Looks Like I Won't Be Hanging Out With The Cool Kids This Week

Seems like I'm in a minority on this QOTW because I *do* believe in God. But my understanding of God is very different to accepted religions and conventional faiths.

Yes, God exists, and no, he doesn't give a stuff about you. He doesn't care if you pray to Him and he certainly doesn't listen. He doesn't keep a tally of all the good and bad things you do and there is no Heaven (at least in the accepted sense) and there is no Hell.

God is the prime mover behind the creation of the universes. He's the original force, the primal spark. He was the big bang and he is the structure that underpins everything.

He just doesn't care about us. At least, no more than he cares about an ant, or a microbe or an atom of hydrogen. We are as nothing to Him.

There's no point worshiping him as it doesn't make a scrap of difference to how you'll be treated and doesn't affect what will happen after your death.

Marveling at his creation and trying to ferret out His secrets through philosophy and science are OK though. Still won't change how you'll be treated but it's great fun and will teach you many things about how everything hangs together. Things you can then use to improve your own life.


I see God everywhere but he's probably just my God which makes me a little special.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Thu 19 Mar 2009, 23:58, 9 replies)

This makes you a Pantheist then,
which is as fair a position to take as any, if that's what you like.
Seems to me though, and this is just my opinion, that the whole thing rests upon these ideas-
1. On the highest level of complexity the universe is so immensely powerful that you could credit it with intelligence
2. So why not call that God?
The problem I have with this is that it seems to be a bit of a cop-out. The word 'God' has a very specific, personal, meaning in our culture, and redefining Him like this seems like going out of your way not to offend the religious.
If you presented the same idea but gave it a scientific-sounding name instead, would it make any difference, would that make you a de-facto atheist?
( Zuowan, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 0:23, closed)

Not A Cop-out

My beliefs probably offend the religious even more than atheists do.

And I'm not redefining God. It's just how I see Him. How other people choose to define Him is up to them. I don't give a monkey's either way.

And yes, you could give my beliefs a pseudo-scientific name but that wouldn't make me an atheist - I stll belive in God.

Cheers
( Legless Mister Stabby - shanks for the memory, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 0:35, closed)

Sorry,
I appear to have been under the mistaken belief that you wanted to discuss / defend your ideas.
It seems that you don't.
( Zuowan, Sat 21 Mar 2009, 0:46, closed)

Actually, I don't think it makes him a de-facto atheist at all.
See, Legless moved from the UK to Australia, and is embracing their culture, which is very different to "ours" (I put that in quotation marks because I've been in merkinland 10 years).
I would say it makes him open minded, and that although he's not willing to accept organized religion, he's willing to accept that the UK version of "God" is not necessarily the same as the rest of the world.
Same idea - different name? Agnostic.
( Batshitmentalist is sane for once, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 7:38, closed)

Considering Legless put me on ignore because I criticised his actions (riding a motorcycle, on a pavement, underaged, with no licence, then mouthing off to a copper who called him up on it) in a previous QOTW, I wouldn't use "open-minded" when describing him.
(Musuko, Thu 26 Mar 2009, 14:24, closed)

Congratulations
whatever makes you tick, I reckon
(LongTomBadTom Does Makes Says Thinks, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 1:24, closed)

Soo....
So there's no way to detect your God, and It/He/She doesn't care about or exert any influence on the workings of the universe.

There is therefore no detectable difference for us between a universe with your God, and a universe with no God at all.

We have to ask ourselves, does taking a wild guess about the existence of something that we can never prove enhance our understanding of the working of the universe at all?

I tend to think that it doesn't enhance our understanding at all.
(geeteepee hardly worked on, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 4:16, closed)

It sounds like the God that Spinoza believed in
as referenced by Einstein, so you're in good company.

If I did believe in a God then it would be like this one - not some petty little tyrant who gets angry if you wear the wrong clothes, say a bad word or put your dick in the wrong hole.
( emvee cruor deo cruoris, Fri 20 Mar 2009, 10:47, closed)

Slight amendment.
"I see God everywhere but he's probably just my God which makes me a little special........needs"
(Uncle Jumbo will strip for pocket change (and/or Gin), Fri 20 Mar 2009, 15:49, closed)