Do you believe in God and why

[thaibeachlovers]

7 hours ago, Neeranam said:

Sure you know what agnostic means?

To be agnostic is to believe that a higher power is possible.

I reject the personal God idea of religion, but I do believe in God, so I guess I'm not agnostic, but I used to be.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

Imagination is great. It's not only fun, it's necessary for creativity.

And it has nothing to do with god. 

So, if not for God, where did imagination come from? Do you believe that something can come from nothing? Before the universe existed, if you don't believe in God there was nothing, zero, nada. Soooo, explain how the universe emerged from nothing.

Was it magic? Does science have an ability to make something come out of nothing, does it explain how it could happen?

If there is no logical explanation as to how the universe came out of nothing, the only logical answer is that something unknown to science made it happen ie God.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, fusion58 said:

How so?

 

How could this even be demonstrated or proven?

Is your imagination finite then? Mine isn't.

[thaibeachlovers]

11 hours ago, OneMoreFarang said:

I agree with the connection to nature. And that is not really surprising because we all exist on this earth together since a long long time.

But what does have god to do with that?

Nature IS God, God IS nature. Did it all just happen by accident?

To reiterate, I reject the god of religion and accept God the creator. Something created the universe, and that something is God. Just don't get hung up by organised religion.

[thaibeachlovers]

12 hours ago, mauGR1 said:

I can accept your point of view, but even if I'd embrace it, no one can deny the existence of imagination. 

Although imagination itself may be useless in many cases, no one would deny the importance of imagination in our lives.

Since aeons people have been discussing the existence of God, and we're still discussing it, so it's not like all the believers are nuts or vice-versa. 

I disagree. IMO imagination is the thing that separates us from just being hairless apes. Without imagination we'd never have seen the possibility to make our lives better, by imagining how to make fire, cook food, build a house, plough a field. None of us were born with that knowledge. Just inventing printing required imagination.

[mauGR1]

2 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I disagree. IMO imagination is the thing that separates us from just being hairless apes. Without imagination we'd never have seen the possibility to make our lives better, by imagining how to make fire, cook food, build a house, plough a field. None of us were born with that knowledge. Just inventing printing required imagination.

Perhaps you slightly misunderstood my point.

In fact i regard imagination as one of the highest qualities of humans.

.. although it's left to us to discriminate if our imagination is compatible with the laws of the universe. 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Perhaps you slightly misunderstood my point.

In fact i regard imagination as one of the highest qualities of humans.

.. although it's left to us to discriminate if our imagination is compatible with the laws of the universe. 

LOL, my favourite fantasy ( imagination ) is being transported to a beautiful island where I live on the beach with a harem of lusty young women that will do anything I want- that's definitely outside the laws of reality.

[mauGR1]

37 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

As you know, I believe that God is in everything ( everything is just electricity at it's core- it's just how the electrons etc are arranged to make things ), I just don't believe that God can be given human emotions. To God, I'm sure, everything is just as important as everything else ie a virus is as important as a human, so why would God be more considerate towards one part of creation over another?

Why would a being that created black holes to destroy entire solar systems save an individual human being? Obviously God doesn't anyway, so the question is moot.

Up to you.

I have a lot of respect for what you just said, and sometimes my thoughts are exactly the same. 

.. we can agree on the fact that god is impartial to all the creatures of the universe..

..yet, i think that you are too fast in judging what God can do, and what he cannot do.

[mauGR1]

3 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

LOL, my favourite fantasy ( imagination ) is being transported to a beautiful island where I live on the beach with a harem of lusty young women that will do anything I want- that's definitely outside the laws of reality.

Uhm, i believe that wishes always come true, so one has just to be patient and wait.

My dream is to channel the music of the heavens, which I've been lucky to hear a few times, but most probably I'll have to wait for my next life ????

[thaibeachlovers]

6 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Uhm, i believe that wishes always come true, so one has just to be patient and wait.

My dream is to channel the music of the heavens, which I've been lucky to hear a few times, but most probably I'll have to wait for my next life ????

Yes. I'm waiting till I get to go to paradise, where all dreams come true ( I hope ).

I only got to hear the music one time, so I envy you.

[owl sees all]

Anger and hope.

 

Anger at the world's injustices.

Hope than it can get better.

[thaibeachlovers]

16 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

I have a lot of respect for what you just said, and sometimes my thoughts are exactly the same. 

.. we can agree on the fact that god is impartial to all the creatures of the universe..

..yet, i think that you are too fast in judging what God can do, and what he cannot do.

Actually, I don't have a clue what God can do on a personal level, I just believe in what seems logical.

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, owl sees all said:

Anger and hope.

 

Anger at the world's injustices.

Hope than it can get better.

Without hope we'd probably have a lot more suicides that we do. For proof of that look at what is going on in a certain unfortunate country ( not Ukraine ).

[mauGR1]

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Actually, I don't have a clue what God can do on a personal level, I just believe in what seems logical.

Same here, and i can only guess that it's not that easy to translate our mysterious intuitions into rational,  logical thoughts. 

[mauGR1]

27 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Without hope we'd probably have a lot more suicides that we do. For proof of that look at what is going on in a certain unfortunate country ( not Ukraine ).

Now I'm curious, are you referring to the earthquake stricken countries ?

Incidentally, Jesus, when hearing comments about a huge tragedy of his times, apparently said: " those who survived are not necessarily better than the victims.."

In other words, sorry if it sounds ominous, it always happens to others, until it happens to us. 

Edited February 13, 2023 by mauGR1

[thaibeachlovers]

Just now, mauGR1 said:

Now I'm curious, are you referring to the earthquake stricken countries ?

Incidentally, Jesus, when in commenting a huge tragedy of his times, famously said, those who survived are not better than the victims..

In other words, sorry if it sounds ominous, it always happens to others, until it happens to us. 

No, further south.

[Neeranam]

9 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Now I'm curious, are you referring to the earthquake stricken countries ?

Incidentally, Jesus, when hearing comments about a huge tragedy of his times, apparently said: " those who survived are not necessarily better than the victims.."

In other words, sorry if it sounds ominous, it always happens to others, until it happens to us. 

Karma explains things like that. 

[mauGR1]

5 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

No, further south.

Now I'm puzzled ???? are you referring to your home country?

Oh, well I'll probably consume some grey matter thinking about it for the whole day .

[Hummin]

34 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Without hope we'd probably have a lot more suicides that we do. For proof of that look at what is going on in a certain unfortunate country ( not Ukraine ).

Often during crises we have something to fight for, our own and family's life.

 

[Neeranam]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

To be agnostic is to believe that a higher power is possible.

I reject the personal God idea of religion, but I do believe in God, so I guess I'm not agnostic, but I used to be.

I know what it means, but the person who used doesn't. 

 

What do you mean the voesonal God idea of religion? 

 

 

[Hummin]

3 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I know what it means, but the person who used doesn't. 

 

What do you mean the voesonal God idea of religion? 

 

 

Believe in a god who have a solely purpose only for humans, or nothing is equally stupid ????

[mauGR1]

1 minute ago, Neeranam said:

Karma explains things like that. 

I agree, but i feel like i have to be careful while trying to decipher those laws.

In other words, i trust very few when we talk about karma.

Incidentally, have you noticed how the number of internet gurus has increased recently, and exponentially in the last 3 years or so ?

[thaibeachlovers]

2 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

I know what it means, but the person who used doesn't. 

 

What do you mean the voesonal God idea of religion? 

 

 

Assuming you meant "the PERSONAL God" idea, some religious people believe that they have a relationship with God, and he's with them helping them, which is why they get a bit upset when they get cancer or suchlike.

[thaibeachlovers]

7 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

Now I'm puzzled ???? are you referring to your home country?

Oh, well I'll probably consume some grey matter thinking about it for the whole day .

I'll PM you.

[save the frogs]

13 minutes ago, Neeranam said:

Karma explains things like that. 

it's more useful to focus the discussion on karma than god.

most people don't care about god because there is no direct link to their life.

and people are generally selfish creatures.

if god doesn't affect your life, then who cares?

buddhism doesn't focus on god. but it does talk a lot about karma.

people would do well to read some buddhist texts and stop wasting time getting into abstract discussions about god.

clearly, 500 pages in, no matter how much conviction you have that god exists, most people will still not be convinced and even think it's ridiculous.

it's the wrong question to be focusing on.

karma is a more pertinent issue. 

 

Edited February 13, 2023 by save the frogs

[Hummin]

3 minutes ago, mauGR1 said:

 have you noticed how the number of internet gurus has increased recently, and exponentially in the last 3 years or so ?

False prophets and opinion searcher's 

[Hummin]

11 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

I'll PM you.

Come on, dont do that to us!

 

Israel!

Edited February 13, 2023 by Hummin

[mauGR1]

Just now, Hummin said:

False prophets and opinion searcher's 

Surely agree, yet most probably a few good ones in the mix.

[owl sees all]

The whole thing about 'God' is intriguing. Is it not?

 

For me he/she/it (god) is just one of three possibilities, explaining how and why we are here.

 

Firstly; that there is a spirit/human/all-powerful-being that created us; through Adam and Eve perhaps.

Secondly; that we evolved gradually from swamp creatures over millions of years.

Thirdly; that Earth had visitors some 40k years ago, and we are, either those same people, or we were engineered from apes or Neanderthal man; or the like.

 

I find the last of these possibilities the most fascinating. If this is a correct assumption, the next question is why. The UK sent it's naughty prisoners to Oz. Could it be that the Earth's first humans were extraterrestrial criminals? Could it be that we are the contents of another planet that was decaying and dying, and that necessitated finding a new home? There is also the possibility that we were put here as a food source, and as yet, have not been harvested.

Edited February 13, 2023 by owl sees all

[Hummin]

Just now, mauGR1 said:

Surely agree, yet most probably a few good ones in the mix.

The good ones can still be false prophets. A few of them I followed earlier and who I learned something from, turned out to be as everyone else. Good at talking, but in practice, well, money, ratings, 

 

Gold and myrra as usual. I believe human weakness is to much exposure and fame blind them from their own good. They might start out with good intentions, but