there must be limitations to the practical function of faith in the real world.
There are a lot of folks who have faith that the Marshy Effect is real when in
fact it is not. The same group has faith that vastu ved is gonna straighten
their lives out when in fact it does not. Some few individuals have faith that
crop circles are actually made by ETs when in fact they are not.
--------------------------------------------
On Fri, 4/18/14, wgm4u <no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
Subject: [FairfieldLife] Re: What are the *benefits* of believing in God?
To: FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com
Date: Friday, April 18, 2014, 2:14 PM
Faith and believe in God
are powerful tools that enable you to do that which you
could not do by yourself! The belief in a higher power
enables one to go beyond your own limitations and do
things you thought impossible. Conversely, if you have no
belief in your higher power you cut yourself off from that
inner resource, even if you believe in YOURSELF you will be
more successful than if you don't, which should be
obvious, hence the importance in belief! It opens the door
to YOUR inner power! But you must have faith in it and
practice it!
"Truly I
tell you, if you have faith as small as a
mustard seed,
you can say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’
and it will move. Nothing will be
impossible for you.” Matt 17:20
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<no_re...@yahoogroups.com> wrote :
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com,
<steve.sundur@...> wrote :
Probably not what you are
looking for, but what I've observed from the atheists,
at least on this forum is that they are more comfortable
keeping the discussion on highly abstract issues.
Issues that can't really be resolved one way or
the other, or at least kept on a bit of solid
ground.
For
example, does the belief in atheism necessitate the tabla
rasa theory that we are born with a "blank slate"?
Do the atheists believe that when we die, it all goes
to black.
Good questions, speaking entirely
for myself - as atheists (as far as I know) aren't a
gang with a set of instructions about what threshold of
beliefs you need to reach before being a member - it's
more about just not having a belief that there has ever been
any sort of creator and relying instead
on both uncertainty where necessary and confidence where
appropriate. Everything is subject to review as more
information comes to light, including whether or not there
is any sort of god. But nobody actually knows whether
there is one and given the apparent lack of necessity and
amount of better explanations for god's traditional
roles I know where I'd place my
money.
I
like the idea of life after death though, it'd be cool
to wake up in heaven or on the next stage of the computer
game we all might be playing. I also like the idea of
reincarnation be nice to know I may in some way get another
go at this.But looking at what we know about animals and
brains and evolution I'd have to say it isn't very
likely. In fact, if I was a gambling man, I'd say the
odds weren't worth much of a stake. But there might be
something we don't know of course. It's a case of
finding out later with that one but don't hold your
breath.
You
can always say, "we have no evidence.....', but
I'd like to know if it's what they
"believe".
I
ask that because there are many instances that would
contradict these two assumptions.
And
sometimes when pressed, you will hear the atheist reply
with, "there is so much we don't know about
genetics", or "there is so much we don't know
about how the brain works", which sounds a lot like,
"God works in mysterious way". Now , the
"God works in mysterious ways" doesn't do it
for me either, but neither does the genetics things, or the
brain thing, at least as it is often used here.
Often just a lame default, I
think,.
I would say that the progress that has
been made in studying consciousness in a short time has been
rather impressive. Given the power of the scientific method
to get to the bottom of things I would expect to get a
working model of consciousness and self awareness very soon. We know where
thoughts occur, what part of the brain needs to be active in
order for consciousness to function (and how to knock it
out), if it's possible to do it then we will.
Unquestionably. The brain is after all another physical
structure.....
.....Unless there is something
really unusual going on. You have to look at it from an
evolutionists perspective, there haven't always been
brains and you can trace their growth from early on in
history, it shouldn't be too hard to build a graph
showing which animal has which level of awareness. We seem
to be the only one with the ability to sit back and think
about it. That's the only difference I can see with us:
we have a metaphorical inner life and can make up abstract
ideas like afterlife's. How we got that adaptation is a
mystery but maybe not such a big one.
And of course,
having an explanation of the consciousness "hard"
problem doesn't mean we are going to be able to easily
fit it to our own experience. And I expect there will be a
lot of people who refuse to even try.
So it
isn't really lame, just a statement that there are still
mysteries. And mysteries that I refuse to fill with woo
woo.
So, that
would be my take on the issue.
---In FairfieldLife@yahoogroups.com, <turquoiseb@...>
wrote :
Sometimes I look at the way that believers react to
the word "atheist" -- spitting it out as if it
were an epithet -- and find it a curious reaction. I mean,
with the exception of a vocal few who make their livings by
poking theists just to watch them react, I don't see
most everyday atheists (and I know quite a few, living where
I live) reacting to believers in the same fashion. Unless
the believers are trying to sell the atheists their beliefs,
that is. Then all bets are off and the atheists can react to
the proselytizing believers however they wish.
Anyway,
it's like the believers perceive the atheists as a
*threat*, and as if by
believing what they do and <spit> daring to say it
aloud or write it somewhere they are trying to *take*
something from them.
I
don't get this. *What*, after all, could an atheist
"take" from a believer in God? They've got all
they need by believing that there is someone/something IN
CHARGE, and that there is a PLAN for all of this, right? So
why are they so antagonistic towards a few vocal atheists
speaking their minds and suggesting that no one is in charge
and that there is no plan?
To
help me understand this, I'm asking the believers in God
here to speak up and tell me what the BENEFITS of such a
belief are. Such that you would miss them and feel something
had been taken from you if you no longer believed?
What
would such BENEFITS be?
Surely
you can name a few.
