Religion Americans Skeptical Of God But Think Heaven Is Real, Somehow

Slycultdog just doesn't have the same ring to it

 

Probably not. The Devil may take his time fucking you over.

 

Slypyramidschemedog is more like it.

 

Sly doesn't quite fit. New name needed, perhaps JimmyDog! Seems to fit.

 

Religions are run and controlled by humans, who are evil by nature.

I believe Jesus was real, a good man and taught many fine life lessons. However, I question if he was really a god as organized religion wants us to believe.

If Jesus was a god, why did he not teach us a couple of simple things, like the world is round, not flat? So the Catholic Church would not have tortured and killed so many innocent people for 1400 years after Jesus died simply because they did not believe the earth was the center of the universe.

I believe in God, the creator of the universe.

Due to an out of body experience (40 years ago) that was the most peaceful experience I have ever had, I believe in life after death.

I also believe I have been visited by my father, and also by my long time friend/mentor after they passed away. These 2 visits further confirm my belief of some sort of life after death.

It is organized religion that I do not believe in. However, I understand organized religion does help some people. Sadly, religion has also been used way too often for evil purposes and agendas.

 

Eh. Of course, death sucks, but I don't think not believing in an afterlife is depressing. It's like not believing the Blazers will win the championship this season, it's just (most likely) how it's going to be. I'm not gonna get depressed about it.

 

Perhaps it is just a the simple mind of an old engineer, but you make it seem like, it is just a simple matter of properly valuing the pluses and minuses. Rather like finding the vertical center of gravity.
Not all weight is negative, it depends on the value of the height. It's the net that counts.

 

We've discussed religion in multiple earlier threads, so I don't see a purpose in going down that road again. I'll just say that the existence or non-existence of a creator isn't validated or negated by a popularity poll.

 

No offense, but I do not understand your meaning. Maybe you can give me an example of your meaning.

You say you studied religion for 5 years. I attended catholic school for 8 years, an alter boy taught by nuns. I have a cousin that I grew up with that is a priest. I have a good friend that I grew up with that is also a priest and now holds a position in the Vatican.

I have had long talks with both of them concerning the Catholic Church. I have even taken several week long vacations with my cousin/priest because he needed a break from the pressures of the church. He is very religious, but he also has many questions about the Catholic Church, and their agendas. Most of his questions revolve around decisions made by the church based on acquiring more money instead of helping the people that really need it.

So I also started to study other religions. I spent several decades trying to understand them. They all had good points, but they also all had issues that bothered me. The more I study organized religions, the more skeptical I become about them.

 

Forgive me. My post was probably only meaningful to me, but to cut it short, it was in agreement with your take.

When you study religion(s) I find it necessary to isolate the essence of what is being taught. This is not all that easy to do, given the obfuscation the priests of religion place in your way fleshing out their scheme to harness the good for their use. You end up with a list of good worth of it's weight and list of burden, worthy only to someone else. not us mere laymen.

Once you have this list for one religion, the next needs to be parsed to comparable lists.

 

So I'm guessing that you don't believe in ghosts

 

Ha! Denny, I take it you would cut short the old conversations of, when does the soul leave the body? I expect you would be ready with the answer, It sure does, when you are brain dead.
But you offer nothing to the question, where does it go? That causes me to wonder if some have no soul to leave or go, surely the end biological function is total end of that being.
Do you know if you have or ever had a soul? Do you know the answer to the same question for everyone else?

 

The existence of an afterlife isn't necessarily implied by the existence of a creator. You don't have to believe in a soul to be a Deist.

As for paying attention, all current objective scientific evidence including the unequivocal implication of evolution is that everything that is "us" including our sense of self emerges from and is dependent on our physical bodies, and ceases to exist when we die.

 

will self aware machines/AI be able to get in?

 

Hi Crow! You begin with a solid statement. Then you close with one where you have zero evidence and no way to prove your statement.
How does a man fall so far in such a short span?

 

I sort of understand why it can be depressing to contemplate. I think it's a natural part of our ego to feel entitled to live forever. Also I would love to know humanity's ultimate fate before I die, and I likely won't which sucks.

A solipsistic/nihilistic perspective is that everything, not just you, effectively (as far as you are concerned) ceases to exist when you die, which can also be a bummer to think about.