Do you believe in God/a higher power?

[CuriousAboutWhatYouThink]

Not religion. I have no time for organised religion and the associated man made rules.

But do you believe in 'something'?

For context, my grandad was a CofE vicar but my parent rebelled against it and we were brought up broadly l in the religion (eg we celebrated main religious festivals like Easter and Christmas) but not as practising Christians and without a particular belief in God.

As an adult, I have friends of different faiths and none and it's something we have discussed from time to time. It's also something I used to discuss with my grandma who had a very strong belief in God but also believed the Bible until she became older when she still had a strong faith but admitted she thought the Bible was largely nonsense!

I suppose I've always felt that there is 'something' but I refer to it as the universe. I don't know, I always feel that there has been 'something' looking out for me.

That doesn't mean bad things have never happened because they have and religion/belief doesn't protect anyone from that. And it doesn't mean my life is anywhere near perfect because it's not. But the universe has always seemed to 'step in' when needed.

I don't know. I'm going through a tough time at the moment but I have a feeling everything will turn out to be OK because it always does.

That story is not ‘historical fact’.

And of course they didn’t all go into the ark in the myth. Just two of each and a few more of the ‘clean’ beasts. God drowned the rest, along with the rest of humanity, for humans’ wrongdoing. (I don’t think the account blamed the animals).

@thisishowloween

I'm glad you have relevant reasons that apply. 😊

And taking it further - if the good fleas going to heaven - then they will be biting the good cats and dogs for eternity - that's a shit heaven for the cats and dogs.

If you think about it with a puny human brain then yes

Well, who's to say that fleas would continue to inhabit cats' and dogs' bodies in the afterlife?

I don't view the afterlife through a Heaven and Hell lens, of course.

I have tried to be nice, but just received mockery and abuse. I have less than 6 months less to live with terminal cancer but hope you all feel better about trying to take away my hope from me. I won't be reading any more.

but if you were a flea, and the thing you loved most was feasting on the blood of a cat or a dog, why would that not be your idea of paradise?

If you were in heaven and denied the one thing you truly loved, then it wouldn't really be heaven

Quite. Or will the good fleas be the ones who refused to bite anyone? 🤔

@Jimmyneutronsforehead

I don't think that fleas have a concept of paradise.

Like I said, I don't see the afterlife through the lens of 'Heaven' and 'Hell'. I'm not a Christian.

Exactly. Or if fleas go to a different heaven, then where do cats and dogs go? Or do the bad dogs go to flea heaven and good dogs go to human heaven?

PP is taking the piss 😉

Except you haven’t been nice, you’ve just told everyone they’ll burn in hell for not believing in your God.

😂 😂 😂

I haven't read any of your posts, or anybody replying to you, but you are allowed to believe whatever you would like to believe. It doesn't have to make sense to anybody else. Nobody has the answers. Our beliefs bring us comfort. There will always be people out there who believe in different things to you, and that's alright.

For some of us, not believing in anything brings us comfort, but that shouldn't mean that you don't take comfort in your beliefs.

Don't let people knock your faith. I hope you can find comfort.

Is atheism not faith in a way ? I mean God can’t be proved or disproved by scientific means , so you just believe / have faith that there is no God.

@thisishowloween

Well, for me, the issue is you're framing the question in terms of 'Heaven' and since I don't view the afterlife within the Christian lens of Heaven, I can't answer within those parameters.

I think there is an afterlife. In Celtic paganism, it is sometimes referred to as The Otherworld.

I think the afterlife is vast and may have multiple levels and layers. Like this planet has multiple places/countries and the universe has multiple planets and solar systems, etc.

I'm an animist, which means I believe that everything in this material world has an innate spirit. That includes trees, plants, literally everything.

So I think that the spirit lives on in the afterlife, or the otherworld, or whatever one calls it. I do not believe that there a realm of the afterlife that exists to punish people.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Animism

Oh @SorcererGaheris that’s very keen of you but I was just taking the piss 🙈😂

@thisishowloween

It's hard to tell for me. But even so, I still like to try to answer the questions seriously. As someone of a very minority religion and theological viewpoint in the modern West (polytheism and paganism are very misunderstood and get a lot of unjustified prejudice) I think it's useful to give some insight into how polytheists, pagans and occultists think.

It’s all delightfully bonkers isn’t it?

What’s a bad cat anyway? One that scratches the furniture? Or vomits on your carpets? One that kills
mice? Or one that catches them and sets them free in your kitchen at 2am to terrify you when you get up for some water?

And your beliefs, while I don't share them, are at least coherent and fairly sensible.

We're poking fun at the idea, stated by the pp, that God will judge all fleas on their Christian values and behaviour and send them to either heaven or hell accordingly.

Absolutely not. The concept is too obscure for me. If you had a gid why would he/she allow so much suffering? .

@thisishowloween

Well, that's no reason for me not to try to give a proper answer and an insight into a minority viewpoint. 😊

Polytheism, paganism and occultism have for centuries been much maligned and misunderstood in the Western world. Incorrect assumptions are made about them and people make misinformed statements. I think it's useful to provide insight into how such minority cultures think.

I don't believe in deities but I do believe in a higher power.
I think its supremely arrogant to think we're the best thing that the Universe could produce.
I also believe in the soul.

@Maddy70

The answer from the pagan polytheist perspective is that it's not necessarily a case of gods and goddesses allowing such suffering. It's that they're not capable of doing anything about it and are not aware of all of it.

Polytheists do not view deities as all-powerful, all-knowing and all-loving like monotheists tend to. In polytheism, especially pagan polytheism, gods and goddesses have powers and skills, but there are limits. They don't know everything that is going on. Their skills and influences tend to be restricted to particular areas.

Some deities may not particularly care about humanity and the world and so turn a bit of a blind eye.

Which of course you’re free to do.

But we were specifically taking the piss out of PP’s post about fleas having morals and going to Christian heaven.