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[Idiom]

That was meant for a laugh, in case you missed it.

[MrWiggles]

And I did.

[Armok]

I don't think I fear death as such, eternity and eventual INFINITE boredom scare me much more.
However, I am extremely, mindbogglingly afraid of not getting to experience and do everything I want to before that happens, to miss out on something, anything.
My current todo list would take on the scale of a gogolplex (10¹⁰¹⁰⁰) years or something along those lines to complete, and is growing exponentially, no exaggeration and I do understand the size of the numbers.

[Ampersand]

Don't worry. The Fabric of reality will have torn itself to shreds and time will cease to be meaningful long before then.

[Jackrabbit]

Why does the universe exist? A wizard did it. Magic Man done it. An intangible superintelligent psychic Dolphin did it. They are just as valid as saying God did it, because they are just as verifiable, in that they aren't.

I was told it was a rusty tin can.  I read it on the bottom of a cereal box, so it must be true.

I jump into this thread, I steal this for my sig, then I jump out again

Fwoooom!

Sorry woose.

[Jackrabbit]

But in a shocking turn of events, it doesn't work!

Yay for woose's quote!

[RAM]

When people apply known values then they can be compared to known properties of those values and often demonstrated to be incompatible. If there are no known values applied, then it is like blinding yourself and running to a place based upon recollection. If you are right, the congratulations, you receive your reward. If you are wrong, even slightly, then you will likely make mistakes on the way and never reach your target. If there is nothing there, then you will have wasted your efforts but suffered no other ill effects.

 If you understand a religion, then you can subject it to logical criticism. If you do not understand a religion, then you cannot be confident as to how to pursue it. If you want an opinion on your religion then, if you understand it, please submit what you understand for revue, but if you do not understand it, then understand that either your odds of succeeding are negligible or that the requirements are sufficiently broad that the difference between following and not following have a good chance of being insignificant...

[MrWiggles]

I have no idea, what Ram just said. Sorid, any help?

[Andir]

I have no idea, what Ram just said. Sorid, any help?

I think it was basically...

You can run blindfolded into a forest with the faith that you won't hit a tree, but the likelihood of getting all the way through without hitting a tree is far more likely.  If you are absolutely sure you're going in the right direction and on the right course, then you are far more likely to hit a tree unless you take off the blinder and question the direction you were given.

[RAM]

If you know stuff about a god, favourite colour, long term goals, favourite loopholes in tax law... Then you can submit those things for analysis, failure to do so will result in an invalid discussion, as people will tend to argue about different things and assume that they are all arguing about the same thing.

If you just follow: "god is so much better than me that I cannot understand god, worshipping something that good must be good. Then you are sufficiently ignorant of that god that either you will almost certainly fail in any attempt to worship them, or they are sufficiently liberal with their requirements that accepting people who do not worship it becomes quite likely...

[vitaoma]

I believe this thread has made me think about the world and I hope some other people thought about it too. However, many people find this topic a bad one and one that shouldn't be discussed, at least not here.

I am now asking a moderator to please close this thread, then.

[JoshuaFH]

You can lock it yourself, there's a button at the bottom of the screen that says "lock thread". Just press that and you're set.

[andrea]

I don't think I fear death as such, eternity and eventual INFINITE boredom scare me much more.
However, I am extremely, mindbogglingly afraid of not getting to experience and do everything I want to before that happens, to miss out on something, anything.
My current todo list would take on the scale of a gogolplex (10¹⁰¹⁰⁰) years or something along those lines to complete, and is growing exponentially, no exaggeration and I do understand the size of the numbers.

are you me??

nothingness after death was one of the things i was most worried about... untill i realized that i feared eternity and infinite boredomness much more than just nothing.

[Sowelu]

I used to have a fear of death.  It says a lot about neurology and psychology that a silly little thing like a dream can get rid of that fear.  Let's just say that eternity is a very long time, but almost no time at all when you're not experiencing it, and that the void of nothingness is surprisingly comforting, not very unpleasant, and you get used to it very quickly.  Quite a few millennia went by, though probably short of a kalpa.  There was a nice sense of waiting for something, but who knows if it was reincarnation or an afterlife or just waiting for the End.  In any case, it's not unpleasant, and it was very easy to convince myself that that's what's going to happen.  Why guess about anything else, when you've got something you like?

I was an atheist for a while, too.  I'm not anymore, but it doesn't have to do with the dream.  It's just more fun.  I mean, being in a religion or being an atheist is kind of like being on a team--you've got other people who are on the same general side.  And when you've got a religion, it's like your team has cheerleaders, even if they're only in your head.  I like mine.  Even if I didn't have my team, I'd still like my cheerleaders.

I don't see any reason to assume that God would make the world in a certain way.  The question of why evil exists is a pointless to ask, really--do your part to fix it, instead of complaining.  Nobody likes a complainer.  Why would you even think God has a plan?  It's not important either way.  If you think being religious can make you be a better person, then be religious; if you think you'd be a better person as an atheist, do that.

...I've always thought about wanting to be a Christian priest.  It's not against my religion, maybe I'll follow through on that someday.

[MrWiggles]

I used to have a fear of death.  It says a lot about neurology and psychology that a silly little thing like a dream can get rid of that fear.  Let's just say that eternity is a very long time, but almost no time at all when you're not experiencing it, and that the void of nothingness is surprisingly comforting, not very unpleasant, and you get used to it very quickly.  Quite a few millennia went by, though probably short of a kalpa.  There was a nice sense of waiting for something, but who knows if it was reincarnation or an afterlife or just waiting for the End.  In any case, it's not unpleasant, and it was very easy to convince myself that that's what's going to happen.  Why guess about anything else, when you've got something you like?

I was an atheist for a while, too.  I'm not anymore, but it doesn't have to do with the dream.  It's just more fun.  I mean, being in a religion or being an atheist is kind of like being on a team--you've got other people who are on the same general side.  And when you've got a religion, it's like your team has cheerleaders, even if they're only in your head.  I like mine.  Even if I didn't have my team, I'd still like my cheerleaders.

I don't see any reason to assume that God would make the world in a certain way.  The question of why evil exists is a pointless to ask, really--do your part to fix it, instead of complaining.  Nobody likes a complainer.  Why would you even think God has a plan?  It's not important either way.  If you think being religious can make you be a better person, then be religious; if you think you'd be a better person as an atheist, do that.

...I've always thought about wanting to be a Christian priest.  It's not against my religion, maybe I'll follow through on that someday.

So you believe in god because it make you feel better?

And the God your describe is close to that of a deist belief, and so much of a some kind of a christian god.

The issue of evil does disappear if God is not involved, but if god is absent then why brother with it?

I personally find comfort with other humans. We get shit done. And on the net average for the better.