Anpu on Religion

[Anpu23]

Okay I am going to take a break from my usual anti-feminist Men's right stuff and talk about another controversial subject religion.

I am religious, very much so. I was raised LDS (Mormon), with a mother who studied comparative religion. Religion was discussed over our dinner table, and I was exposed at an early age to many different religions.

I have read most every major religious work on this planet, both modern and ancient:

This includes the Bible, Book of Mormon, Pearl of Great Price, Doctrine and Covenants, the Apocrypha, Gnostic Scripture, parts of the Talmud and Torah (English Translation), Parts of the Quran (English translation), The Tao Te Ching, the Tibetan Book of the Dead, parts of the Vedas (including the Rig), the Bhagavata, etc. etc. Or in other words I am quite educated.

and I have seen countless questions asking why anyone would believe.... I am writing this to address these questions.

Most atheists use the following arguments, and here is my answer to them:

1. There is no proof of God.

- no there is not, there is neither proof nor is there evidence that God does not exist-

In science when we face an unknown that we can not test (there is also no known way to test for the existence of God) the tool that we use is Occam's razor, which says that the most simple answer is the most likely to be correct. So depending on how you word the question I can place the Theory of God on either side of this test.

2. "________" is impossible so religion is false. I've heard things like "No one can live in a whale or fish, so the Bible is false."

Religious texts are full of truth, fable, myth and allegory. Further religious texts were written as individual books, not as a complete work as we see them today. They were written over time, in some cases over centuries. Further much of these texts have been translated again and again from one language to another, things get lost, and stories get muddled that's the nature of translation. To take something that was written as an allegory, and to take it literally is to do a dis-service to the original texts by either side of the argument

3. Science has disproven religion.

No, science has never proven anything to not exist. It can not prove a negative, no one can. The most that science can say is that there is no evidence to support this theory. Further there is some evidence to support the theory of God (mostly quantum thought, a good source would be The Tao of Physics as a starting point).

So why do I believe?

The first reason is Gnosys, personal interaction with Deity. Prayer is speaking to God, and meditation is listening for the answers. I have had personal interactions with the divine, questions have been answered, and insights into my life have held true. I can not prove this to you, nor would I want to, if you are interested spend some time in meditation.

Second, results.

I like the way my life goes when I have the divine in my life, people who have religion test higher in happiness, and general well being Article in the Times.

And lastly, understanding.

I feel that I have a better insight into life, and how things work. Science works hard to look at how things work, and religion looks hard at why things are the way that they are. It's a change in insight, the reasons behind the way of the Universe, rather then the how.

So what about religion's bloody history? People use any excuse to be nasty to one another, and religion is just one of the tools used by those who would do wrong, to incite others to do wrong as well. The Crusades, witch burnings, pogroms, death camps, etc. etc. does lay heavily upon the head of religion. But group thought is just that, othering is a tool used to harm others. My answer to this is simple, Converting by the sword is wrong. You may believe anything that you choose, as long as you allow me to believe what I choose as well.

Speaking about what I believe, I am non denominational pagan. My beliefs are somewhere between Wicca, Asatru, Ancient Egyptian beliefs, and Hinduism. I don't proselytize, nor do I expect anyone else to believe as I do. I have ran religious groups, and have many friends of many different religions and denominations. I have spoken at length with Priests, Priestesses, Imams, Houngans, Monks, Nuns, etc. etc.

I hope I gave you some insight, and some things to think about. Thanks for reading.

Blessed be.

Your friend

Anpu (The Egyptian spelling of the god's name Anubis)

[SaskiaBlueRaySoul]

hi, i saw your question and after reading the first couple of lines my instinct was to just respond. Like yourself throughout my life i have read and learned snippets i could say of many religions, along with ancient civilisation creation stories etc i was christened a family tradition and i vaguely remember Sunday school when i was very young, however, tbh i think it was maybe more getting a Sunday morning break for my parents. we were not raised with any real religious influence as such despite the c of e official practise. i remember at secondary school in religious education learning about the worlds religions, right then as it called hindu and buddism were of interest to me,,, anyway point is from my readings every religion every ancient cultures creation story, all tell the same thing in fact... the major current religions lets say c of e for example purposely left out of the current bible many books, the book of enoch, for me the most important and obviously why it was left out is it another tale of sky gods and their influence upon our history... it makes me so crazy that all ancient cultures and religions tell of sky gods/visitors every culture across the world that effected our evolution... i personally can kind of understand in a world in the past using a god like being to almost control people to live by certain rules or fear for after your death... but right now 2018 we have science we have what history and ancient cultures versions of stories.. religion so often leads to and has in our history the conflict... oh my... base line... for a human soul to live a decent life, be free, be kind, be respectful to others and the world we live on for the sake of our own kinds future and all of earths inhabitants is a basic daaahhh. isn't it? it surely doesn't need to be based on religion? for me if a person really lives their life on earth through believing/fearing words written by just someone else in fact years ago that after you die if you are good its gonna be great if you are bad its going to be eternally grim... MAN THE FUCK UP and live your life respectfully on your own accord not by being instructed or whining in pray to god, you are here alone just like a bee or a rabbit... live just and die,,, your energy essence will disperse into the cosmos when your body dies thats it... doesn't mean i dont sense a greater being... in fact i do... that energy going back is greater than when you were conceived its grown and it will be absorbed into the cosmos

[SaskiaBlueRaySoul]

so if you have wondered where your life force/soul/energy came from and it perhaps is the universe? it could simply be our best duty to create a positive energy when we leave our mortal coils so that when another being is given a spark of lifes essence it can be a positively charged energy that maybe you helped actually create in your lifetime? and if you achieved this without rules and religion and conflict surely that would be a positively positive energy, not one that died in conflict killing others in the name of religion personally i wouldn't want their life source?

[Anpu23]

It's interesting to me, I study swordsmanship, ancient sword techniques, and old sword manuals. And in a book I was reading within the last year or so, had defense of religion as one of the reasons to take up arms, and I spent a lot of time thinking about that. Is it moral to defend your religion? My conclusion was that it is moral to defend yourself from those who would force you to convert. Much of the true reasons why religious wars happened wasn't religion per se, but rather conquest in the name of religion. Religion was an excuse not a primary motivate. As for science based morality, Communism is scientific at its core. Marx called religion the opiate of the masses, and rejected religious thought all together. To worship is a crime in Communist countries. They don't have any better of a track record then religious ones, the idea of a secular moral compass doesn't seem to hold up.

[AlphaGhost]

Science never proved anything and its subject to continuous change and atheist are real losers, that believe that "GOD" is somehow entitled to appear on their command but idiots aren't even mature enough to understand that,
Creater is Creater and the pathway to actually see the Creater is not gona be easy cuz you have to do something special to standout.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie I am saying it cuz I am the student of the Medical sciences (MD) and we don't know the shit about the function of more than 96% of the DNA and we call it Junk Dna.
We don't even know 50% about the 6% of the visible universe and 94% dark matter is mysterious unknown to us. We are living in the era where "atomic theory and even he so called Evolution" used by the atheist is total crap. Now people are standing up to that 18th century crap churned up the Darwin.
What the hell did the existence of computer have to do with the existence of GOD?
Electricity existed before the modern science and your so called Science is total crap as compare the tech of the Gods. We burn the energy and produce the negative energy waste as compare to near perfect recycling pattern of the Nature.
The only thing science have ever proved id that "Universe is not an accident its perfectly planned by the GoD"
I am always amazed by "uneducated shit like you" that challenges Creater due to wonder like phone.

[AlphaGhost]

the and is
We use resources of GoD to create the tech, you can very happily try to call out GOD. The day when you created the matter rather than waste it.
You want to continue this, then you have to provide something to support your claims cuz its very easy to dent something rather than face the difficulty.

[Belgie]

You're an MD student who doesn't believe in (and hence doesn't understand) evolution.

No wonder your country is fucked.

[Anpu23]

Science provides the tools to prove hypothesis, "does this work this way?" In that sense science does prove things. But it can only prove something, never disprove something. Or you can't prove a negative. As for the constant change in scientific understanding, quantum mechanics did not disprove Newton it just said that his observed phenomenon was not a complete picture, that doesn't mean that his observations were invalid. You can still use Newtonian physics to predict the trajectory of a cannonball, it's still completely valid. Or in other words new information does not necessarily invalidate previous information, it adds to it.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie WoW what the hell did MD have to do with evolution?
Idiot evolution is based on cell theory which itself is "ridiculous", every cell arise from pre-existing cell
Then idot "where the hell did very first arise from" lets say that pump started the evolution. The virus can even be decided on the basis of the theory cuz its "living and non-living" and its not some small thing we can ignore cuz its responsible for millions of disease and its potent bio-weapon too.
You just proved your 0.1 IQ by trying to cement a bond between the evolution and the study of Human medicine. Let me tell you idiot only 10% or below people associated with Medical or Biological sciences believe in evolution and its never ever been proved and that's why its called theory in the first place.
Its theory not fucking law and its a theory transferred from hypothesis.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie We know about the cells up to atomic level but still their presence is not 100% certain and then proving the theory that is based upon it... is total lie and crap.
I know about theory of evolution 10000000% better than you and I invite you to prove anything cuz you have absolutely no idea, what are you even talking about. There is something known as scientific method we study in the 4th Grade, I think you should pay visit to highschool and study the method again before commenting.
Evolution says "Monkeys evolve in to the Human beings" and if that's the case where the hell did intermediates goo. Why are monkeys present in the wild cuz they were evolving in to something and consider evolution there should million errors before the right sequence. Where are those "error or evolution gone crazy animals" I am simply asking for existence of intermediates.

[AlphaGhost]

If we apply the "evolution bases structure" adaptation to something else then evolution from prokaryote to Eukaryote would need at-least 18 billion years and its very simple evolution and
Do you know what it predates the age of universe by 5 billion years and life on Earth is just 3.8 billion years old.
We were told that appendix is vestigial organ and its left-over of evolution and does nothing but now its proved that "it have multiple function" and it used to be indicator of evolution and now look at it
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15228837
by the way its locked and I can unlock it for you but you project yourself as "very educated" and now lets see, if NCBI has even considered you anything to give access to information.

[Anpu23]

As for evolution, I'm really not that educated about it. My degree is in electronics, which is in essence applied physics. My understanding is that there were two branches of development one leading to modern man, and another leading to apes, we do share a common ancestor but we are not direct decedent's of the modern ape. But again I am not educated at any decent level in evolutionary theory.

[Belgie]

"My understanding is that there were two branches of development one leading to modern man, and another leading to apes, we do share a common ancestor but we are not direct decedent's of the modern ape."

Already about 1000 times more educated than most creationists.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie I was amazed like that Dude was behaving like "he knows to much" but in-reality, he is dumb as hell. Evolution is shit and apart from US where only 5-2%(max) scientist believe in this shit. The whole remaining world don't give a damnnn about this shit and they are over it like the only 0.1% of the total educated people believe in this 18th century shit.
I mean its crazy when "people mention we transform from monkeys" without realizing that, you are talking about a very complex process. Which up to this day don't even exist and evolution is type of thing that passed from hypothesis stage to so called theory without experiment cuz it favours rich man.

[Belgie]

You're so wrong, it's actually bordering on insanity.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie Okay then I will ask for very simple thing,
NCBI evidence and don't take it personally but our current education system is designed to raise the cowards and sheep like you. Well you can prove me wrong by providing something.
The Hominidae family diverged from the Hylobatidae (gibbon) family some 15–20 million years ago; African great apes (subfamily Homininae) diverged from orangutans (Ponginae) about 14 million years ago; the Hominini tribe,
Yep we do originate from monkeys and it may work for other members of genus Homo but not Modern Human = wait Do you even know that we are not the only specie to be called Humans (intelligent)?

[Belgie]

You aren't interested in evidence. Leaving aside the science, you can't (or won't) even be honest about the statistics on accepting evolution. And that's EASY to look up and confirm. So why would you show the tiniest sliver of intellectual honesty when it comes to something that's harder to understand?

When you prove you can be honest, I'll discuss things with you. Till then, you're just another crazy person on the internet, best ignored.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie Okay then where are your numbers scam-bag some fake article you read on the Google or NCBI asked every living person on planet Earth and I doubt even 10% know about the evolution.
Where did you checked the number?
You really believe that "anyone in the world care" what the diploma holder have to say about evolution, when he can't even simply understand the basic concept. I have my authenticity here on the MD topic and you can check my opinions for example.
I always provide the evidence and real evidence and I doubt you even know, How the hell Data like is collected in the first place?
You replied to my opinion and saying otherwise well than prove it cuz Evolution is theory and we never experimented the procedure,
Where we actually evolve and monkey in to human by environmental factors or even a "Leptospira to listeria". You want to live in delusional world be my guest but spread shit cuz this stuff is not for you and so far up to this point.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie You have provided us with nothing but just blant lies and brush comments and I can understand your kind,
When people can't face the reality, they make excuses and you are classical example and people like you are good for business too.

[Belgie]

Dude - All you have to do is google "percentage of scientists who accept evolution" and read.

Since you can't, since you won't, I stand by what I said. You're a liar, with no regard for truth that anyone can verify in less than 30 seconds. So why waste my time with you on a subject that is obviously beyond your comprehension?

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie Oh yeah pretty shit electronics boy "the simple fact is" you got nothing to prove your words and its very very funny that,
Shit people like you "Goggle the things" and you have no idea How that data is collected either?
www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3827694/
They make the random groups and assume it equal to the population of the world and usuallt they only include the people in favour of the idea to make it look like, the world supports it idiot.
The basic concept of creation is integral part of faith of every Christian, Muslim, Jews, Buddhism and Hinduism. The people that don't follow it are not Religious and
Muslims=1.9-8 billion near 2 billion, Christians=2.2 billion and the jews at about 56 million, Chinese Buddhist and Dragon shit equal to 1.6 billion and 800 million Hindus
they accept the creation theory idiot and it equals almost 5.6 billion population of the world considering some will be atheist.
Yep here is 80% world population and accept creation.

[AlphaGhost]

I don't know how you pass the school in the first place?
but whenever you have to prove anything relating biology NCBI is way to go and only reliable source,
You think I am lying prove it and paste the NCBI paper showing your values. You are total crap and should die with shame "I goggle it". I am amazed by people like you that no idea about structure of DNA but will claim evolution dealing gene shifting is real.
You think goggle is reliable source I ask you a very simple question?
What is the Adrenal medula?
the simplest question in the world and it will determine "who is lying about what?

[Belgie]

Be as amazed as you want, you crazy psychotic.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie Yep we are always called psychotic and shit like you called Einstein and newton shit too.
You are just passing insult and no evidence and it shows your weakness and defeat but you won't accept it.

[Belgie]

No one called those guys idiots.

Go drag yourself into the 19th century, you troll.

[AlphaGhost]

@Belgie Yep well go on with your shit theory idiot cuz you have absolutely no idea about real biology.

[jennifer_bloom]

I believe truth and falsehood is available in MOSTLY all religions but I still think some books are more advantageous than others in finding truth. Regardless of what you believe - the truth will always be esoteric meaning you can't figure it out through externals alone. A well known quote and I'm not sure who made it famous is that "truth comes from within."

[VegetaSSB]

I don´t believe, i rather know, due to personal experiences also, and in fact my personal experiences refute a lot of scientific theories that try to create a model without a design, but fail to do so because they violate basic physical laws such as entropy, entropy that by itself only exists in this corrupted Demiurgic reality in which we live and are trapped. Theories like evolution and big bang, that are falling a part and are extremely ascientific in nature, due to the fact that they violate the second law of thermodinamics, to violate such a law that dictates that everything tends to decrease in order, it is clearly necessary to have an agent outside of the system that can impose that order would be established and kept, so both evolution and big bang are impossible without the existence of a design that make it possible that organization can exist were all things tend to be non organized, and so intelligent design is the only one correct model, as if you ask me if i believe in science, my answer is not, i do not, but i believe in the scientific method of constant and independent experimentation and confirmation or refutation, but anything that anyone can get a mean to test is not science, it is just theory, and if theory goes against what i can experience for myself,, then theory is false, such as evolution, big bang, heliocentric model, globe earth, gravity and so on, while things i could experiment with like magnetism, optics, thermodinamics, motion, in these i believe, because i can test it under the scrutinity of scientific method, and if scientific theory goes against observable reality it is even less than religion, because religion talks about unverifiable things out of this particular reality that possible work in ways we cannot know due to being limited to the boundaries of this reality at this moment, but what i can test for myself and is clearly proved wrong has way less face value that what i cannot test, so when they call scientism a religion, i disagree, it is way less that it, because on the contrary of religious afirmations, that cannot be tested due to being majority pertaining to transcendent realms, scientism can be tested and proved to be false at any point.

[Anonymous]

i.pinimg.com/.../...21ed9e00c7bf60a07e805cb84c.jpg

1) there is no proof of GOD
that's a lie there is plenty of proof you can see him if you want but you gotta ask

or you can do it the satanist way and try to break through the dome and as you can see that didn't go to well

GLORY TO MY GOD ABOVE THE DOME

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J2L6KepPgEA

2) Jonah
56-year-old Luigi Marquez lived to tell the fascinating tale of his survival, as he came alive after spending 3 days inside a giant whale.

images.indianexpress.com/.../...sdailyreport-2.jpg

3) science is trash it's garbage we are inside the dome science can not save the soul

qph.fs.quoracdn.net/main-qimg-4f6b509746e1e195ab45cb9357fdc415

Job 37:18
Hast thou with him spread out the sky, which is strong, and as a molten looking glass

the reflection of the sun and moon off the dome show his power

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-FmrGYvYcUo&t=29s

I believe because I choose to
I have had to many spiritual exps in my life to not believe in GOD
I have literally seen him

my advice to people when you first get saved and born again
ask to see him he will eventually come before you die to visit

I believe he is going to see me before I die cause I asked that simple but he also has free will he can say NO!!!

Genesis 6
and it came to pass when the angels had sex with the women and they gave birth to giants

img00.deviantart.net/.../...igorianime-d8tctps.png

and they began to devour mankind
so as it was in the days of Noah so shall it be at the coming of the son of man

media.giphy.com/media/f7P3R0RufkQXm/giphy.gif

[Deathraider]

1. Replace the word God with Thor and see if what you said make sense. Atheism is simply the lack of a belief in God. You're forgetting the burden of proof. Don't believe in claim x until evidence shows claim x is true. Atheism is a lack of a claim. We simply do not know and don't think it's real.
2. So the Bible is vague enough to allow for misinterpretations. Okay, then what makes it a reliable source of information if it could be misinterpreted in many different ways?
3. Science doesn't have to. Science simply explained things once attributed to God. The beginning of the universe, nature, the mind, the origin of life, planetary formation, the weather, etc.
If you cannot prove it, why assert it's real?
Actually if you look at the World Happiness Report, in general less religious countries are generally more happy. Take Denmark, Norway, Switzerland, Iceland, Finland and the Neatherland, reporting around 7.484 compared to the US 6.993 or the UAE at 6.648.
Isn't it begging the question to ask what's the meaning of the universe? The first question should be is there one that exist?

[rennis]

oK. How does cells go into the groups and combine a organisme? What about birth? We know only steps. And some times it does not work even in pairs which are absolutely heal and geneticaly compatible. More - this World. It was created with intellect and idea. Do you feel it? Does not metter what "tools" was used - big bang, protons.. Whatever. It`s a tool. And.. Why we are always seeking something? Why we thinking about a God?

[Dchrls78104]

You are wrong about No. 1. This universe and all in it bear the stamp of being created. It could not have come about by chance (Big Bang) or accident. Think of the American White House. Someone took time to design and build it, didn't he? And what about its furniture? Did it all get in the right places by itself? No, someone placed it in there because he knew what he was doing. In each case the work bears the stamp of the skill of the worker. Every worker takes pride in his work and has the right to seek recognition for it. It's the same thing with the universe in which we live.

[Mi2mi2a]

i'm no christian but for the story living inside a whale isn't impossible. Why so? Because you can't go into the stories of the bible without believing God exists. And if such, God made the nature Laws, that means God can bend the Laws of nature easily.

[OldSchool_Metalhead]

nice take! I'm also a non denominational pagan. I've always had interest in the many viewpoints about the afterlife and god (s). I think its good having an open mind

[Agape93]

This is one of the reasons why I love you lol thelemite :)

[Anpu23]

Thank you.

[Catholicgirl22]

Thanks for sharing your personal opinions.

[monkeynutts]

It's good to research diverse topics.

[Wizard-of-bras]

Islam is horrifyingly bad

[ovoxo_]

Does anyone care about this? Lol

[Anonymous]

I respect different opinions

[DanFlingwing]

very nice

[Anonymous]

Okay