Evangelizing grocery store clerk: Cool or No? (1 Viewer)

[Van Dyman]

Bottom line is real simple.  We don't know the answers, we just go with what makes us feel the best about things.

"go with" = "pretend"

 

[Van Dyman]

Blame mom and dad and most everyone I know.

Most people want a God in their life so they have one.

Sounds like "people trick themselves into believing something because they are unable or unwilling to deal with something else." Human psychology is imperfect, and inconsistent. While I personally think it is bad that people do this to themselves, I still appreciate the notion that our imperfection and inconsistency is part of what we are as a species.

 

[Van Dyman]

My point is why do so many prefer to have that God in their life?  Would we ever elect an atheist as our President, try....nope, why not?

Yes, we probably will elect an atheist. Religion appears to be waning. It looks like a trend. Assuming it continues, at some point we will presumably reach a point where religion is not a relevant factor in how we select our President. Along that same line, at some point the US may ONLY select atheists as President and lament the bad old days when rich guys had to pretend they were Christians to get enough votes.

 

[Van Dyman]

So we'd actually been better off with having nothing at all to do with religions/Gods?

Too easy...YES! It seems perfectly reasonable, imo, to conclude that humanity would have achieved more by now if billions of people over the centuries had not wasted their time and energy on religion.

 

[Juxtatarot]

Yes, we probably will elect an atheist. Religion appears to be waning. It looks like a trend. Assuming it continues, at some point we will presumably reach a point where religion is not a relevant factor in how we select our President. Along that same line, at some point the US may ONLY select atheists as President and lament the bad old days when rich guys had to pretend they were Christians to get enough votes.

I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of our Presidents were just religious for show.

I'd also argue that there wasn't a whole lot of difference between some of the Deists like Thomas Jefferson and an atheist.

 

[DallasDMac]

Yes, we probably will elect an atheist. Religion appears to be waning. It looks like a trend.

I'll fully admit, I have no idea about the religious preference of most any presidential candidate I have ever voted for. As long as they weren't going to pass some idiotic law based on their religious belief (or lack thereof), I don't really care.

 

[Politician Spock]

When was it proven there is no God? 

One does not have to prove that a highly unlikely explanation is false, when a far more likely explanation exists. 

 You really think most humans would believe in anything if they didn't think it was real?  There is a reason the vast majority of humans believe in a God.

Unless you believe in the plethora of non-christian gods too, then you and I both agree that most humans believe in gods that aren't real. My list of gods I believe aren't real just contains one more than your list. 

I put a note on the frig this morning, held it up with a little magnet, that pull couldn't be seen, yet there it was.

Sight is only one of the five senses. You felt it. Thus you observed it. 

 

[Politician Spock]

and we can predict it, and explain it, and test it, and confirm it, and do the math on it, without any need for the supernatural.

I kind of wonder if he thinks god makes planes fly, because the force lifting them up is invisible. 

 

[Gally]

If I were God I'd make damn sure everybody knew I was totally real and if ya do what I ask you'll join me in Heaven.  None of this .....you can't see me but forget that just believe in Me anyway or else.

What gets me is He actually thought that silliness would work?

That is kind of the point of belief.  In order to be saved you must believe unconditionally without evidence of such a being.  Most religions have this as their main structure because of the faith aspect.  To put it another way, if there was concrete evidence there was God/Heaven/Hell  then everyone would believe and follow God because it is proven that if you do you will go to heaven.  It wouldn't be a big deal to believe.  The point of faith is that you must believe without evidence to get to be saved. 

 

[Gally]

My thing actually bols down to most people can see how unlikely all this just came about by chance, they get how many things must be perfect for this to work, and they are.  What.....BIG BANG...DNA? 

No way in hell all this ...just happened....and most people see that.  Of course we don't have a clue what this was so here comes all that religious BS.

Why not?  If things weren't perfect then we wouldn't exist just like the many other planets in space.  Everything had to just happen for this to work out.  Out of all of the billions and billions of stars and galaxies and planets things just clicked and life exists as we know it.  I could see this just as likely as a god creating man and the world in six days. 

 

[Short Corner]

I have talked about all that Biblical stuff not being real.  I don't believe in that kind of God, I;m into a Designer not those silly Bible stories.  We can go with...GOD.

So that whole Samson thing was schtick?

 

[FreeBaGeL]

No way in hell all this ...just happened....and most people see that.  Of course we don't have a clue what this was so here comes all that religious BS.

Yeah everything lining up just right to create life here on Earth has got to be 1 in a trillion.

Thankfully there are ~10 trillion planets in our galaxy alone and hundreds of billions more galaxies out there each with trillions of planets of their own so in that sense, it's really not that unlikely at all.

 

[Dedfin]

Too easy...YES! It seems perfectly reasonable, imo, to conclude that humanity would have achieved more by now if billions of people over the centuries had not wasted their time and energy on religion.

Yeah, I agree with this. They very best argument I've seen contrary to this is the citation of monasteries keeping scientific writings (and rarely the source of scientific research) during the dark ages. However, should religion not have been so pervasive, the dark ages might not have happened. I'm looking at YOU, Roman Empire. We could be 1000+ years more advanced if we threw away our superstitions back when we thought the sun was a god.

 

[Captain Cranks]

So why does that light ball fall to the ground but that heavy sun doesn't?

Now here is where you will send me somewhere.

I think you'd enjoy this series.

Stephen Hawking's Grand Design Documentary

 

[Zow]

Is it really some big deal that most humans need their Gods?  I know a lot of people who don't have a God, they are pretty much a mess. And have seen people find a God and their life became better because of it.

You gain nothing with....bah humbug!

My life improved greatly when I stopped fearing hell and judging others on a draconian set of guidelines written for political purposes centuries ago.