NationStates Jolt Archive

Disregard this thread, I messed up and need to repost. Sorry....

The ‘God question’ is the most important question we as human beings can answer.

Why?

kind of a long wait to get to the meat of the topic isnt it?

Indeed.

kind of a long wait to get to the meat of the topic isnt it?

Lol, sorry. I'm writing this as an article for something else not specifically as a forum post, so it's a bit long winded for a forum. I simply decided to post it to get peoples reactions.

((The following is an article I am writing on the existence of God, please feel free to share your thoughts, critiques, and opinions. If you think I am wrong, please say so and explain why... I know this can be a heated topic for both theists and atheists and everyone in between, so I ask that any who post here be respectful, thanks.))

The ‘God question’ is the most important question we as human beings can answer. Does God exist? If so, what is God like? What does God like? In this article I will try to make the case for the existence of God, but a few things should be made clear first. Though I will try not to comment about specific religions, my own viewpoint on the ‘God question’- Roman Catholicism- should be noted. Also, it is important to make clear that none of the arguments I present here are truly my own. I am simply combining, and occasionally adding to, the arguments of Dr. Francis Collins- author of The Language of God, Father William O’Malley- a prominent Catholic religious educator and Jesuit priest, and the great British author C.S. Lewis.

1. A few things before we begin….

Currently in the United States, and I assume elsewhere in the Western world, there is a massive Church-State debate. Secularists fear God sneaking His way into science classrooms through pseudo scientific theories like Intelligent Design- whose advocates declare the evolution is false on the basis of certain scientific observations and statistics, and blatantly religious viewpoints such as Young-Earth Creationism which posits that the Earth is approximately 6,000 years old and denies a great deal of scientific findings about the history of the universe.* I do not agree with either of these theories, and think it is important that believers embrace the discoveries of science. The veracity of these claims however, has very little to do with the argument I am about to make. My argument for God applies both for those who do accept ID and creationism, and for those who accept evolution and all other proven scientific discoveries as facts.

Another important note: I am not condemning anyone that is mentioned in this article- atheists, homosexuals, Biblical Fundamentalists, secularists, Jews, ect ect- to Hell. It is my belief that all people regardless of creed and culture can achieve salvation. That is not to say I don’t believe in Hell, or that many people go to hell… I simply don’t believe that any one religion (or there lack of) has a monopoly on Heaven (I do, however, believe that only one religion possesses the fullness of truth).

All people should be treated with respect, charity, and love; even if we don’t agree with them or approve of their ‘lifestyle’ (not that we have to tolerate foolish or dangerous ideologies). Love is the central doctrine of Christianity, and I see it becoming lost in a sea of picayune rules focused on making a person at best ‘unbad’ and not actively good. When we arrive at the (metaphorical) Pearly Gates, Christ is not going to ask us, “Were you gay? Divorced? Conservative? Liberal? Did you use birth control? Have premarital sex? Did you fight for/against Intelligent Design? Go to Church every Sunday?” (not that these things are unimportant), but “I was the one they called faggot, nerd, slut. I was the one they mocked, the one they beat, the one they starved. What did you do about that?”


((More to come, share your thoughts))

* run-on

The essay as a whole is highly informal, almost conversational. Is this for a class? If so I highly recommend polishing it up considerably before you submit.

The ‘God question’ is the most important question we as human beings can answer.

Actually, no. It is decidedly irrelevant.

Almost definitionally, the most important question humans can ask is "what ought we to do?" - what actions are morally valuable. Since that question only tangentially involves God, I don't see why His existence is such a crucial question.

When we arrive at the (metaphorical) Pearly Gates, Christ is not going to ask us, “Were you gay? Divorced? Conservative? Liberal? Did you use birth control? Have premarital sex? Did you fight for/against Intelligent Design? Go to Church every Sunday?” (not that these things are unimportant), but “I was the one they called faggot, nerd, slut. I was the one they mocked, the one they beat, the one they starved. What did you do about that?”

But then, God did say very explicitly in Leviticus that people who engage in same-sex intercourse ought to be murdered - and even if He relented in the harshness after Jesus came, I'm not sure anyone should worship any being who could ever have obligated such in a moral code. It still implies that it is a crime deserving of death.

Perhaps God loves gays - but then, God loves murderers and rapists, too. Excusing away religious homophobia by insisting that "God loves everyone!" is a case of damning with faint praise.

It's not for a class, it's meant to be conversational. Also, I'm posting my first draft as I write it with only a brief read over... sorry for grammatical mistakes.

i have to agree with deus. ditch everything you have written so far and start again.

get right to what you want to talk about. starting with what you DONT want to talk about is just wrong. put your disclaimer about your personal belief either at the end or in a footnote.

I liked the topic of the essay, yet the essay itself has a problem that I found


"In this essay I will..." is informal and weak writing. It's alright if it's for a newspaper or maybe a speech, but for an English class it needs a bit of polishing.

i have to agree with deus. ditch everything you have written so far and start again.

get right to what you want to talk about. starting with what you DONT want to talk about is just wrong. put your disclaimer about your personal belief either at the end or in a footnote.

I disagree, since this is going to be presented (not for grading) primarily to atheists who despise IDers and creationists I wanted to clear out misconceptions first. Thanks for the thoughts though, I'll definately cut down on the rambling...

I disagree, since this is going to be presented (not for grading) primarily to atheists who despise IDers and creationists I wanted to clear out misconceptions first. Thanks for the thoughts though, I'll definately cut down on the rambling...

so your topic ISNT the existence of god but something related to ID and creationism?

stick to your topic and leave out the distractions.

are you going to advocate the existence of the christian god only?

@Ashmoria:

Alright, I wasnt really clear in my purpose here:

No, I am not planning on going so far as establishing the Christian God as God- which would require an in depth discussion fo the Bible, theology, and of history, but simply to argue that there is a good possibility that God exists without using "scientific" arguments like ID.

Since, in my experience, a huge obstacle to atheists even considering the existance of the Christian God is creationism and ID. I wanted to clearly state my position, and get rid of pre-concieved ideas of where I am coming from


@Soheran:

You make a good point there, and I unfortunately made the mistake of posting this thing in parts. My objective here is to establish the reality of a God, not the Christian God. I first wanted to state where I was coming from.

@Ashmoria:

Alright, I wasnt really clear in my purpose here:

No, I am not planning on going so far as establishing the Christian God as God- which would require an in depth discussion fo the Bible, theology, and of history, but simply to argue that there is a good possibility that God exists without using "scientific" arguments like ID.

Since, in my experience, a huge obstacle to atheists even considering the existance of the Christian God is creationism and ID. I wanted to clearly state my position, and get rid of pre-concieved ideas of where I am coming from


ahhh ok. that makes quite a difference. doyou have more to post yet?

Yeah, and thanks for your help. I'm going to repost this thread where I am more clear. Since my audience will know the purpose of my speech I stupidly assumed that people here would. Anyway, continue to post your thoughs on the "meat" of the introduction while I restructure this thing to be more suitable for a forum.

what, exactly, is the challenge here?

What is this gibberish? This belongs in your diary, not NSG.

You challenge me? I fart in your general direction.

I am still fundamentally in the dark as to what the 'God question' is.

I am still fundamentally in the dark as to what the 'God question' is.

God, or not god, that is the question. Whether 'tis nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous parable, or take arms against a sea of proselytizing, and by opposing end them?

God, or not god, that is the question.

...presupposing that it actually matters one way or another, no?