Can We All Agree With These "Facts" About God?

[CardSharpCook]

I'll buy what you're selling.

[lfairban]

I, for one, will not disagree, but then, I am an agnostic. I am sure there are many people who will.

What you are describing is the modern view of religion as opposed to the more traditional or fundamentalist form of religion. I can’t see why people would be praying daily if they thought that God only intervened on rare occasions.

One of the best insights I ever heard as to the nature of religion in its many forms since pre-historic times is that it is the individual human’s attempt to influence that which he cannot control and explain what no one understands. That is why there are no atheists in foxholes, and there are myths about creation and the sun crossing the sky. Why would a mother for instance pray for the protection of her child in a foreign country if God’s protection was insignificantly probable? Because that is the only alternative that presents itself.

Religion has many other functions, to teach successive generations lessons about human nature and their role in society. It has also been used to control the population and establish a hierarchy of power.

The truth about the nature of God is impossible for the human to discern with any degree of certainty. Does God establish the laws of physics and step back and let it happen, or does he individually dictate that every apple drop from a tree on every occasion?

The only thing I can say for sure is, “I don’t know”. That is why I am an agnostic.

[Jimbo]

To preface my line of thinking, I do not believe in God. But if I did I would disagree since the only context I would have is that God would be tinkering around with stuff all the time. How else can you explain a smokin hot chick with a butt ugly poor smelly guy? How do you explain the disparity in actors and athletes income compared to a really useful profession? Why else would there be bad beats in poker? Probability? Ha!!

So either God indeed micromanges stuff all the time for his (yes I said his) own amusement or there is no God.

Jimbo