let's talk religion and stuff

[Karen Molenaar Terrell]

I have no idea how to get this baby started... guess I'll just dive in and see what happens.

Anyone wanna talk religion and stuff?

[Songbird]

Sure! Er....respect muh authoriteh!

[Brendan McBride]

What shall we stuff? And with what shall we stuff it?

[John Evans]

On Saturday, December 14, 2013 11:39:23 PM UTC-6, Karen Molenaar Terrell wrote:

I have no idea how to get this baby started... guess I'll just dive in and see what happens.

Anyone wanna talk religion and stuff?

Didn't you ladies swear off this sort of thing? :) You are junkies. I think admitting that you have a problem is the first order of business....

 

[Karen Molenaar Terrell]

John, I just marked your post as "complete" - I have no idea what that means. But it felt complete to me. 

Am I a discussion forum junkie? Yes. Yes, I am. And I feel so much better now that I've 'fessed up and stuff.

I do not know how much time I am going to spend here, honestly. But I like the idea of it. I like the idea of a place where people can talk about Big Ideas with Big Idea people such as yourself. :)

Okay, I'm going to post this and see what happens....

Karen

[Karen Molenaar Terrell]

Umm... well, pimentos are always good, right?

[Karen Molenaar Terrell]

You betcha! Absolutely! And... umm... who are you again?

On Sunday, December 15, 2013 5:21:30 AM UTC-8, Songbird wrote:

Sure! Er....respect muh authoriteh!

[Karen Molenaar Terrell]

Oh! I think when I marked it as complete it finished the discussion! So I just unmarked it! Geeze. This takes some getting used to...

On Sunday, December 15, 2013 5:32:08 PM UTC-8, John Evans wrote:

[John Evans]

Thanks, Karen. I was a little concerned I didn't use enough smiley faces to make it clear I was just teasing you about your addiction. I think it's awesome the way you are able to

 bring people together to discuss things besides Miley and Grumpy Cat--not that those aren't important topics. :)

[Karen Wingoof]

Miley and Grumpy Cat and the Kardashians and which celebrity wore the dress better... these are all important topics, for sure... but, it would be awfully nice to be able to talk about Malala and Vonnegut - without some cranky put-upon poster interrupting to tell us what bullies we all are for disagreeing with him... 

[aardwizz]

Gee, and here I was expecting tons of gossip about ..... well, never mind.  Thank <Insert deity/deities/non-deity of your choice> that they aren't here!

I enjoy talking about religion, but I get a bit tired of the same tired talking points, followed by people just making stuff up on the spot to fill in the gaps.  Sometimes the Bokononist in me is interested.  I learn more about the person who tells me about God than I ever do about God.  But lately I've been getting cynical and seeing less of the hopes and joys that they have (reflected in what they Believe) than I do that they are just pulling some idea out of some orifice or other.   I'd break from ARF it (a) I wasn't hopelessly addicted; and (b) enjoying the company of certain people there.  Many are here already, and I look forward to meeting some new personas.

õ¿õ¬

[Daniel Neumann]

I'll start us off. I believe God is formless. I think, like virtual particles, stuff can emerge from nothingness as long as "the debt is paid" by the two counterparts reuniting into nothingness in the course of time. I think our imagination connects us to this divine process that birthed a multi-verse of infinite possibility. I admit that my concept of "God" is nebulous, un-falsifiable, and borderline redefining natural elements in arbitrary opposition to being called atheistic. Yet this is the truth I feel. God is what we make it. It's a word, an idea. In many ways, we're creators because we make meaning (a reflection of God's boundless imagination).

On Sunday, December 15, 2013 12:39:23 AM UTC-5, Karen Wingoof wrote:

I have no idea how to get this baby started... guess I'll just dive in and see what happens.

Anyone wanna talk religion and stuff?

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[Karen Wingoof]

Daniel!!! You found us!!!  Hah!!! Very cool!!! Do you think if I keep adding exclamation marks they'll lose their value and become just like a bunch of periods or commas?!!! Let's see what happens...

You write: "God is what we make it. It's a word, an idea." 

I do believe you have hit the nail on its proverbial head. And better the nails' head than mine.

I want to think some more about what you've shared here - let it percolate a bit - and maybe come back with a longer response.

Thanks for joining us here!

Karen