Quote:
Originally Posted by FireFly
Maybe you're missing the point, and maybe you're not. It's hard to tell as you're sticking to the fact that I said 'good deeds'. Fine. Let's make it personal. I was using examples, but let's make it personal.
I do good deeds all the time because it makes me feel good. I'm not about to stop doing good deeds, nor do I do them for my God necessarily. I have tried to abstain from sex, as well as intoxication, I've cleaned up my life, not for me, because I enjoy all those things, but for my God. Does not having sex make my life better overall? Ummmm... well.... So ignore the good deeds part, and let's focus on the other things Christians do for their God that they may be wasting their time on. Jehovah's Witnesses and their door knocking is an excellent example. If there really is no God, or there is one, but not the one they're praying to, they've wasted a lot of time. Or not celebrating birthdays? Birthdays are a fun time of celebration! They miss out on those. Muslims and their praying 5 times a day. They could get a lot more stuff done if they didn't have to do that, no? So ignore that 'good deeds' part, you're right, that's satisfying in it's own right. Look at the other aspects of religion.
How is it that an Athiest is partially right if there really is a God? How is it that a Christian is partially right if there is no god?  There's no God but a heaven and hell anyways? There is an afterlife but no one runs the show there? That's a scary thought! |
I do understand, you go back to this 'wasting time' paradigm or possibility 'I' 'you' 'us' 'them' are wrong paradigm. All I'm saying is live a good life and don't worry about all that. A good life can be lived that doesn't waste time and that doesn't worry about being wrong.
I don't think it's a simple as god or no god. God could be a variety of things from just a feeling of benevolence or the quirky strength of life and it's ability to grow everywhere, to an actual sentient being that directly controls things in the universe. We could be all part of a collective consciousness of life or godliness, or the puppets between 'god' and the 'devil'. And of course the myriad of possibilities in between.
It doesn't have to be so black and white and probably isn't. I think (cause I don't want to put words in your mouth) that you seem to be assuming god to be a sentient higer being that created the world directly, where lots of spiritualities often think of it as a force or even general rule or law. Obviously there is possibility for great variation within those extremes, not even counting the possibility of utter and completely godlessness in our universe.
Many problems, disagreements, and confusions come in our world because of our need to seperate things into black and white, and often the truth is found somewhere in between.