EdgedThesis

Oh, I always thought of Atheism to be belief in the lack of God, not just the lack of belief. It's fine to not have faith, the idea of God is pretty far fetched. I was brought to that impression because of how aggressive some atheist speakers were. v--- I understood that. I acquiesced. That was unneccessary.

I still stand with the fact that nothing can be proved or disproved. In Abrahamic religions, God exists outside of the universe he has created. Our physical laws cannot be applied to him. You make take this as a religion's attempt to guard their deity from scientists, or that it is the reason why he is so incomprehensible, but either way, either belief (Atheism/Theism) is impossible to prove.

I agree wholeheartedly with your second statement. I just hope that if a God exists, his mercy and what I have done in life will outweigh my lack of faith/prayer. It's a mystery that will make death enjoyable. Well, as enjoyable as dying can be. I'll get the answer to all of my questions. In a perfect world, by the end of this, all of us are going to be kickin' it in heaven. Or, we'd be nonexistent, and we wouldn't be able to care. : p Cool, this discussion is at it's end. Time for some sleep. 'Night.

Oh, haha. Yes, in my first post I stated that 'even if God did exist, blah.' Whatever, it was a learning experience behind your viewpoint. No harm, really. I can't say if God exists or does not. It's an unanswerable question. Sure, we could have been brought into existence without divine aid, but that doesn't mean it isn't there. I'm sure this will offend people, and I'm sorry, but, I think that if you assume one answer or the other correct, than you are a little arrogant. I think the term for people with my point of view is 'Agnostic'. Neutral. However, I'm leaning to the 'nonexistent' side a little bit just because humans have a tendency to assign personality to something they do not know fully. Lightning, thunder, meh, it can all be explained. But they used to be mighty deities to people to primitive to understand them. But the reason Abrahamic religions still thrive is because the fundamental questions it answers are pretty much unanswerable. Or without an answer. They still thrive because we want to give purpose and importance to our race, even though we just might be a random occurrence. I'm sure someone has already said this though.

I guess Christianity is different from Islam, if God doesn't have a distinct set of rules. A rule I have learned is that I have to be grateful and in a constant state of awe for what God is. I have to thank him. Pray to him. Insist that all the good and bad that has happened to me is because of him. I just don't want to, for my earlier reasons. I won't be thankful for an advantage given by chance of birth. By a pair of cosmic dice. And so I defy what I've been told to do: be in perpetual gratitude and submission. To love Him. And Morals are objective? How? Maybe outside influences will spark thought and create a definite rule which YOU yourself generate that dictates between right and wrong-- but I don't see moral rules etched into our brains at birth. A lot of my morals used to be based off of Aesop's :/

He DOES provide resources. But I won't thank him or worship him. It's his obligation to do so. Self preservation is necessary in any organism. If this 'program' was absent, the individual would be eliminated from the gene pool. Only the creatures who struggle to stay alive will stay alive, and only they will pass their genetic information to new generations. What I see as good can't have been instilled. 'Good' is thought of differently by different people. Some people would ask you to keep a person alive, simply for the sake of being alive, while this person has nothing to live for. Such as in the case of paralysis. The people who ask you to keep this person alive would regard you as 'good' if you fulfilled their request. Others would ask you to kill him without hesitation to stop him from suffering. This action would be thought by these people as 'good.' There is no universal moral law. Nothing that can be instilled. What I see as good may be idiocy in another's eyes. You think of yourself as good. You worship god. I believe myself to be good. But a requirement of my ethics is to defy him.

Self-preservation is what drives an individual to stay alive. That doesn't mean he or she can do it. Obviously we need resources, which god is obligated to provide. Self-preservation makes us find those resources. Self Preservation keeps me from committing suicide, because I value my life. But I was made to do so by basic rules that govern living things. When I said I am good because I am good, I wasn't being redundant. I gave the reason for my 'goodness' to be intrinsic, not something I was told to do.

Why would it matter, even if a God did exist? Should I really be thankful to just have been created? Not really. I never asked to be created. Of course I want to stay alive now, but that's because I'm programmed with self-preservation as a priority. Should I really be thankful that I'm being provided for? Nope. If someone created me, it is their obligation to keep me alive. At a cosmic level, there is no need for petty human manners, no need for a 'thank you.' I can't be grateful not because I'm a [puncture], but because I am one of the few who have enough to live comfortably. I refuse to thank something that just luckily gave me opportunities, but denies them to my fellow humans. I refuse to thank him for my fortune to avoid being a [puncture]. The beginning of our lives are started by this God. Apparently, we are here to be tested. Some of us get easy kindergarten peg/hole tests, while others get college level exams. I will not be thankful for this injustice. I won't be thankful because I have an advantage not won by ability or skill (but hey, even those are dictated by genes. Which God apparently infuses). I will stand with my fellow Man, not this God that promises me happiness if I betray them. If there was a God, I'd care only because it is a major discovery ( a sentient being that can do whatever), but I will not worship him. Never. I'd be happy to have a discussion with him though. Oh, right: I don't like having my morals being credited to some omnipotent being. I am good because I am good. Not because I was commanded. Religion takes all the meaning out of a good deed...

[upon request of reason why he's so comfortable in a maximum security prison] "I just play the hand I was dealt. And then I cheat." --Richard B. Rid[bleep] "The point of philosophy is to start with something so simple as not to seem worth stating, and to end with something so paradoxical that no one will believe it."-Bertrand Russell "Fear is strange soil. Mainly it grows obedience like corn, which grows in rows and makes weeding easy. But sometimes it grows the potatoes of defiance, which flourish underground." --I have no idea.

I always liked the idea of time travel that isn't really time travel, but a rip into a parallel universe that is older/younger than our own. That way, it'd be impossible to screw our own timeline up, and there couldn't be any event paradoxes. If you killed your grandpa, you'd actually be killing your counterpart from being born, not yourself. Of course, there'd be no way to know if a universe is exactly the same as ours up til that point. Michael Chrichton used this in Timeline, haha. Not sure if it has any heavy scientific weight behind it.

Sorry if other people wrote this. I'm pretty sure the only light you could catch even with ftl speeds would be bright ones. Otherwise there would be way too much interference. So, you could see a brilliant supernova, or a sun being born--- but not Caesar's march on Rome. It would be cool to have archives on our history from THIS point on however. Installation of mirrors at precise points in the DEEP vacuum of space, far away from other points of light. If the light paths are clear enough, future generations can glimpse the earth as it was way back when. With multiple mirrors placed farther and farther away, you can have a chronicle that is based upon bouncing photons and what not. Anyway...

Hide in an underground bunker with friends and family as the nations of the world unleash their nukes into the skies and the Earth. After the noise has stopped, I'd go out in environmental suits and rejoice: this outside ordeal has united the world under one banner--making us as strong as ever. Then it'd be OUR time to invade-- so I'll run up to the local Space Marine recruitment office.

By the way, I don't think 2012 was meant to signify a doomsday. Apparently, it's just supposed to be a new beginning for mankind. Based on humanity's choice--this beginning can lead us on a path to disaster, or salvation.

Isn't 2012 the year where our system enters a new Galactic Day? A complete revolution around the center of the Galaxy. And I think now our planet can get direct light from the center, therefore being a 'Galactic Morning.' I'll look it up. I don't know if read it somewhere, or just made it up.

EDIT: Post has become obsolete.

Chronicles Of Rid[bleep]: Assault On Dark Athena. Sure, it isn't out yet, but if it's supposed to be a remake of Escape From Butcher Bay, it's already my favorite. That game was ridiculous!

^see, now THAT is fine. Just get it done quick, so you can get to the next criminal. ...Boba Fett style.

Hmm, cool. I feel like I've accomplished something.

No one deserves being buried alive. If you're going to kill the guy, make it quick. It doesn't matter if it's painful or not, he'll be nonexistent the next few moments. Why waste time? Unless of course you admit to giving in to your own sadistic pleasures and trying to take some odd type of revenge on this guy. In which case, you can go ahead knowing that you've sunk as low as many psychopaths have.

Just like you do, when you're about to make a hit? :P I dunno, seems strange that a dude named Lockopener wants to know about locks and a Hitman comes to answer him...

Technology simply amplifies human intent. You can't really think that an incompetent human would be able to kill us all, right? XD And if you think humans are competent enough, you can't believe that one of them would suck enough to do so.

Humans have the capacity to be bastards yes, but we also have the capacity to be saviors. Sure, we have men who crawl amongst the lowest moral strata-- But we also have geniuses who amongst their lines of code and instruments are willing to make a better place for us all. Even some who won't intellectually develop the Earth have something morally great to give. We've survived this long, the crap in our gene pool isn't having THAT bad of an effect. Yet.

Wait, didn't it say that he moved/switched seats just to sit next to his victim? I don't know, seems deliberate, not random. Meh.

I know. And it's so hard to put a comedic spin on it! Ah well. I tried.

Look through the eyes of the passionate. ...........Hurricanes whip the waters and winds rip at humanity. ...........Fires burn, sear, and scar the Earth. ...........Rays of cosmic death plunge through the skies. ...........Diseases make men bleed, choke, and suffocate. ...........Sob. ...........Missiles are aimed, primed to bring upon a long winter. ...........Guns are fired, already filling the global pool of blood. ...........Knives are thrust, the slits in throats mirroring the gashes in morality. ...........Knuckles are bruised, just like the mindsets of the optimists. ...........Sobsob. ............Greed and corruption claw at every government. ............Anger and hatred grip the masses, and kill the weak. ............Jealousy and deception daily ruin the lives of the innocent. ............Ignorance and stubbornness blind the world as we know it. ...............................................................................................................What Tragedy. Look through the eyes of the logical. ...........Hurricanes take away the homes of the beachside wealthy. ...........Fires tear down the establishments that are owned by oppressors. ...........Skin cancer curses those stupid enough to bathe in sunlight just to look exotic. ...........Tiny organisms beat the most sophisticated things on the planet with ease. ............Ha! ............Engines of doom are primed to topple their makers. ............Bullets leave barrels only to prompt another storm of metal. ............Blades and edges are like mirrors, but they show us nothing when covered with crimson veils. ............Fists are broken, and pain goes not to the enemy, but to yourself. ...........Haha! ...........The very nature of men collapses nations, simply by force of concept and definition. ...........The people are angry, hating, and stupidand they cause death due to emotion. ...........Envy and lies grip society, and we are brought down due to our own filthy habits. ...........You and everyone who reads this are influenced by such simple things as words and symbols. ................................................................................................................What Comedy!