Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with god

Book about God & Satan

LauraJ — Tue, 22 Dec 2009 12:13:31 -0800

A couple of years ago, I read a review of a book that sounded really interesting, but I can't find it now. The book was about a man who found some ancient documents that proved that Satan was good and God was evil (for instance, God denied Adam and Eve access to the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil). Apparently many people took this book to be non-fiction, and it caused a bit of hue & cry. Does anyone know the name of the book?? Thank you.

The Nine Billion Stories About God?

jefficator — Mon, 07 Dec 2009 10:01:20 -0800

Please link me to Sci-Fi or Fantasy stories involving God--especially "surprise" God. I'm curious about Sci-Fi or Fantasy stories like the Nine Billion Names of God. Basically any stories in which God is a character--especially those in which God is a "surprise" character.

If you think a story might be relevant, please pass it along!

Thanks Everyone!

Well then what's the sex for?

kthxbi — Sat, 05 Dec 2009 21:28:04 -0800

My mother is under the impression that a wedding ring (ie the band that you add in addition to the engagement ring) is the only way to "consummate the marriage in the eyes of God" ... where is she getting this from? I've never heard such a thing. [Bonus-filter] How do I convince her that using the same ring as both an engagement and wedding ring is ok? My "I'm pretty sure God could care less about jewelry" didn't go over very well. For what it's worth I'm not religious, she is Lutheran, and she is aware of my feelings (and not happy about them).

Is there a word for this situation?

jenfullmoon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:49:42 -0800

Is there a word that describes a situation where you *technically* have free will, but don't REALLY have the option to choose otherwise? My friend who went to Catholic school told me there was a word for this, but she can't remember what it is, and Googling "free will" or "Catholic" or both or whatnot isn't cutting it.

I'm thinking along the lines of a person having a vocation or calling. Being called to be a priest/nun is an example, or if you're Buffy. TECHNICALLY they have free will and can choose not to become one, but for all intents and purposes, once they've been chosen, they can't really duck that destiny.

Mainly I just find it irritating that someone could claim they have free will in that sort of situation, when it seems to me like they don't REALLY have it. And it seems like there should be a word for that!

Letting go of God: Help me deal with my atheism and the five stages of grief. I'm in the fourth stage now.

Anonymous — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 08:57:30 -0800

Please give advice on how to accept my atheism, let go of God and the need for one, how to get over the fourth stage of grief/letting go (depression), and how to find my passion for life again! Hello, hivemind.

I'm from a totally Bible-banging family (Creationists, End Timers, warped-Republicans, sexist, homophobic and a little racist). I haven't been a Christian for going on six years now, ever since I read the Bible all the way through and decided it was a total piece of junk filled with violence and hatred toward other faiths, women, etc. I know I don't believe in the Christian God, or, it seems, any religion or philosophy akin to it (no, not even Buddhism), as I have read many religious texts, apologetics and more besides and just don't feel there's any evidence for any of it. Simply put, I appear to be an atheist...at least as far as labels go.

The unfortunate thing is that I'm not handling this too well, and it has recently occurred to me that I have been going through what can best be identified as the five stages of grief, which just annoys me to no end! (I'd just like to get on with my life!) The whole not believing in God/gods thing has really been like a death in the family, so to speak...it's frustrating and painful. I'm specifically not having what I would consider healthy reactions to my lack of faith, which is a major reason that I've chosen to post this, rather than just rely on the great advice that I could find in similar questions from the past.

Maybe I should first talk about the five stages.

For one year, I was in denial. Even though I didn't believe in God, I continued to say that I did and tried to push through. I came up with lots of excuses as to why my doubts were happening. I read a lot of Christian apologetics that I didn't agree with in that time, in an attempt to act like things were okay with me and the Big Aggressive Creator in the Sky. I even avoided competing ideas. I prayed lots. I lived as closely to the Bible as I could, without totally ripping myself of my own thoughts regarding ethics and morality.

That didn't work, and I ended up getting angry. I was angry at the concept of God, angry that I couldn't seem to believe in it and angry that I had believed in what I felt was myth. I was angry at my family for bringing me up in extremism, as well as at all the borderline-abusive things they did in God's name, all the things they kept me from, because they were "of the devil". I was angry that I couldn't have lived "normally, like most people", in either moderate faith or no faith. In a weird sort of way, I was even angry that I was having to think about any of it. I couldn't decide whether I wanted to go back to the blind faith I'd had or bypass all of it, but I was angry that the issue had cropped up. I read everything I could get my hands on at this time, be it scientific or religious. I feel like I read more during this time than any other time of my life. I wanted to learn, so I could actually form my own opinions.

Another six months to a year passed, and bargaining began. I tried to live some form of very mild Christianity to agnosticism (Jesus was a good man; the Bible's a good "moral" text), thinking, "If I just do this, it will be the best of both worlds. I won't have any more problems. Things can work out this way." The idea was that I could still keep up with a religious community, be everyone's friend, etc. The reality, however, was that I began to identify less and less with Christians/Christianity/more religious people on the whole, with only a few exceptions, and that more of my friends slowly but surely ended up being agnostic, all the way to militant atheists. Not trying to step on any Mefi toes, but to be honest, the agnostics/atheists in my life were the only ones who didn't seem to be insecure, lying jerks most of the time, so it seems almost inevitable that things turned out the way they did. (Big disclaimer!!: I know this does not represent all Christians, just my experiences with some of them. I still even have some Christian friends, but not many.) I didn't go searching for my "heathen" friends, but we found each other. We gravitated toward one another, as our core philosophies were now similar. I also found/find myself annoyed by most religious people these days, but I never say/do anything regarding that. I try to accept where possible and be silent, when I feel myself unable. I married a mild-mannered, sugar-sweet atheist guy. My watered-down Christianity turned to full-blown agnosticism around the time I met him, as a result of all these experiences and changes.

I was happy with my agnosticism for a year, to year and a half, but recently I've noticed, as far as labels go, I am more of an atheist. To this very moment, though, I've not said aloud to anyone, not even my husband, that I actually consider myself an atheist. I don't know why the label means as much as it does, other than I know that if religious people dislike me now as an unbeliever, many will hate me as an atheist, even if that's what I most closely identify with... I guess I can't help but not want people to not hate me, even if they're extremist whack jobs. The label means a lot to me, too, though, because I'm really tired of lying about how I feel and think.

This seems to have put me in the fourth stage of grief, depression. I feel sad that I can't buy into the comforting stories I once did, sad that I can't agree with my family as far as faith goes, sad that I'm not accepted by tons of religious people (including family) when they find out I'm an unbeliever (even when I am accepting toward them), sad that I no longer believe in life after death or guiding forces in the universe. I think we are here, we die, and that's it, and that notion depresses me. I don't think there's any evidence to the contrary, however, so I'm bound to it...whether I like it or not. I know we can't know what happens "on the other side", but I highly doubt it's anything spectacular. I highly doubt it's anything at all.

I want to get to the fifth stage of grief, where I accept myself and the death of my religion and faith, but it just seems so impossible at this stage. As said, some of my reactions to my own atheism aren't healthy. For instance, I have lost my passion for a lot of life, which is bad for me in more ways than one, considering I am a professional artist and writer and need to feel and create accordingly. I miss my sense of wonder. I feel wonder at the universe, but it's a head-wonder, not a heart-wonder, like I felt with spirituality. I'll agree with Carl Sagan and my fellow atheists and agnostics that it's amazing to think about how statistically unlikely it is that I'm here, that the planet works the way it does, etc. I'll agree that, because of all these things and my finite time here on earth, I should value every second I have and live it to the fullest, without apology...

But I can't seem to...

I am amazed by the world, but that doesn't drive me. In fact, it's all the opposite. It makes me feel like there's no point. Amazement is just part of it, but it doesn't particularly mean much. I realize that, without "something behind everything", it doesn't matter one iota (speaking from a selfish perspective here) whether I build great things or just sit on my couch and rot, whether I live to be 100 or die tomorrow. It will matter to some, but not to many, and not for long. It's like, what am I trying to prove to anyone or to myself now? How on earth does any of it matter if it's just this tiny bit of time I have? I'd like to help people, and while I realize that while I do touch some people's lives, and that does make me happy, the odds are against my helping a significant number of people in my lifetime, try as I might, so it all feels a little hopeless and pointless still. Death depresses me immensely, and rather than living my life more fully as a result, I just have ended up somewhat stagnant...blahed and mehed out.

Please note that I'm actually not depressed in other areas of my life, just this one. But it does...influence...the other areas, from a foundational perspective, so it definitely needs to be seen to. I think it's affecting more, too, as time goes by. I appreciate the concept of life, but I don't really feel compelled to do much with it now, without the notion of some sort of equilibrium in the universe (carried out by a creator, karma, whatever). I mean, I do what I need to and try my best, but I'm not striving toward things like I once was. Without a reason behind things, so much stuff in the world seems overwhelmingly random and unfair and out of my control. (I think this is one of the reasons there are so many moderate Christians, even. People keep some idea of God, just so they can pray about the things they can't control, to comfort themselves.) I can't even pray about any of it, though, and I think the concept of sending good thoughts toward it all is just as silly. I've tried giving myself rituals, but it just doesn't work. I always feel silly.

So, hivemind, I guess what I want to know, after all my heathen rambling, is how do I peacefully come to accept my lack of faith and not having a god in the world? How do I regain passion for life, despite feeling everything is off balance without a godly figure? I've tried listening and reading some things, like Julia Sweeney's personal story, and while helpful and something I could identify well with, it's never gotten me over the hump. I'd appreciate personal advice, recommendations of what to read/listen to/do...anything, really.

Throw-away email: atheistic.blues@gmail.com

Thanks, guys and gals.

God's knocks?

Acacia — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 22:00:22 -0800

Help me find a quote I have forgotten. A while ago I read a quote that went something like- "If God were kind, he would have given a woman some hard knocks before she's thirty." Or some such. Does anyone know it, and who said it? Thanks!

Deconverting Christians

LSK — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:02:28 -0800

How do I convince [the more liberal] Christians to become atheists? (Issues you have with the wording of this question are likely addressed inside.) Obviously "Christian" isn't an all-encompassing or precise term, and there are a plural of sects, approaches and levels of worship. I'm primarily curious how to 'deconvert' the Christians who aren't so dedicated - those that maybe go to church on Sunday, but don't let the principles of Christianity rule their lives.

The difficulty in attacking Christianity is often that direct reason is rendered useless in the believer's mind by various arguments, such as these:

- Claims that God is the one aspect of life that can be dictated by faith, that he exists beyond logic, or etc.

- "But I've FELT God!" or "But I KNOW he's there!" or etc.

- "There's not enough evidence to prove or disprove God, so you have to choose one, so I chose to believe in God."
___
Various disclaimers:
1. This question's definitely not the best fit here, but the Green's the only place on the internet where people with the ability to answer this congregate.

2. Yes, I know that I'm asking how to impose my opinion on others. I understand that this is often considered to be in poor taste - see #1.

3. A previous version of this question was removed as chatfilter. I assure you that I'm asking this with intent to put this to use - I just don't feel comfortable specifying exactly where.

God is all around you, when you live inside his belly.

nomisxid — Thu, 30 Apr 2009 10:58:42 -0800

A religious war in space, with chits. In a game store, long long ago, and far far away. ie, 1975ish & Plano, Texas.....

I bought a game. It came in a small plastic box, like a steve jackson pocket box game, but probably a different publisher. There was a paper map, and a bunch of cardboard chits for the spaceships and counters/whatnot.

The basic premise of the game was that everything took place inside some sort of godlike creature, a mental exercise on "his" part. His only interface between himself and this internal universe were 2 portals, set at either end of the map. The peoples who lived inside this universe had discovered these portals, and broken into two factions, one convinced that they needed to contact (or possibly kill) "god" thru one of the portals, and the other side saying we shouldn't touch the portals, or it would end the universe.

The map had defined "warp" routes between different star systems. The ship chits had memorable little pictures of the ships on them. 2 Players at a time, both teams had unique units that tied into the backstory.

Then God is........blank.

virga — Mon, 13 Apr 2009 15:43:10 -0800

What is the quote about god that goes something like: "Can god intervene but chooses not to? Then he is _____. Can he intervene but is not able? Then he is _____" I can't find the exact quote. So, I believe the quote was from some philosopher back in the day who concluded at the end of the quote that god is not able, or omniscient, or something along those lines.

Do you know what I'm referring to?

Or En Aye Ay? What does this song mean?

crazyray — Sat, 11 Apr 2009 22:40:01 -0800

You may very well recognize this song. It is from this movie. What does it mean? Does the first stanza and/or chorus spell something? Please help! One website lists the lyrics as this:

Oh Ry In Eye Ay - Oh Ry In Eye Ay
Oh Ry In Ah Key Ooh Lay
Ka Lay Ooh Lau Ee - Oh Ry In Eye Ay
Sal You Te Lee Ay Vee Show

Midnight sunshine silent thunder
Sky as black as day
Only a dream away

Chorus

Waking while you're still deep sleeping
Finding you're not here
Watching a dream appear

Tumbling through a thousand centuries
You don't know where you'll land
It's so dark in mythology
Treasures of history to be found
Near the legends of time
All the handiworks remain there
Only a dream away

Chorus

Greedy feeling wheeling dealing
Losing what you won
See the dream come undone

Stumble you may with the elementary
Lucky you got so far
All you owe is apologies
Measure the mystery and astound
Without taking up time
So the handiworks remain there
Only a dream away

Chorus

In out, hot cold, up down, young old
What a lot to do
Sharing a dream with you

Chorus

The Great (Nameless) Debate

aheckler — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:42:04 -0800

I am currently writing a paper on where to place humankind on the spectrum between God and animals. Is there a commonly-used name for this philosophical topic? Googling around has failed me. Assuming God exists, place him/her/it on one end of a spectrum (with perfect free will, any and all mental faculties, etc.) and animals on the other (no free will, no capabilities for logic, imagination, etc.). Humans are ostensibly somewhere in between.

Is there a name for this question/topic that is commonly used in the realm of philosophy? I'm looking to do some research into previous thinking on this subject.

Help me remember this Jewish saying

brenton — Tue, 31 Mar 2009 14:19:29 -0800

I vaguely remember a Jewish quip about the questions God asks a Rabbi at the end of his life. It is something like 1. Did you follow my commandments? (yes, all of them) 2. Did you study my Word well? (yes, every day) 3. Did you dance enough? Or something to that effect. Has anyone heard of this or know how it really goes?

You "turned you life over to God"? All right...so what did you actually DO?

Piscean — Mon, 09 Mar 2009 22:42:28 -0800

Whenever someone says "I turned my life over to God," it seems everyone just nods and acts like they understand, so I just act like I understand, too. But I don't. I respect people's spiritual paths and am curious as to what this common phrase really means to individuals. I imagine it is an emotional thing, but... I don't get it. What ACTION(S) does the person engage in during this undertaking of turning his/her life over? I want to know on a pragmatic level what it is that the person does- not metaphors. What is the thing they actually do?

Utter fail all the time?

Anonymous — Fri, 13 Feb 2009 15:34:55 -0800

Have I transformed an insanely great and clear-cut early relationship into a friendship? Oh boy, relationship filter.

So, last semester I met a girl at a party briefly, and we both went back to our friends raving about how cool each other was. So, we saw each other a few times early this semester, and everything went great. At that point, I was just hitting the end of a rough, annoying non-relationship with a girl (literally not a relationship, but just the constant possibility of one culminated in her simply lying)

And so, after a party, I woke up to see that she had asked me out to eat something sometime Awesome, pure win. We schedule a date, and I hear from some mutual friends that she seems to consider it a big enough deal to tell some of them about it, and one simply asks "so you're kind of into him?" And she says yeah!

Cool. Date. Then a few more, mostly really lots of talking, great conversations and great times. Some of the time with mutual friends there too, sometimes without Good times, maybe 3 hours of just chatting in front of a lake or whatnot. She took the initiative about the first and really many of the other times we hung out, although I arranged a few too.

So, I try to be more gutsy (long history of just being nervous and these things slipping past). After a show we went to, asked what she was up to, and she was really positive about doing something afterwards. So, movie, her apartment. Great movie, great time. Her roommate comes back, we talk to her for a bit, it's great, everything's great. During movie - holding hands, cuddling, arm around, etc. Roommate goes to bed, movie ends, lights still off. So... earlier we had a funny conversation about how her roommate's gaydar is absolutely terrible and that sometimes they just end up with that... so I try to be funny, and say "Ha, well on to an earlier topic, I'm totally not gay, and I think you're awesome." Yeah, I know, I'm an expert wordsmith when I'm nervous.

To which she responds "Yeah, well, I think it's awesome hanging out with you. I mean, is that cool with you?"

And I respond, sure, yeah, definitely, anything's fine with me.

Hmm. Up to this point, we had been hanging out, talking, close, good times, absolutely no signal otherwise. My spider sense sucks, sure, but I feel like given the signals I was getting 95% of guys would have guessed something other than friends. Especially when it's been totally endorsed and advised by friends who have talked to her about this.

So, possibilities:

Somehow I'm a master at achieving the friend-zone, and here I've done it somehow by being awesome to hang out with.
What I said conveyed that I wasn't interested, or was too interested, or some other option.
She wants to just hang out, because it's the best, with me.
She wants to hang out and then hook up, because that would be the best ever.

I'm not terribly broken up because (unlike previousgirl), she seems to be 100% honest, and I hugely appreciate that. And, I haven't gone all in here, she's the only girl I'm currently interested in, but we've only known each other well for a few weeks, I haven't been yearning for months, etc. I do, however, have few relationships under my belt for my advanced age (early 20s) and apparently have transformed at least one previous mutual crush into a friendship that she "wouldn't want to turn into a silly short term relationship."

So what should I do? This hit me as very much a surprise, and I feel like the best thing is to keep going at it, although that so directly conflicts with what's been said.

Where is God?

andoatnp — Tue, 28 Oct 2008 06:55:52 -0800

Other than Rambam's "Mishnah Torah: Sefer Madah," what other famous book or work begins with the Tetragrammaton? In "hilchot yesode hatorah," the first four words of the chapter begin with the letters yud hay vav hay. Our teacher said there is some other famous book/chapter/text that uses words with the same four letters? Anyone know what it is? Thanks!

Can you recommend some Good Books for my dad?

Metroid Baby — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 10:02:56 -0800

My dad recently read The Shack and really liked it. Can you recommend other books with a spiritual leaning (not necessarily Christian) that he might also like? A bit of background: Metroid Dad lost both his father and his younger brother earlier in the year, and for the past several months he's been fighting an uphill battle with cancer. We're not sure how much time he's got left, but he's been in remarkably good spirits.

As might be expected in this situation, Dad's been waxing a bit ontological lately. Give him a free ear and he'll talk to you about his thoughts on God and the afterlife, on relationships and love and how we'll all meet again. He prefaces a lot of this with "I'm not sure how, but I believe…" or "Now, I don't go to church that much…" or "I know this might sound kinda flaky, but…" In other words, he's not dogmatic or judgmental, but appears to be approaching these questions with gentleness and an open mind. He was raised Protestant, but believes that all religions are really working towards the same thing and concedes that religion doesn't have to be a central part of anyone's life.

He read The Shack a month or two ago and, though he thought parts were kind of lame, on the whole it really spoke to him. Really, a whole lot. (I read it at his urging, and my reaction was more "hmm, okay.")

Given all of the above, I'd really like to find more reading material in a similar vein – stuff that might also speak to him, comfort him, or get him thinking. Fiction, nonfiction, religious texts, any or all of the above. Doesn't have to be Christian, doesn't necessarily have to have religion or God or spirituality as the main focus. I'd like stuff that’s intelligent but accessible (and readable while in the hospital and woozy), so nothing too dry or too schlocky. And I'd like to avoid proselytizing, Kool-Aid, and scary REPENT SINNERS!!!1! type stuff.

He loved the history books I got him for Christmas at your recommendations, and I'm hoping you guys will have some good ideas yet again.

(I doubt it'll be an issue, but just in case: please, no hurf durf Shack reader or hurf durf God believer here. Dad's not reading this thread, and I'm not going to engage him in any metaphysical arguments, so there's not really any point in it. He'd respect your beliefs, so please respect his.)

Thank you in advance, as always.

Look at the birds, they sow not, yet they eat

ChabonJabon — Mon, 11 Aug 2008 14:04:15 -0800

I believe in God. The strange thing is that God does seem to give me everything I ask for. Even stranger, I don't actually believe that a God can exist. The question: If you are a believer in God, do you notice yourself having your requests consistently answered? I have been an atheist and a firm believer in Science ever since I was young. However, some years back, I came up with a theory as to how God could exist. Basically, I thought that what people called God, was actually some form of my subconsious.

Immediately after that, I would simply call on God whenever I was faced with a situation where I could not consiously deal with. And it seems to work.

Stuff like:

- I need $2500 this month
- I need to find a girlfriend this week
- I need to get extra high scores in my exams
- I don't want to be alone this weekend, I want to do something exciting

What usually happens is that some situation will come up that could lead to any of the results above, and I would take it, and without even remembering that I had made this request, I suddenly find that my request has come true.

Yes, I know it sounds silly, but it really happens to me - consistently and all the time.

I realise that I am somehow influencing myself into taking actions that lead to those situations that I asked for previously.

The question: Am I alone with this? Are there other believers in whatever who also get the same thing? Any atheists who get similar things?

"Ludwig the last crumpet was mine!"

greytape — Wed, 14 May 2008 09:38:12 -0800

StoryresearchFilter: Information needed on relations between superstar Cambridge dons of the 1930s-1950s. i.e. Russell, Wittgenstein, Turing, Keynes. I'm trying to write a short story that involves these four men. To this end I'm looking for information on the relationships between them, and any other genuine superstars that I might have missed that were hanging around Cambridge between these years .

I love this quote from Wikipedia:

"Bertrand Russell named Keynes the most intelligent person he had ever known, commenting, "Every time I argued with Keynes, I felt that I took my life in my hands, and I seldom emerged without feeling something of a fool." Keynes also famously commented to his wife that he had "met God on the 5:15 train" when he received Russell's protégé Ludwig Wittgenstein on behalf of Cambridge." I'd love to capture something of this spirit.

Obviously what I need to do is get the relative biographies out of the library and turn to the index, which I will do as soon as I get to a library, but in the meantime I have a bit of time on my hands and would like to do some online research.

Therefore I'm looking for anecdotes, paths to follow, recommended books or documentaries that might shed a little light on the lives of these tweedsuited Gods. Or if any of them has previosuy been depicted in fiction, that'd be good to know.

P.S. I'd also be interested to know if there has ever been a similar accumulation of talent in one place at one time, it seems extraordinary to me that not only were all these great men in the same university at the same time but that they were personal friends.
P.P.S. I've already read "Wittgenstein's Poker", that's partly what gave me the idea. Oh and Cryptonomicon, which depicts Turing in fiction.

Lack of Trust in My God in a Box

snap_dragon — Thu, 08 May 2008 06:30:51 -0800

I would like to sense God in my life. I go to church regularly, pray, and read the Bible to understand Him better but I still have such deep bouts of depression where I either don't trust or sense his presence. There is a wide gap between what I believe with my heart and what I understand in my head. For example, I understand and believe in the sovereignty in God but when hard times come or extremely difficult emotions (despair) arise, that is the first thing I question. I am not looking for an easy life or a perfect life, just one that is able to trust God more. Any opinions on how to do this? I feel a great tension between trying harder, and just letting go but my letting go resembles more closely giving up than "letting God" if you know what i mean. To summarize, I want a stronger faith. Any ideas? Thanks so much for input.

Why morality?

wigglin — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 16:39:30 -0800

Why do theists bring up morality when arguing for the existence of god? Whenever I am arguing with a believer about the existence of god, they inevitably bring up morality. Their view being that for there to be any morality, it must be derived from an ultimate authority. This makes no sense to me. Obviously our sense of morality has changed through out history, so what reason is there to believe that such a thing as absolute morality exists? Why can’t morality be based off of reason, human solidarity, and the desire to limit human suffering?

Just because it would be nice if there were absolute moral laws to live by, doesn’t necessarily make it true. Something being pleasant does not say anything about its truth value, a fact that I find theists often ignore.

That said, let’s assume god does exist and you are a believer, why bring up morality? How could anyone have any idea what god wants us to do? Unless god is speaking to you directly, your personal morality is as made up as anyone else’s. Religious texts, which are supposedly the word of god, are full of things that modern society deems morally abhorrent(slavery, sexism, child abuse, racism, etc.), so they are irrelevant when talking about morality.

Thanks!

Help me find a church for me and my family.

flipmiester99 — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 06:18:02 -0800

Churchfilter: How can i find out which church is for me and my family? I was raised baptist but i havent really been involved in any church for at least the last 15 years. Recently my wife and i have talked about going to church but were having a problem finding which one we should go to. We are christian and want to stay that but there are so many denominations within the christian church (Baptsist, Methodist, Catholic, etc...). We also looked into the Unity Church but we dont know alot about it. Please help bring some clarity to our search.

"Matter is Lucifer crawling itself back to God"?

fearfulsymmetry — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 14:22:37 -0800

"Matter is Lucifer crawling itself back to God".... what's this mean then? I heard Mark Kermode (UK film critic) on the radio (podcast) saying that he believed - "Matter is Lucifer crawling itself back to God". Which I assume is some sort of quote... though my google skills failed me in that matter. Anyone know where it's from and what it actually means?

The context is he was reviewing Silent Light and talking about believing an event at the end of the film was miraculous because he is an optimist and he believed "Matter is Lucifer crawling itself back to God" but refused to go it as he had previously been slurred as he a supporter of Intelligent Design and he did not want to associated with 'Nutballs'

Clone?

weaponsgradecarp — Tue, 04 Dec 2007 19:47:03 -0800

My google-fu only goes so far: I'm looking for succinct summaries, explanations, and justifications of various religions' opinions/support/criticism on human cloning... Reproductive cloning is my main focus, but therapeutic cloning opnions are also cool...

I've found a few things, such as the adamant opposition by the Roman Catholic Church, and a couple of really cool explanations by various theologians, but I'm looking for any sort of cool differences between subsets of various religions...

Thanks much.

Examples of 'The Infinite' in Myth and Their Effect on Conditions of Truth

0bvious — Wed, 28 Nov 2007 09:32:00 -0800

I am searching for examples of The Infinite, or the immeasurably large, in our mythologies and archetypes. I am also interested in the categories of Truth which came out of the emergence of Western, ontological thought. Does the trust in a rationally conceivable reality deny us the infinity of the mythological realm? By rooting ourselves in the present, and denying atemporal mythologies, do we also deny the infinite origins from where we came? Mythologically rooted cultures do not usually posit a beginning of time. Humans exist as part of a holistic cycle which spans back and forward into the infinite realm of mythology. There can really be no 'truth' in this perennial world of myth, where the spiritual and 'unseen' realm is just as 'real' as our present state of being.

Western 'truth' (ontologically defined rationality) denies the holism of all things (as do the Monotheistic religions), actively attributing identity to patterns perceived in the world we can see (or to God). This taxonomy or identification of patterns creates a false belief in a fully formed reality - a 'truth'. This taxonomic understanding is to simulacrum what philosophical enquiry was to Plato's shadows in the cave. In consequence, our distinction from The Infinite, from the realm of myth, qualifies us as distinct from reality - we live the simulation, not the absolute.

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I am just going off on one here, to outline vaguely what the forms of infinity, myth and ontology have had on our development (/evolution?).

Please feel free to agree, disagree or add to my examples.

Thanks for reading. I look forward to your responses.

pagans and witches and wicca, oh my!

obeetaybee — Fri, 02 Nov 2007 20:03:27 -0800

So, my eleven year old daughter has decided she no longer believes in God. Which is fine, because I'm a cool mom like that. While she has said she doesn't believe in God, from the conversations we've had I feel she may be interested in learning more about the Wiccan religion.

In my research for her, most of the stuff I've come across is too adult for her to grasp or deal with how I would raise a Wiccan child.

Except, I'm not a Wiccan.

Does anyone know of any websites that are kid-friendly where maybe both of us could learn more about this religion? If this is something she's truly interested in learning more about and/or possibly practicing once she's an adult, I want her to have a concrete foundation to build on.

Any help and or advice would be greatly appreciated!