greetings

[phillip1882]

hey from Florida!
my name is Phillip,
I was born and raised in the christian faith, but started to drift away around 18.
around 23, i came back to it, but never really got the joy from it that i had previously.
I've been to several bible studies recently; and found them quite lacking. didn't really do anything for me.
so, lately I've seriously been considering atheism. at least that's based on reality.
currently, I'm hovering between the two. I'd say I'm deist.
but i want to learn and grow in my beliefs.
so, who want to help me kick the God bucket? 

[xSilverPhinx]

Welcome!

[Sandra Craft]

so, who want to help me kick the God bucket? 

Altho there are plenty here ready and willing to jump into that fray, I tend to think that any philosophy (and I include religions in that) is what you make of it and I've known people who make a very good thing of Xtianity, as well those who turn it into a hornet's nest.  I was never able to make anything at all of it and my life improved greatly when I gave up trying.  But that's just me.  

Anyway, welcome!  You've certainly come to the right place to kick around ideas.

[Recusant]

Hello and welcome to HAF, phillip1882.

I think that deism is the most reasonable form of theistic belief, and if you're comfortable with it, I don't have any particular desire to dissuade you from your position. After all, you don't hear about deists trying to deny rights to people because of their sexual orientation or trying to pass laws which would prevent women from having rights over their own bodies, or... well the list gets uglier as it gets longer.

I hope you enjoy your time reading and posting here.

[Tank]

Hello phillip1882

I find it interesting how believers often seem to build their lives around their beliefs, it's to be expected, but I find it odd having never been a theistic/deistic beliver myself. From my naturalistic perspective the universe exists and I have never seen sufficient evidence that the supernatural realm exists or that part of that realm is sentient or that the sentient part is interventionist at a personal level. So I'm a naturalist and that makes me an atheist, but I don't define my life around my non-belief. I think that if one defines one's outlook just on the existance, or not, of God then one lives a blinkered and intellectually impoverished existance. Much better to simply enjoy the world as it is and enjoy each new discovery of the way it works.

Welcome to HAF

Regards
Chris

[DeterminedJuliet]

Welcome! I hope you like it here

[Siz]

so, who want to help me kick the God bucket? 

Altho there are plenty here ready and willing to jump into that fray, I tend to think that any philosophy (and I include religions in that) is what you make of it and I've known people who make a very good thing of Xtianity, as well those who turn it into a hornet's nest.  I was never able to make anything at all of it and my life improved greatly when I gave up trying.  But that's just me.  

Anyway, welcome!  You've certainly come to the right place to kick around ideas.

I'll second that. Once I'd committed to stop worrying about being sent to Hell for my sinful thoughts, I felt liberated. The world is actually a brighter and more wonderous place, and the universe all the more beautiful for it's purposeless, but fascinating infinity.

And the thought of dying forever... what could be more restful than that?!

[Sandra Craft]

Once I'd committed to stop worrying about being sent to Hell for my sinful thoughts, I felt liberated. The world is actually a brighter and more wonderous place, and the universe all the more beautiful for it's purposeless, but fascinating infinity.

The big no-god bonus for me was that once I looked at life as not having a god behind it, all those things I was puzzled about before suddenly made sense, all my questions suddenly had reasonable answers.  Not of the "answer to the meaning of life is 47" type, but of the life has no meaning other than what each individual gives it or makes of their own life type.  Atheism brought a great clarity to life for me.

[The Magic Pudding]

Not of the "answer to the meaning of life is 47" type, but of the life has no meaning other than what each individual gives it or makes of their own life type.

47? Who promotes such nonsense, it's a nasty pointy number.
87 is mystical, I can't briefly explain why, but be assured it is.
We all know what THE number is, are you trolling?
The meaning of life can be expressed as 6x7, not 6x7+5, that's just madness or subversion.

[Siz]

Not of the "answer to the meaning of life is 47" type, but of the life has no meaning other than what each individual gives it or makes of their own life type.

47? Who promotes such nonsense, it's a nasty pointy number.
87 is mystical, I can't briefly explain why, but be assured it is.
We all know what THE number is, are you trolling?
The meaning of life can be expressed as 6x7, not 6x7+5, that's just madness or subversion.

Ahhh, I see...

What was the question?

[Too Few Lions]

I think that deism is the most reasonable form of theistic belief, and if you're comfortable with it, I don't have any particular desire to dissuade you from your position. After all, you don't hear about deists trying to deny rights to people because of their sexual orientation or trying to pass laws which would prevent women from having rights over their own bodies, or... well the list gets uglier as it gets longer.

I agree 100%. I've never had a problem with deism, they've always seemed a tolerant bunch. Welcome to the forum

[The Magic Pudding]

 

Ahhh, I see...

What was the question?

Ahhh I see, I'm being toyed with.
But I refuse to be unless a magic cube is involved.

[OldGit]

The Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything.

In the first novel and radio series, a group of hyper-intelligent pan-dimensional beings demand to learn the Ultimate Answer to the Ultimate Question of Life, The Universe, and Everything from the supercomputer, Deep Thought, specially built for this purpose. It takes Deep Thought 7½ million years to compute and check the answer, which turns out to be 42. The Ultimate Question itself is unknown.

As Pudding said.

In hex it's 2A.  It's a pity Douglas Adams didn't choose 43, we could have asked '2B or not 2B?'  It's ASCII for *.

[Davin]

Not of the "answer to the meaning of life is 47" type, but of the life has no meaning other than what each individual gives it or makes of their own life type.

47? Who promotes such nonsense, it's a nasty pointy number.
87 is mystical, I can't briefly explain why, but be assured it is.
We all know what THE number is, are you trolling?
The meaning of life can be expressed as 6x7, not 6x7+5, that's just madness or subversion.

Relax, breath and read it again. She was talking about the meaning of life, not the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

[Sandra Craft]

Relax, breath and read it again. She was talking about the meaning of life, not the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

Exactly.  Adding in the universe and everything is just over-reaching, in my opinion.