My name says it all

[Ella]

I have a weird reply to your queries: It doesn’t matter.
I too have spent a lot of my time worrying about whether god exists or not. In the meantime, I was not spending much time helping other people. I think if we focus our lives on helping others, the answers to questions about faith etc. become moot.
I will say that for a long time I believed that humans themselves had the potential to make a heaven out of this Earth, but as I age I consistently see humans mucking everything up. I witness this from a global, political point of view all the way down to a minuscule, ‘how you treat the person in the subway seat across from you’ point of view. I see a lot of people without religion, having a lot of meaningless sex, meaningless money, and getting getting getting things, consuming like a bottomless maw, without ever feeling full. Perhaps the question isn’t ‘does God really exist’ but is rather, ‘what can I do to help’? One nice thing about the doctrine of free will is it does include a place for you and I to help make things better. Because we want to.

Thanks for your posts, I very much relate to them.

 

[fadingfaith]

Thank you for the reply FadingFaith I appreciate the clarification. I see that you are uncertian on what to do or what to believe. I can also see that you are being fair to both sides of the spectrum and that your at a crossroades in your spiritual life. I have had these feelings to and the most I could do is share my experience and observations with you. My journey has taken me from being agnostic, to being a theist, to being athiest, and back to being a theist lol. Yes it has been a interesting journey but worth it. Well I have to go to Mass (have to travel far) but I will be back, and I will share with you my observations.

sure, id like that thanks.

 

[fadingfaith]

I have a weird reply to your queries: It doesn’t matter.
I too have spent a lot of my time worrying about whether god exists or not. In the meantime, I was not spending much time helping other people. I think if we focus our lives on helping others, the answers to questions about faith etc. become moot.
I will say that for a long time I believed that humans themselves had the potential to make a heaven out of this Earth, but as I age I consistently see humans mucking everything up. I witness this from a global, political point of view all the way down to a minuscule, ‘how you treat the person in the subway seat across from you’ point of view. I see a lot of people without religion, having a lot of meaningless sex, meaningless money, and getting getting getting things, consuming like a bottomless maw, without ever feeling full. Perhaps the question isn’t ‘does God really exist’ but is rather, ‘what can I do to help’? One nice thing about the doctrine of free will is it does include a place for you and I to help make things better. Because we want to.

Thanks for your posts, I very much relate to them.

yeah, thats pretty much where i am at this time. im tired of trying to find just that right evidence that will finally put my mind at ease. there has always been that anxiety of wanting to be where god wants me to be and do what he wants me to do and never ever knowing what those things are. so for once im just resolved to quit worrying and just be where i am and do the things i know bless me and those around me (whether or not the blessings have some connection to god). and yes, people are good at mucking things up in this world, but i also think a good portion of people of faith make a contribution to it.
thanks a lot for sharing and encouragment.

 

[anon5216]

yeah, thats pretty much where i am at this time. im tired of trying to find just that right evidence that will finally put my mind at ease. there has always been that anxiety of wanting to be where god wants me to be and do what he wants me to do and never ever knowing what those things are. so for once im just resolved to quit worrying and just be where i am and do the things i know bless me and those around me (whether or not the blessings have some connection to god). and yes, people are good at mucking things up in this world, but i also think a good portion of people of faith make a contribution to it.
thanks a lot for sharing and encouragment.

God and Truth are far beyond the ordinary mind. There is no such thing as the right evidence to put that mind at ease.
The closest is when the mind comes up with its own criteria for proof - that criteria can conceivably be met.

But an honest mind will eventually realize that there’s no way to prove that the criteria, the mind itself came up with, is valid. Hence the matching evidence may not mean what you think it means.

Your current strategy, to quit worrying about it and just do things that bless you and those around you, should be far more fruitful.

 

[steve_b]

The first cell wouldn’t appear “from nothing”, as the Earth and the materials required existed well before life began.

In the beginning there was NOTHING.
shred:

How are those things miracles?

Something can’t come from nothing without a miracle causing it…
shred:

Nobody is seriously suggesting that a modern cell appeared out of nowhere, all of its intricate parts having randomly assembled themselves.If life began spontaneously, then it would probably have gone through several stages before being considered a cell (also, note that the first cells need not have been as complex as today’s cells are).

Allow me to rearrange your if/then statement

If Life came from NOTHING then life is a miracle.

 

[cazayoux]

I see you edited your post

you are right, I can’t prove that, but then I don’t need to disprove God. The burden is on the claim that God exist.

But you don’t merely state that “there is no proof that God exists” … you state definitively that he does not.
You take that definitive position without any proof that it is true.
It is illogical.

An agnostic I can respect. It is a logical position.
Your position is to believe something that you have no proof for.

michel

 

[steve_b]

Occam’s razor is that “the simplest explanation for a phenomenon is most likely the correct explanation" - the Law of Parsimony. If two theories explain the same phenomenon equally well, than choose the simplest explanation.

What you’re thinking about is Blaise Pascal’s Pascal’s Wager. Pascal did have some very interesting insights though:

.

Yep that’s it!!!

:tiphat: Thanks.