the author never claimed the book to be true,, thats a clue,,,lol

What is the name of this movement? (I think the hippies of the 60's called it "LOVE." )

Well, God IS love.

Jeanniebean, you are stepping away from the Dark Side.

It was going so well until the vulgarity and PERSONAL stuff came into it,,,,smh

God IS love. It's in the Bible. In fact, you can replace all references of love with God, and it all makes sense. 1 Corinthians 13 is a great example of this.

I was never on the dark side, that is just your opinion of me. Nothing is evil, but thinking makes it so.

God is love. Yes I agree.

But that is an entirely different concept from the idea that some independent super being created the earth and had a son whom he allowed to be crucified. None of that makes sense.

the earth did come from somewhere, I think the theories that it just ,,,accidentally, came into existence and that it was intelligently designed are equally reasonable/unreasonable,,

In fact when I say to Christians that "God is Love" some of them get very annoyed.

"Love" is perhaps just as difficult to define as "God." I have often made the claim that "love" is NOT a human emotion. It is a bond that hold the fabric of the universe together. That description could apply to "GOD also.

I don't claim that the world or this reality came into existence by accident. Nor do I fall back on the idea that it was a big bang plus evolution that did it. Nor do I agree that some super magical being created it.

I have my own concept about how we came to be and some analogies and ideas of the nature of reality. Nothing that can be proven. Just ideas.

Actually in the purest sense it's not ok.

Logic is like mathematics, it has to have a single "most logical" answer to every question, otherwise the very concept of "logic" would be meaningless.

The atheists are indeed correct, and have an air-tight case for their position that it is indeed more logical to assume there is no God, than to assume that there is on.

Their argument it really quite simple and straightforward.

By the way I'm not an atheist, yet I can see the truth in their logic.

They begin with the quite simple observation that it is illogical to assume that the universe sprang into being from nothing.

Ok? You might think, well gee, that should lead to the conclusion that there exists a God? But no it doesn't.

They then recognize this this same conclusion must be arrived at regarding the existence of any God. It's it logical to assume that a God arose or came into being from nothing? They get the same answer. No, it's not logical.

So they see the universe springing into existence from nothing and a God arising without a source as being equally illogical. So there's no reason to favor one over the other via logic.

However, they continue on then and ask, "Do we have any concrete convincing reasons or evidence to believe that a supreme conscious being exists. Their answer is no, we have no such concrete convincing evidence.

Therefore it is there position that there does not exist a logical reason to believe in a God, and they are indeed correct.

Even as a spiritualist I must concede to the atheists on this point.

But this doesn't bother me because a belief in spirituality is indeed based on faith and not logic anyway. So there's no reason to even attempt to argue for a spiritual essence to the universe based on "logic".

~~~~

Moreover, if you want to worship "logic", what are you looking at the biblical stories for? They are without a doubt some of the most illogical stories ever told.

there are several types of Logic


What Abra discusses is the SCIENTIFIC form of logic

but logic is also
c : interrelation or sequence of facts or events when seen as inevitable or predictable


in other words, how well one APPLIES what the know or have learned in one situation to another situation,,,,,


in which case theories like the big bang and intelligent design are EQUALLY logical/illogical

Again, you make a blanket statement without providing specifics. Can you show me where, exactly, the Bible is illogical? To me, it is extremely logical.

Logically speaking, I cannot believe in a separate entity existing that sprang out of nothing and created the universe.

Even my own existence is illogical.

BUT the fact remains that I do exist. Therefore, I accept that.

I do not need to have any faith in order to accept that I exist.

I do not need any proof in order to accept that I exist.

Therefore, logically, if I claim to believe in "GOD" then it follows that I must be GOD.

If I believe that you (others) exist they MUST either also be God or else a figment of my imagination.

Because of such independent interactions with other living beings I prefer to believe that they exist, hence logically they must also be God.

Pantheism.

As msharmony says, there are several types of logic. Logical thinking depends on the premises that are accepted in any argument.

I admit that my own existence is illogical. Why should I spend any time in an attempt to show a true believer why the book he believes is illogical? It is illogical to me. It may be perfectly logical to you. I see no reason to explore our personal pathways to finding what we believe is logical or illogical.

Nobody asked, but I'm going to answer anyway. why am I an atheist?

I had a History of Science Professor who contended that religion may be the result of an omnivorous diet. Survival depends on the curiosity to ask which berries and mushrooms are edible, which toxic? Curiosity has survival value. It asks the question, "why"? Over time, people figured out that this trait was useful in implementing a secondary system of Government. (If you don't obey our laws, you will go to hell.) But, that's not the reason that I am an atheist.

The story of mankind is the story of discovery and mystery-solving. The trend is clear and inescapable. And it is not even a straight line. It is parabolic at a rapidly accelerating pace. The more that is explainable using the known natural laws of the universe, the less there is left for supernatural explanation. If Man is able to survive long enough (maybe thousands of years), all explanations will be knowable. The "mysterious ways" that God is supposed to work in will no longer be mysterious.

That, in a nutshell, is why I am an atheist.

Laws of causality. Law of attraction. All is MIND. Thoughts are things. We create our world via the MIND. It is a projection. It is similar to a hologram. The "mysterious ways" are only mysterious because we don't know about them. Yes, one day we will know ... a lot more. Maybe never all of it.

IMHO, a nutshell is about the correct measurement of how much we truly know about the WORLD, let alone the Universe,,,


or ever will know, as it grows while we grow

Msharmony. Are we about to have our first fight? (I certainly don't want it to be over religion. Maybe something like , "is pepsi better than coke")? I am so often blown away by the things science has been able to explain. I don't think that the bank of knowledge is that teensy.

aww, I would never fight you

I was blown away when I learned to tie my shoes, I thought at the time that was pretty amazing knowledge,,, but it was still fairly miniscule compared to all that I still had ahead of me to learn

I just think life follows suit, no matter how much we THINk we know, as we GROW, so too does the world around us so that the proportion of what we know to what there is to know doesnt really diminish,,,

You have a point.