Posted by Donny on December 02, 2001 at 08:30:32:
In Reply to: To believe or not to believe posted by E on December 02, 2001 at 00:12:26:
It seems to me, after reading this conversation, that the atheists and agnostics seemed to have carried the day. But let's talk about what it FEELS like inside everyday for those people who believe and who don't believe. Perhaps this discussion should not be titled, Why do you believe or not believe in God, perhaps it should be titled, What does it feel like to believe in God and NOT believe in God.
I know that there are those intellectual participant of this discussion will look at this line of reasoning as a veiled attempt to prove that athiests are miserable and convince them that faith will improve the quality of their lives and they will ask, "Is it appropriate to choose faith because one believes it will make one feel better?" Or one hopes it will. That is another question that could be explored. Faith is a very interesting concept.
But to this small facet -- who experiences more calm and peace and contentment in their lives? Believers or atheists.
I don't want to talk about my personal beliefs just now -- I'd like to mention a cult that I can't really stand -- the LDS or the Mormons. Those people. Now i grant, we can not take their pastered on smiles as true indication of the feelings of their hearts but I grant that your average Mormon experiences on a daily basis more peace and happiness than, say, you average porn addict -- who we will assume is agnostic if not athiest. I am not saying that all athiests are porn addicts but my guess is that while they are not spewing dissension in discussions like this they are pursuing the one handed websurf or at bambi's 24-7 free webcam site.
You know what, I am not a saint. I don't know where my own vitriol comes from. Where is the love? The love in me, even. I mean, I started this post hoping to bring up this question and then revealed my own personal discontent, which surely is not an expression of the light of the spirit... but here's the thing, and the cards come tumbling down, as soon as i feel the digression from the light, as in my jab at the athies, and acknowledge it in my heart and acknowledge that I am responsible for blocking the light of the spirit out of my life, the light of the spirit pushes through the darkness of my own prejudice and I feel a lightening in my spirit... hmm... I'm not going to delete this post even though it may make no sense at this point -- it is a stream of consciousness experiential display of how my own prejudice caused me pain and how my own acknowledgement of spirit released me...
What release is there for people who have no light of the spirit and must live in their prejudice until it festers into hate? Do they wreak explosion or just explode inside?
The goal of this whole thing is love, right? I am wrestling with myself. My own spirit. (Not the piece mention above wrestled with by athiests at bambi's).
There is came again... does the light of the spirit clean us completely. No. For just a few breaths. This is why the numbing comformity of sects and religions can create distress -- because the lives become facade -- the growth comes in living, making mistakes, acknowledging, feeling releif and then wondering how we made the same mistake again...
: I'm at the point of not believing in God as he is advertised by most of the religions I have read up on. I think that basic human nature has made us create an afterlife to combat our fear of death and the search for immortality. 'Cant live forever? Oh well, then there's life after death, no worries.' You were a bad person in life, Repent! no worries. Or the other way, you were bad, now you burn in Hell. Yeah that sounds like what a loving and forgiving God would do. Riiight. So who can blame those of us who dont know what to believe.