Sabbath Dispatch #1

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maycocksean

maycocksean

Rock n' Roll Doggie Band-aid
Joined
Jan 19, 2006
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Location
Ohio
First a word of explanation:

Iron Horse has the Sunday Dispatch, and VintagePunk has the Friday Night Dispatch, so I've decided to add the Sabbath Dispatch on Saturday (my time any way) so that the whole weekend is covered. I think IH and VP have the market pretty much cornered on pithy, thought-provoking sayings and song lyric quotes, so I've decided to do something different.

At least for now, I'd like to run a "Statement of Belief" series. I've been thinking for awhile now that I'd like to try to articulate what my beliefs are--where I'm at now. I thought it might be interesting to share that process here and maybe here what other posters on FYM believe. So every Saturday (or Friday night for those in the U.S.), which I observe as my Sabbath, I will post a different statement of belief. I'd like to invite others to respond with their own statements of belief on the given topic. I'd prefer that this not become a debate thread--there's plenty of space for that elsewhere in FYM, but more of a place where we share our own unique perspectives and beliefs. But if somebody really is hot to get in there and correct me or anyone else, well, that's you're right to do so and I'm not gonna carp about it.

I also want to make it clear that my beliefs are not, nor have they ever been rigid. They are constantly in flux and I'm sure they will continue to change. This is more of a snapshot of what I believe now, than something set in stone.

I hope this will be a unique and interesting addition to the "weekend dispatches."

That said, the Dispatch:

I believe in God.

By that I mean, of course, I believe that God exists. I believe this not primairly because of Scriptures, or because such belief "answers the conundrums of life'" though that's part of it, but mainly because I feel His presence in my life. I sense Him speaking to my heart. I realize that may make me sound somewhat insane, but seeing as how I'm able to hold a job, and get along in society, I'm not going to worry too much about that. :wink:

I also believe in God in the sense that I believe He (or She or It--I don't believe God has a gender per se) is good, that He can be trusted, that He cares.

I believe that God created all things, and that He cares about all that He has created.

I believe that God is Love and Love is God.

What do you believe?
 
at one time i believed that the father, son, and holy spirit were god.

at one time i believed that the only the father was god.

at one time i believed that god was not a personal god.

at one time i believed god was simply the cosmic intelligence; the initial causation of the universe; impersonal, impartial, and infinite.

i now doubt god's existence at all. i consider myself an agnostic - i am, for the most part, a materialist. if god exists, i find it highly unlikely that humans could fathom its essence. religion is manmade. all that is necessary for a meaningful life is on this earth, in this physical reality.
 
I believe in God the Father, God the Son, and God the Spirit.

I believe that God is a personal God.

I believe that God speaks to us through our hearts, dreams, soul, etc.

I believe you have to allow God into your life and your heart in order to see His works.

I believe while God is loving, His is a tough love. Meaning, He is stern and doesn't let you get away with things that might be destructive or are simply not in the direction He wants your life to go.

BTW, like maycocksean, I also don't believe God has a gender. Its a shame the English language doesn't have a neutral pronoun. Sometimes I wonder if God even has a human form.
 
I believe that I have no idea what is out there. Many (maybe most?) days I believe there is something, but I don't know what it is, and I am unconcerned with that.
 
BonosSaint said:
I believe we created god.
Click to expand...

I agree with this.

I do believe in the incredible creation of everything. Whether it was a something/someone that created it all, or it was an event of creation, I believe in the awesomeness of it. God, perhaps. I say god because I don't know what else to call it. It's based completely on just looking around. No book, no other people, just looking. The complexity of everything that lives, the minuteness of existence, the start and end of life, the cycle of things, the odds and statistics, the ability of reason, the sea monkeys on my window sill, the universe, all of us, the journey of ants searching for food. I don't hear god, and nothing speaks to me, but I see it in everything, everywhere. Good and bad and a balance of both in life. I wonder if there is a perfect balance of good and bad, pure and evil, and we experience small slivers of such at any given time - both collectively and individually. I wonder if there is perfect balance and we are incapable of shifting it. I wonder if there is perfect balance and we shift it with a ripple effect. I wonder if there is a predetermined path. I wonder at the enormity of everything. I wonder at what is behind it all. It is a god that I don't hear and cannot feel. It is a 'god' that I see, but do not sense, per se. I marvel at what I do not know.
 
Angela Harlem said:
I agree with this.

I do believe in the incredible creation of everything. Whether it was a something/someone that created it all, or it was an event of creation, I believe in the awesomeness of it. God, perhaps. I say god because I don't know what else to call it. It's based completely on just looking around. No book, no other people, just looking. The complexity of everything that lives, the minuteness of existence, the start and end of life, the cycle of things, the odds and statistics, the ability of reason, the sea monkeys on my window sill, the universe, all of us, the journey of ants searching for food. I don't hear god, and nothing speaks to me, but I see it in everything, everywhere. Good and bad and a balance of both in life. I wonder if there is a perfect balance of good and bad, pure and evil, and we experience small slivers of such at any given time - both collectively and individually. I wonder if there is perfect balance and we are incapable of shifting it. I wonder if there is perfect balance and we shift it with a ripple effect. I wonder if there is a predetermined path. I wonder at the enormity of everything. I wonder at what is behind it all. It is a god that I don't hear and cannot feel. It is a 'god' that I see, but do not sense, per se. I marvel at what I do not know.
Click to expand...

Wow, very eloquent, Anna. Almost poetic. Thanks for sharing :)
 
maycocksean said:
First a word of explanation:

Iron Horse has the Sunday Dispatch, and VintagePunk has the Friday Night Dispatch, so I've decided to add the Sabbath Dispatch on Saturday (my time any way) so that the whole weekend is covered. I think IH and VP have the market pretty much cornered on pithy, thought-provoking sayings and song lyric quotes, so I've decided to do something different.

At least for now, I'd like to run a "Statement of Belief" series. I've been thinking for awhile now that I'd like to try to articulate what my beliefs are--where I'm at now. I thought it might be interesting to share that process here and maybe here what other posters on FYM believe. So every Saturday (or Friday night for those in the U.S.), which I observe as my Sabbath, I will post a different statement of belief. I'd like to invite others to respond with their own statements of belief on the given topic. I'd prefer that this not become a debate thread--there's plenty of space for that elsewhere in FYM, but more of a place where we share our own unique perspectives and beliefs. But if somebody really is hot to get in there and correct me or anyone else, well, that's you're right to do so and I'm not gonna carp about it.

I also want to make it clear that my beliefs are not, nor have they ever been rigid. They are constantly in flux and I'm sure they will continue to change. This is more of a snapshot of what I believe now, than something set in stone.

I hope this will be a unique and interesting addition to the "weekend dispatches."

That said, the Dispatch:

I believe in God.

By that I mean, of course, I believe that God exists. I believe this not primairly because of Scriptures, or because such belief "answers the conundrums of life'" though that's part of it, but mainly because I feel His presence in my life. I sense Him speaking to my heart. I realize that may make me sound somewhat insane, but seeing as how I'm able to hold a job, and get along in society, I'm not going to worry too much about that. :wink:

I also believe in God in the sense that I believe He (or She or It--I don't believe God has a gender per se) is good, that He can be trusted, that He cares.

I believe that God created all things, and that He cares about all that He has created.

I believe that God is Love and Love is God.

What do you believe?
Click to expand...

Beautifully spoken, I believe the same as you. :wave:
 
My favorite place is Gunpowder State Park, located in Maryland. U.S.A. There is a walking path along side the river. Lined with many trees.

When I walk this path, I hear the gentle wind whisper to my heart. I stop for a moment, close my eyes and let God fill my soul. As I walk father along, I see the beauty surrounding me and I am joyful. And so very thankful, to simply be, God's child.
 
maycocksean said:
I believe in God.

By that I mean, of course, I believe that God exists. I believe this not primairly because of Scriptures, or because such belief "answers the conundrums of life'" though that's part of it, but mainly because I feel His presence in my life. I sense Him speaking to my heart. I realize that may make me sound somewhat insane, but seeing as how I'm able to hold a job, and get along in society, I'm not going to worry too much about that. :wink:

I also believe in God in the sense that I believe He (or She or It--I don't believe God has a gender per se) is good, that He can be trusted, that He cares.

I believe that God created all things, and that He cares about all that He has created.

I believe that God is Love and Love is God.

What do you believe?
Click to expand...

For the most part this is what I believe.

But I will admit to having more agnostic days in the last few years than anytime before.

And although I believe in God most days, I still believe religion is mostly manmade and that much of scripture isn't to be taken literally...

I do not believe that God and science contradict each other...
 
I do not affirm the existence of God. However, I do not think I would go as far as saying I actively affirm the non-existence of God. I fundamentally consider the concept of "God", or of any supernatural deity, to be utterly meaningless. Hence I affirm nothing and I take no position. I would say I'm an ignostic, or a theological noncognitivist.

Incidentally, this thread may perhaps answer iron horse's "where are the Christians?" thread better than that thread itself.
 
martha said:
Well, you said that you didn't believe in God, and then said you wouldn't say that you didn't believe in God.

It seems as if you contradicted yourself.
Click to expand...

Oh man, I stuffed up my phrasing. In editing it down to avoid being convoluted, I accidentally removed a rather important word. I suppose I should have said that I do not affirm the existence of God, but I would not go as far as saying I actively affirm the non-existence of God.

I'll edit the original post to say that now.
 
Axver said:
Oh man, I stuffed up my phrasing. In editing it down to avoid being convoluted, I accidentally removed a rather important word. I suppose I should have said that I do not affirm the existence of God, but I would not go as far as saying I actively affirm the non-existence of God.

I'll edit the original post to say that now.
Click to expand...


Now I understand. I had a feeling that you meant to say something different than what you said.
 
phillyfan26 said:
I believe that if there is a God, he does not intervene.
Click to expand...
and, like the parents of a school shooter or rapist or pshycho killer, he is wondering how the fuck he created this mess and where he went wrong.

or, he's a sick fuck and is enjoying it.

sorry, i believe there is no god.

but, i like this "dispatch" concept better than the others. :up:
 
I have had the religious experience through nature, I don't think it has anything to do with an actual God, I believe that we all should understand religious feelings so that they aren't exploited.
 
MissVelvetDress_75 said:
I believe in something higher and bigger than me.

A co-worker almost died in front of me on Tuesday from a massive heart attack and I think his life was spared because something else took over. His chances for survival were minimal.
Click to expand...
By pure chance I met two cousins at the Australian Museum at the same time on the same day, we arrived for independent reasons.

This is an astounding coincidence, 3 first cousins meeting at a side entrance, for a city the size of Sydney the odds are astonishing.

But breaking it down.

I was visiting the Museum from another state to look at specimens, I visited every day of the week, I walked in the side entrance at 10:00am.

Cousin K was looking after a desk for a media conference being held the same day and would be at the desk for hours.

Given the location of the desk in front of the collections entrance I needed to go through it is unlikely that I wouldn't have met her in the morning.

Cousin L walked in the side entrance to have coffee with me (pre-arranged) and we were all in the same place.

It's still astonishing but it is less improbable, and given that the museum is a point of overlap between the artistic and scientific groups it narrows the pool of potential people visiting the fossil collection or manning a media conference desk even further.

My brain will remember this incident for a very long time, it sticks out as improbable, but this reinforcement bias of my memory does not give the event cosmic significance.

I have the instinctive sense that something magical has happened, that it is just so improbable that it just had to have been planned out, but the simple fact is that it was one of many improbable events that happen every day to lots of people which in the course of a human life become rather common.

I think that is a healthy form of active scepticism, it doesn't make the event any less cool, it just means I won't let my impulse to seek out patterns rule my life.

So when we see or experience something "miraculous", we should stop and think about how improbable the event actually is, and what the competing explanations are, it should stop us all stumbling into superstition.
 
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