Existentialism

thats stupid... i didnt even yawn i was just seeing how retarded it is that they get paid to do a commercial on yawning

I yawned...

Cipherz, your entire argument is void on the basis that I don't like it. Were it a matter of choice, your situation would have been much different. Many Christians argue that before our life, we were entities that knew all, and chose our paths in order to construct the will of God...so, either it was not a matter of choice or your all-knowing entity self chose horribly wrong.

And how the hell is the ultimate goal of mankind "God"...a goal can't be a noun...unless your goal is "Heaven" or something, in which case it is implied that your goal would be to reach Heaven.

Oh, and on a separate yet similar note, let us also consider the future aspect of our different beliefs. On one hand, God, as the Christians believe it to be so, has set our paths before us. These paths are not absolute, but they ultimately end in the manner he has placed beforehand. However, if we refuse God, or at least believe that it's a great possibility he may not exist, then we can suppose that humanity, mankind, has the potential of evolving beyond the intended, or given, limits. If God exists, our paths are set in stone, or at least their destinations are, and we are headed toward the destiny we are meant for, and we have no control of it. However, if there is not, we could act in accordance to our will and utilize the resources around us to our best advantage and ability, reaching the full potential of mankind's...well, potential, if you'll pardon the redundancy.

It is after this point that we run into trouble. What if mankind did find the answer? What if mankind did reach his full potential? What would we do then? It's analogous to a child completing a puzzle he has been working on for ages. During the working process all he can think about is reaching the end, but when he gets there, he takes one look at the puzzle and goes, "Well...that was fun, I guess. Can I have another?"

It makes you wonder if it isn't the first time we've done this.

No. It just makes me wonder what the hell you think off all day. Screw deep intellectual thought.

You know you love it.

No, because if I did then I'd randomly break into some intellectual speech about the science of denial and how it can lead to the downfall of humanking. But I might if I had the time to instead of having my busy-ass schedule. (Demo, it's OK, the burning has long past) (To someone else, please try to bring the burning back, I'm too tired.)

[quote="Demo"]I yawned...

You know what I meant when I said the goal is God, the goal is to serve God, and bring glory to him. To the average joe in America, life without God is not " will and utilize the resources around us to our best advantage and ability, reaching the full potential of mankind's...well, potential" Their life goals (most likely) are simpleton goals. However to a more educated person like you, a life such as this is not appealing and you hunger for knowledge and will most likely benefit others.
The founding fathers by the way, said that democracy can not exist without the Christian "God" and that it would fall apart. I believe that people will not go to their full potential if they have nobody to pressure them into doing so. As for God limiting the human life, the only thing he limits are personal things such as no sex before marriage, do not get drunk with wine, etc.

You can serve God by being a lawyer, rocket scientist, basketball player, you name it. Newton, Copernicus, Galileo, Mendel were all Christians and did they use their resources to explore the human potential?

Demo is a noob.I decided to bring up old topics.

Oh thank you, I never got around to reading this one, and I'd love to reply.

In the many papers by the Founding Fathers, it was not stated that a Democracy could not thrive without a "God", but it could not survive without a religion. By this, they mean that a Democracy must have a foundation and reason for its existence, and people need to have faith in order to function together as a society.

Remember, all of those figures you mentioned may have been religious, but you also have to realize the relative time they lived. Back then, obeying the English Church was virtually mandatory (hence the creation of our nation's original independence, allowing for a more broad spectrum of beliefs), and even when it was not mandatory it was still widely distributed. The best examples, and I love that you mentioned them, were Copernicus and Galileo, both of which founded heliocentric versions of the English Church's belief of what the universe revolved around, and were both forced to keep their findings in secret due to the Church's lack of tolerance.

No one ever said there aren't corrupt church leaders or dumb ones for that matter. The Bible never argued against Galileo or Copernicus, in fact I seem to recall that it supported it. The leaders just didn't understand the abstract meanings. I mean how could they really understand space at their time? I think Cipherz has a valid point when he said that it creates purpose. Personally I think life would be boring/meaningless without a God.

You're missing my point, though. I'm not saying religion is bad, I'm saying that you are referring to "God" as their main resource. It was not. "God" just happened to be the focal point of their religion, but there are many other religions out there that don't even rely on a Supreme Being, hell some of them don't even have a divine source of any kind. For example, my Mother does belief in a certain higher entity (be it a god or just some force that connects us all), but doesn't believe that gay people should be pelleted to death with rocks or that if you don't attend church you are a heathen (we live in Utah). Religion, or faith and hope, in my opinion, is definitely a good factor in society and should exist (because, otherwise, we'd all be sociopaths), but that people give so much credit and base so many theories on the way a country should be ran based on this "God" displeases me.

EDIT: *cough*Bush*cough*

Yes Allah seems to be doing a great job Demo. In Africa the trillions of gods seem to be working just wonderfully. The Christian Bible does not teach people to stone gays or that if you don't attend church you are a heathen. In one of Jesus's stories, they were about to stone a harlot for being a harlot. Jesus said whichever of you who does not sin, throw a stone at her. Jesus taught against homosexual relationships and encouraged people to attend church, but by no means did he say completely outcast or kill them. Many people did not understand that God would be the judge and just took it upon themselves to punish others. That is man's fault not God's.

As for your mother, she must have taken that from Einstein. He believed in a god who worked in harmony with the universe, but was confined by the restraints of our universe as well, not really a god but whatever.

Cipherz wrote:

That is man's fault not God's.

And, as they say, life is only a perception. What good is religion if it's not even being executed properly? It's not God and religion as a basis that I'm disagreeing with, if I haven't made that clear enough, but the way in which we act based on this religion, and the ways that we justify our actions.

Again, Bush.

You mean thats as atheists say. You are arguing a liberal/atheist view.

As for Bush I dislike him as well and I don't think he should be able to justify any of his actions. Many of his policies were liberal i.e. ruining this country. Liberalism can only harm this country and its economy.

Don't make me smack you.

And how many times do I have to say it? I'm not against religion, dammit. Look up the word "Atheist". I'm Agnostic.

Demo wrote:

I'm not against religion, dammit. Look up the word "Atheist". I'm Agnostic.

Oh... now that really gets my goat. Way too many people think that if you're an atheist, then you have to go around protesting Christmas, actively being a snob and telling people that they're idiots for believing in God, et cetera.

I am an atheist. I believe that God does not exist. I still celebrate Christmas with my family. I do not seek out confrontation. I believe that religion is primarily a device for the important people to get servants and bling, but I don't believe that religion, on its own, is a bad thing.

Allow me to copy and paste text from many dictionaries:

Code:

An atheist is one who denies the existence of a deity or of divine beings.

Atheism, as a philosophical view, is the position that either affirms the nonexistence of gods or rejects theism. When defined more broadly, atheism is the absence of belief in deities, alternatively called nontheism.

somebody who does not believe in God or deities

someone who believes that God or gods do not exist

1. A person who does not believe that deities exist; one who lacks belief in gods.

    * 2006, Richard Dawkins, The God Delusion, page 51:

          Atheists do not have faith; and reason alone could not propel one to total conviction that anything definitely does not exist.

2. A person who believes that no deities exist; one who denies the existence of all gods

one who believes that there is no God or gods.

One who disbelieves or denies the existence of God or gods.

a person who denies or disbelieves the existence of a supreme being or beings.

Demo were you going to smack me for saying liberalism is evil? If so, I would like debate the retardednes of liberalism.

Are you using the 1800 definition of liberalism or today's? If you're using the 1800 definition, I will gladly enter into MORTAL KOMBAT with you.

Same.

Anyway, Nitro, we were both arguing the same thing, I just worded it poorly. By "religion", I'm not saying I don't believe in a divine, or Supreme, entity, I'm just talking specifically about "God". My side of the argument was strictly humanistic, because I can't stand the way people interpret their beliefs in such a high-and-mighty fashion. Atheism is basically an extreme of what I am, that being an Agnostic. I simply believe that there may or may not be a God, but even if there is, we probably won't figure out about it, at least not in our mortal existence.

Ah.

lol inverted laugh. /\/\

I am talking about liberalism(communism) of today.

Liberalism != Communism

That's like calling a Conservative a tree-hugger.

Tree-hugger.

What?!?!?

Having read the Wikipedia article on liberalism, I see that maybe not all liberals are masquerading communists. I was wrong.

Also, Firefox doesn't recognize "Wikipedia" as a word. Stupid Firefox.

what is the definition of wikipedia?