God. Does he exist?

[Nellethiel]

I so dont think youre a weak spokesperson.

[Legolas]

Well I do...

[Nellethiel]

Disagreements happen

[Legolas]

I know that, but when they do I should have a better stance of where I stand in them and why...

[Alcorad]

NELLLI!!!!!!! AHHH how many things can i have in common as far as religion goes. I beleive.... if there is no heaven, no hell, then there is reincarnation... i have had REALLY weird dreams and i can't help but feel that some of them are events that happened to me in past lives.

[Nellethiel]

Doren- cool!! I never had those kinda dreams or anything. But I still tihnk about it true. It makes a lot sense to me. Cuz I cant imagine just dying. Neither hell and heaven. Its funny to think about a place with a floor like clouds and people smiling silly and wearing white clothes etc

[Alcorad]

lol.... well..... my Religion or Theology class teaches that Heaven is a state of mind you aquire after death from being near god. lol. but Reincarnation makes since to me because i do beleive in souls and that souls do not die.

[vanya]

Would be rather hell so, sitting silly on a cloud and playing harp... Well the harp play I would like though... LOL

[vanya]

doren said:

lol.... well..... my Religion or Theology class teaches that Heaven is a state of mind you aquire after death from being near god. lol.

Your teachers are fools. There are no states of mind once your brain goes muchy.

[Legolas]

reincarnation? I don't mean to sink your boat(well, actually I do) but reincarnation might be the most illogical thing I've ever studied. Think about it, if reincarnation was possible then all we would ever wind up doing is living life over and over and over and over and over and over...you get the idea. it would never end! Also, there's on scientific property that destroys any hope in reincarnation whatsoever. We are told that all things go, "from order to disorder." One of reincarnations chief priniciples is that when you die you either move up or down in the social ladder.

We know from what science teaches us that we can't go up, so would we be reincarnated as something that's less than we were?

As for dreams Doren, I have found them to be very deceptive. Dreams are like a collage, a group of pictures, ideas, sounds that we see when we sleep. Freud deals a lot on dreams but in an entirely different manner. Freud thought something (correct me if I'm wrong, it's been some time since I studied freud) like that dreams were a key to ones innerself I believe. For instance, he had dreams that he saw his mother in a lustful way, therefore he concluded that he loved his mother, and if he loved his mother he would have to hate his father for loving her. Or something to that extent.

From this idea freud theorized that all men desire to have their mothers and to kill their fathers. (the whole Oedipus thing) It just makes no sense! I have dreams all the time, and sometimes I can connect them to things that I have seen or done, and sometimes they make no sense at all.

In my opinion, reincarnation was just a fantasy that was made up by someone who was frightened of the idea of death and decided reincarnation was a great way to escape that fear. After all, what would they have to lose? If they don't go anywhere, why not at least try to take their mind off it by trying to imagine they will no longner have an existence.

[Alcorad]

You have your ideas I have mine. Science disagrees with everything in the bible and there is physical proof to support some of these things. While faith is all one can have for religion, it is the same for reincarnation. Order to disorder is a theory just as reincarnation and heaven are. My choice theory is reincarnation. dreams i beleive they can show things and represent them. While they are not always true in what you see they can also be true. I have dreams all the time about what happens. Small things of course. but a few years ago i had a dream my treehouse burned in the night and when i woke up the next day it was charred and falling apart.

[Legolas]

An interesting proof, but no mark. Not everything in the Bible is faith. Reason is the very basis for understanding. let's start at the basics though. This thread was on god, but if you truly want to get to the root of the question existence must be considered.

Therefore, my first question will be directed to Doren but anyone may answer.

(question 1) Through what motions, changes, evolution, creations or cataclismic events did we come into existence? In other words, how is it that we, humans, and all other organisms, structures and beings have come into existence?

This is the fundamental question for all beliefs. Whether its atheism, catholocism, buddhism, what have you, all understanding and belief centers around this question. Ponder it, bite at it, answer it. but know this, you cannot truly say that you know what you are, who you are, where you'll go and what you believe until you can answer this question.

[Alcorad]

I didn't say that. I said it was a theory. And the reason for creation is what holds me to even consider god's presence. i dont know how everything came to be and that is the only reason that i even think about god... no one knows everything and if we did there would be no point to life.

[Legolas]

but we can speculate. For without speculation we can't think anything. But still, the question I asked is answerable, after all Mark, you must have some idea of how you got here. Without any idea of it then, as you said, there would be no point to life. So what is it? How is it that I sit here and communicate to you what I understand and how is it that I am even in existence?

[Alcorad]

My answer is that I don't know. I can say it was god, or the big bang, or that we have ALWAYS been here. I can say that the universe itself is our creator. Just a bunch of out there ideas but i dont know. I really dont know.