Hi, I'm Tom

[tomday]

Hi, I'm Tom.  I am a Brit, getting on in years, who is sick and tired of being judged and condemned because I don't identify with society's norm of supertitious, religious dogma by 'believing' in any god.  

I have decided that it is high time that I attempted to get in touch with other intelligent human beings who are happy to accept that they exist only because of a chance happening at the time of their conception, which just happened to be at that particlar  phase of humen evolution, and that there was no 'divine' purpose or intervention involved in their existence.

I feel that not believing in any supernatural deity should be the norm for any intelligent human being that is able to apply simple logic. I consider myself to be very intelligent (Mensa 160) and have been engaged all my working life in analysis (earlier in life in military intelligence and for the past 20 years in commercial analytical consultancy).   In the context of religion and intellect, it strikes me as significant that the war in Iraq was started by a deeply religious US President and a UK Prime Minister who has since announced his conversion to Catholicism! - say no more!!

Whilst I feel humbled that the probability of my conception was many millions-to-one against (in terms of eggs and sperm expended at that precise time) and that those odds permutate to an unbelievable extent when applied to each of my parents, their parents etc. etc. etc. I am happy to remain humbled and don't want any 'divine' intervention  to be ascribed to my being here, or the occupation of my randomly-occuring body by a 'soul', to make me feel special!   I am, just as you are, a chance happening in this existence.  I don't see how I could possibly have inherited a 'soul' - given that there have never been so many people on this planet, where would all the 'souls' have come from to occupy the present 6 billion?

So that's me in a nutshell; I now look forward to engaging in meaningful discussion with you all!

[Bella]

Hi, Tom.

[Tom62]

Hi Tom, I'm Tom. Welcome!

[jcm]

Welcome Tom

I agree with what you said about the soul. What I am confused about is how a soul enters your body. Is the soul in the egg or the sperm? Does it jump into the body at the moment of fertilization? It is all so confusing to me. Also if your soul is your true self then why does one’s personality change due to brain damage. Why is the magic and memories affected by altering your body? Your body does all the work to make you the person you are. I don’t see what a soul really contributes.

[tomday]

Hi Bella,  don't ask me, I have never been to one - I only took the Mensa exam to check whether it was me that was mad or the rest of the world!  :wink:  Nice to meet you.

[tomday]

Hi Tom, thanks for your welcome, look forward to interacting with you.

[McQ]

Welcome to the forum, tomday. Glad to have you here, and thank you for sharing a little bit about yourself. You're in the right place, so jump in!

[tomday]

great to get so many responses in the first few hours of my intro message!

McQ - thanks for your welcome!

jcm - thanks for yours - I also haven't a clue about the nature of the 'soul' that we were brought up to understand/indoctrinated to accept as the link between each of us and the mystical world of the hereafter (heaven and hell), also, logically, the 'herebefore' (reincarnation).  
I reckon that for anyone who cannot accept the reality of simple mortality, the thought of some part of their intellect/spirit living on is a great comfort.   Religion has always been about providing the potential of salvation (going to heaven) to simple people who are frightened into submission by threats of "burning in damnation" by the church working for the feudal land owners, conquistadors etc.  I figure that the concept of the 'soul' had to be introduced to ensure that there was something to burn! (funny that so many religious people get cremated, don't you think?).

[rlrose328]

Hi Tom... welcome!  I look forward to hearing more from you!

[tomday]

So, if this is "God’s earth" that he/she/it is said to have created â€" given that "God is love", "God is all powerful", "God is all seeing" (and all everything else!), how come he/she/it is leaving the solving of global warming to us mere mortals?

Maybe he/she/it should have arranged another ‘virgin birth’ for a global environmental saviour to have come among us â€" then again, given that God would have the power of foresight, maybe he/she/it did actually arrange it in 1948, but ‘Albert Gore’ is not such a catchy name as Jesus Christ and I don’t think it will catch on (“Gorianity” does not have the same ring about it!)

 :?

[Tom62]

Albert Gore as saviour of the environment? That guy uses up more energy in a single day than a whole african city in one year. Yes, I think we should keep our environment clean, but not with someone who is very flexible with the truth to get the environmental message across.

[tomday]

Albert Gore as saviour of the environment? That guy uses up more energy in a single day than a whole african city in one year. Yes, I think we should keep our environment clean, but not with someone who is very flexible with the truth to get the environmental message across.

Agreed, tell that to the Nobel Foundation!

[SteveS]

Hi tomday!

I feel that not believing in any supernatural deity should be the norm for any intelligent human being that is able to apply simple logic.

So it would seem to me as well.  Cheers and welcome!