Androo Gee Doh !

[smile-holland]

And thus this thread will be banished to the sandbox:

That would by now indeed be the right place.... banish is a big word btw, the sandbox is a worthy part of this board. Let's call it an upgrade.

[Jason]

I always thought it would be a fun idea to have Purgatory and Hell subforums on here...as opposed to banning members outright, they get sent to Purgatory until they wise up, and to Hell if they really f*** up.

[hypehat]

And thus this thread will be banished to the sandbox:

Do atheists not believe in a designer of the universe? Or is it solely unbelief in an overseer/holy-diety of the universe?

Both, in my case. Life is a big coincedence. Which is a wonderful way to think about things, rather than being some all-powerful deities plaything.Scientific explanations for the universe and all that is in it make much more sense to me than 'God did it'.

[Mike's Beard]

I think Nobody's low moment was when he posted something in The Sandbox about his dog's merda, and posted a picture of it. Or something like that. And started calling people atheist's.

Is that supposed to be an insult from him? The implication is that it is.   I am an atheist and proud of it.  The truth is most of us are atheists when it comes to Thor, Zeus, Apollo or the other thousands of gods that have ended up on the scrapheap of history.  Surely no one here gets up in the morning concerned/worrying about Baal, Isis etc... (insert god here).  Atheists just go one god further: in my case, the Judeo/Christian god of the tradition which I accidently happened to be born into.  It could have been anything else. Totally random.   Just saying. "Atheist" should not be a dirty word.  

Oh boy, and off we go the sandbox.  God only knows....

Before this thread is banished to the sandbox along with Nobodys pictures of dog turds can I just ask you all something that has bugged me for years - if the gods from other religions all over the world each have their own name, why is the god of Christianity just called God?

Probably to say he's 'the 1 true God'... also, he does have a name.  Jews believed that it was a sin to say his name, and I believe the name was supposedly unpronounceable, only able to be written.  I could be wayyyyyyy off base here.  One of the 10 commandments also is not to use the lord's name in vain... which technically was interpreted as meaning don't mention God when you're talking about yourself, or the things we toil with on earth, just to make yourself look better.

So it's like a car saleman who calls himself "The Lords Carlot" and adertises to everybody he's a christian.  That's using the lord for vanity, or 'taking the lords name in vain" .

I hereby proclaim it is now a mortal sin to utter my name! Any BB fan heard speaking aloud the name mike's beard will be subjected to an unholy plague of Chicken Dances,Silly Lawsuits and the never ending torture of Country Love played at high decibels. Do not incur thy Wrath.

[Jason]

With honking sax solos and long, nasal "wheeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeen"s?

[the captain]

There are several different words used for god in the Hebrew of the Bible, including YHWH and Elohim. Some of the various names appear to be derived from other local gods' names. The change over time is typically considered evidence of assorted religions and a polytheistic people becoming what is now considered monotheistic Judaism, which then edited assorted stories into a purportedly cohesive scripture. But also, the question isn't really an accurate one, in that other religions also name their gods "God." Allah means god, for example. (It also is etymologically related to Elohim, according to a book I recently read.)

[Jason]

YHWH was considered the unpronounceable name, wasn't it? Of course our use of English dictates that the lack of vowels makes YHWH unpronounceable, but...yeah. I wrote lots of Hebrew as a kid when I doodled in my notebooks in school.

[rab2591]

And thus this thread will be banished to the sandbox:

Do atheists not believe in a designer of the universe? Or is it solely unbelief in an overseer/holy-diety of the universe?

Both, in my case. Life is a big coincedence. Which is a wonderful way to think about things, rather than being some all-powerful deities plaything.Scientific explanations for the universe and all that is in it make much more sense to me than 'God did it'.

For now I cannot limit my thinking to "there is no god" or even "there is a god" - for I haven't seen any evidence for either. I suppose that makes me agnostic....

EDIT: I didn't mean to imply you have a limited capacity for thought lol....just that MY knowledge as of now forces me not to make a decision.

[Mike's Beard]

Thanks for the replies guys. I'm a set in stone atheist but am fascinated by religion nonetheless.

[the captain]

YHWH was considered the unpronounceable name, wasn't it? Of course our use of English dictates that the lack of vowels makes YHWH unpronounceable, but...yeah. I wrote lots of Hebrew as a kid when I doodled in my notebooks in school.

I have read that, but I have also read that it was basically a shorthand for writing the words of god's answer about his name to Moses, "I am who I am" or some such thing. And that that was the point of the "unpronounceable" thing: not that you couldn't say it (although it was written sans vowels, you could easily say it, just like wtf can be said by any modern reader), but that you SHOULDN'T say his name, because of the old idea that knowing a name of someone gave you the power to invoke him in curses and the like. So in that story, the meaning of the word/abbreviation was basically a "never mind. You can't pronounce my name because I'm not telling you my name." I don't know exactly what the truth is in the etymology of that word, though.

[rab2591]

YHWH was considered the unpronounceable name, wasn't it? Of course our use of English dictates that the lack of vowels makes YHWH unpronounceable, but...yeah. I wrote lots of Hebrew as a kid when I doodled in my notebooks in school.

I have read that, but I have also read that it was basically a shorthand for writing the words of god's answer about his name to Moses, "I am who I am" or some such thing. And that that was the point of the "unpronounceable" thing: not that you couldn't say it (although it was written sans vowels, you could easily say it, just like wtf can be said by any modern reader), but that you SHOULDN'T say his name, because of the old idea that knowing a name of someone gave you the power to invoke him in curses and the like. So in that story, the meaning of the word/abbreviation was basically a "never mind. You can't pronounce my name because I'm not telling you my name." I don't know exactly what the truth is in the etymology of that word, though.

From what I have read you are spot on. Many Hebrews do not even write out "god" - rather they write "gd"....same with YHWH - it is too holy to say out loud or write down...hence the abbreviation.

[A Million Units In Jan!]

I think Nobody's low moment was when he posted something in The Sandbox about his dog's merda, and posted a picture of it. Or something like that. And started calling people atheist's.

Is that supposed to be an insult from him? The implication is that it is.   I am an atheist and proud of it.  The truth is most of us are atheists when it comes to Thor, Zeus, Apollo or the other thousands of gods that have ended up on the scrapheap of history.  Surely no one here gets up in the morning concerned/worrying about Baal, Isis etc... (insert god here).  Atheists just go one god further: in my case, the Judeo/Christian god of the tradition which I accidently happened to be born into.  It could have been anything else. Totally random.   Just saying. "Atheist" should not be a dirty word. 

Oh boy, and off we go the sandbox.  God only knows....

Well, I guess I should have been more clear; he was calling somebody an atheist with no proof-it sort of came out of thin air, and I think he meant it as an insult. Why else would he make a post that read 'Luther is an atheist' besides just to try and offend people. It didn't really work. Personally, I could care less what religion, race, etc. you are. I was just showing an example of him saying things to try and get responses out of people.

[the captain]

Although if he called me one, he'd be correct. Which might have made such an "insult" the first and only time I agreed with something he wrote! 

[SloopJohnB]

This chart might be useful (re: some messages in page 3 of this thread)

[Ron]

And thus this thread will be banished to the sandbox:

Do atheists not believe in a designer of the universe? Or is it solely unbelief in an overseer/holy-diety of the universe?

Both, in my case. Life is a big coincedence. Which is a wonderful way to think about things, rather than being some all-powerful deities plaything.Scientific explanations for the universe and all that is in it make much more sense to me than 'God did it'.

I've never understood athiests, because to me it seems like they just practice a different religion, they believe (with all their heart) in science and athiesm... making them exactly like a Christian/Hindu/etc. 

Now AGnostics, I understand that. 

[Ron]

This chart might be useful (re: some messages in page 3 of this thread)

I think the chart's a little simplified, but I guess it has to be.

I'm firmly a Gnostic Theist, I believe god exists and I claim to know God exists, but I don't go so far as to think that everybody else should come to the same conclusion.  I don't feel people are ignorant, for instance, if they don't think God exists.  I just think that they see it differently than I do.  I don't think you need to know god or whatever to go to Heaven, either.  On the chart, I can understand Agnostic Athiesm, but I can't understand Gnostic Athiesm. 

[Ron]

As for the unpronounceable name thing, an interesting story from the bible is the one of Jacob.  I haven't read it in years, but as I remember it

Jacob is walking through the woods one day, and starts wrestling with this huge strong man that comes out of nowhere.  The guy breaks Jacob's hip, then Jacob refuses to let go of him,k and wrestles him for like 24 hours demanding the guy repair his hip.  Finally the guy fixes his broken hip, and they stop fighting and jacob lets go of him.  Jacob asks the guy his name, and the guy doesn't reply.  The guy asks Jacob his name, and he tells him it's Jacob... the guy says something like "From now on you'll be known as Israel, because you've wrestled with God" and then dissapears.

So the story kind of hints at God's name being unpronounceable, or whatever as well.  I guess Israel technically is translated as "Wrestles with God" ?  I always thought it was an interesting story. 

[Alex]

So how long until thomasogg shows up again?!

[the captain]

I've never understood athiests, because to me it seems like they just practice a different religion, they believe (with all their heart) in science and athiesm... making them exactly like a Christian/Hindu/etc. 

Now AGnostics, I understand that. 

I missed this before, btw, but I disagree with you (for most cases--frankly, any lumping together ends up a little tricky, as people often self-identify with a lot more nuance than a catch-all term allows). Generally, atheists do not blindly believe there to be no god, but instead believe that there is no reason to believe in any god. It isn't a "religion of godlessness," it's a rejection of worshipping deities of whom there is no proof, only belief. Instead, they typically believe that evidence should be studied (often through scientific method) and conclusions should come from that. Many atheists whom I've read or seen say, "hey, if there's a god, fine ... I look forward to seeing any evidence of the fact." But diverse ancient beliefs with diverging explanations for purportedly factual histories of the world and changing moral/ethical/legal regulations over time just don't fit that category. They're not saying science has proved there is no god; they're saying nobody has ever given reliable evidence there is a god, and you don't start from the point of belief in the supernatural until it is disproved.

[♩♬🐸 Billy C ♯♫♩🐇]

So how long until thomasogg shows up again?!

Hopefully never...

[grillo]

It's all about *wanting* god to exist!

Theists *want* him to exist, so they just parrot their favorite fortune cookie from their holy book and parade that as "truth" and "proof".

Agnostics also *want* him to exist, but they know the holy books are a load of sh*t, so they make up more esoteric justifications to make themselves sound more intelligent than those silly "believers".

Just sayin...

[the captain]

I think it's more about centuries-old (and even longer) traditions, more than anything. It isn't easy to reject--no matter how much logic or science suggests you should--what you, your parents, your grandparents, your people were raised on.

[Mike's Beard]

So how long until thomasogg shows up again?!

Hopefully never...

He was well before my time but from what I can gather wasn't he the guy with a servere case of Dennis Wilson DNA on his breath?

[the captain]

Yep, that's the guy.

[Alex]

So how long until thomasogg shows up again?!

Hopefully never...

He was well before my time but from what I can gather wasn't he the guy with a servere case of Dennis Wilson DNA on his breath?

I miss that guy...