the older i get, the more accepting of my religion's 'mores' do i become...

[pukkapatch]

i believe in God. i have faith. but i am a lazy lazy person, so dont really follow the rules and regulations. people who dont know me wouldnt think that i believed in God.
but, as i grow older, and listen to more and more discussions/arguments about various practices by various religions by people who dont necessarily have a depth of knowledge abuot the topic under dicussion, (circumcision, homosexuality, punishments for criminals, the application of the law, mode of dress, etc.) the more inclined i am to just say (or at least think) 'because God says so'
if you accept that God created us, and is all powerful and all knowledgable etc (whatever your religion), then you cannot pick and choose your the bits you like, or try to second guess Him/Her. in particular when people say that they think something. well no disrespect to them, but surely God's opinion has a little more weight than theres? as an analogy, i would trust the medical opinion of a doctor, over the medical opinion of a plumber. even though both are capable people.

i come from a regligous family that rejects almost all cultural aspects of their religion and question and study it, so i do have a great deal of knowledge, but i am a lazy soul, who is too shallow to think of the afterlife 99% of the time. does anyone else feel like this? or am i alone in this?

lol neicie, those are exactly the questions I struggle with, why did he make us the way we are and set us up to fall, other than for his own amusement? Coz it's not really the nicest thing to do is it?

For me it's easier just to assume "God" doesn't exist, even if there is some higher power behind all of this, it aint no bearded man-like figure in the clouds concerning himself with the munutae of our everyday lives.

These threads always end way too soon

Does no one else enjoy debating these things for long?

No I haven't given up but nobody answered my questions!

What better way to spend a Friday morning than discussing the meaning of life?

Yay neicie wants to talk!

I would have loved to have spent friday morning discussing the meaning of life, but I had to work! Oh well, maybe next week...

If we had answers to your questions though, would we have anything to debate or discuss?

I doubt whether one answer would have been enough. These things have a way of getting a life of their own and one question ends up leading to another.

I'm sorry I didn't give more attention to the thread - my net connection is being temperamental atm. Would love to discuss your questions, Niecie, but if I'm quiet for a while, it's just because I can't get the ruddy machine to work properly, not 'cos I'm ignoring you...

hello all. dh was using theomputer yesterday. he works from home then. so couldnt access it.
big bang. i love it. describes observed phenomon perfectly, and ties in with creation perfectly as well.( at least in the muslim/christian world , not sure about other religions)
what came before the big bang? nothing. except if you prescribe to the cyclical theory, where instead of an ever expanding univers, you have the big bang followed by the big crunch, followed by the big bang and the big crunch,limit to infinity. afaik, both theories are equally possible. but to us, who can only observe one cycle, nothing existed before as time didnt exist before and nothing survived from before, so can not be observed or understood.
when i was younger, i was always questioning why has God decided to put us through this test of life, (as saadia explained perfectly) when it seemed that it was of no benefit to anyone, since the creator already knew the outcome. i was always told that He knew, had His reasons and it wasnt for us to question. this was never good enough for me. and i was always questioning it.
now, i just dont. He/She must have His/Her reasons. since i feel there is nothing i can do about it, i feel why waste my own time and energy questioning them. it wont change my beliefs, or my way of living.
yeesh, i am once cofused individaul!

Oh no, no, no Pukka that isn't on! He can't take your computer away just for work.

I envisage a world where there is a dedicated computer solely for MN access in every mother's home (or any parent) - you shouldn't be sidelined when the Meaning of Life, God and The Universe need discussing.

Anyway, I have trouble with the nothing existed before the Big Bang thing. Can't get my head around it. How can something (the Big Bang) come out of nothing? There must have been something because there was God, if you believe that He was responsible for creating the Big Bang.

Mind you I dropped physics at option time because I couldn't get my head round it so it isn't saying much.

And no disrespect, but it is a bit of a cop out to say God knows and but we just have to accept it. I know that is what faith is all about but you can still believe and want to understand, can't you?

Why can't we know? Having said that I would settle for knowing where my new car tax disc is which arrived a couple of days ago and which I can't find now! I only came to the computer to see if there was a procedure for reporting missing discs!