If God Is Real

God has many names.

I can't imagine being so pompous as to think that we humans and animals are the only entities or the biggest thing in this big ole world, this universe.

I'm old and have experienced too many things, seen too many things to doubt. I know people that in certain situations have been witnesses to what I've experienced, with them seeing/perceiving relatively the same thing - and no, we weren't hallucinating nor doing drugs.

I know prayer works and I'm not about to even attempt to debate that (rather huge) subject here.

I guess I'm just jumping in here, compelled to say that even when I was angry with Him, I never doubted the reality of Him/Her.

It is inconceivable to me that there is doubt of a Supreme Being.

 

I never thought we or anything else alive is the biggest thing...or the smallest either.........a dog may look to me as a god, as i am able to do things for them they cannot do.....for themselves...but does that make me a bigger or better entity than them....so that is sort of my philosophy about everything.......

 

a dog can do things I can't do, too.....so the relationship is symbiotic.

 

but not all symbiotic relationships are beneficial to both......parasites win....but not the host in those symbiotic relationships.
It is late and I am off on a tangent of some kind, as usual.......

 

If you notice, you have already closed off inquiry into if there is actual efficacy of prayer in your statement here. Some of us appeal more to evidence, have different experiences revolving around religion/prayer and from those who make various assertions regarding their Supreme Being, Deity, religion, Etc.

After assessing all that, doubt if not flat out rejection to the notion of a Supreme Being is what some view as most consistent with what observations of the Universe we can make.

 

There is no "or is it just reproduce".

We can have sex and do all those things at the same time While cleaning up the environment. everything is gravy.

 

Even in science there are inconsistencies that can't really be explained...they just are, if I'm not mistaken. Aren't quarks the building blocks of everything...atoms and all? If I understand correctly, they shouldn't be compatable/able to be "together", yet they are.

I've heard, always, that energy doesn't die or cease to exist, it just changes forms.

I know this isn't an argument for God, but it is food for thought when considering observations of the universe.

I understand the need for evidence..to a certain degree.

Yet, when there is any type of "proof" for a Supreme Being, it can always be dismissed and talked away because (thus far) there isn't the type of "proof" many seem to need.

This discussion seems to have turned into that of books, what who thought and wrote when...

ln a discussion of "If God Is Real", imo one must realize/accept said discussion is subject to get around to personal experience and belief.

Abstract think all you want, but truly believing comes down to a leap of faith.

I also happen to think the deep science I've heard about supports that leap.

String theory.

 

Does the apparent uniformity of String Theory suggest it supports the notion of a Supreme Being? or is there anything specific entailed in the theory which does?

 

Lynn, I am a big believer in the energy never dies...just changes, and I find comfort in that....and I am also a believer in the string theory until something else comes along and makes more sense....but I don't believe in one supreme being that orchestrated all of this as a plan....I am of a different belief. I just don't ascribe to any omnipotent, be all end all power.............as a singularity.......I think everything is part of the same thing.....and not separate.

and heeh, whatever there.

all species reproduce....to perpetuate any species.....

 

so if a scientist, who was not able to reproduce....developed a cure for aids....he would be worthless in your eyes, because he could not reproduce?

 

If he was the last man on earth, he would be worthless for the purpose of preserving our species, yes.

It all depends on the situation you imagine, what he is capable of doing, and what you need him to do.

Use a hammer for nails, and a screwdriver for screws. You need the right tools for the job.

 

String theory, even in its jazzed up form of M-theory which would unite the five string and superstring theories , may be a blind alley in the search for a Theory of Everything (TOE). The major problem is that there is no evidence to support it and no forseeable means at the present time to get such evidence. After discussing M-theory, with is multiple universes that have as yet no empirical foundation,the leading contender to a designer universe, physicist Paul Davies invokes Occam's razor to decide in favor of design . But he admits it's a matter of taste.(The Mind of God, p.220)

 

I don't understand what it is it that is out...but transcendance seems to be the only way for me anyway.....

 

check out quantum chromodynamics. quarks and gluons are fields, it is fields, and the interaction between as well as the configuration of these fields that make up all matter. matter is energy.

 

science has shown that we are environmentally determined as far as our social and cultural values. this is absolutely determined by environment and not at all determined by genes.

im not talking about hardwired behaviors and natural instincts, im talking about social and cultural values.


example, you grow up in america, you will have christian values. you grow up in nazi germany, you try to be a good nazi.

 

I think we're having semantic differences. I'd say that values and culture are subject to enormous variations which are products of environmental circumstances. Relgion per se id probably to some extent influenced by biological factors, sicne it seems to be a universal phenomenon. We're not necessarily hardwired for it, but we are hardwired for cognitive attributes that make it very likely environmental inputs will be interpreted in terms of gods and spirits.The inner conflict between individualistic and altruistic urges can be intensified or muted by environmental influences, but it is a reality that any society and culture has to deal with. So my point was that Jesus, like other religious prophets,leaders, or spiritual leaders, can be useful in strengthening the altruistic side.

 

so what biological factors do you think could influence religion?

 

What I hate about that is, people who believe in God keep telling me I'm gonna go to hell.

 

This is the part of your post I agree with for the most part.

Then you fell for the illusion that we understand what you're talking about when you say God.

No one knows what you are talking about when you say god.

So you're better off explaining it.

 

There are certainly lots of different concepts of what God is, and since God is supposed to be ineffable, that's not surprising. I think there are three basic approaches: (1) anthropomorphic: the Dude in the Sky, or in a somewhat more sophisticated definition, a Cosmic Intelligence; (2) a Force (as in, "May the Force be with you"); God is a Life Force or Energy; (3) Ultimate Reality: a Transcendent idealistic entity; the Absolute, the Ground of Being. I think of God as a felt presence of a Higher Power, including the summation of human idealism and/or whatever is responsible for the laws of physics. This puts me in the latter two categories, but I don't rule out intelligence, in the sense of an agent or system that perceives/creates its environment and takes actions that maximize pursuit of goals. I lean toward Panendeism, which is the belief in a non-micromanaging deity or creative energy that infuses but transcends the universe; more specifically:"The doctrine that all of physical reality (the "universe") exists within the Deity and is created by a 'projective' evolutionary process that is on-going, self-evolving and ultimately co-creative in nature". I see no reason to be more commital.