Thursday, December 04, 2008
Stories
So, there is no God.All we have are stories that people tell about God, and feelings that people have about God.
If there's any evidence other than that, it has not surfaced. In thousands of years. Over and over, all we have are stories about God, and feelings about God, told and talked about by men and women.
Since I'm well aware that stories and feelings can often be false or misleading, I don't put much trust in stories and feelings. Sorry about that. I'm sure others' stories and feelings are very important to them, and I know that we all make decisions based on our own stories and feelings, but can we at least try to take advantage of the toolbox that helps us sort out the stories and feelings that are false from the stories and feelings that are true?
And by "true" I mean something very simple: they are consistent with the world we see around us. The actual world, not the fantasy world of stories told by Bronze Age men. And by "true" I also mean that they conform with all of the evidence we've seen of the past, and by "true" I also mean they help us make predictions for the future.
The stories and feelings I've heard about God do not fit this definition of "true". Again, if I'm wrong, I'd be glad to hear it. But I do not apologize for my insistence on a reality-based worldview.
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Non-apology accepted and approved.
It's the believers who have stepped out of bounds and have something to explain. Let no one tell you differently!
It's the believers who have stepped out of bounds and have something to explain. Let no one tell you differently!
I am surprised by your admittance to not trusting someone else's feelings or stories. For not only with religion, far too many people perceive the world with their feelings and stories. Relationships are based on feelings and stories. We learn from both of these items.
I understand you do not have the faith to believe in a God. Yet it surprises me with all the dark matter in the universe, and the little we do know factually about so many oddities and occurances, I would think you would put more trust in the value of what your friends and family do say - using what they have: their feelings and stories.
There is a truth in everything.
I understand you do not have the faith to believe in a God. Yet it surprises me with all the dark matter in the universe, and the little we do know factually about so many oddities and occurances, I would think you would put more trust in the value of what your friends and family do say - using what they have: their feelings and stories.
There is a truth in everything.
Dale: thank you and welcome to my little place on the internet!
Kevin: I think you put the cart before the horse. Relationships may be colored by feelings and stories but the people themselves exist in the real world. The people simply exist, and there is only one true story about them; but many untrue or misleading feelings and stories about them.
If we have ignorance about much of the universe, the tools we will use to understand it are science, logic, reason, observation and experiment, not faith, stories and feelings.
Also note that I do not trust my own stories and feelings, and am thankful that I have tools that help me sort through them.
Kevin: I think you put the cart before the horse. Relationships may be colored by feelings and stories but the people themselves exist in the real world. The people simply exist, and there is only one true story about them; but many untrue or misleading feelings and stories about them.
If we have ignorance about much of the universe, the tools we will use to understand it are science, logic, reason, observation and experiment, not faith, stories and feelings.
Also note that I do not trust my own stories and feelings, and am thankful that I have tools that help me sort through them.
If you do not believe in feelings or stories, why blog? Isn't it just your feelings and stories out there for others to see? For others to praise or ridicule? Why the passion to convince others of your God-less view point? It seems like you are trying to convince yourself...
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posted by 
:: 12/10/2008 1:13 PM
:: 12/10/2008 1:13 PM
Well, "Anonymous", you've misread my post. You being unable to sign your name to your words, and being unable to accurately read my plain words, means I'm unmoved to respond. I imagine if I couldn't read properly or understand a simple point, I would be unpersuaded, also.
If I were to respond, I'd point out that nowhere did I say I did not "believe in" feelings or stories.
What I did say, in a nutshell, is that ones internal feelings, however important, are the poorest way to ascertain what the real world is like, and that one would be best served by using the tools available to us to filter out the false/misleading stories so we can be left with the one true story of the world around us.
If I were to respond, I'd point out that nowhere did I say I did not "believe in" feelings or stories.
What I did say, in a nutshell, is that ones internal feelings, however important, are the poorest way to ascertain what the real world is like, and that one would be best served by using the tools available to us to filter out the false/misleading stories so we can be left with the one true story of the world around us.
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