Is there a GOD?

[wayneL]

There is no God.

And there we have it! The definitive answer from THE authority!

 

[imajica]

The concept of 'GOD' forms part of the cultural simulacrum

The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth-it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.

Ecclesiastes

therefore:

Religion is a simulacrum: something that is made 'real' by its believers, not something that is believed in because it is 'real'

 

[2020hindsight]

George Carlin on the ten commandments:
(It's a p!sstake so don't watch if likely to be offended )

Wayne - that was brilliant btw -
of course he too will have difficulty getting into heaven but what the hell.

PS ( one of these days I'll post a short message lol) - when driving around Arizona / Nevada / Utah, you turn on the radio, -a lot of religious stations - "and now for the 9 oclock news , researchers have proved that genesis chap 7 ver 49 sub para (1) (a) (iii) is absolutely true, and the world is only 6000 years etc ". and so on for 5 minutes - quite often not a word on another topic. So you think to yourself, how is it that some tour guide or travel book just told me the complete opposite

Many there seem to be caught in the conundrum /puzzle / riddle that their dollars come in because they live on this magnificent geological time record, yet many of them still refuse to see it as such. Maybe they just see "a big valley" lol. Then there are the Evil Kanevils (?) who see it and say , "wow, I bet I can jump that !!"

PS Met a bloke wanted to put a dam across the Grand Canyon, - but don't mention it in Tasmania - might give them (him) ideas.

 

[wayneL]

Wayne - that was brilliant btw -
of course he too will have difficulty getting into heaven but what the hell.

Suppose for a brief moment that there is a Christian God. If he gave humans a sense of humour, I'm sure he has one himself. I'd say he was laughing at George like the rest of us. lol

I read an article that reckoned the "manna" that the Israelites were eating in the Sinai Desert was in fact magic mushrooms. That would explain a lot of things... burning bushes... conversations with the big fella... tablets with rules written on that nobody else got to see etc etc.

Moses was tripping out man!

 

[disarray]

The concept of 'GOD' forms part of the cultural simulacrum

The simulacrum is never that which conceals the truth-it is the truth which conceals that there is none. The simulacrum is true.

Ecclesiastes

therefore:

Religion is a simulacrum: something that is made 'real' by its believers, not something that is believed in because it is 'real'

heh reminds me of the terry pratchett book "small gods". in discworld gods are made real and powerful by belief so the most popular gods are huge and powerful, while there are hundreds of tiny little gods running around who only have a few believers. a good read.

 

[2020hindsight]

heh reminds me of the terry pratchett book "small gods". in discworld gods are made real and powerful by belief so the most popular gods are huge and powerful, while there are hundreds of tiny little gods running around who only have a few believers. a good read.

sounds a bit like Canbera m8 - tell me, do these gods get massive retirement benfits?

 

[disarray]

no they pop out of existence once people stop believing in them. no diplomatic postings to rome for them. sounds like a system worth adopting.

 

[It's Snake Pliskin]

And there we have it! The definitive answer from THE authority!

No avatars of god?

 

[noirua]

I felt the poll was quite difficult to vote on as it had no mention of religion or other beliefs.
It would therefore be possible to believe in God, and not in life after death, or believe in life after death, with no religion. With belief in religion, life after death is a belief.
Also comments such as "...we are a random quirk of nature" and a few other add ons, tended to bias the poll, imho.

 

[Mousie]

I felt the poll was quite difficult to vote on as it had no mention of religion or other beliefs.
It would therefore be possible to believe in God, and not in life after death, or believe in life after death, with no religion. With belief in religion, life after death is a belief.
Also comments such as "...we are a random quirk of nature" and a few other add ons, tended to bias the poll, imho.

noirua,

I believe the reason tech/a created the poll thus was to minimise the influence of each's religious beliefs upon their voting on whether a deity actually exists. I know a single creator-God exist (read my past posts as to why), but nowhere have I stated that I believe in any religion.

The focus is on whether a God actually exist, not any might-be-related consequences of whether a deity exists.

Then again, tech/a can speak for himself.

 

[2020hindsight]

Suppose for a brief moment that there is a Christian God. If he gave humans a sense of humour, I'm sure he has one himself. I'd say he was laughing at George like the rest of us. lol

I read an article that reckoned the "manna" that the Israelites were eating in the Sinai Desert was in fact magic mushrooms. That would explain a lot of things... burning bushes... conversations with the big fella... tablets with rules written on that nobody else got to see etc etc. Moses was tripping out man!

Lol, God's sense of humour . what an interesting topic
If he made us in his likeness, then why not?
If we made him in our likeness, then again, why not?

Or is it a case of having coffee and scones with the boss and his wife, and you're only allowed to laugh when the boss tells the jokes

or maybe .... I remember Eddy McGuire on "Who wants to be a millionaire" , and someone came on and had told 3 jokes before Eddy could get out one, and lol - Eddy had to set him straight "HEY I TELL the jokes around HERE!" lol. (he was serious too)

As for the magic mushrooms - that has gotta be plausible surely.

Maybe those "tablets" haven't been "translated" correctly either

 

[Happy]

Did we touch on scientology yet?

What was wrong with Mr Sweeney, developed screechy voice.

 

[Rafa]

i would like to hear more on scientology, esp in light of recent events...
anyone here a scientologist?

 

[2020hindsight]

PS speaking of magic mushrooms , here's a repost :- (personally I prefer the 1973 version)
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=98528&highlight=superstar#post98528

If you listen carefully to the words of this song, you can definitely pick up a drunken slur in their voices ...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RRqwlZDvWw8 The Last Supper

Look at all my trials and tribulations
Sinking in a gentle pool of wine
Don't disturb me now I can see the answers
Till this evening is this morning life is fine

Always hoped that I'd be an apostle
Knew that I would make it if I tried
Then when we retire we can write the gospels
So they'll still talk about us when we've died

http://www.lyricsdepot.com/jesus-christ-superstar/the-last-supper.html (lyrics)

 

[Wysiwyg]

Did we touch on scientology yet?

What was wrong with Mr Sweeney, developed screechy voice.

I read parts parts of Dianetics a long time ago.I went to a church of scientology in Perth to find out about being "cleared" of "engrams".
They had me convinced that I was in need of their help and I signed up.That night I discussed this with my friends and they said to be careful of this mob.
I rang them the next day and told them I didn`t want to join and the bloke told me that it was those voices telling not to go and to fight them.He sounded angry and wanted to continue trying to convince me , I became scared so I hung up and never went back.I only wanted to find out some more about Dianetics in the first place but they had my impressionable mind while I was in their presence that day.Long time ago now and looking back I realise that it takes time to build a strong mind. That was my experience.

P.s....I went for a personality test at some place years before then which is when I first read about Dianetics and that Hubbard dude.

 

[disarray]

south park do scientology

http://youtube.com/watch?v=DAmEO-oLHzA

this is what they really believe

 

[Happy]

I read parts parts of Dianetics a long time ago.I went to a church of scientology in Perth to find out about being "cleared" of "engrams".
They had me convinced that I was in need of their help and I signed up.That night I discussed this with my friends and they said to be careful of this mob.
I rang them the next day and told them I didn`t want to join and the bloke told me that it was those voices telling not to go and to fight them.He sounded angry and wanted to continue trying to convince me , I became scared so I hung up and never went back.I only wanted to find out some more about Dianetics in the first place but they had my impressionable mind while I was in their presence that day.Long time ago now and looking back I realise that it takes time to build a strong mind. That was my experience.

P.s....I went for a personality test at some place years before then which is when I first read about Dianetics and that Hubbard dude.

Looks like rather unpleasant experience.

 

[2020hindsight]

I went to a church of scientology in Perth to find out about being "cleared" of "engrams". They had me convinced that I was in need of their help and I signed up.

Lol - teach you to leave the bush
When I was a kid, our family was tackled by a couple of Mormons. Used to come to the house and give us "the good oil". For the first week or two, we were too polite to tell them we didn't want to know. Gotta feeling my brother was interested in the polygomy bit lol.

Then the misunderstandings started with all these strange accents ...
"If I sign up and have two wives, that's bigamy"
"No it's not , it big of ME for signing you up."

Seems that JC was a Jew, and that wasn't good enough, so they'd come up with their idea of a MUCH BETTER spritual leader - some bloke who saw something special (forget what, burning bushes , magic mushrooms, who can remember the mumbo jumbo - ahh that was it !!! pink flying elephants (lol)!! )
Classic Xenophanes "If horses could draw, they would draw their God's as horses"

NOW - how about we start an AUSSIE religion! - maybe Johnny Farnham can have the batton for the first year at least . Just gotta think of something clever that he's supposed to have done lol.

Gotta feeling Cathy Freeman walked on water when she lit the Olympic torch? forget the details.
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=105416&highlight=xenophanes#post105416

 

[wayneL]

Looks like rather unpleasant experience.

The BBC did a show on them:
Part 1 - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-o79v1D_J5g

The scientolopaths also made a counterattacking program... links on youtube.

Their policy of fair gaming seems like a case of "they doth protesteth too much" to me.

 

[Julia]

Lol - teach you to leave the bush
When I was a kid, our family was tackled by a couple of Mormons. Used to come to the house and give us "the good oil". For the first week or two, we were too polite to tell them we didn't want to know. Gotta feeling my brother was interested in the polygomy bit lol.

Then the misunderstandings started with all these strange accents ...
"If I sign up and have two wives, that's bigamy"
"No it's not , it big of ME for signing you up."

Seems that JC was a Jew, and that wasn't good enough, so they'd come up with their idea of a MUCH BETTER spritual leader - some bloke who saw something special (forget what, burning bushes , magic mushrooms, who can remember the mumbo jumbo - ahh that was it !!! pink flying elephants (lol)!! )
Classic Xenophanes "If horses could draw, they would draw their God's as horses"

NOW - how about we start an AUSSIE religion! - maybe Johnny Farnham can have the batton for the first year at least . Just gotta think of something clever that he's supposed to have done lol.

Gotta feeling Cathy Freeman walked on water when she lit the Olympic torch? forget the details.
https://www.aussiestockforums.com/forums/showthread.php?p=105416&highlight=xenophanes#post105416

I'm going to stick up for the Mormons. Several years ago I was laid up following an accident and worrying about stuff like cleaning the pool, mowing the lawns etc. A couple of these young chaps called amongst their routine door to door routine, observed my incapacity and asked what they could do to help. I said I wasn't at all interested in their religion or even in discussing it with them. Their response was that that was fine: they'd still be happy to help. And they did, willingly and very ably. I was really grateful . There was no talk of religion of God or anything along those lines. They left me their phone number and assured me they'd be back promptly if they could do anything more. So my heartfelt thanks to two young Americans who were a great advertisement for their beliefs.