Does God exist?

[MissBarbara]

Judaism did not spring fully formed as a monotheistic religion. It's roots from the area were more likely a development from an older set of religious beliefs.

I think Katie and LostForKate are both correct. (Yay!)

Judaism, when it arose, was sui generis in being monotheistic.

But Judaism developed, it evolved, from more ancient beliefs and practices, from which it drew.

And the same can be said for Christianity, which heavily drew upon Judaism, as well as many other more ancient belief systems, religious and pagan.

The three major monotheistic faiths -- Judaism, Christianity, and Islam -- are all syncretic faiths, drawing on a wide variety of sources and influences, including each other, as they developed to their present state.

[Lois]

If autocorrect existed in history:

[Lostforkate]

I do not whether to put this in the God thread or the book thread.

I am choosing herw because of the spiritual nature of the book.

I am listening an audio book on my commute by Anne Lamott. Very interesting how humbly she describes her life's trials and tribulations, sometimes with humor, and sometimes with a contrite heart. The book is "Plan B : Further Thoughts on Faith". She does a great stating spiritual truths she has come to through life experiences.

Below are some quotes

"Your problem is how you are going to spend this one odd and precious life you have been issued. Whether you're going to spend it trying to look good and creating the illusion that you have power over people and circumstances, or whether you are going to taste it, enjoy it and find out the truth about who you are."

"My parents, and librarians along the way, taught me about the space between words; about the margins, where so many juicy moments of life and spirit and friendship could be found. In a library, you could find miracles and truth and you might find something that would make you laugh so hard that you get shushed, in the friendliest way."

"The first holy truth in God 101 is that men and women of true faith have always had to accept the mystery of God's identity and love and ways. I hate that, but it's the truth"

"If you don't die of thirst, there are blessings in the desert. You can be pulled into limitlessness, which we all yearn for, or you can do the beauty of minutiae, the scrimshaw of tiny and precise. The sky is your ocean, and the crystal silence will uplift you like great gospel music, or Neil Young"

[Gina Marie]

Fox News dreams of a Very White Christmas

www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/12/1262246/-Fox-News-dreams-of-a-Very-White-Christmas

[Elizabeth]

Fox News dreams of a Very White Christmas

www.dailykos.com/story/2013/12/12/1262246/-Fox-News-dreams-of-a-Very-White-Christmas

Hey Gia.....
Correct me if I'm wrong.
But wasn't the first Saint Nicholas (aka Santa) from Denmark in like the 14th/15th century. I know there are a few books about Saint Nicholas all thru europe in various countries.
Love,
Liz

[Gina Marie]

Santa isn’t real.

Sure, as Kelly File guest Monica Crowley notes, Santa is loosely based on Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop known for secret gift-giving. But while the names “St. Nicholas” and “Santa Claus” are often used interchangeably, modern-day Santa hardly resembles his supposed inspiration, who was depicted as tall and thin and, you know, Greek. He did not have a workshop in the North Pole nor eight faithful reindeer. Santa as we know him today is the result of wild imaginations and creative input from many people across centuries, including, as I noted in my piece, Washington Irving and Clement Clark Moore. He’s utterly divorced from his religious and historical roots.

~Aisha Harris

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/12/12/santa_claus_white_fox_news_megyn_kelly_thinks_so_but_santa_s_not_real.html

[MissBarbara]

Santa isn’t real.

Sure, as Kelly File guest Monica Crowley notes, Santa is loosely based on Saint Nicholas, a fourth-century Greek bishop known for secret gift-giving. But while the names “St. Nicholas” and “Santa Claus” are often used interchangeably, modern-day Santa hardly resembles his supposed inspiration, who was depicted as tall and thin and, you know, Greek. He did not have a workshop in the North Pole nor eight faithful reindeer. Santa as we know him today is the result of wild imaginations and creative input from many people across centuries, including, as I noted in my piece, Washington Irving and Clement Clark Moore. He’s utterly divorced from his religious and historical roots.

~Aisha Harris

http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/12/12/santa_claus_white_fox_news_megyn_kelly_thinks_so_but_santa_s_not_real.html

The "original" St. Nicholas was a 4th century Bishop from Turkey, not Greece. He is an historical figure who really existed.

His feast day (December 6th) is still celebrated in many cultures. There's a custom we followed as kids (I think it was from my mom's Austrian heritage) where you put your shoes out the night before, and St. Nicholas puts little gifts in them. I'm pretty sure it was a ploy by my parents to get us to clean and polish our shoes.

Santa Claus is only very loosely based on St. Nicholas, and is a completely secular figure, almost completely divorced from his historical predecessor.

So, in keeping with the spirit of this thread, shouldn't fundamentalists and hardcore evangelicals reject Santa as a pagan perversion of a sainted figure?

Just wondering...

[Lois]

Fuck me in the ass 'cause I love Jesus

[Katiebee]

It's also a definite form of birth control.

[604guy]

I'm a baptized Roman Catholic. But as a free thinking human being I do not live my life praying to something no one can prove exists. What would happen to this world if religion and god were disproven??  As a believer in god you can only believe in him and nothing else. As a free thinker you can live your life taking in everything that comes your way.

[604guy]

God doesn't exist to me. But I do share the same thought that parents pass it on to their kids. Which keeps the belief of god being passed down to future generations. I worked with a guy who was raised to blindly believe in his parents teachings and also forced to attend bible school a few days a week. Every question I had for him about religion always came to the same response... God made it that way, god intended it to be that way or god created the world within the rules of science. He even said he should stop playing video games and masturbating because it was a sin. He never stopped either. The only thing I could get him on was when he said god gives him strength everyday and I asked him what about believing in yourself or that you wake up everyday and give yourself the strength to live. He said good point I don't know. If he was raised without god he wouldn't believe in him and would have to make his own decesion. I am a baptized Roman Catholic and do not believe in god. As an example Filipinos had no idea of religion until Spain introduced them to it. Now the are very devoted Catholics. If Spain didn't teach them how would they know about god. They probably wouldn't an would still believe in their ways before that introduction to that foreign teaching. Who knows just saying.

[Grm]

In every country colonised by the Spanish, indigenous peoples weren't 'taught' Catholicism, they were forced.  Any who refused conversion were tortured, burnt alive, hung, or in some cases whole populations of native people were wiped out (what happened to the Caribs?)

[MissBarbara]

(what happened to the Caribs?)

Smallpox.

[Katiebee]

He played solitaire and pinochle.

[phtlc]

I sure hope there is a god. I have huge plans for working the gates with pete when I get to heaven;

http://www.kristensboard.com/forums/index.php?topic=12856.15

[Elizabeth]

If you haven't seen the new reincarnated "Cosmos" on the National Geographic channel, I'd encourage you to do so.

This week's episode, dealing with light, gravity, and time, points out the fact that the farthest edges of space that we can observe from Earth are about 130,000,000,000 light years away.  Thanks to the Hubbell space telescope, and radio telescopes, we are now witnesses to the origins of the universe, 130 billion years ago.

The world didn't exist, the sun didn't exist, the Milky Way did not exist, when that light set out for its final destination, Earth.

The first members of the genus Homo appeared on Earth approximately 2,000,000 years ago.  That means for 129,998,000,000 years, there was a universe with no man in it.  For 129,999,996,000 years there was a universe with no Bible.  Yet here we are, clinging to our beliefs formed in primitive societies, that there is a "god" sitting on a cloud out there with a white beard, counting our sins, and preparing a heaven or hell just for you, based on his assessment of your relative worth.  

What did he do all those other 129,998,000,000 years?

Dinosaurs Toe....you forgot the fricken Dinosaurs!!!
They ruled the earth longer than any other species on this planet.
In a timeline we (humans) pale in comparison to their length on this planet.
And (due to our own nature) it's doubtful if we ever (humans) manage to even come close to that length of time.
Love,
Liz

[Grm]

Smallpox.
[/quote]
You mean the ones that weren't burnt, shot, beheaded or worked to death as slaves.

[MissBarbara]

Smallpox.

You mean the ones that weren't burnt, shot, beheaded or worked to death as slaves.

Yes.

[joan1984]

Double Deck Pinochle? Good dog...

He played solitaire and pinochle.

[604guy]

If you haven't seen the new reincarnated "Cosmos" on the National Geographic channel, I'd encourage you to do so.

This week's episode, dealing with light, gravity, and time, points out the fact that the farthest edges of space that we can observe from Earth are about 130,000,000,000 light years away.  Thanks to the Hubbell space telescope, and radio telescopes, we are now witnesses to the origins of the universe, 130 billion years ago.

The world didn't exist, the sun didn't exist, the Milky Way did not exist, when that light set out for its final destination, Earth.

The first members of the genus Homo appeared on Earth approximately 2,000,000 years ago.  That means for 129,998,000,000 years, there was a universe with no man in it.  For 129,999,996,000 years there was a universe with no Bible.  Yet here we are, clinging to our beliefs formed in primitive societies, that there is a "god" sitting on a cloud out there with a white beard, counting our sins, and preparing a heaven or hell just for you, based on his assessment of your relative worth.  

What did he do all those other 129,998,000,000 years?

That cosmos show is great. And it wasn't big news, but should have been was they just found pictures of our universe just after the Big Bang 13 billion years ago. Further proof of how are universe was created. Found it funny how it wasn't bigger news, of course that's because it's news the catholic religion wants nothing to do with. With life as it is, I have no time for someone who has yet to be proved as even existing.