Originally Posted by Gaia

I just realised, it's hard to define something you don't believe in. But I'll give it a whirl anyway.

God is a father figure, the creator of all, a way to try to explain the unexplainable, to try to understand what is not understandable (i.e. why are we alive, why do we die, where do we go from here) We look to the heavens by night and by day, and wonder at the vastness of it all. Where did all this come from? Must be a god. A creator. SOME supreme being, who has a handle on everything. And if we are really good, some day (when we're dead) we will understand everything, god included.

God is a drug to lull us into an illusion of safety. God is a security blanket for all our fears. God has some sort of plan for humanity (whereas humanity has no plan for itself?) God is a blessing for some, a curse for others.

Originally Posted by Sean

I'm a Recovering Catholic and I believe in: God/Jah/Allah/Buddha/Mother-Earth/Jesus-Christ/Karma & Energy. I don't know which is right, if any, among those terms. This makes me think of a very recent event.

My sister called the other night to tell me that my fifteen year old niece is pregnant. I suggested abortion first and then she went off. I asked her why she wanted to ruin the rest of that girls life then suggested adoption. She continued getting more and more angry, cussing me out with every name you can imagine at least twice. I ended the conversation telling her I loved her and to have a good night but I was not going to let her take out her frustration on me. After all it is not I who has done a horrible job raising my niece.

My mother wasn't that happy with me either upon speaking to her about the situation, telling me as my sister did that "we don't believe in abortion." I told her the same thing I told me sister. The mom follows with the classic line, "well you wouldn't be here if I had gotten an abortion."

"You don't know that. I believe that I would be here. By saying that I wouldn't be here had you had an abortion that means you don't believe in the existence of a soul."

"What?" The mother was stumped for a second and then resorted to her Religion as an answer. "No, you wouldn't be here because you would have been killed when I would have had the abortion."

Knowing she believes in the whole "original sin" crap she fell right into my trap, all the while quite aware that I continue to study theology. I inquired as to her belief as well as baptism relinquishing that original sin. Then I pointed out how that was no different then those other nutty christians who are "born again." She still had no idea where I was going. I then inquired as to how one can be born with original sin and then further born again without ever first being born.

After all of this of course she still resorted to it all being her personal belief. As proud as I am of her at least owning up to that I feel as though she only does in order to avoid any further conversation since she has no actual answer; none of us do. Which is my point, we don't know. I don't know and you don't know.

However we can clone nearly every living organism yet we can not create on our own. We can split an atom but that is just moving energy. I've known old men growing up, who were in the Wars with my grandfather, that had phantom-limbs. I laughed as a child seeing one of those old farts reach for a glass with an arm that was not there. Point being, the energy of that arm never left him for the rest of his life. I actually do have a lot more to add to this but need to jump in the shower and get ready for my work day.

Originally Posted by BleedingPinky

Ouch. But your niece will deal with it, if she´s smart enough in the future. Bad move for sure, but shit happens.
Talking about religion. 1988. Folks and me went back to Smithfield NC, just for the relatives to see him for the last time, as he was in his late years of Alzheimers desease. On a friday night, I spent it in a cousins place. She told me her husband had an acoustic guitar, I said YEAH! Went there, chatted, laughed, bunch of jokes, her ex ended up with me on the back porch fucked up of lousy cheap beer and talking about music. In the morning I attended to a local church where they had some special ´ceremony´, reason was my dad visiting. After it, I´ll never forget a short reunion with a few family members. All in a circle, hands holding, eyes closed, and one of my uncles praying for him. In my inside, I was laughing about the whole situation, as I´m a die hard atheist. But you can bet I cried afterwise. Faith is cool, just like music. You dig it, you love it. But if not, well, there´s always something to do in the day.

Originally Posted by disfigured

I have him on ignore, and my settings are such as to not display the religion forum because of him.

Essentially he has ruined an entire section of PG forums for me.

I've never put anyone on any forum on ignore till him/her (?).

I have no problem (other then the obvious and debatable ones) with the hyper-religious. But he has ceased to bring any relative contributions to any debate/discussion/argument.

I'm sure he's a nice fella, just a little eccentric.

But his presence on this board is simply far too overbearing for me to contend with, I simply don't have the time. Nor do I care to engage someone at ever turn who is so simple and singly minded obsessed with one version of "god" or "religion, that's it borders on the mentally ill.

Even Heretic on the old BM board as prolific and argumentative of a poster he was, at least brought more to the table then the broken record argument of E-man. Hell BlackKnight (associated with this board's BlackKnight I have no idea) as borderline racist as he was made some serious arguments with "evidence" (stats, census, and other things).

Originally Posted by Cookie

Being a parent is the hardest job any of us will ever do. Telling your Sis she did a bad job parenting the girl doesn't help the situation, but may come back to haunt you one day. Please be careful with that kind of a judgment. Kids don't come with an instruction manual, and in spite of what parents do, mistakes can and will happen.

I'm glad they are choosing life for the baby, but seems like adoption would be the best answer for the girl certainly. Wonderful couples are waiting on pins and needles for a beautiful, healthy newborn baby. I hope she will get the best prenatal care available to her, and that she will find a couple who wants the baby, possibly as an open adoption where the birth family can also be involved in the child's life. That would solve a lot of problems for your niece and Sis. Good luck to all of you, and please be kind to them. Your disapproval only makes matters worse right now. (I don't say this to make you feel guilty; I'm just trying to help).

Originally Posted by poetrychic

i came up with a theory about god once, but in order to imagine it you have to think in painfully and ridiculously large terms...

picture if you will, a living room...but not just any ordinary living room, god's living room...in it, lined all the way to the top and across the entire width are hundreds, possibly thousands, of universe sized glass boxes (see, i told you ridiculously large)...in each glass box is a universe, similar to our own complete with its very own earth like planet, solar system, galaxies etc. with many different activities happening at the same time...would be akin to having parallel universes...in these glass boxes, we are basically god's science experiment, as in he used science (evolution and the like) to come up with this quest....

now, as you visually move from universe box to universe box, you see different levels of various events, terrible war/famine in one, mediocre happenings in another, the perfect utopia in another and so on and so forth, through any and all possible scenarios the human mind can or cannot imagine...as we humans live our lives we are supposedly learning lessons, if we've learned well we are supposed to be rewarded with heaven, if not, then hell...once your time on this earth has passed, if you've learned your lessons you move on to the next "box", if not you go back a proportionate number of boxes equating to your behaviour, who you are in the "next world" is reflective of who you are in this one...this could easily account for people remembering past lives and such...

once you've gone through all the trials and tribulations "god" has laid out in each of his worlds, and passed, you are then rewarded with the utopian universe box (heaven) to live out the rest of eternity in peace etc.

see, it explains god, parallel universes, heaven, hell and past lives

plus, i can just see god sitting in front of all these universes, smokin' a doobie and laughing his ass off, the biggest prankster/scientist of them all...although the bitch is proving it

and of course proving how god came into existence to begin with

Originally Posted by Dawnling

I'd love to give you some ink and a canvas!

SO, you say that god is bigger than all the universe, yes?

Originally Posted by poetrychic

and i'd love to receive them

i'm also a recovering catholic, so god has his mystic to me....a throw back, if you will...

probably how and why i came up with that whole scenario...the catholic religion is quite the scare tactic and if you don't obey then there will be hell to pay, literally...i can't get into a god who's supposed to be forgiving and benevolent but will punish you for the slightest wrongdoing

it just seems like a juxtaposition of the worst kind...but i'll let others decide