Guest Babylonian Dream Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Please watch and reply if you have a youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQTt21P6s20 Or just comment here. I figured I would get more answers on there but didn't. Maybe they just second guessed me, I don't know Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ebonileigh Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Please watch and reply if you have a youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQTt21P6s20 Or just comment here. I figured I would get more answers on there but didn't. Maybe they just second guessed me, I don't know I haven't watched, however, I have heard people who are agnostic or fence sitters say that they wish there was a god. My question is, why? God, what sort of word or term is that anyway? This notion of god that these people wish for, what sort of god would it be? The whole thing is repulsive to me. WTF ...when will we grow up as a species. We are lead to believe that we are 'highest' of the animals, I prefer animals that are not of the human species, I love them, they are loyal, faithful, gentle, loving, and have a host of other fine attributes, I just wish I could communicate with them. Anyway, to answer the question, NO I DEFINITELY DO NOT WISH THERE WAS A GOD. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I'm at work and can't watch the video at the moment, but addressing the question generally, I agree with ebonileigh. Gods only reduce our own worth. If all we did was grovel on our knees 24 hours a day, begging and "Praising", what would life be worth? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted April 1, 2010 Super Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2010 I certainly don't wish there was a god like the one portrayed in the Bible. Still, probably most people wish for immortality in some form, be it Heaven, reincarnation, or general "spirit" stuff. Most probably would like some supernatural intervention when things turn to shit. I confess I wish magic was real. I'd love for there to be healing powers, insights into one's future, calorie-free ice cream and space aliens. However, in the search for and study of such dreams I have found no evidence of the supernatural. None. There are things that haven't been explained yet, but there is no reason to attribute undiscovered mechanisms to a supernatural being. (Also, I noticed another of your Tubes in the sidebar. In response to that I'd say celebrate your unique qualities and don't strive to be like others. You seem pretty cool just as it stands.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I confess I wish magic was real. I'd love for there to be healing powers, insights into one's future, calorie-free ice cream and space aliens. However, in the search for and study of such dreams I have found no evidence of the supernatural. None. There are things that haven't been explained yet, but there is no reason to attribute undiscovered mechanisms to a supernatural being. Yeah, exactly. Gods are just a means to an end. I "want" and so a "god" provides since I can't do it myself. I want to have a mansion full of sexy, horny women and be the super-stud...sometimes. Other times I want to pig out at the best meal ever until I'm gorged. Other times I want to know everything and travel any/everywhere. I can't. But when I die I'll go to "heaven" and get at least some of this, right? The "moral" version of it. So I "want" and a "god" provides. If I "want" something else then I go off to "hell." Pity. If we could waive a magic wand and do for this ourselves no one would think twice about "gods." We'd just do it ourselves. We can't so we invent our own genies to try to grant our wishes for us. One being "deliver us from the 'evil' that is ourselves." Maybe in the next life because the genie still has came out of its bottle to grant that wish. I think I'll stick with my wishes from before. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ShallowByThyGame Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 A fun afterlife that accepts everyone would be nice, but I don't really like the idea of a sentience that controls or knows everything, it tends to make people rely on it instead of themselves. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Andy Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I'm just going to echo what everyone else has said. I see no need for a god. Some sort of afterlife would be cool, god is not necessary for that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdp Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Without watching the video - If there was a 'god' who gave a shit and fixed everything and took pain out of the equation - why not? But there isn't so what's the point? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Raul Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 The kind of god,that could get me laid would be nice. But looks like I'm on my own. p.s. Oh,and I don't wish for an afterlife. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Super Moderator florduh Posted April 1, 2010 Super Moderator Share Posted April 1, 2010 It seems agreed - nobody wants the god of Abraham to be real! Besides, we've all gotten along so far without any gods existing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oddbird1963 Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 No. I don't wish there was a god. I don't wish there was no-god. I wish to know reality and the true nature of things as much as my feeble brain can understand. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
par4dcourse Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I have enough trouble tryin' to please an ornery woman without the supernatural involved (although her ability to cause me distress is otherworldly.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petrel Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Still, probably most people wish for immortality in some form, be it Heaven, reincarnation, or general "spirit" stuff. Most probably would like some supernatural intervention when things turn to shit. I confess I wish magic was real. I'd love for there to be healing powers, insights into one's future, calorie-free ice cream and space aliens. However, in the search for and study of such dreams I have found no evidence of the supernatural. None. There are things that haven't been explained yet, but there is no reason to attribute undiscovered mechanisms to a supernatural being. Definitely. I wish there was an afterlife because I'd like to be around for a good long time to see what happens in the universe. But I'd want to be able to bail somehow after all of the interesting stuff was over (heat death: boring). I write for fun and all of my writing has some fantastical elements. Magic and so forth is fun. Not real, but it would be cool if it were. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve20 Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Not a God that micromanages everything looking for the slightest slip up. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Do I wish there was some magical genie I could ask for anything, and it would be given to me? Sure. Do I wish there was a Christian God who will punish 10 billion people for eternity because he is "good"? Eh, no. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Do I wish there was some magical genie I could ask for anything, and it would be given to me? Sure. Do I wish there was a Christian God who will punish 10 billion people for eternity because he is "good"? Eh, no. I have a really nasty question for you. Please ignore if it is too offensive. If there was a Christian God that would fix any and all ailments in your family, but would punish 10 billion people for eternity (excluding you and yours), would you want that god to exist? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 It seems agreed - nobody wants the god of Abraham to be real! Pretty much. I think what most people really want is to be able to enter their own personal version of the Matrix. Not to used as robot batteries and all that nonsense but, like absolutely immersive holodecks, and just live out whatever fantasy they want for however long they want (even if that means cradle to grave). I think the current crop of online games like WoW are a step towards that end (some people already stay too long in those gaming worlds and I believe there have been some deaths as a result). This is what people want and this is where we will ultimately go. "Gods" aren't necessary when I can be a be a warrior and fight a dragon, bash a crack-whore in the head and steal a car or fulfill whatever fantasy or desire I might have all without leaving the safety and comfort of my living room. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ouroboros Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Do I wish there was some magical genie I could ask for anything, and it would be given to me? Sure. Do I wish there was a Christian God who will punish 10 billion people for eternity because he is "good"? Eh, no. I have a really nasty question for you. Please ignore if it is too offensive. If there was a Christian God that would fix any and all ailments in your family, but would punish 10 billion people for eternity (excluding you and yours), would you want that god to exist? Frigging good question! Good dilemma. I probably would not want that kind of God. Because I can feel empathy for all those other people. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Frigging good question! Good dilemma. I probably would not want that kind of God. Because I can feel empathy for all those other people. Bzzzt. Wrong answer. As punishment I have wished this God into existence and all my family problems have been fixed but the rest of you are just plain fucked. Thanks for playing you've been just great. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vomit Comet Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I wish there was a God. I wish there was a God that was cool as fuck. I wish there was a God that smiled down upon me as I drank booze and smoked weed, and maybe gave me a little "assistance" when I'm trying to get laid. I wish there was a God that had an afterlife prepared for us where we could all go and party forever, and where the criteria for getting "in" are all but non-existent. Maybe neo-Nazis and other such assholes would be spanked for 10,000 years as a form of "rehabilitation", and particularly nasty characters like Hitler would be cast into oblivion... but the vast bulk of humanity would get to party forever in the afterlife. Sounds pretty goddamn good? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bdp Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I have a really nasty question for you. Please ignore if it is too offensive. If there was a Christian God that would fix any and all ailments in your family, but would punish 10 billion people for eternity (excluding you and yours), would you want that god to exist? And this cuts right to the heart of it - Christianity is narcissism. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shyone Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Frigging good question! Good dilemma. I probably would not want that kind of God. Because I can feel empathy for all those other people. Bzzzt. Wrong answer. As punishment I have wished this God into existence and all my family problems have been fixed but the rest of you are just plain fucked. Thanks for playing you've been just great. mwc Isn't that how the Christian God is supposed to work? Believe, pray, get anything and everything your heart desires ("anything in my name"), and everyone else is basically fucked? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bornagainathiest Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Good question BD, but what pleases me about this particular thread is how the thoughts of some others here chime with my own musings. No, I don't wish that there was a God of any kind. B-u-u-u-u-t, having said that, I can't deny that I still speculate that there might be a kind of 'afterlife' - one without the usual religious baggage. I suppose the catalyst for this was a science fiction novel I read decades ago, called 'The Palace of Eternity'. It was written by Bob Shaw. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bob_Shaw A brief synopsis of the plot runs like this... Several hundred years in the future, Earth's colonies are being attacked by an alien race who's sole intent seems to be the total eradication of the human species. Men, women, children, babies - all are slaughtered and every attempt to communicate, negotiate or parley with the aliens is met with a wall of silence. Earth's forces are falling back and things look bleak. Two thirds of the way thru the tale, the hero is killed. Surprisingly enough though, his story isn't over. In fact, his most important acts are yet to come. This is because of what he discovers immediately after his body is riddled with bullets and his corporeal self 'dies'. This part of the book made such an impression on me that I can recall some of the text even now, at least twenty years after I last re-read it. "The soft stars whisper and the harsh stars crackle." These are some of the first sense impressions the hero has, once the pain and trauma of his death have subsided. He feels weightless and floating in a starry night sky. The stars are singing to him and he realizes that they've always done this, but his crude, physical senses were too blunt to hear them, while he was 'alive'. Now that he is 'dead' he also realizes that he doesn't have a corporeal body. Instead, he can somehow see himself as a glowing sphere of light. Another, identical sphere is moving towards him. In this ball of light he can see the superimposed images of an unborn fetus, a grinning youth and an old man. He hears a voice, knows it is the sphere speaking to him and understands three things simultaneously. "Relax. Do not be afraid. Give yourself to me." He and the other merge into one. Suddenly he knows this person better than anyone he's ever known in his mortal life. He is this person and knows their whole life experience instantly and intimately as they do. "I am Labienius. I was born in Gaul and became a Roman citizen. I joined the army and retired with the rank of General. I married late in life, settled in Tuscany and raised four sons. I died while sitting under an apple tree in my orchard, just as the evening stars were coming out." Labienius tells the hero (Damn! Can't remember the fella's name.) that all humans become these spheres of light when they die. He also says that they are now an form of energy that is counter-entropic. "You mean...?" "Yes. We are eternal." Now the story pivots around an unexpected event. Our hero cannot begin his eternal life properly, because there's something he's got to go back and do, something that requires him to live again as a human being. He's somehow stuck, midway between one state of being and another. He can't go forwards, as Labienius and everyone else has. He has to go back. Because his physical body has been destroyed, he will be sent back to occupy the nearest match - the growing body of his unborn son. Fast forward twenty years or so and things are looking very bad indeed for the human race. Their extinction at the hands (claws/tentacles?) of the aliens is now certain. It's just a case of how long they can hold out. The hero has been re-born into the body of his son, but the transfer was not completely successful. He has no conscious memory of his previous life, his death and his discovery of the afterlife awaiting all humans. He dreams these things, but they make no sense to him. Finally, in the last desperate days a break-thru is made, his mission is completed and Earth is saved. The aliens retreat into the wilderness of unknown space, leaving the human race to face a new, brighter future. Now, everyone on Earth understands that there is an afterlife, waiting for them. But they also realize that man-made religions were all half-informed guesses, vaguely hinting at the eternal reality that's out there. So religion is discarded in favor of this new 'enlightenment'. THE END. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Ok, nice story. But to answer your question, BD, I'd like something like this. No God. Just a natural mechanism of evolution from a mortal, corruptible state into an immortal, incorruptible one. Yes, I know it's just wishful thinking, but you did ask. No. No God. Eternal life of a superior kind to this one, perhaps. But definitely NO God. Thanks. BAA. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 Isn't that how the Christian God is supposed to work? Believe, pray, get anything and everything your heart desires ("anything in my name"), and everyone else is basically fucked? That's right. I think bdp summed it up pretty good. mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mwc Posted April 1, 2010 Share Posted April 1, 2010 I wish there was a God that had an afterlife prepared for us where we could all go and party forever, and where the criteria for getting "in" are all but non-existent. Maybe neo-Nazis and other such assholes would be spanked for 10,000 years as a form of "rehabilitation", and particularly nasty characters like Hitler would be cast into oblivion... but the vast bulk of humanity would get to party forever in the afterlife. Sounds pretty goddamn good? ...and you're basically a Jew. Mazel tov! mwc Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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