I don't really have a need for life to make sense, but I'd definitely rather live life believing there is a God and find out (or not, as the case would be) that there is no eternal life, no purgatory, no heaven. If you ask me, that beats going through life without hope for those things and then finding out that you should have done something about it in your Earthly lifetime.

and that equates to fear chloe

...and that would be the argument for http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pascal's_Wager

thanks leeeroy........good stuff

"Suppose there is a God who is watching us and choosing which souls of the deceased to bring to heaven, and this god really does want only the morally good to populate heaven. He will probably select from only those who made a significant and responsible effort to discover the truth. For all others are untrustworthy, being cognitively or morally inferior, or both. They will also be less likely ever to discover and commit to true beliefs about right and wrong. That is, if they have a significant and trustworthy concern for doing right and avoiding wrong, it follows necessarily that they must have a significant and trustworthy concern for knowing right and wrong. Since this knowledge requires knowledge about many fundamental facts of the universe (such as whether there is a god), it follows necessarily that such people must have a significant and trustworthy concern for always seeking out, testing, and confirming that their beliefs about such things are probably correct. Therefore, only such people can be sufficiently moral and trustworthy to deserve a place in heaven ? unless god wishes to fill heaven with the morally lazy, irresponsible, or untrustworthy."

yeah, that's pretty much pascal's wager chloe.

if i could chose to believe, i would. i would love that warm blanket.

but if you applied that same logic towards all aspects of your spirituality you should also be praying to mecca 5 times daily, reading the book of mormon, the veddas, the baghata vita, following the 5 fold path, and sacrificing a virgin every day.

you know....just in case you are to find out Islam, or LDS, or Hinduism, or Buddhism, or Mayan religion is correct.

and shouldn't you also live a modest life without electricity in case the Friends are correct? and shouldn't you also live the life of a Hassidic Jew and eat Koshur in case the Torah is true(and also eat Halal in case Islam is correct again?)

or do you only follow the superstitions of the religion of your parents? and if so, how lucky you were to be born into the exact correct belief system.

lol on the bus into work today, some rando crazy spastic church was picketing outside of the jcc with signs boldly saying "GOD HATES FAGS", "FAGS GO TO HELL". i chuckled in light of the kdice forums.

oh, btw, jcc stands for jewish community center. who the hell would choose to picket against homosexuality outside of a jewish community center?

richmond, va, is way too small a community for this. it was funny watching how everyone craned their necks like wtf is that? and then all the police standing around like wtf are we doing out here...

I propose we discuss the merits of Scientology.

the merits of scientology depend on how high up the pyramid you are.

on one hand, Scientology is amusing to me because it helps expose the perils of organized religion.

"Writing science fiction for about a penny a word is no way to make a living, If you really want to make a million, the quickest way is to start your own religion."
~ L. Ron Hubbard

on the other hand, it deprives its adherents mental health care sometimes resulting in horrific outcomes including death to those that follow so its really just sad.

still...

One man's religion is another mans' belly laugh."
~ Isaac Asimov

Yeah this was an easy 100 post steal.

As for why im involved in religion. I feel that it gives me a purpose. It's nice to think that we where all put here by a greater being and that we have been put her to serve each other. In the end it does not come down to fear though. that is a very negative perspective. In the end it comes down to hope for me. I hope all the time that we are all something more then just coils of flesh. When we die wouldnt it be nice if we didnt just cease? I mean doesnt it give you a warm fuzzy feeling to think that the good you do here and now will bring you an unimaginabley great reward?