This quote can be found in the bible by the way.
Philippians 3:7-9
"The Message"

Who are you quoting?

EDIT: Oh, nevermind.

Religion?

eewww

personally, the whole organized religion thing is a bit stupid to me. having faith seems like the better alternative

There is a discussion going on about "Artistic Freedom and Religious Faith" on Plime Forum. I thought this group might be interested in it.

The thread is at

Rangoo

To begin...

I do not believe in god with a big 'g' that capitol g personifies or makes god something tangible. I believe that there is a fabric that holds all of space together and the word god is used to simply describe this because we as humans cannot/do not have the capabilities to understand it.

As far as organized religion goes there is one word that springs to mind whenever thinking about it and that word is indoctrination. I even see it when my mom drags me to church they make everyone at the exact same time chant a 'creed' expressing what beliefs are...

Religion to me limits the range of theoretical, spiritual, and philosophical thought

Would I consider myself to be an atheist... no. agnostic... no what am I? I like to think it cannot be categorized

I'm a practicing Jew, but I don't honestly know whether I believe in a higher power. Some days arbitrary laws and invisible absolutes can get me so irate, others it seems these thing are a fiber of my very being. I believe...there is something greater than any individual but I do not see it as separate. Everything is holy, and also unholy. I guess you could call me a pantheist...kabbalist...not so sure. Some days I'm quite the nihilistic existentialist, others I'll be thoughtful, yet others I'll be pious as can be. I've got a penchant for tradition and also a bug in my ear about organized religion. In other words, I don't know.

You can find my new stance on religion here

I take a wide stance

spiritual- not religious- i believe in karma - and i believe in a "god" or "higher being"

I don't think there ever could be a Plimer who didn't believe in karma!

As most people have probably figured out by now, I'm an atheist. Even when I was little I never believed in any of the thousands of gods out there. Basically everything that religion "explains" about life can be explained through science or basic philosophy. I also see religion as holding back human knowledge because it condones not needing evidence to believe in something, and believing in that something even if evidence amounts against it.

For those of you who don't believe in God, what is there after this?

Just NOTHING? I am just asking, I cannot imagine this just being IT. (If so, I have alot more on my list to cross off!)

I am also a recovering catholic myself. I felt closer to God when I left.

In my opinion, yes, it's just nothing. Nonexistence. I've never really understood why everyone has such a problem with not existing. None of us existed for the billions of years before we were born.

I'd like to point out first of all that just because I don't believe in 'god' doesn't mean I'm not spiritual. Just because I don't think there's some paternalistic dude who 'magically' made everything and 'magically' impregnated a teen-aged girl does NOT mean I'm not spiritual. What if your (or anyone's) 'god' isn't THE 'god'? (not that I think there is one).

After I die, my body will decompose (unless it was blown up or I drown in formaldahyde or something), and my carbon will continue on in the carbon cycle, my nitrogen will help plants grow and with any luck my bones will end up as fossils that are preserved for a billion years (kind of a post-humous goal of mine). This does not bother me at all - I am content with the fact that once I die - that's it. This does not make me scared of dying - we're all going to someday!

We were nothing before we were born, so why would we be something after we die?

I like to entertain the idea that maybe there is something bigger, the next dimension or something like that, but the idea of a 'heaven' seems too phony for me to believe. But that's just an idea I entertain from time to time - I ponder it, but don't fully believe it. You see, if we can be something after we die, we must have been something before we were born (the First Law of Thermodynamics), so maybe there is a chance we enter some alternate universe or someplace. If there were some sort of creator of everything, I'd think it to be some form of energy - maybe a little physics, maybe a little math - but something so fundamental it has just always existed. Definitely something that is too grand to care about meddling here, DEFINITELY something that would never 'talk' to people.

For the record, If I could pick a 'heaven', I'd want to roam the universe and uncover for myself the mystery of the cosmos - and see first hand if everything returns to a singularity.

And that was way more long-winded than I had originally intended. Sorry.

You and tundra raise some valid points..

"We were nothing before we were born, so why would we be something after we die?"

I guess it sorta bothers me. Yes, I *was* nothing, but now I am here. I made some more little critters along the way and I hate to think that in the end, I won't ever see the people I love so much.

But you also won't be there to worry about it, if that makes sense.

It makes sense, but to me seems senseless. Why both to be here if this is all there is?

Isn't there some greater meaning to life?

why not?