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Wed 23 Jul, 2008 02:10 pm
I mean, if God never existed, where would humanity be now? I'm not saying God does exist, I'm just saying what if he never "existed"? where would mankind be if not one of us had thought up God? regardless of what Christianity and religion in general offers us, it has given us alot. Religion had shaped the world we live in, for better or worse, and alot of the time people do not realize how much there view of the world is influenced by religious thought.
So I'm glad God "existed". This is a rather spontaneous post so I can't list everything that religion has given us; law, respect maybe, food for thought definitely, and a good argument. An interesting, but maybe pointless question is: what if God never "existed"?
"If God did not exist it would be necessary to invent Him." - Voltaire
Re: I'm glad God existed.
existential potential wrote:I mean, if God never existed, where would humanity be now? ... Religion had shaped the world we live in, for better or worse, and alot of the time people do not realize how much there view of the world is influenced by religious thought.
You seem to be using "God" and "Religion" interchangeably. Did you mean to do that?
I meant the Christian God.
What about the Jewish God?
I'm confused. Your thread title is I'm Glad God Existed but in your original post you say you are not saying He does exist?
What I mean, to be specific, is that I am glad that the concept of God came into existence. God exists as a concept in our minds, and I am glad that he does. God does not actually exist, as some entity outside the universe, but only as a concept.
Oh really? Have some proof of that do ya?
Intrepid wrote:contrex wrote:What about the Jewish God?
Same God
Oh, good . . . that's good to know . . . so when people point out what a puerile, murderous, hateful, racist, arbitrary and capricious sh*t the god of the old testament is, and bible-thumpers come back with the claim that your boy Hey-Zeus changed all that . . . they're just talkin' sh*t, huh?
Arella Mae wrote:Oh really? Have some proof of that do ya?
He has precisely the same amount of proof that you have of the truth of the converse proposition, I would have thought. Disregarding special pleading and hocus-pocus.
As Voltaire suggested, the "God (s)"concept appears to have been a psychological necessity in one form or another for most of humanity. But since we might argue that its repercussions have been as pernicious as they have been beneficial, it is hard to see how "being glad" could be applied to it.
contrex wrote:Arella Mae wrote:Oh really? Have some proof of that do ya?
He has precisely the same amount of proof that you have of the truth of the converse proposition, I would have thought. Disregarding special pleading and hocus-pocus.
The hocus-pocus is really, really important for roping in the suckers . . . you gotta have a good magic act to flim-flam the country boys and girls . . .
However, could you not say that there is more evidence to suggest that God exists as a concept rather than some independently existing entity that has an influence on the world?
Now that is a statement I can certainly give some thought to existential.
existential potential wrote:However, could you not say that there is more evidence to suggest that God exists as a concept rather than some independently existing entity that has an influence on the world?
Now you're getting somewhere.
"Commerce" is a just a concept. It is a human construct which we act out. One might say that is is not "real" in the sense that it is immaterial, and has no consciousness. However it does seem to have a real influence on our world.
God as a concept is real. God as a deity is not. The product is the same either way strangely.
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Diest TKO wrote:Now you're getting somewhere.
"Commerce" is a just a concept. It is a human construct which we act out. One might say that is is not "real" in the sense that it is immaterial, and has no consciousness. However it does seem to have a real influence on our world.
God as a concept is real. God as a deity is not. The product is the same either way strangely.
I would point out that "Commerce" has a fairly unified meaning throughout humanity. But the "Concept" of God is different from culture to culture, and even from person to person. The singular "definition" of God is specific, but the working concept that people use it for in conversation is extremely broad.
The closest analog to "Concept of God" I can think of is "Concept of Dragon". Dragon is a magical entity that has very different meaning from culture to culture and from person to person.
There are ONLY concepts. For "naive realists", "reality" is merely a concept of "existence independent of all observers". This is denied by non-dualists such as myself who see "existence" as relational and "reality" as a function of the nature of that relationship which implies the expectation of relative stability within the flux. Such stability may or may not involve "physicality".
As an athiest I am not quite sure that God Existed. I had perused the telphone book and i had not seen his address.
But i care a jot of his existense .
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