Friday, 20 November 2009
Make your deities case here !!
As I can’t write a serious piece on anyones god and lacking one myself, I thought it would be easier to throw it out for discussion. My socialisation was that of Catholicism, Sunday Church and Catholic schooling. I declared my self unfit for further service as I just didn’t understand why gay people couldn’t go to heaven. It just made no sense to me and a classroom full of teenage horny girls who immediately took action.
We stood up and yelled at the nun at the front of the class, Sister ‘I hope I won’t be the second nun to get knifed’ Theresa. We walked out..we got detention, very few of us got confirmed into this now perceived contradiction. A fair few of us graduated and went on to have a great life afterwards, mainly involving that of higher education, drinking sex and drugs a plenty. A few of us fell but most of us are still here thriving and doing well. Still have the memories of being spanked by nuns though….do you know what an oxymoron that is? Quite frankly I’m amazed we are not walking around with a gun…..then again there are some religious types that do.
Problem with Catholicism is it is ruled with fear and guided with ludicrous stories. When you are oppressed for so long, once you are given your freedom you go mental. It was a dull and a stagnate interpretation of how to live life, I think it’s finally over but if it helps, I will always have a guilty fear of something, not sure what... I just know it's something, anyone in a religion does…we are all born sinners after all, what chance do you have if you start in deficit?
So just out of curiosity if you do or don’t support a deity I still would be interested in your opinion. What is a God?
* Omnipotent (all-powerful, able to do anything)
* Omnibenevolent (all-loving)
* Omniscient (all-knowing)
* The Creator (of all that exists)
* The Sustainer (if God ceased to exist, so would everything else)
* Perfectly Free
* Eternally Existing (will go on and on and on...)
* A Personal God (a being with whom one can have a personal relationship)
Choose one or more and describe why you think this. This is an existentialism philosophical tool derived from Satre but lets try and keep it as free flowing as possible. I appreciate it is existentialism therefore depth has no choice but to rule or at least should. By using Satre/TPM and various sources, I shall try to argue how feasible such a god would be. And saying your god is lovely and makes great tea will be listened to of course, but chastised severely!
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Hi O,very interesting post,I have a stab at responding.
ReplyDeleteFor me my GODS are of a personal nature,in my travels I have picked up various little statues of deity`s from a Budda to a small ceramic picture of Jesus to a tiny bronze of Ganesha...they all sit on a marble block I was given years back.
I do pray to them on occasion,usually when I sad or worried and when im really happy or if ive had some good luck...it is a shrine..i light candles,incense,and leave offerings,grains of rice,grapes..you know small stuff.
when two of my hens were taken by foxes i placed some of their feathers in front of the shrine lit candles and incense and said a few prayers for them.
You get the picture i`m sure..it is a focus for me to try to understand and cope with what is not in our everyday lives...or our control...
I think it is part of what makes us human, to look to the gods for inspiration and strength...ta ta.
Funny you should say that when on this very day
ReplyDeleteIt's all complete bollocks, and you know it. Lies from start to finish.
ReplyDeleteI would go with the Creator..the blue touch paper lighter, as the alternatives (universe erupted out of a singularity/it's own arse) doesn't hold water - or space - too many holes in that theory, and most of them are black and therefore invisible.
ReplyDeleteI also quite like the Anthropic Principle - the universe is the way it is because we are here to see it...and, although created to refute God, it supports a 'Being of some significance' because of the vast amount of cosmic coincidences within the universe that have allowed us to be.
And all talk of multi-verses...and we just happen to be in the right one conducive to human existence is actually more fanciful (to me at least) than a supreme being. This I think is the basis of the new found religious angle of Intelligent Design...although I believe evolution to be random and would have found us eventually.
So the fire-starter it is for me...although, as Al Pacino said in "Devil's Advocate" he is quite the absentee landlord.
God is what you use to explain the un-explainable, to contol the people and can be modified and adjusted to suit your beliefs
ReplyDeleteI've always had a fondness for Eris, the Greek Goddess of Discord and Chaos. Particularly in her modern reworking as the patron of creative chaos, of freedom over restriction, and of really wild parties.
ReplyDeleteEris likes apples and the number 5, and hates hotdogs and banality.
A sensible deity for a happier Britain, I think.
i'm glad to see a fellow thinker. omnipotent, omnipresent, omniscient, personal, etc., etc. Just too many to choose from, isn't it? been trying to solve the puzzle ever since Morpheus contacted me back in highschool and, sad to say, I still ain't successful. anyway, who knows? maybe things will be different after i die. =)
ReplyDeleteI haven't read anything on the subject, so I'll just speak from personal experience. I'm undecided on whether or not there is a God.
ReplyDeleteOn one hand, I see such symmetry in the world, a sense of purpose in nature that I find it hard to believe it's all a fluke. The Big Bang theory...really? I don't know. Maybe I'm just too difficult to please and simple solutions are just that. Too simple for me.
On the other, I see so much injustice in the world (and no, not all caused by humans' actions), so many things that I find hard to believe there is a good reason behind them and that's what God intended... It confuses me.
Yes, people do tend to remember God when the shit hits the fan, so in part I think it's our safety blanket. If we fail and nothing else can save us, wait, there's still hope, maybe God will/can step up. Hope dies last after all, right?
And let's not forget the promise of life after death. I mean, if that ain't a big incentive to believe in God, I don't know what is.
There is one thing I am sure of though. Religions have messed everything up and forgot what it's all about with their rules and stipulations. The majority of priests are only interested in money and power and forgot why they got into the priesthood in the first place.
Lisa Troy out.
I believe we should discard religon and become spititual. If we dont do that we will all end up killing each other in the name of religon.
ReplyDeleteGod is there to give you strength at times when you need it the most. He is there to guide you when you get lost from path of humanity. God is greatest one of them all.
ReplyDeleteI also was raised Catholic and have fallen as they say... I was an alter boy who never had his cock sucked. I don't believe the tales any more, but I can't quite get my head around the enormity of the universe, so I remain more of an agnostic. You can't prove something isn't there after all. At the same time I don't see any proof or signs on this planet that would lead me to believe that there's a God. Certainly not the condition of its people.
ReplyDeleteAs for those people holding signs in the picture... I have more pity than anger. To waste one's life on hating is a sad fate indeed. I once wrote a song that referenced these people:
Picket sign, a funeral. He lived his life, different than you.
Now, I'm not for, a judge's gag, but I don't think that God hates fags.
Get a Life
The time you waste
Get a Life
is used for Hate... etc
hello
ReplyDeleteintresting post
Rather than comment on this subject in this limited space, I posted my thoughts on my blog...Answering Oleuanna.
ReplyDeleteGod is a mystery. I've given up trying to fathom why I can't just toss Him out the window.
ReplyDeleteUh-oh, I feel a rant coming on.
ReplyDeleteI, unfortunately, experienced Catholic school briefly as a child, and it was probably the only place a 7-8 year-old boy could learn about smoking, sex, drugs, and rock'n'roll way before they should.
Lucky for me, my Dad didn't agree with their religious doctrine and promptly pulled me out before completing a second year there (mind you, it is very rare that I express gratitude for most of my Dad's decisions.)
As far as accepting theism as the be-all end-all, I find myself becoming more agnostic as I grow older, simply because: who am I to determine the absolute truth for myself or others. Who am I to be so self-righteous, and/or deluded that I am sure as to what "God" is or isn't, and then subscribe to a single solitary belief system that is mired in fundamentalism, ritualism, deindividuation, and conformity?
I would rather remain open and accept what life has to offer, exclusive of the confines of dogmatic beliefs, even beliefs that are adiamorphic, like scientific theories for example.
As altruistic as so-called "good churchgoing people" try to appear, many of them seem to be the most jugemental, neurotic individuals I've ever had the displeasure of meeting.
Their idea of a lifestyle of sacrificial, other-centered love is so far from what it is intended to be that it's proof positive that being a member of any organization just to make yourself look or feel better about yourself simply reinforces that those concepts and their announcements don't actually mean that makes someone a good person.
I'm not saying that every person of faith, no matter what religion it is, is wrong or misled in their beliefs per se, but taking into consideration the prevalence of religious extremism suggests to me that a overwhelming majority of people that are believers are just followers. And not reasonable rational thinkers or leaders in acts of "kindness", "acceptance", and "forgiveness".
There are grains of truth in all walks of life, and it up to us to use whatever amount of brains we've been lucky to be endowed with to filter out what really matters in the short time we are lucky to have here on Earth. And to me, that doesn't necessarily mean that involves some old guy sitting on a throne up the clouds arbitrarily meddling in everyone's lives.
Ok lets put this one to bed it is Thanksgiving after all. Thanks for your replies it seems most of you attach quite a personal relationship with …’god’. Though the question was What is A god? I guess looking at your replies it would seem the best way to interpret it was to come from the experience you had of a god rather than to look at god objectively, I can appreciate that. I shall try this again though modified and just go straight to the philosophy and allow you no wriggle room. I have stamped a FAILED on my forehead tis mine not yours. Anyway I shall answer all but one briefly.
ReplyDeleteStan – (where has your blog gone by the way?) You choose to interpret your god(s) as something that serves you personally. I like the fact you have hedged your bets on a few to serve your needs rather than commit to one…so there is no one god with ultimate power but an oligarchy that you have given specific roles to and looks like you share the power, very post post modern Greek !
Hadley and Wadsworth – both see me for detention for your dissidence, and of course in the same breath respected for the revolt…..here are your ropes the windows open.
Mr Iangoole – The creator who sits absent on their project. So you would dismiss claims to evolution and choose to go down the route of a pseudoscience. It does comparatively lack evidence and plausibility though. Although the evolution theory still has not been conclusively proven because of what we have discovered beyond Darwin’s Natural selection evidence. But if it is created by intelligent design then we can argue further using examples of nonfunctional evolution in DNA …..
ReplyDelete‘Patterns in Genetic Material
Had God created life through means other than evolution, He could have used the faintest whisper of His boundless power to endow each kind of creature with a different form of genetic material, or a completely different genetic code. But all life forms on Earth use DNA and RNA as genetic material, with a code that admits of only very rare and insignificant alterations, which is what one would expect had all life evolved from a common ancestor.
There is, furthermore, a high degree of correspondence between molecular phylogenies and evolutionary expectations, even for nonfunctional changes in DNA. Especially puzzling for creationism is the question of why these evolutionary expectations are borne out in the case of similar species living in similar climates on different continents: creationists should expect the DNA of such creatures to closely match, if DNA was designed for functionality. However, we find instead that these species often have DNA more closely resembling that of different species in adjacent environments than that of the similar species in distant locales. The appearance of the similar species is the result of convergent evolution: the species have managed to adapt in similar ways to their environments, but they remain genetically closer to the different species near them, with whom they share a more recent common ancestor. The manner in which such genetic correlations match evolutionary expectations is independent confirmation of evolution that would serve absolutely no purpose but deception in a world in which all life was created directly by God’
I kind of liked that argument.
Hollowlegs – I can’t argue with that, it’s the reason why we shall keep questioning it’s origin…rather than it’s effects. A manipulative tool born of man? It’s highly possible.
ReplyDeleteGhostswoods – Just for Britain? Hmmm? Isn’t division half the problem with this deity business…… Spread the chaos surely?
Hi Ryhen thanks but promise me one thing, if you go before me….leave a note on my mirror so at least we can tick this damn box….I’ll do the same but may be a bit spookier and be a face coming out of a wall with a carrot. Well no point unless it’s dramatic…
LT – I think loads of people feel like you do and seem to be left in limbo. As you seem to imply for people like you, answers lie as you tread through life. The sooner you decide the easier I think it is…well it’s how I find it.
Ron - What is spirituality? You’ll probably find it comes with a doctrine as well..
Vinay – That’s not an answer…..by your argument that could be anyone of us…..try again this time leave the speech and deliberate the options.
Bad Alice Rohfun and Harmon – cheers for your points and ultimately agreed.
Static – It was a good rant….and I think one of us should tackle the act of altruism…is it possible?
‘Robert said...
Rather than comment on this subject in this limited space, I posted my thoughts on my blog...Answering Oleuanna’
By this action alone suggests to me the kind of conversation I’m up against…..I’ve seen your blog….I’ll see you there
My god is like the log-king in Aesop's fable about the frogs. He does nothing, says nothing, and lets everyone do what they want.
ReplyDeleteThank you so much for following my blogs. I really like yours. You talk about a lot of interesting things. (:
ReplyDeleteI also saw your other blog. I love the poetry that's on there, it's really beautiful. Did you write all that? I tried to comment but it won't let me. =/
ReplyDeleteI'm looking forward to seeing you there.
ReplyDeletenothingprofound
ReplyDeleteYour god is perfectly free....beautiful very hippy and lovely and makes Chai tea on a come down....hmmm? But is that a God?
If people are free to make their own decisions...will, truth and values...then god becomes one of us and can no longer exist surely? The requirement of a god existentially would be an all powerful being. God can't be that ....if I am also god? Then all things are equal....we are all free...
What need of governance?
I've been struggling with 1 question lately; is God the problem or the solution? Okay, sweet Ole. I think anonymity will work. Atheism seems as crazy as Theism. It's impossible to prove there's a god but it's also impossible to prove there isn't. It seems like everything comes down to definitions. What do you mean by "god"? I think I'll have to go with agnosticism, at least intellectually. More in the future when it isn't so excruciatingly cold
ReplyDeleteSorry Candy forgot to reply to you...how rude I am. Thank you for your compliments and yes all the poetry is mine, some I am more proud of than others and as I have just picked up the pen again the groove shall form more depth as time goes on, bare with me, us arty student types really take our time to get going. Welcome anyway.
ReplyDeleteRobert...I haven't fogotten...I'm coming!!
Anon! I know who you are (laughing) Remember the question wasn't is there a 'god', it was what is a god? This question therefore assumes the possibility of one. The experiment was then to see how feasible peoples interpretations of it could be. You can't define what a god is then back up your argument with 'I'm agnostic'....not very defiant is it? But save further thinking on this.... Next time I shall delve deeper and disable personal relationships with the metaphysical, we will attempt to philosophise reality and matter without transcending science. Sartre was an atheist, as with a fair few existentialist but I wasn’t trying to challenge anyones faith but wanted an understanding of what defined ‘a’ god.
Back to the drawing board, this needs to be a lot more academic.
Sounds reasonable! Thank, hmmm, God I didn't write more. Your blog is excellent. I am really very impressed & will save you all the crazy stuff I experienced as a child & young man. You're asking the right questions. Thanks for being you. You're a sweetheart after all. I've always been wary of women I start to care about w/out any rational explanation. Forgive me
ReplyDelete