banning a traditional event??

[root]

There is a reason, but I don't really know how to explain it. All I can say is I'm convinced.

But then again, is there a specific reason to follow Buddhism and not an Abrahimic religion? Or not to follow any of them at all?

Honestly, this family did indeed cause much trouble one way or another. Well, it was their destiny I guess.

Please don't think bad of me. These are just my beliefs. I respect others' beliefs. This includes atheism. Yup, I have nothing against atheists.

Do you consider your self atheist? or under a specific belief?

I would consider myself atheist.
in the sense that I am without god, a person that is Asexual is without sex, it does not mean that they do not believe in sex. being Atheist does not mean that I refute the existence of a God, and or many Gods just that I don't choose a particular one.

I believe in listening to spiritual teachings, Historically a lot of spiritual teachings have actually done a lot of good for humanity.
I have no faith in the argument that if you took away religion we'd all descend into lawless chaos. -because I believe that we are past that stage of humanity.

but I do believe that at one stage people needed to be told that they had to be nice to their neighbours and not rob them because humanity as a whole may have been going down a path of mutually assured destruction.

to say I believe in listening to spiritual teachings does make me sound a lot more like a hippy than I am.


I see religious texts as a guidebook for life, not as a rulebook for life.
In this way I believe that religion can enrich a persons life, but not constrain a persons life.


I prefer to draw on the teachings of may religions, (and know a little about as many as I can) not because I'm somehow hedging my bets in an afterlife, but because I think that if you could take the best bits from all religions and have everyone agree with them it's be a pretty cool place to be in.

 

[BikerEcho]

same problem here. they want to ban the party, but there is still the Eid. People with diabetes may therefore feel hurt, then there is also blankenvla (a dessert) and jodenkoeken (jewish cakes). there were also negerzoenen (negrokisses as quick translation) their name got changed to zoenen. so stupid

It's funny in my country we have also changed our name of negerzoenen. We call it negerkys. It was changed do to the "neger" part. It's now flødeboller ("cream buns" english translation)

 

[root]

The same way we accept dark matter. We can't (yet) prove it's existence or measure it, but we can see the effects of it's gravity. I believe in God much the same way. I can't prove God exists, but I can see the results of something I would compare to the idea of "God."

I guess that's the point of science though, you can see dark matter not because of the substance but because of the effects of the substance on stuff around it. to a point whilst you can't see it you can measure it, at least by measuring it's effects.

I can see the result of "God" in the absolute grand design that is our Universe because the probability that this all came about by chance is damn near impossible.

I've said this same thing myself.

If you believe in evolution then you believe that slime met slime and had more slime, and that slime grew and evolved into a fish, and then that first evolved, and eventually dorsel fins became legs, and so on and so forth until somehow by pure chance you get to the unimaginably complex thing that is a person.

now, if you just think about the point of creating new life.
(the human body is not very well designed for this actually) but you have genitals, that have to fit right, the act of sex has to feel good (else you don't want to do it so much), a sperm has to have evolved to swim, and penetrate and egg, which must have evolved to then stop more genetic material entering, AND that egg must split and divide and form a whole new person, who must be born (again another quite marvellous well this just kid of evolved like that moment...)


the point is, by the time you've said and this evolved into that and by chance this and by chance that and by chance the other. all you've really done is made a new God story.

you can either believe by chance by chance by chance, or a big beardy guy on a cloud did it all (including putting evidence to counter the existence of said big beardy dude)... both are just belief systems.

But to simply deny existence altogether because of how other people are and how they twist the belief into a system of control based on fairy tales, seems even more narrow minded than those we condemn as foolish.

but you say that you see the effects of God everyday, (I assume that you mean loving God).

surely each and every day you see enough terrible stuff to prove that there cannot be any kind of loving God also?

 

[BikerEcho]

This is actually pretty convincing and makes sense to me. Having this said, I declare that I have absolutely no problem with that symbol.

Actually, it looks cool.

--------------------------------

Um, aren't we getting off-topic to much

I thank you for your understanding.

Yeah i think we did. But it still was about banning.

 

[Smart_Guy]

I would consider myself atheist.
in the sense that I am without god, a person that is Asexual is without sex, it does not mean that they do not believe in sex. being Atheist does not mean that I refute the existence of a God, and or many Gods just that I don't choose a particular one.

I believe in listening to spiritual teachings, Historically a lot of spiritual teachings have actually done a lot of good for humanity.
I have no faith in the argument that if you took away religion we'd all descend into lawless chaos. -because I believe that we are past that stage of humanity.

but I do believe that at one stage people needed to be told that they had to be nice to their neighbours and not rob them because humanity as a whole may have been going down a path of mutually assured destruction.

to say I believe in listening to spiritual teachings does make me sound a lot more like a hippy than I am.


I see religious texts as a guidebook for life, not as a rulebook for life.
In this way I believe that religion can enrich a persons life, but not constrain a persons life.


I prefer to draw on the teachings of may religions, (and know a little about as many as I can) not because I'm somehow hedging my bets in an afterlife, but because I think that if you could take the best bits from all religions and have everyone agree with them it's be a pretty cool place to be in.

Thank you for sharing all of this with us Sir. It means a lot to me.

I thank you for your understanding.

Yeah i think we did. But it still was about banning.

One of my undisputed ideals is to have an open mind and think properly.

Um, I don't really like to engage deeply in religious matters. I fear to offend others unintentionally. That is why I thought we were getting off-topic.

 

[iPwn]

but you say that you see the effects of God everyday,

I didn't actually say everyday. And if it were implied, it was only meant by seeing the creation we see around us... not by powerful miracles or things I can't explain 'so it must be god.'

(I assume that you mean loving God).

And you would be wrong. While I would love to think that God is sitting up there watching my every move and caring for me, this is not reasonable.

surely each and every day you see enough terrible stuff to prove that there cannot be any kind of loving God also?

That's pretty much exactly right. Our (general population) idea that God is watching over us is extremely off-base in my mind. Now again, I never met the guy, so who knows what the truth is. However, the very existence and practice of evil on a large scale each day would seem to disprove the faith that God loves everyone. If that were true, God wouldn't have allowed some of the terrible things I've seen in war.

 

[zeezeiler99]

oke, we are getting a bit off topic . there are really big discussions on tv, internet and newspaper. there was a facebook event started called 'PIETiti' it was for black peter. in 24 hours it already received 700.000 likes (7 milion people in netherlands). really, people are coming to the netherlands and they are dominating it! im really against it, they say the netherlands isn't tolerant (perhaps wrong translation original is tolerantie). well, i hope that black peter can stay. what should we tell all the children if it is forbidden?

question: what would you say to ur kids if christmas (or any other event) got forbidden?

 

[Daserg]

I didn't actually say everyday. And if it were implied, it was only meant by seeing the creation we see around us... not by powerful miracles or things I can't explain 'so it must be god.'



And you would be wrong. While I would love to think that God is sitting up there watching my every move and caring for me, this is not reasonable.



That's pretty much exactly right. Our (general population) idea that God is watching over us is extremely off-base in my mind. Now again, I never met the guy, so who knows what the truth is. However, the very existence and practice of evil on a large scale each day would seem to disprove the faith that God loves everyone. If that were true, God wouldn't have allowed some of the terrible things I've seen in war.

Yea but there is an answer to that: the catastalogical argument

 

[iPwn]

there is an answer to that

What are you defining as "that?"

catastalogical argument

Seeing as how Google doesn't know what that is, you'll need to explain a little.

what would you say to ur kids if christmas (or any other event) got forbidden?

At some point, you have to teach your kids that life is not, in fact, a fairy tale. Life is hard, and only gets harder with age. The sooner you prepare them for that, the better off they (theoretically) are.

I personally don't care for the Christmas holiday, but my wife insists on it so I smile, nod, and wrap presents.

What do you tell them? Be honest. Whether that means exposing the lack of Santa, or that means explaining the current system of political correctness... it's never quite easy keeping a lie true, especially when others interject.

 

[Daserg]

What are you defining as "that?"




Seeing as how Google doesn't know what that is, you'll need to explain a little.

Umm maybe I misspelt it, sorry. I don't know how to spell it.
Well, it's the argument: everything would turn out right in the end =]
I am currently studying for ethics and philosophy GCSE (General certificate of secondary education). This argument I just mentioned is part of the A Level (Advanced level) syllabus but our teacher just made a brief mention of it in passing...