Jealous of the Ned Flanders?

Associate
Joined
16 Mar 2007
Posts
300
I was talking with my friends and we came up on this, it turned out we all thought different to what we thought we did.

The subject was hanging around religion and whether atheism is a religion or not (it was pretty much a 50/50 split, in my opinion it isn't) and we all settled that we were atheists. Or (if we've got the meaning wrong) don't believe in God, the afterlife or any of the miracle type bible stories and such.

But I do envy those that do.

My friend is very religious (luckily not there at the time) and believes in his relatives and friends going to heaven and believes that God is watching over him. He's so content with this and is pretty chilled out because of it. "It'll be fine, it's all in the lords plan." When I get told about God I instantly need proof and a science to back it up and since that's not available I'm extremely sceptical. I don't think this is my fault, I've been brought up in the education system where science is fact and (maybe foolishly) believed them. Now my mind is logic based and I like it that way.

But I would love to feel that sense of blind faith, to know everything is going to be okay and my friends and family have gone to be a better place. Does anyone else feel like this or am I just thinking too much into the mystery that is life?




I know Ned Flanders is an extreme and fictitious example but I think his stereotype gets the idea across!
 
I take your point, but I don't believe I could ever do it without having been pushed into blind beliefs, which is strongly against my own beliefs and therefore I could never agree with. If you see what I mean :D

Yeah, I know what you mean. That religious guy had a very religious family which pretty much forced him to read the bible and do church TWICE a week.
 
he's denying the possibility of a god without proof, blind faith, atheism and religion all go hand in hand.

If he were agnostic he wouldn't say he didn't believe in god, just that he didn't know.

You can prove the bible and organised religions storeys are wrong but you cannot disprove a creator (least not yet anyway).

The creation of the universe really gets my brain thinking, I was watching that series Stephen Hawking did about the beginning of the universe and (don't quote me on this, it sounds so weird I'm doubting he said it myself now) towards the end of the program after explaining lots of crazy things he said something like, "it is logical that something can come from nothing". That series blew me away and if they do confirm the beginnings of the universe, I'll doubt I'll be able to fully understand the explanation.
 
And for a further point, what if I'm wrong along with my friends. What if there is a God and a end up standing in front of those pearly gates saying, "It's not my fault! I had 6 hours of science and school and 0.5 of R.E.!" Do I go to hell or does God show sympathy and wave me through?


To justify my first post, I'm not saying God isn't real, it's just I'm not sure without proof. I still see God as possible I suppose but science seems more likely. Or is that my schooling that makes me think that? I'm unsure now.
 
Because for some reason we're all driven by an impulse to do what's "right", even though there's no discernible benefit to the individual.

I can understand that, when my Dad had a kid with my step mum even when she was very young, not even old enough to speak decently, if she did something wrong her face would show it. You just looked at her and knew she'd done something. I can't remember what it was, something to do with the hamster I think, but she'd never done it before and never been told off for anything like it but she knew she id something wrong. It's inbuilt.
 
Children are very perceptive, they pick up how to talk for a start, telling when they're about to get a ******ing is easy by comparison.

Fair point. I guess a lot of what I do (being a good person) is dictated by what I've been taught is good and what the law will arrest me for. There are times when I've been a but tipsy and somebody was trying to start a fight and I didn't go for it, not because I am a good person, but because I don't want to get done for:
-drunk and disorderly
-assault
-vandalism (might break something)

or anything else I can get arrested for. I like comfy beds, not prison cells.
 
to the op:

why would you be envious of your neighbors mild form of insanity ?

religeon is nothing more than a public display of weakness of the mind and delusion... if it were not so established most religeous people would be on medication to cure them :)

I don't want to be insane! I don't think religious people qualify as being insane when the world has serial killers and men that lock their families in basements for years on end. I'd just like the comfort that he has, the whole "everything will be okay because the God is watching over me". And I wouldn't say it's weakness of the mind either, I don't believe the bible as I can only assume the chinese whispers effect happened but the guy who wrote that made a lot of people happy. To a mind not bombarded with science (i.e. mine!) the bible can provide answers for a lot of things. Answers are good, and even if it isn't the correct one what really matters is that it put them at ease. I would love to think my friend who passed away is kicking it back in heaven having the time of his afterlife but I can't. My answer is it all ended for him and that's **** compared to the heaven line.
 
Back
Top Bottom