Do you belive in god?

[noshirt]

i believe in God, but I did pray for years evey sunday to resolve the gyne problem, guess it was solved eventually/

[help_me87]

you know, im not sure... never been one for church, and not religious.. nor do i come from a religious family.

i find it all kind of confusing some how though... like when i hear about it.. the stories just dont add up...
i dont think i believe in society's vision of "god" and what he has done, but i definitely believe in a higher power... something else is out there... its not just live, die, and be burried forever.

shows like monel - with sylvia brown.. where the lady tells people stuff about a famliy member who has died.. or supernatural things that are happening to them... or john edward.. where he connects with the family memebers and can actually have a conversation with them.... these people kinda give hope that there is something else out there..

i guess all in all... i dont believe in one GOD that sees everything and loves everyone no matter what...
i think its something or someone each person invisions and its someone's own personal opinion on what to believe and what not to believe.( based on what they have heard, and what they think deep down )

its kind of hard to put into words.. but i hope that made sense?

[headheldhigh01]

makes sense to me.  i'm a little wary of sylvia brown myself but i think there are other people out there with very interesting accounts; the near-deathers especially fascinating.  betty eadie is still my favorite (book was embraced by the light), definitely had a certain christian nature but also very mellow and non-judgmental toward others without chucking all sense of right or wrong out the window either, which is pretty much my angle too.

[Paul]

I tend to take the Donnie Darko view of God

(I don't know how big Donnie Darko was in the US, but it's a film if you haven't heard of it


Dr. Thurman: Do you feel alone right now?

Donnie Darko: I don’t know. I mean I’d like to believe I’m not, but I just… I’ve just never seen any proof so I… just don’t debate it any more it’s like I could spend my whole life debating it over and over again, weighing the pros and cons, and in the end I still wouldn’t have any proof. So I just, I just don’t debate it any more. <laughs> It’s absurd.

Dr. Thurman: The search for God is absurd?

Donnie Darko: It is if everyone dies alone.


I highlighted the useful parts of the conversation

Paul

[Doug_Denver]

Hey Shane dose you believe in GOD? WAIT don't answer, i have to take a does of tylenol!

What are you talking about? I be-live in a house! You don't, my dad sold your family the vinyl siding on your trailer!

I before E except after C shane-o brain-o


Sorry if that was harsh for no reason, Read my next post if you want some justified bashing!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Doug_Denver]

 During my HS years I was a BIG partier, in my late teens and early 20's I was heavily into the rave scene. Sold and did drugs. I DJ'd parties and raves for a few years and generally just "lived it up."  and then i killed a guy once  

I cant believe it! An ex-ecstacy freak is lecturing us!(that is what you are doing by the way, whether you know it or not) I might have one idea why you are so heavy-handed on the old keyboard. Hey J.C.! Yo man let me up in da club, Im wit da D.J.! Kudos on getting all that pesky drug abuse and  promiscuity out of your system before you converted, "Geez God im really sorry about downing all those mind-altering drugs and banging all those teenage girls(or boys) , but since im getting thirty-something now and no one is inviting me to the parties anymore and those young, nubile bodies aren't quite as young and nubile anymore I figured what the heck I'll give this religion thing a shot seeing as how I've had my fun and all. I hope heaven needs a D.J.! Move over saul(or is it paul?)   I've got experience with turntables, *business idea of the day: techno-praise!* you can have that its free. So the Godly life isn't exactly what you would call "living it up" eh? How could you when you've downed x and frolicked in the night!

And what was that whole thing about killing a guy!  

[hypo]

If people want to believe that is up to them but when someone starting going on and on about proof.

Ok.

Explain dinosaurs then?

Why are they not covered in any way by the bible?

Adam and Eve at the start and the history that follows but at no point dinosaurs?

Bill Hicks and Eddie Izzard both asked the question, so what about it them?

MMmmnn

[headheldhigh01]

i'm not sure the sarcasm was called for, but for my part i considered the discussion with the guy at an end when i reduced him, no disrespect, to arguing that the cosmos visible at greater than 6000 light years distance had been miraculously created not ab incipio but in place, light in motion and all.  

but i also don't believe ff has posted here in a while.  this seems to be another one of those discussions resurrected after it's been dead for months already, they seem to keep popping up.  

[asdf]

Actually hypo dinosaurs may have been mentioned in the Bible.  Of course not under the same name, as the word was not invented until the 1800's and the King James Bible was written in 1611.
But
God said to Job: 'Look at the Behemoth, which I made along with you and which feeds on grass like an ox. What strength he has in his loins, what power in the muscles of his belly! His tail sways like a cedar; the sinews of his thighs are close-knit. His bones are tubes of bronze, his limbs like rods of iron. He ranks first among the works of God..... under the lotus plants he lies, hidden among the reeds of the marsh.' (Job 40: 15-19, 21).

and again in the next chapter

Job 41
1 "Can you pull in the leviathan with a fishhook
or tie down his tongue with a rope?
2 Can you put a cord through his nose
or pierce his jaw with a hook?

Now of course we cant prove that these are descriptions of dinosaurs, but it does seem to be the most logical explanation.  Behemoth seems to be a large plant-eating dinosaur, and although many people explain it as simply a hippo, hippos dont have tails that sway like cedar.  And it should also be pointed out that the Bible does not mention many animals at all (extinct or not), so this argument really has no merit in discrediting the Bible.

[hypo]

Head,

Quote
i'm not sure the sarcasm was called for
unquote

Freedom of speach

You may not agree with it, but "you defend to the death my right to say it"

asdf, it could be describing a Rhino:)

What i find interesting is how many religious people quote the bible verbatim and insist on reading its text literally when it suits, but coversely then treat the text as being open to interpretation and often simply as metaphorical when a literal interpretation doesn't suit.

It all comes across as smoke and mirrors, a bit David Copperfield to me.

But that is just my subjective opinion.

[asdf]

Actually hypo it wouldnt be a rhino, as rhinos have only a tiny little tail, not one that sways like a cedar.  

And there is nothing wrong with interpreting some parts of the Bible literally and some figuratively.  It is no different than you would do while reading shakespear.  This passage wouldnt really make sense figuratively, so it is taken literaly.  We dont just interpret a certain way it when it "suits" what we are trying to say, just when it makes sense to do so.  Also, although you wont place any importance on this, Christians have the Holy Spirit, which among other things directs us in the study and interpretaion of scripture, so its not just logic that dictates our interpretation, but also divine guidance.

[hypo]

When I said a rhino I didn't mean literally of course

I meant a modern day animal, as opposed to a dinosaur.

I know the above is a little facetious of course, but you can see my problem with interpretations like the one you have made and the whole issue of interpretation in general.

Also Shakespear deals with plays, make believe, whereas the bible is supposed to be a factual account is it not?

Dinosaurs also call into question the age of man as set out in the bible given the age of such fossils.

Then there is Darwins theory on the evolution of man and his works on natural selection.  Both of which in my opinion blow the bible apart from a proof point of view.

But that is just my opinion.

As long as ones religious/spirtual/moral beliefs are not forced upon others, who really cares.

I believe in the separation of church and state and care far more strongly about that, than I acually care about there being or not being a god.

The positions are entrenched, I mean it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to either find religion or question there faith due to a discussion like this is it?.

And given that it is never going to be possible to prove there is or is not a god, irrespective of what or what not is written in the bible....everything is slightly redundant is it not?

[asdf]

The positions are entrenched, I mean it is highly unlikely that anyone is going to either find religion or question there faith due to a discussion like this is it?.  

Well that is something we can all agree on.  These arguments should just be ended now, as they will never get anywhere and they have nothing to do with the purpose of this site.

[headheldhigh01]

actually, hypo, my reference was to doug_denver's trenchant wit, not yours, and yes in fact i do believe you have a right to your opinions.  ironically, you yourself, by your prior rationales, do not  

agree with asdf, these ones rarely get anywhere.  

[hypo]

I do believe in freedom of speach head- cut the bull!!

It just I understand the complexities involved and you do not.

There is no such thing as absolute freedom, a society always has to balance one mans freedoms against that of another mans freedoms, hence my position in our other discussion.

Take your simpleton remarks elsewhere.