Unreasonable Faith - a blog - and now a discussion on souls!

okay, i'll give it to you, if there is a god, then when he created the world he did it in such a way that there is no evidence of him in the creation.

but why would he create such an imperfect world? why would he create a universe to wait something like 100 billion years before he made himself a companion? and why would he plague that companion with 10,000 years of evolution, before the companion would 'discover' him? and why would he cause so much suffering with diseases, which would take man thousands of years before they could begin to cure?

yes yes, god works in mysterious ways, but it seems like he's not working at all. if this world would have happened this same way without god, than what makes you think there is one?

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ow, my soul!

Stupid question number 2567. Is atheism a moral code? This is an honest question too. I really don't know how it works. Embarassed

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You are never as deep and unfathomable as you think you are......You live in a fishbowl with all emotions in plain view......

[quote="KingRidley"]But why is it so inconceivable that God designed a brain that evolved? Why couldn't God have made our brains work with chemical reactions like what you two describe? Why can't a divine being capable of manipulating reality create an object designed to have existed for billions of years?[?quote]

It's not inconceivable that a god could do things that way. But I doubt it.
To me, it seems highly unlikely that a "god" is involved at all. Certainly not a personal, intelligent, emotional creator.
I'm not saying there definitely isn't. I'm just saying it doesn't seem likely to me.

	KingRidley wrote:
	I think his 'magic' is science.

I'm reminded of one of Arther C. Clark's laws of prediction: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."

	munook wrote:
	Stupid question number 2567. Is atheism a moral code? This is an honest question too. I really don't know how it works.

No. Atheism is not a moral code. There are no rules or doctrines of atheism. Atheist is just a title for someone who does not believe in god.
A lot of the time I don't even like having a title. Instead of calling myself an atheist, I just say that I don't believe in god.

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Head Doctor Comics

"Nothing ever goes as planned, so don't take anything for granted. If you do, the world will kick your ass." ~ Kimya Dawson

	Dreams wrote:
	but why would he create such an imperfect world? if this world would have happened this same way without god, than what makes you think there is one?

Apparently the whole reason for all the crap that ever happens is because we need it to really be human. We have to earn salvation by living our own terrible lives. However I don't believe in heaven being like some fancy neighborhood where you get whatever you want. We can't take anything of this world with us, and apparently our memory of our life and death is removed to prevent discomfort if we do go to the next world. Pretty much all that is left is the soul, the little concentrated bit of pure human being. I've heard that Hell is the absence of God's influence. So by that logic I assume that Heaven is the exact opposite. Meaning, it is being right there with God as a soul. It's supposed to be wonderful. But what do we have to enjoy it with? We have no identity, no memories, no body or mind. Being alive we can't imagine that as being anything other than hell. It honestly sort of makes me wish that reincarnation is an option.

Also I didn't mean that the world would be what it is without God. You could say he has to exist to make sure it happens at all. And as for waiting billions of years to make life, people have always explained to me that God wouldn't or doesn't perceive time the same way humans do, and that he essentially exists outside of time and sort of does what he needs to when he needs to at will.

But yes my whole point was pretty much what you said, that he created everything so that there would be no evidence of him having done it.

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	Dreams wrote:
	this is an interesting question. you seem to assume that if a person doesn't have faith in religion, they don't have faith in anything.

I

don`t assume anything.
Faith and religion being connected were not on my mind when I made that statement.
I was thinking of the times in our lives we have faith in things that have nothing to do with religion.
Example, our packages will be delivered safely, our friends or family will remain loving towards us, we will grow old or
I hope or I have faith that car won`t run over me as I cross the street.

I agree faith and hope go hand in hand.
Faith seems to me to get a bad rap when atheist discuss it.
I was trying to make the point that faith is a natural human outlook towards life in general.

	tevye wrote:
	I know this starts more criticism from unbelievers, (my words are just as important as the next person), but...I see this as another example of ole satan at work.

	Quote:
	i'm sure lots of other religous people who read his blog feel the same way. it's easy to blame satan for anything that causes you to doubt, or causes others to doubt.

I don`t have doubts about that.

	Quote:
	and you say that your words are as important as the next person's, but you say that the next person's words are from satan. what you say is an important part of the dialog here, and i hope you enjoy debating.

If a person doesn`t believe satan exist they shouldn`t be bothered by my words.
I don`t particularly like debates.
They make me nervous and I get misunderstood too much of the time.

KingRidley wrote:

That's another really good point, about humans being mindless drones to God or Satan. If neither exist, and all thought is just complicated chemical reactions, can you hold anyone accountable for anything they do? If someone kills themselves, you can't say "man what a terrible thing to do", you could only say "well their hormones must have been mixed up". Murder would be the result of bad chemicals or bad genes, love would just be random sex hormones, genius or artistic talent would be conveniently placed neurons. There would be no such thing as free will, because everything we do would be the result of chemicals. In essence, we'd just be really complex computers running on programs we can never deviate from.

I do believe that thoughts are influenced by chemicals, but also that there is something inside us that allows us to change the nature of reality just a little bit, making the chemical reactions we want to take place do so. We don't know why we can think what we want, when we want to. We do place the emphasis of hormones or genetics more heavily than we should on cases like murder or suicide (I have very little sympathy for the majority of suicides, excluding a few conditions). However, free will can't be explained by chemical reactions.

I love it!!
I smiled the entire time I read this.
Way to go kingridley!

Quote:

[quote="KingRidley"]
We can't take anything of this world with us, and apparently our memory of our life and death is removed to prevent discomfort if we do go to the next world. Pretty much all that is left is the soul, the little concentrated bit of pure human being. I've heard that Hell is the absence of God's influence. So by that logic I assume that Heaven is the exact opposite. Meaning, it is being right there with God as a soul. It's supposed to be wonderful. But what do we have to enjoy it with? We have no identity, no memories, no body or mind.

Yes all that is left is the soul.
Hell is separation from God.

But I must bring something to your attention.
Do you know the parable in Luke 16 of the rich man and Lazarus?
It shows that the rich man was in torment and Lazarus was comforted.
Soul and no bodies but they still felt torment or comfort !
The rich man also had memories.

Well I guess that dents my theory a bit. Still, I'd imagine a soul could feel comfort/pleasure and discomfort/torture. Otherwise heaven and hell wouldn't work.

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	KingRidley wrote:
	Well I guess that dents my theory a bit. Still, I'd imagine a soul could feel comfort/pleasure and discomfort/torture. Otherwise heaven and hell wouldn't work.

Maybe your theory is correct and the Bible contains spiritual stories that are not to be taken literally.

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Head Doctor Comics

"Nothing ever goes as planned, so don't take anything for granted. If you do, the world will kick your ass." ~ Kimya Dawson

Yeah, that's really what I think. Again, you couldn't explain how you actually create the universe to people back then. But even still, the stories were very important. They helped spread alot of important moral values and gave people an incentive to believe them.

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