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Politics : GOPwinger Lies/Distortions/Omissions/Perversions of Truth -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Wayners who wrote (44951)	5/7/2005 5:03:24 PM
From: jttmab	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

And if you think that you can exist out of nothing... And where did God come from? jttmab

To: Wayners who wrote (44951)	5/8/2005 12:26:17 AM
From: fresc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

So you are saying God created us?

To: Wayners who wrote (44951)	5/8/2005 12:59:34 AM
From: fresc	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 173976

There are a lot of misconceptions that we have inherited from the unscientific, unspiritual view of the universe of theistic religions. One of these misconceptions is the idea that human beings are worthless in themselves, and that they can only gain purpose through a "divine plan" constructed by a fantasy being living in the clouds. For one thing, such a belief is ridiculous. How can one gain any purpose for oneself through a plan that no one can understand or even fathom ? At best he has placed himself under the grinding gears of the kind of Christian fatalism that Revelations crackpots love : shit happens, and all we can do is guess and tremble under the covers. What a "purpose" ! Of course, to the believer, this kind of arguing-about-fantasy game is what passes for purpose. It can be properly classified as a hobby, or an obsession. For the "lucky" ones, melting their personal identity into religion can become a substitute for having a life, but it is not generally a pleasant one. The question of purpose is not nearly as thorny as people would like to believe. The fact that "without god, there is no purpose" completely ignores the fact that this whole god-as-Creator model is nonsense. The problem is that the question "what is the purpose of my life" assumes that model. Rational human beings do not need to look up to a supreme being to give them anything. This is true of logic and morality, but it is also true for purpose. Instead of asking this kind of question, we should rather ask : "what purpose am I creating for myself ?" One of the most crucial consequences of a non believer is that we can no longer excuse our actions by divine or satanic intervention, or trivialize our actions because "God forgives me". Religion is pure irresponsibility. As atheists, we should take responsibility for our own actions and thoughts. By your decisions, you are the creator of your own happiness or unhappiness. I haven't yet addressed what purpose actually is, though. What is purpose ? We can easily see what purpose is, in the case of human tools. A hammer is made to impart kinetic energy on a surface. A tuba is made to be a musical instrument. And so on and so forth. A purpose is a goal imparted by a maker, most of the time successfully. Now, it is true that natural organisms do not have an inherent purpose. As Dawkins points out, the flowers are not there so that we could smell them and see their beauty. The flowers exist because their genome adapted to the conditions of life. So it is for us. But there is one thing we do make : our decisions, our values, our interactions with others. We make them every minute of our conscious existence. They are the reason we get up in the morning. As corny as it sounds, we make the story of our life. The purpose of our life is the sum total of our decisions - our own answer to the harder question "who are you ?". While no one can answer that question for you, the question can be answered generally. We are all volitional human beings, part of the natural world, for whom things are knowable, individuals whose life is not at the mercy of capricious fantasies. If we desire, we can make our lives and this world comfortable places to be in. And we know that praying and waiting for "another world" will not alleviate suffering. Only science and rational action. Not religion !