Religion Revisited

[LoneDeranger]

All right, let me first say that I am an atheist, as I've said in many other threads. But lately a number of strange things have happened that I'm not sure how to explain. At first I thought it was just a coincidence, but the last one was so bizarre, so well timed, that it became blatantly obvious that something else is at work here.

It's 4:00 PM on Thursday August 14, 2003. I'm sitting in my cubicle, thinking how much I hate my job, how much it sucks that I'm the only single person in the whole department. I'm gona leave work at 4:15 then go home, spend some time online, watch some TV, then go to sleep, wake up ever more depressed the next day. It has been like this for 3 years and I wished SOMETHING would happen that would change my life. No, I didn't want a terrorist attack or anything that would get people hurt, just something big and spectacular that would make things better.

And then it happened. Around 4:13 PM my computer screen suddenly goes dark, the lights start to flicker like in some sort of a disco as the emergency generator kicked in. After I left the building I tried to get on the bus but that became very difficult as thousands of other people were probably looking to do the same thing. So I'm basically wandering around the city looking for something. I thought I had a better chance getting a bus uptown (which was true), but then something weird happened. It's as if some force told me "Go back. Go back to your usual bus stop. Only there you will find what you're looking for." And I did! I still don't know why, it seemed like a pretty stupid thing to do as I wouldn't be able to catch a bus there for sure.

So I'm standing at the bus stop, it's getting dark, I'm starting to think how I'm gona sleep in the middle of a street like a bum, and then I see this beautiful girl in front of me. We start talking, and then ... All right, enough said.

When I woke up during the night thinking "WTF is going on .. this must be some sort of a lucid dream or something but I can't wake up." But then I realized what it was. It was dark and the candle has long burned out, but I could still see it in the light from one of the distant generator-powered buildings. It was hanging around her neck, a gold cross with an image of Jesus Christ! Much like this one here - http://www.gold-cross.com/goldcrucifix2.jpg

See they still don't know who or what caused the blackout. They say the electric grid is so mysterious and confusing only God knows how to keep it running. And now I think they might be right about that

 

[ComradeBadger]

What a lovely story .... at least someone had 'fun' in the Blackouts ... meh, I'm in england, so I'm alright!!

 

[dawdler]

Blackouts are the #1 reason for baby booms

 

[symptom]

I'm going through a similar experience with a girl right now that's pushing me to question "coincidence or... ?"

When I first got AOL I was about 10 years old, I met this girl in a chat room. We started talking a lot and formed this little online boyfriend/girlfriend relationship and would send each other letters and pictures in the mail and stuff. We were little and it was all very cute, but for some reason something happened (I forget what) that made us stop talking. I got rid of AOL eventually, never heard from her again...

... until a week ago, she was packing for college and came across one of my old letters that had my phone number on it. She decided to call me just for the hell of it, figuring I probably moved or something by now (it's been 7-8 years...). We talked a little bit on the phone, I got her AIM info, we talked some more, now we talk like every night on the phone and she's incredible...

Anyway, she bought plane tickets to come stay with me during Thanksgiving break, so I'll be meeting her finally.


erm... /end thread hijack

 

[Wraith]

all this is very nice but if there IS a god (which i am pretty damned sure there isn't) i dont think he is working too hard to get you guys laid.

 

[Wraith]

http://www.infidelguy.com/modules.php?name=Content&pa=showpage&pid=45

 

[3rd Impact]

I'm not sure that the fact you got laid as a result of a blackout is incontrovertible proof of the existance of god...

 

[ComradeBadger]

meh, I'm in a relationship ATM, but shes gone away ... up north. but she'll be back in a week and a half so, it's all good

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

Up north eh? I live in the north....


Something tells me God isnt trying to get you into bed with someone...

 

[ComradeBadger]

Oh really, just wait till she gets back

so there....

 

[Farrowlesparrow]

She lied to you. She came up to visit me. She said im the bestest person in the whole wide world...im afraid i had to shoot her for sounding so much like a 10 year old...sorry. Let us all have a moment of silence..Ok thats enough silence. Lets get back on topic. Cant have Moderators spaming can we?...although, its not like anyone can do anything about it.


I would actually be more serious in this thread...but i cant be bothered so i dont think i will post again. Sorry for the hijack..your thread will be returned to you momentarily.

 

[Korgoth]

well when you can't talk breathe move or feel and you know your about to die and things start to go dark and you tell yourself in your mind "please god i want to live" and you wake up perfectly fine then you'll know he exists

 

[Nostradamus]

Originally posted by Wraith
all this is very nice but if there IS a god (which i am pretty damned sure there isn't) i dont think he is working too hard to get you guys laid.

HAHAh this is going in my sig!

 

[LoneDeranger]

BTW, this thread isn't about getting laid, it's just something weird that happened to me during the blackout.

 

[HiroProtaganist]

so your contention is that a deity may exist because you got laid in a blackout?? Well i must say it's a hell of a lot more logial than Kant or St. Augistinges(sp?) argument for the existence of god but like all arguments of this nature for or against god; it's unprovable.

Wow the grammer is bad in that. sorry.

 

[Fallout2man]

There's also government, small tribal communities have now become gigantic nations, spanning much land mass. Unlike these tribes, they do not enforce their laws by using the intangible future, instead by fear of punishment and/or violence government enforces its rules. Of course government is also much more flexible in most cases, since it's so much easier to make/repeal/change laws then to change religious dogma.

Now of course, there's the conflict. The primary purposes of religion were to quell the fear of the unknown and to enforce a stable society. In the current day and age these needs are being met more and more by science and government. Science most usually does not conflict with religion as most people believe religion to be "how to get in to heaven" and not "how the heavens work." Of course like all things, religions are diverse, not as diverse as a few million tribes, but diverse enough that some religions take their religious ideas of how the world works, was created, etc literally. These fundamentalists naturally clash with science like tribe A clashed with tribe B, since science is slandering their god by not acknowledging it and not acknowledging their ideas as true.

This wouldn't be so widespread, but as we know, science is everywhere, and fundamentalism is spreading rapidly in America at least. So this gives rise to conflict. Not violent tribal wars, no we're beyond that level of primitiveness, nowadays we work using propaganda and manipulation. Any argument for either side is playing on one central point, fear. Religion plays on fear of the unknown and science plays on any uncertainty in religion (and let's face it, there is no form of dogma that doesn't have some hole).

This wouldn't be so bad if it were just an isolated argument that didn't affect only the vocal atheists and fundamentalists. However, as this nation was founded by people such as the puritans, religion does affect government. So we also have a big contest to see who can get whose dogma made into the law of the land. So when it really comes down to it, all of the religion debates you find are about one of two things. Proving who’s got the bigger Penis (figuratively speaking) or who’s going to take over the world (and let’s face it, most organized religions would love nothing more then to reclaim the power they once held back in the 1000's and earlier.)

I myself think it’d be easiest if we could find a way to let religions handle their own matters without federal mandation of law, and to basically let everyone somehow get their own peace. But as with my statement earlier regarding Tribes A and B, to back down would be an admitting their god is false, so they will insist it is true to their deaths and fight for what they believe in, in any tangible manner they can. So we’ve got ourselves a never-ending battle, sit back with some popcorn and enjoy the show I say.

 

[ValVed RaY]

There is no god.

God is just a thing most people need to believe in because it makes them feel better about them selves, makes them feel important and they believe in after life.

i don't mind any of this, except when people try to feed you lies.
if you have kids, please let them make up their own mind, don't make them go to church because you do, they have no clue what to believe when they are young, and since most religious people pass on their beliefs, those children believe and only believe because they are thought that, if they were born in the wild they wouldnt pray. and go to church every sunday. hearing the word church makes me chuckle, because it's such a huge business and it's like most of the people in the world are blind.

now you can say that you mett patty and lived happily ever after or how you got a raise on your job and tell me that something made that happen. BS, whatever you acomplish is your work and your work only.

try not going to church, or looking up the sky during a thunderstorm and say hey god stricke me down your turd, you'll see that you won't get hit by a lightning bolt. or that your life won't turn into hell just because you don't pay the church.

yeah according to christians, people that dont go to church or believe in god go to hell. so all those natives and indians that lived before they were visited by the spanish are burning in hell?

personally, i don't need to believe in some fairy tale to live a happy life.

thank you for playing, have a nice day.

 

[Wraith]

i agree with ray, but i will not say there is definitely no god, but i WOULD bet my life and EVERYTHING i own on it. same thing about pink unicorns living on pluto who mine cookie dough out of underground caves. i dont know if its real but i am willing to bet anything that it isnt.

 

[MrWhite]

I'm iffy... I'm agnostic... I dont beleive in god, but I don't doubt the possibility that there could be one, along with all of the other religions...


basically... who knows?

 

[Tr0n]

Me, I'm netural but I like to prove all sides wrong.But my guess is if there is a god....he/she/it is not going to be like what us humans believe it to be.So who the hell knows....We won't know untill we die.

/me waits for that raptor guy to come and try to flame him

 

[CommieX]

I think in 1000 years or so, if the human race still exists, we will look back at our religions and laugh. Eventually I think people will give up on religion as our scientific knowledge increases. Of course, this is assuming we are not reduced to a more primitive state by then, in which case we might need religion even more.

About the whole getting laid thing, religion is too often used as a way of explaining coincidences.