I find I can disagree with just about everyone :)

[Geoff-Allen]

I'm in another one of my moods ...

If the atheists are right, then life on earth is just some grand "accident" and it is just horrible luck that many people get a very raw deal and if you are one of the "lucky" ones, there is absolutely NO reason to assume that you will continue 2 be lucky ... that must be a CONSTANT worry in the back of your mind ...

On the other hand, does plugging God into the equation make things any better? That would mean that the Divine Plan is for many people to live fairly joyless lives. Not sure that is much comfort if you happen 2 be one of the unfortunates!

Any thoughts?

 

[Revoltingest]

Go ahead & disagree with me.
I dare you....I double dog dare you!

 

[idea]

It takes more intelligence and wisdom to communicate and listen, than it does to argue and debate.

Smart people listen and learn from as many other people as they can.

Prideful idiots think they know it all, argue with others, listen to no one, and learn nothing new.

There is wisdom from both sides -

the "natural man" exists, nature and natural processes exist...
spirits and the spiritual side of life also exists.

Why does God allow evil? simple - so we can all learn to hate it. this is not our only life.

 

[fantome profane]

I find I can disagree with just about everyone

No you can't.

 

[beenherebeforeagain]

Well, I'm sure you CAN disagree with just about everyone; the question is, DO YOU disagree with just about everyone?

[I like the way you slipped that clause for exceptions in there!]

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

On the other hand, does plugging God into the equation make things any better? That would mean that the Divine Plan is for many people to live fairly joyless lives.

The two don't necessarily follow. You're mixing up God and the concept of fate. There's nothing that says that if God exists, He is micromanaging everything or that He's happy with the way things are.

 

[oldbadger]

It takes more intelligence and wisdom to communicate and listen, than it does to argue and debate.

I like arguing and debating....... oh...... snuff it..... I goofed! Again!

 

[idea]

I like arguing and debating....... oh...... snuff it..... I goofed! Again!

Most people enjoy conversations more than a debate ... just sayin

 

[icehorse]

Depends on the goal for debating. If your goal is to win, that's very different than if your goal is to learn.

 

[oldbadger]

Any thoughts?

Cheer up!
Being totally daft, when I'm demented, I mean depressed, I think of a sparrow and the way it lives, or the buzzards that hunt around here now, and deciding that my fate is much the same as theirs, I determine to enjoy my day no matter what, and to draw in something good with every breath.

I tried to do this last Sunday morning and a University Security Officer knocked me off my bike whilst cruising round Kent University! I had a laugh with the ambulance crew!

I was alright, but my bike.......

 

[George-ananda]

I'm in another one of my moods ...

If the atheists are right, then life on earth is just some grand "accident" and it is just horrible luck that many people get a very raw deal and if you are one of the "lucky" ones, there is absolutely NO reason to assume that you will continue 2 be lucky ... that must be a CONSTANT worry in the back of your mind ...

On the other hand, does plugging God into the equation make things any better? That would mean that the Divine Plan is for many people to live fairly joyless lives. Not sure that is much comfort if you happen 2 be one of the unfortunates!

Any thoughts?

I think the second option is better but I would suggest broadening your understanding by seeing us as more than this one life and seeing the material fortunes in one life as things that come and go like passing clouds.

I take it you are in the mood to disagree though.

 

[Milton Platt]

I'm in another one of my moods ...

If the atheists are right, then life on earth is just some grand "accident" and it is just horrible luck that many people get a very raw deal and if you are one of the "lucky" ones, there is absolutely NO reason to assume that you will continue 2 be lucky ... that must be a CONSTANT worry in the back of your mind ...

On the other hand, does plugging God into the equation make things any better? That would mean that the Divine Plan is for many people to live fairly joyless lives. Not sure that is much comfort if you happen 2 be one of the unfortunates!

Any thoughts?

God has been plugged into the equation for thousands of years, whether he exists or not. Are things better?

And atheism has nothing to say about the origin and/or purpose of life, but it does eliminate considering the supernatural as being part of it.

 

[Unveiled Artist]

I'm in another one of my moods ...

If the atheists are right, then life on earth is just some grand "accident" and it is just horrible luck that many people get a very raw deal and if you are one of the "lucky" ones, there is absolutely NO reason to assume that you will continue 2 be lucky ... that must be a CONSTANT worry in the back of your mind ...

On the other hand, does plugging God into the equation make things any better? That would mean that the Divine Plan is for many people to live fairly joyless lives. Not sure that is much comfort if you happen 2 be one of the unfortunates!

Any thoughts?

That's an odd view of atheism. I just believe there are no deities. It has nothing to do with the purpose of life, whether people are born for no reason, we are given the wrong shoe, or anything like that. It's strict: No belief in gods. That's it.

Plugging god in the equation complicates life (as per all the god-religions as evidence). Creating an unseen force to create seen things is odd in itself. Why is the unseen better than the seen? (Asked this question somewhere years ago. Forgot the answer)

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

God has been plugged into the equation for thousands of years, whether he exists or not. Are things better?

And atheism has nothing to say about the origin and/or purpose of life, but it does eliminate considering the supernatural as being part of it.

Atheism doesn't say anything about the supernatural itself, just lack of belief in deities.

 

[Milton Platt]

Atheism doesn't say anything about the supernatural itself, just lack of belief in deities.

Yes, that is correct, if the proposed god is natural in origin.

 

[Saint Frankenstein]

Yes, that is correct, if the proposed god is natural in origin.

I mean that you can believe in ghosts, ESP, the afterlife, etc. and be an atheist. Atheism only addresses belief in deities. It doesn't say anything else in of itself.

 

[Milton Platt]

I'm in another one of my moods ...

I find I can disagree with just about everyone

I agree with that.....now what??? LOL

 

[Milton Platt]

I mean that you can believe in ghosts, ESP, the afterlife, etc. and be an atheist. Atheism only addresses belief in deities. It doesn't say anything else in of itself.

I get you. I used too broad a category for the thread. My thinking was that gods are generally postulated by those who assert their existence to be supernatural. So although atheism does not address ESP, ghosts, etc., it still addresses the subject of the supernatural, although in a narrower sense. In fact i have had a conversation with a professed atheist who believed in all sorts of hokum.

 

[Skwim]

It takes more intelligence and wisdom to communicate and listen, than it does to argue and debate.

Smart people listen and learn from as many other people as they can.

Prideful idiots think they know it all, argue with others, listen to know one, and learn nothing new.

Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure, well I think, intelligence will come to you sooner or later. Hang in there.

Why does God allow evil? simple - so we can all learn to hate it..

How about never creating/allowing evil in the first place? That way no one would have to bother learning to hate it at all? What's wrong with that?

.

 

[idea]

Hey, don't be so hard on yourself. I'm sure, well I think, intelligence will come to you sooner or later. Hang in there.


How about never creating/allowing evil in the first place? That way no one would have to bother learning to hate it at all? What's wrong with that?

.

I'm an oddball - I do not believe anything was created, I think everything is eternal with no beginning and no end - that there are higher spiritual beings out there who are cleaning up messes they did not make.

- no up without down, opposites define one another and all that.

Why do you think evil exists?