Do you believe there is a God ? (Page 14)

I guess so. But I was not targeting you here. It was for the perpetrators of that heinous crime and their supporters.

I didn't think that you did and neither does it matter if you targeted me. As I said, it's what you think.

I think I've understood the difference between justice and vengeance. At least it makes good sense to me.

Justice is when we hold people accountable for what they do in their lifetime. Vengeance is when we believe an innocent has to pay the price for what their forefathers did in the past.

But perhaps I am wrong and justice is grounded in the past. Perhaps I'm doing wrong because I don't hold people accountable for what their ancestors did and don't claim the rights of my forefathers.

Executing that sort of justice just confounds me. How far exactly in history of humanity do I have to trace the course of events to find who the first perpetrator of injustice was?

Do I have to go back to the dawn of time where the first caveman clubbed another on the head and stole his meat, or can I just pick an arbitrary point in history that is convenient, easy and in my favor.

Even if I pick an arbitrary point of time, it still poses a conundrum if it was over a hundred years old. You see, I'm unable to trace my lineage that far back to know what exactly what side my ancestors were on. I really don't know my bloodline that far back. It is very likely that my blood lineage can be traced way back to both the oppressors and the victims. Do I have to punish myself as well for good measure and execute justice or do I have the freedom to arbitrarily choose which side my blood lineage falls on?

If any forefather of yours or mine or anyone's for that matter stole something, the stolen object should be restored to the rightful owner if possible. I don't understand why someone would want to enjoy stolen goods and even if they want to I don't understand how we can say it's the just thing to do.

First of all, 'God' or 'a god' needs some defining. What god is being discussed here? I assume it is the one that is benevolent, that always judges us, intervenes when pleaded with in certain ways, and so on. The sheer absurdity of such a god makes it too difficult for me to give the concept a chance. I'll not only say there's no evidence of its existence, but the evidence of its non-existence is omnipresent. We're surrounded by people and other forms of life suffering. The nature of suffering is often dehumanizing and the number of lives suffering is overwhelming despite an equally overwhelming number of people bending over backwards all their lives to please their gods. How do you reconcile these facts?

God is depicted in many religions as a self-absorbed trader with an insatiable hunger for praise. Is that concept not preposterous in this day and age? Is that not completely devoid of spirituality -- other than reason?

Did I just say I do not believe in God, the super-superman, as the idea of God simply doesn't add up?

God should have been considered an anachronism long ago, but it seems there have been some glitches in the uniform evolution of every segment of the human brain. It's baffling how people manage to marry God with their rational faculties and common sense in their day-to-day activities. To my mind, the prevalence -- not only survival -- of people's belief in God still today is the most curious of anomalies on this planet.

God is definitely a great placebo. But how big a compromise can we afford to make with our reason, which is one of our greatest gifts and sets our species apart, in search of a random cure-all? If we allow ourselves, we can find an infinite number of random placebos to keep faith in.

I'm fine with it if, for convenience, you use 'god' to denote the unknown, ungraspable law(s) that govern(s) all that exists or the first knock(s) -- if there's a first -- that set off a universal knock-on effect that has snowballed into everything or, for that matter, anything that deserves maximum credit for defying nothingness. In that case, the question "Do you believe there is a god?" ceases to make sense.


Edited by mind-googling - 18 September 2011 at 2:04am

Yes and in a civilised society there is a certain way in which things are done...we have the courts of law to decide the rightful owner of a disputed property...we don't go about bringing down religious structures at our own will...that doesn't make us any better than the moguls who have been accused of tearing down the temples...for crying out loud...

And one should wait for eternity for the court to give it's verdict?

Hello Google ji.
Often certain atttibutes are associated with God eventhough He is beyond them. Some Christians list jealousy as one of the attributes of God.Wish they could correct this mistake as jealousy is a negative quality. (Exodus 20, 4-5)
If God is omnipotent what is there to be jealous about and also since God is omnipresent is there anyone else?
Anyway there have been some attempts to explain it by some quarters.