde

Grammar and spelling too good to be your work, where did you copy and paste that from?

 

I do believe in god, I believe that the worst case scenario is that there is a good powerful energy which we can all choose to be a part of but will never explain fully as mortal humans. Sometimes I go to church when things aren't going right, I come out feeling better, might be a placebo effect but I believe and I have faith.

[Guest alex]

Explains the stubble anyway.

[Guest alex]

The link was a joke by the way

 

Stubble?

Aye, stubble.

[Kid Dynamite 7031]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

Edited July 27, 2010 by Kid Dynamite

[Guest alex]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

Do you not think it undermines them when they're essentially based on a lie though? I mean, what you consider to be a lie anyway.

From a personal viewpoint I think if the Church / Christianity ever had a 'truth' behind it it was lost centuries ago. The dogma makes fuck all sense to me in general.

[Guest Gordon McKeag]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

well I'm sure you know what I was going to say next....but this is a more mature Steve these days who rises above it.

 

Explains the stubble Alex, some people look like they could try and grow stubble, but with the windy nature of the North East its probably best they don't.

[Guest alex]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

well I'm sure you know what I was going to say next....but this is a more mature Steve these days who rises above it.

 

Explains the stubble Alex, some people look like they could try and grow stubble, but with the windy nature of the North East its probably best they don't.

George Michael - Faith

[Wavey Davey 0]

I want to believe. It's getting harder for me to do so though.

[Monkeys Fist 42459]

Never knew I was a pantheist, here's a nice pic for my fellow believers;

[Renton 21627]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

Do you not think it undermines them when they're essentially based on a lie though? I mean, what you consider to be a lie anyway.

From a personal viewpoint I think if the Church / Christianity ever had a 'truth' behind it it was lost centuries ago. The dogma makes fuck all sense to me in general.

 

What are 'Christian values' anyway? I take it J69 is referring to the cherry-picked ones which happen to fit into his own personal philosophy. Nowt wrong with that but what's the point in the middle man?

[Guest alex]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

Do you not think it undermines them when they're essentially based on a lie though? I mean, what you consider to be a lie anyway.

From a personal viewpoint I think if the Church / Christianity ever had a 'truth' behind it it was lost centuries ago. The dogma makes fuck all sense to me in general.

 

What are 'Christian values' anyway? I take it J69 is referring to the cherry-picked ones which happen to fit into his own personal philosophy. Nowt wrong with that but what's the point in the middle man?

That's the problem with them. Love thy neighbour's alright but lets not talk about the policies that help spread AIDS in sub-Saharan Africa, eh?

[Renton 21627]

Pantheism just sounds like mumbo jumbo to me as well.

Edited July 27, 2010 by Renton

[Guest alex]

Parkyism tbh

[Renton 21627]

Parkyism tbh

 

Exactly. Parky, the high priest of Pantheism.

 

Can think of worse religions mind, sounds like fun if you're willing to get on board.

[Happy Face 29]

A priest in eastern Europe has been accused of drowning a baby boy as he baptised him.

 

Police are investigating Father Valentin for accidential homicide after witnesses at the ceremony said the priest did not cover the baby's mouth during the ritual, The Sun newspaper reports.

 

Father Valentin had denied being responsible for the baby's death during the baptism in Moldova.

 

The six-week-old baby died on the way to hospital and an autopsy found he had drowned, the baby's dad Dumitru Gaidau told Romania's Publica TV.

 

Mr Gaidau, 36, said his son was clearly in distress during the ceremony.

 

"He couldn't inhale, his face turned blue and he was foaming at the mouth. He [the priest] said we should not interrupt their ritual," he said.

 

"We couldn't believe it that he just put his hand over his belly and over the head and submerged him three times in the water."

 

Water was found in the baby's lungs.

 

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/world/7935406/p...-during-baptism

 

Jesus sobbed

[NJS 4386]

I'm guessing the conviction rate for priests is the same as that for Met officers.

 

"Accidental homicide" my arse.

 

 

As for the question there is still an infintisemal chance that there might have been a creator of the universe though I doubt it - man made Gods on the other hand are 100% bollocks.

[Kid Dynamite 7031]

Just realised you were talking about Stevie.

 

Each to their own Stevie. Im all for Christian values

Do you not think it undermines them when they're essentially based on a lie though? I mean, what you consider to be a lie anyway.

From a personal viewpoint I think if the Church / Christianity ever had a 'truth' behind it it was lost centuries ago. The dogma makes fuck all sense to me in general.

 

What are 'Christian values' anyway? I take it J69 is referring to the cherry-picked ones which happen to fit into his own personal philosophy. Nowt wrong with that but what's the point in the middle man?

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_atheism

 

??

[Marko 0]

Not for me like. Was brought up a Catholic, went to RC schools etc. If anything it pushed me further from believing. I think the first part of the OP sums up why the very notion of an almighty one is ludicrous:

 

I've never bought the whole 'God' ticket. For a planet thats 4.5 billion years old, I struggle to subscribe to an ideology thats only been around 2000 years and has zero provability in the face of scientific fact.