So What are our Ideas of God and Divinity? How does it affect our lives and art?

[Michael_Stones]

"Life is like a game of cards. The hand that is dealt you represents determinism; the way you play it is free will". - Jawaharal Nehru

Leo

Nehru got it wrong, Leo. If you buy into the notion that determinism and free will are incompatible, the hand you are dealt represents chance (indeterminancy), with the way you play it determined by your skill, knowledge, and how your opponents play their cards. However, the notion of incompatibility is contradicted by almost everything we humans think, feel and do.

Regards
Mike

 

[Ben Rubinstein]

Although I would prefer to keep my religious beliefs to myself given that I believe that they are essentially private I would just like to mention:

I've always believed that the only way to ensure that a forum is kept civil is to utterly ban all religion and politics. It says a huge amount about the mutual respect of this forum that a thread like this can have reached 4 pages with such a level of friendliness and decorum. OPF, you really are unique!

 

[Rachel Foster]

Oddly enough, I'm giving a sermon on conceptions of the Deity (or not) at our church (Unitarian Universalist) and the effects of beliefs of Deity gender based on my research.

 

[Charlotte Thompson]

I wonder-

"If we could believe in ourselves first"



Charlotte-

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Charlotte,

I wonder-

"If we could believe in ourselves first"

If we do not believe in ourselves, we are impotent to act on our belief in others.

"Put your own oxygen mask on first."

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

Hi, Charlotte,


If we do not believe in ourselves, we are impotent to act on our belief in others.

"Put your own oxygen mask on first."

Best regards,

Doug

I think the most important element of Godliness is the sense that we are accountable and that we have needs for a moral compass. Religion is the scaffolding that humanity has discovered that has the potential for allowing us to build our moral fiber and rise up from being mere intelligent apes, albeit with iphones, packed foods and clean underwear.

In our temporary journeys here on planet earth, we need to have hope that things will turn out well and as a start, for us to make our own small contributions to the common good, we need that sense of self-worth and yet compassion for all we can damage or help.

If our belief in a deity helps this process, then everything works well. If, however, the scaffolding built to increase our moral fiber is used to harass and hang outsiders, then we need to refigure things from the beginning again.

Asher

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Asher,

I think the most important element of Godliness is the sense that we are accountable and that we have needs for a moral compass. Religion is the scaffolding that humanity has discovered that has the potential for allowing us to build our moral fiber and rise up from being mere intelligent apes, albeit with iphones, packed foods and clean underwear.

In our temporary journeys here on planet earth, we need to have hope that things will turn out well and as a start, for us to make our own small contributions to the common good, we need that sense of self-worth and yet compassion for all we can damage or help.

If our belief in a deity helps this process, then everything works well. If, however, the scaffolding built to increase our moral fiber is used to harass and hang outsiders, then we need to refigure things from the beginning again.

All well said.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Rachel Foster]

I had to laugh when, touring the National Gallery of Art last month with my children, my 11-year-old daughter screwed up her face and pronounced with great gravity, "I disapprove of all this religious art."

 

[Doug Kerr]

Hi, Rachel,

I had to laugh when, touring the National Gallery of Art last month with my children, my 11-year-old daughter screwed up her face and pronounced with great gravity, "I disapprove of all this religious art."

"Out of the mouths of babes oft times come gems."

Or the daughters of babes.

Best regards,

Doug

 

[Asher Kelman]

"Out of the mouths of babes oft times come gems."

With my bifocals not being too accurate, I read,


"Out of the mouths of babes oft times come germs."

.. and I thought, so true. In fact, they're a downright public health hazard!

Asher

 

[Don Ferguson Jr.]

With my bifocals not being too accurate, I read,


"Out of the mouths of babes oft times come germs."

.. and I thought, so true. In fact, they're a downright public health hazard!

Asher

I thought the same and I have been putting off getting bifocals

 

[Rachel Foster]

Doug, Asher, and Don, thanks for today's giggle! Loved it.

 

[jake klein]

Although I would prefer to keep my religious beliefs to myself given that I believe that they are essentially private I would just like to mention:

I've always believed that the only way to ensure that a forum is kept civil is to utterly ban all religion and politics. It says a huge amount about the mutual respect of this forum that a thread like this can have reached 4 pages with such a level of friendliness and decorum. OPF, you really are unique!

What he said!