Are you religious?

[Higgs_bosun]

A bit relative innit? If we only have bloody black label then I think I could skip that bit.
But to look at it a different way surely that eternal happiness and free beer is what happens afterwards. To expect a world free of all harm and with constant hand-pulled nectar would produce only sheeplike people, a bit like those at the end of The Time Machine, lotus eaters with no drive or interest. If this world is a classroom for limited period(s) only then why should it be that easy? What would we learn?
In fact it could be a lot easier but it is man who has made this uncivilized society that we live in not a deity. Things could be a hell of a lot better if we changed our attitudes towards each other, and by that I mean ethically not religiously. The rules have been set either by a Creator or by Natural Law (or both) but man decides how he works with them.
As Douglas Adams said "Man thought he was more intelligent than the dolphins because of what he had created, The Wheel, New York, wars and so on, while the dolphins just mucked about in the ocean having a good time. Whereas the dolphins thought that they were more intelligent than man for precisely the same reasons."

Last night I was thinking of the word serendipity for some reason and this morning I found this:

SERENDIPITY

Dedicated to William A. Taylor-Fraser



When the insubstantial pageant fades
and leaves not a rack behind
of things that come and go in time,
other than my mind;
then maybe it can come to pass
that I'll return to see
such quintessential essence in form
as the river Badgworthy.

And like the slopes that rise and fall
along the Quantock ridge;
the mists that ring the Exmoor combes
and the Barle at Landacre bridge.
The misty paths that garland the feet
of Dunkery at dawn,
the solitude of Anstey plain,
like Paradise redrawn.

Where best to be, I think at times,
in Paradise or here,
among the finished products fields
where purpose is made clear ?
Such choice is one so hard to make;
and glad that it's not mine;
but would be nice, me thinks, again
to come here one more time.

Be then in no hurry
to return from whence you came!
so much there is to do on Earth
which sets the heart aflame.
The mystic path of life entails
such wonders thus to see;
and all the things that come our way!
such... Serendipity !!!

Dwarf,
The contradictions in your post….

You say that if everything was perfect in this life, fun lasting for eternity, it would turn us into some kind of mindless zombies. (we have those anyway) God is therefore unable to factor in protection against boredom…Yet the next you say is that lasting bliss comes later…Indicating that when we die eternal heaven gets around the problem of boredom. How does that work mate?

Want to see what religion has produced?….”sheeplike” people in their millions. Wall to wall arsses in the air praying to the invisible. Crowds of hysterical moaning zombies packed into buildings shoulder to shoulder without a clue what is going on.

There is no creator Dwarf…just looking at stuff in more detail is all it takes.

[Higgs_bosun]

Or people who like Brian Cox??

Meaning what?

[Cuddles]

What do you think I mean? (Or believe I mean?)

[Higgs_bosun]

bear with me here.... if you were eternally happy how would you know you were ? we all need someone to look down on and pity ! also, free beer makes you fat.

So we must be miserable so that we can experience joy...? Better tell the children that are dying of starvation whist we debate the goodness of god and 'his' excellent system. What about the countless millions of all ages that have already died in agony never knowing joy. And I guess that making calorie free beer requires a miracle too tough for god eh?...

Paddy are you serious about believing in a god?

[Higgs_bosun]

What do you think I mean? (Or believe I mean?)

I think that you know what I think you mean....

Brian Cox is an atheist and has captured the public imagination by explaining the universe brilliantly without needing to use the word god.

[detmold_padbrat]

So we must be miserable so that we can experience joy...? Better tell the children that are dying of starvation whist we debate the goodness of god and 'his' excellent system. What about the countless millions of all ages that have already died in agony never knowing joy. And I guess that making calorie free beer requires a miracle too tough for god eh?...

Paddy are you serious about believing in a god?

happiness is relative, a starving child is overjoyed at a crust of bread, a fat spolied brat (such as I) merely turns his nose up at it and demands immediate access to the chocolate cupboard. It has nothing to do with god.

[detmold_padbrat]

I think that you know what I think you mean....

Brian Cox is an atheist and has captured the public imagination by explaining the universe brilliantly without needing to use the word god.

why invoke god ? the guy just needs to explain the nuts and bolts of the place.

[detmold_padbrat]

No free booze in atheism! Free wine every Sunday at church!

well yes, but youve got to admit the breads a bit mean to make a sarny with.

[detmold_padbrat]

So we must be miserable so that we can experience joy...? Better tell the children that are dying of starvation whist we debate the goodness of god and 'his' excellent system. What about the countless millions of all ages that have already died in agony never knowing joy. And I guess that making calorie free beer requires a miracle too tough for god eh?...

Paddy are you serious about believing in a god?

what about the countless millions of all ages who have already died in agony never knowing joy ? have you considered they may have had some form of religious rapture, something of which forms nothing of your life ? it may be deluded, but you dont scorn the guy full of morphine with his leg blown off, saying the pain is there but you cant feel it ? a failed harvest is a failed harvest, gods got nowt to do with it, as you say yourself. oh, and by the way our cornflakes boxes are full of noxious chemicals its just been announced, thats not gods fault either.

[Cuddles]

I think that you know what I think you mean....

Brian Cox is an atheist and has captured the public imagination by explaining the universe brilliantly without needing to use the word god.

Not in the slightest. You atheistically chippy git! I actually meant that you and chieftiff had made it understandable to every graduate and every one who had listened to or watched Brian Cox on R4 recently or the TV currently...because he has explained the universe quite accessibly.

However I knew immediately what you were thinking, I just thought I'd get you to articulate your suspicious...sorry questioning...mind so we all get what thought process you undergo. I don't think all atheists are knobs unlike you who think all religious believers are. I do think that christopher Hitchens is one and I dislike his "This is what I think. It's right so there you are. Disagree with me and you must be a mental deficient" style of debate. You apparently though quite like it as a style and have adopted it yourself...except delete mental deficient and insert deluded.

PS You may have forgotten but it was me who recommended Brian Cox's admirable:



on here?

Oh and I like Brian cox even more since I discovered that one of the books that changed his life was Luke Rhinehart's The Dice Man...a book that captivated me when my contemporaries were still wanking themselves stupid over The Catcher in the Rye.