does god exist ?

does god exist? my brother says yes but Bob Avakian says otherwise. What is your opinion?

EDITED by Laibach so you don't look "special."

Who are you? You must be somebody's joke account...

If chairman Bob says so it must be true.

I don't believe in God. Got no reason, never have, can't say if I ever will or not. I'm waiting for a reason to do it.

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EDITED by Laibach so you don't look like a complete retard

Try not to be insulting to people.

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Try not to be insulting to people.

Try spelling at a 1st grade level and I won't feel an obligation to insult you.

In any case, you're right and I was being mean.

*fixed*

Laibach you just went over his head. He'll likely be confused, as usually special is a good thing for him...

Anywho... I don't believe in an all powerful, all knowing, omnipresent God with a bushy, white, beard, watching all our lives on television screens.

I believe that there is something out there more powerful than human beings. Maybe it's a divine electricity like the force, or a cosmic Hugh Hefner, giant Kasaba Melons flying through space, a mystical racoon, or space aliens. I don't know what it is exactly and I don't care. I thought I knew what God was at one point but honestly I have no flipping clue. I just know that a God of my "understanding" exists out there somewhere.

I used to be a devout atheist until I took some time to study myself and my behavior. I realized that every time I was in a jam, I was silently praying to something, thinking that something or someone could hear and help me. Besides, when I pray and meditate to my higher power, my quality of life just improves beyond my wildest dreams.

In my opinion, atheism is completely logical, but it's arrogant. Atheists have a lot of self will and ego. That's fine, and I don't discriminate. It just doesn't work for me. Therefore I do have a reason to believe in a power greater than myself.

Everyone has a spiritual hole. If it's not filled with spirituality then something else takes its place... like drugs, alcohol, women, material posessions, money, sports, guns, or anything. It doesn't necessarily have to be destructive. Some people can find other things to fill that hole and if it works for them, then that's great. In my experience, the only thing I can use to fill my spiritual hole is spirituality.

Therefore, yes I believe in a "God," as much as I hate that word.

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Laibach you just went over his head. He'll likely be confused, as usually special is a good thing for him...

haha, well great, because I would feel guilty if I insulted somebody with the IQ of a remedial 1st grader.

I don't seen any proof or indication of any higher being so therefor I don't believe in one. I do not really care if other people believe in deities as long as they don't try to convert me.

Laibach, in answer to your spiritual hole idea, the famous "Socialism is my religion."

Perhaps it's not accurate to say this about myself at such a young age, espicially when I'm so inactive in the socialist movement, but it may yet become true of me. I see great worth in people, as a unit and as an individual. I do not need a higher power than this.

Yes, sometimes I do want a higher power to do something for me. Sometimes I want to sprout wings and fly around, but neither are based on reality. I rarely pray for myself. Sometimes I jokingly say, "If there is a god then I will find the essay" or some such nonsense, but it's more out of exasperation. I have prayed for others, people are suicidal or sick. I've only done that in my weakest moments when I break down and cannot do anything else. It is out of a desire to do something and I can do nothing, and so I content myself with praying.

Opium of the people.

I'm not saying that religious people are less intelligent, but they're certainly not less egosistic arrogant. Am I arrogant for not believing something I have no reason to believe in? Or am I arrogant for deciding what qulaifies as a reason to believe? Should I let God or your higher power decide then? But I can hardly let something decide that I'm not sure exists. How about the Pope? Should the Pope get to decide what we think? Should you decide what of my experiences qualifies as reason to believe?

I should decide, and only myself. It is not another's place to choose belief. This is not arrogance. It is certainly egoistic to call those who support individual's finding their own spiritual truth arrogant.

One can speculate the hell out of the existence of anything, yet as long as I remain convinced of the correctness of the dialectical materialist world outlook, the most basic logical consistency dictates me to deny the existence of God. And to prevent any accusations of dogmatism, this stance will stay only untill I become convinced against DM, the possibility of which I don't deny.

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but Bob Avakian says otherwise.

Bobby boy is god on earth.

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EDITED by Laibach so you don't look "special."

And to quote Yuri Gagarin, "I don't see any god up here."

No, but these kind of rascals do: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkUvaBuazbA

I am more inclined to believe that there is a god than that the universe exploded into existence

That's a bad argument.

"Well, we can't explain it well now, so God must have done it."

That kind of thing justified religion in the past by explaining weather, seasons, plant growth, birth, ect ect. And there's shown to be a nonreligious reason for all of these, in time.

You can object to the Big Bang theory for whatever reason, but that doesn't mean you should just latch onto the first idea that's slightly plausible and say it's the truth.

I seperate my faith from anything scientific. Religion doesn't define my morals.

I particularly had a strong attachment to my church's pastors, Father Bergie (now a bishop), and Father Stromeihyer. They helped my family a lot when my Dad was unemployed, and they were the ones that got me to read the Bible for myself. The stories were just neat, I didn't live by them, but accepted that there was some good to them.

I lost some of that thinking after I went to public school, but now I'm remembering it a bit better. When you think to yourself, God is the thing you swear by.

I don't personally care whether God actually exists. He is a metaphysical being, so I just have to believe in Him for Him to exist. When I die, I will find peace. That's all there is to it.

betterredthandead wrote:

I am more inclined to believe that there is a god than that the universe exploded into existence

Religion is just a primitive way to govern and explain unknowns. We do not know why electrons and protons are attracted to each other. Does this mean the God is behind this attraction?

Religion gives spirituality a bad name.

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I'm not saying that religious people are less intelligent, but they're certainly not less egosistic arrogant.

I agree with you. I think they are more egotistic and arrogant. I'm talking about spirituality, not religion.

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Am I arrogant for not believing something I have no reason to believe in?

No... if you have no reason to believe in it, then you are not arrogant. I do have a reason to believe in a higher power. Therefore were I to deny its existence, that would make me arrogant.

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Or am I arrogant for deciding what qulaifies as a reason to believe?

You might be.... I don't know. I am in no position to judge you whatsoever. If I made the implication that I find you arrogant for that reason, then I apologize.

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Should I let God or your higher power decide then?

Well my personal higher power or conception of it doesn't judge you and loves you no matter what... even if you burn my house down. My higher power even loves Fitzy. But that's MY higher power. No, you shouldn't let MY higher power decide for you... even though I know that was a sarcastic rhetorical question. You should let YOUR higher power decide for you... or in your case... dogmatic socialist doctrine, or the Holy Spirit of Karl Marx, or whatever it may be that works for you.

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But I can hardly let something decide that I'm not sure exists.

Of course not. I don't expect you to. I only think you should keep an open mind. Be willing to believe in a God were such a God to reach down from the Heavens and smite thee or turn your car into a giant marshmallow or whatever. I agree that you have no reason to believe in a God based on the lack of evidence. I'm just saying that you shouldn't be unwilling to change your mind at some point in the future were the evidence to suggest otherwise.

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How about the Pope? Should the Pope get to decide what we think?

What does the Pope have to do with this? I hate the Pope.

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Should you decide what of my experiences qualifies as reason to believe?

I don't know your experiences... even If I did, I could only speculate. What might be reason enough for me, might not be reason enough for you, etc...

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I should decide, and only myself. It is not another's place to choose belief. This is not arrogance. It is certainly egoistic to call those who support individual's finding their own spiritual truth arrogant.

I think you're misunderstanding me, buddy. I'm not saying it's anyone else's place to choose anyone's belief but their own. I'm not calling you or any other agnostic arrogant. I only believe that atheists... or people who believe that the existence of any sort of god is impossible, are in general.... arrogant. I think it's arrogant to not believe in God simply because you think it's the Marxist thing to do and you're afraid that your commie friends are going to give you shit for it. If you HONESTLY believe that there is NOTHING out there.... that the earth just sporadically appeared along with the rest of the universe from a spontaneous explosion and that you are the be all, end all power of all the galaxies that span across our universe, then cool.... Go with it.

Maybe it seems silly to me, I'll admit. But I couldn't call you arrogant. And if that's what you truly believe, then I applaud you for being true to yourself.

As Patricio said though... the way I see it, when you talk to yourself, God is just the thing that you swear by. And as long as someone believes in a God, there will always be one because God is a metaphysical being.