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Mon 12 Nov, 2007 08:42 pm
I've heard believers tend to fare better with mortal illness, presumably due to a hopeful outlook. Also, from a quality-control standpoint, people of faith can by virtue of strong communal ideas, be considered more dependable. I mean this as a presupposition to the effect that factoring out the question of whether God exists-religion can be beneficial, rather than as a statement of opinion. Anyway, assuming alms are optional and time invested is compensated or negligible, why not just cover ones bases and roll with it? Or for the other side, assuming any possible God is tolerant and agnostic life is meaningful and moral, why not just do your thing and cross the supernatural bridge when you get to it?
For the deeply spiritual and the stoically cynical it's not a matter of choice-but I think it's a telling generalization to play through. For me the answer would be something like-if there were a God it wouldn't be me and my trusty black Chevy alone on the interstate now and then, harnessing the laws of thermodynamics-cruising into an unfamiliar sunrise. Whether the ship-of-dreams runs wouldn't matter, and either way I want to experience what happens for myself, as just myself in my world.
So at the most oversimplified level, what have you folks got keeping you in or out of the flock?
keeping me in the flock: the fact that I feel and always have felt 'cared for'-in that my needs have always been met- and I don't know why that is- there doesn't seem to be any particular concretely logical or rational reason for it, so it's easy to believe what I was taught- and maybe what I want to believe is true- that there's something there outside of what logic or reason offers.
While at the same time- keeping me out of the flock (whole-heartedly, at least) is the fact that I see others are not 'cared for' in the same way, and I don't know why that is- there doesn't seem to be any concretely logical or rational reason that a god would play such favorites and be so partisan-and that's something I'm not able to overlook in an entity I'm asked to worship.
So I'm on the fence...but hopeful.
Welcome hanno.
Which god/gods have the best odds?
The ones with the longest history, most followers, rules that fit your own ideals, the ones your family signed you up for, the ones with the most evidence of their existence, or the ones with the best benefits and the worst punishments?
The problem with Pascals Wager is, it's not so much heads or tails as it is a random pick of the roulette wheel.
For me, as soon as I see the slightest thread of actual evidence that any god ever existed, I'll consider it.
No matter where we look, through history, biology or space, absolutely everything has a possible natural explanation.
Of course, it is possible that a magical being simply "poofed" everything into place, and made it look like there was a natural explanation, but that seems exceedingly silly and extremely unlikely to me.
Gods just don't make sense. If gods existed, the universe would be completely different, while if gods never existed, then the universe would look exactly as it does now, including the likelihood that members of a species capable of grasping the tragedy of it's own death would look for ways to avoid having to face it. In other words, in a godless universe, religion is inevitable.
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