God sets us straight.

As Dr. Pangloss says in "Candide," this is the best of all possible worlds.

Re: God sets us straight.



Wouldn't it be even greater if all humans were to finally acknowledge that we do not even know if there IS A GOD -- let alone what that God is like; what pleases that God; and what offends that God.

We can do that on our own -- without any help from any God that might exist. We can do that without the God intervening to "straighten out messes."

That would be great.

How about it, Au! How about you starting it.

Unless you KNOW FOR CERTAIN there is a God -- why not just acknowledge that any notions you have about any gods are just guesses -- that you do not KNOW if there is a God -- that you do not know what any God that might exist is like -- that you do not know what pleases any God that might exist (if anything) or what might offend that God (if anything.)

What say?

How about the rest of you?

Frank
You are at it again. To begin with the post was hypothetical. However, dislike for religion and God has turned into hatred. I always knew that there were religious fundamentalists and now. I find there are atheists fundamentalists. There seems to be little difference. It one thing to express an opinion and another insisting that we agree with it.
Why not setup a post captioned ideals to live by as determined by Frank. and every one can be showered by your knowledge.

Protestantism was the triumph of Paul over Peter, fundamentalism is the triumph of Paul over Christ.
- Will Durant

What does this have to do with me??? I don't have a hateful bone in my body. :wink:




I am not an atheist -- and my difference with atheism is deep and well documented in A2K -- so I am not qualified to talk about this. But why address this comment to me?



You posed a hypothetical -- and I posed a hypothetical in return -- and I am doing something wrong???

Perhaps you have slipped a cog, Au. Think about it.




I'd rather do what I am doing -- reponding to threads initiated in A2K.

Why are you having so much touble with my comments?

I fear, unfortunately, that Dr. Pangloss was right; at least so long as the world is populated by humans as we know them to be. Voltaire was no fool.

I've set down the anecdote before but at the end of "Candide" it is revealed that we are all slaves of time and cannot control providence. It is best to just be satisfied tending your own gardens and animals. Of course, just when everything seems ideal, Candide's family cow dies. Proust covered much of this same philosophy -- that time is the one element that is in total control of our lives and we have no methods to control it.

Religions nearly all posit that we can control time in our mind -- a life or soul everlasting.

I guess that means non religionists such as I are damned; but of course we have no one to do the damning.

Only Rhett Butler has the power to damn.

Besides, Aristotle's God, "The Great Mover" is an intelligence we do not understand and part of the design of the universe. You can't even call it an entity as it is an amorphous intelligence that has nothing to do with our own personal thought processes. There isn't any consideration of whether you do good or evil and there will be no interference with the outcome of the weekend football games.

Au, you might adopt something which Charles II told his confessor, Bishop Burnet:

"The only things which God hates are that we be evil, and that we design mischief."

God hates us for being evil? I don't think Charles II knew what he was talking about.

We all see things differently because humans come in infinite varieties. Osama does not think he is evil and he doesn't think killing Americans is bad because he sees us as evil. Bush, a born-again Christian, doesn't think killing thousands of Iraqi's in order to put in a government that will be beholden to us is bad. It's patriotic and good because America's interest is more important then anyone else's.

Evil is in the eyes of the beholder. When one speaks of evil they only look at it from their point of view, as if it were the only point of view that exists or is correct. Osama's and Bush's points of view are vastly different but both are willing to kill thousands to combats what they perceive as evil.

Osama's god will smile on Osama for what he is doing and so will Bush's god. Since all gods are man made they can be easily modified to give validity to whatever deed the creator (god's creator) desires.

So what is evil? Whatever you damn well want it to be. Just be sure to tell everyone your god thinks the same way you do.

Some good comments, xingu, and welcome to A2K!

I'm not so sure their perceived Gods are smiling down on them -- I think that is an example of their wishful thinking. Sort of like putting the tooth under the pillow for the tooth fairy in hopes of getting some change.

Welcome to A2K Xingu.

Stick around.

You'll love it.

Frank

xingu from abuzz? Long time no see!

You got your name from a beer right?

I think xingu has it right on the mark. Why else would thousands, if not millions of others, think the same way? Both believe they are doing "god's" work with many thousands believing the same. Some of us can see that both are screwed in the head, but many more believe otherwise. c.i.

Haven't been on much because I've been so busy. Don't know if I will be able to contribute much in the foreseeable future but I may drop in from time to time.

As for Xingu, yes, it is one of my favorite beers. The Xingu is a tributary of the Amazon River. Indians living along its banks brewed their own beer long before white men came onto the scene.

It's a very good coal black lager.

http://www.amazonbeer.com/3wmnsch.html

In Brazil i had a few friends whose nicknames were Xingu.

There it's a reference to the Indians more so than the beer.

I hope to read more of you.

Craven & Xingu

I'm not sure if this is a deja vu -- or if I've overheard you two guys discussing this very same thing at some time in the past -- but the beer, river, Indian story is very, very familiar.

Yup. We discussed this on abuzz.

Well that may be true but in my case age robs the memory, or that's what my wife says about me. Can't speak for Craven