"Do you believe ibn God?" is the wrong question.
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Anonymous
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In my humble (at least I try to remember I don't have all the answers) opinion, there are so many different ideas of God, and there are so many personality issues that are independent of your beliefs, that "Are you a believer or an atheist?" is a major oversimplification.
On the issue of what you mean by God -- do you mean the Power that created the universe and keeps it running, or the Universal Good, simply the Universe, or the Personal God who is always with you and watches over you, or the God who is The Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, or the universal Oneness of Mankind (or of all creatures)? Do you expect God to help you win your football game, or do you consider that to be taking the Name of The Lord in vain? I think there is more variation between these forms of belief than there is between belief and atheism. And whether you are a believer, an atheist, or one who is searching your soul for the answers, I think there are human qualities you can have that span all types of belief, such as the aforementioned humility, hypocrisy, tendency to proselytize, generosity, tendency to resort to name calling rather than reason. In both the above lists I'm sure you can add many more examples. And I believe you can find atheists of all personality types and fundamentalists of all types. Atheists and fundamentalists who are good friends with each other, and Unitarians who hate each other. I look back on what I have written here, and it seems like a preachy recitation of the obvious, except for the fact that so many discussions appear to assume that we fall into two classes, believers and atheists, that somehow define us. I am an atheist, but I believe there is an order to the universe that is beyond my understanding, and I believe that we should treat others as we want them to treat us. I think there are many believers who would say that I have just named the most important aspects of their belief in God. And I know that there are believers who would (and do) kill each other over differences in doctrine. So I'll stop bloviating, ask one question, and shut up: Why do we act as though calling someone a believer or an atheist gives any real information? |
Anonymous
| Sorry about that ibn. I suppose ibn God is the Arabic way to say Je |
Anonymous
| Aargh, I can't get anything right -- that was Jesus, of course. |
Anonymous
Lol, exactly what I was thinking.... FWIW, I don't believe in a God who is a sentient being. I believe the universe was spontaneously created, but that the whole of nature is mind-boggling in its beauty and complexity. And for me, the concept of nature and our role as part of it, is very spiritual. |
Anonymous
Because of ego-consciousness. As Carl Jung described: "In order to be conscious of myself, I must be able to distinguish myself from others. Relationship can only take place where this distinction exists." |
Anonymous
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OP here. 11:59, we are kindred spirits.
12:09, I can see the psychological need to differentiate oneself from everyone else, but binary divisions like believer/atheisy or liberal/conservative strike me as totally oversimplified. They separate people who have much in common, while connecting people who may have extreme differences. Not every atheist, nor every liberal, is necessarily on my wavelength, and there are many believers and many conservatives with whom I share fundamental values. |
Anonymous
+1 I feel the same way but consider myself agnostic. Our earth is divine, but is such a small piece of a bigger puzzle that I don't think we're capable of understanding. Kind of like our earth, galaxy and universe are in a snow globe---and we assume that is the extent to what's out there because its all we know. There could be something outside that snow globe that we can't even conceptualize of because we haven't been able to reach it yet. I think the continued study of physics can one day find some of these answers. Science and faith are very related, in my opinion. So, I agree. There is so much variation to what "god" is. |
Anonymous
| Science and Faith COULD be related, if faith, as it is usually expressed today, didn't require belief in supernatural events and ancient stories as factual |