Cyprus-Forum.com

[Kikapu]

People do not believe in Gods because they know, they believe because they hope. It is impossible for most people to realize/accept the extent of their insignificance and therefore they imagine/adopt theories that make them feel more important.

Such beliefs are based on two "weaknesses" of the human nature:

1) Fear in general and especially fear from death. People can not accept that they are in fact so vulnerable and they can simply disappear. They want to believe that there is something more. And if you want to believe something very much, you believe it.

2) Low IQ. Several 100 years ago the sun would momentarily disappear from the cloudless sky. Most (all) people would say "God", while the correct answer would have been "We don't know why that happened. Maybe in the future science will be able to explain it. Maybe not." Unfortunately most people can not accept that there are many things that the insignificant humans can not know about and therefore they fill in the gabs with "God".

However one of the few things we know is that our existence is very physical and directly related with our brain activity (the neurons that Sotos said). You can even emulate death by being put in a deep narcosis were your brain activity comes to almost a complete stop. When you do that, time "freezes" for you. In other words you do not exist. Death is the complete stop of all brain activity, and unlike narcosis, your brain gets destroyed so you can never "come back".

Still, as the song says: "Don't worry, be happy". So if believing in Gods and spirits makes you feel better, then by all means continue. After all it is much more important to be happy than correct, and if you can not be both then certainly choose the first one.

Piratis,

That was very well explained. Of course, when one is in deep sleep at night time, he might as well be dead, since the person has no idea what is happening around them, even though, the brain is active "directing traffic" within the body.

[Rodosthenis]

If you die before you will die you will not die when you die.

[reportfromcyprus]

Well, that's all sorted out then

[G.Man]

The largest religions in the world , Christianity first (2.1 bln ) and Islam second ( 1.3bln ) have survived and in many ways still thriving by putting the fear of God into people. If any one would care to spend a little time reading Exodus , old testament , and specifically the deadly sins that God brought up on the Pharaohs of Egypt in order to scare the shit out of them and let His people GO (Israelites ) Can any body really accept that if there was a creator , a master of Universe , a designer of such diverse and complicated structures , the entire living world , the Moon and the Stars , a revolving earth and millions of other Galaxies , and yet he could not make one Egyptian change his mind and let His people go. What does He do. Sends his Angels down to earth to KILL the first born Egyptian child, but just to make certain that no bloody angel kills a Jew , he asks that the Jews mark with red paint the front of their door. (Passover still celebrated)
As if that was not enough to scare the shit out of the Pharaohs He sends the locusts to destroy their food crops , and as measure of vindictiveness He turns the river Nile into Blood. But still the bastard Pharoes do not let His people go. He decides in his all mighty wisdom to kill all animals etc etc etc AND PIGS DO FLY !
If I offended the believers I humbly apologise I'm merely exercising my right to free expression .
And I do know that the New testament changed all that.
Other Religions doctrines talk of people as if they were vermin and their lives worthless and scaring people to death if they dare question the All mighty.

Every one knows the story of Abraham been asked by God to sacrifice his own son in order to prove his faith to God. What a horrible utterly barbaric request , the poor bastard must have shit him self but went ahead just the same , lucky for the son the bloody angel , who earlier on massacred the Jewish first born , was there in time to save the boy , and we all praise the Lord.
I think I will go to Church and pray for forgiveness , untill next time.

And there are so many more examples...

Only a barbaric culture would believe in sacrifice for a god and destruction of a people to save another..

God would deem all people equals, and not sacrifice one to save another...

If there is a god, then as of yet, no religion appears to have discovered his/her true being...

And it is total arrogance to suggest we were created in his image...

[Rodosthenis]

Brothers and sisters, we have to understand that without the Father, the Son and te Holy spirit we are all living corpses because our souls are dead. Our body is alive but our soul is dead. Our souls need their creator inside them to actually live. So pray to God to send to your soul His holy spirit and then you will feel that God exists. You will feel His presence inside you and around you. Pray to God to guide you! Pray to God to show you the truth!

[rawk]

I read somewhere that when the Spanish landed for the first time in South America during the Inca era, they were met by some Indians on the shore.

They were friendly and using sign language conveyed the message to the Spaniards asking where they had come from. The Spaniards pointed to their galleon moored some 400 metres off shore.

The Indians peered out to sea and shrugged, they could not see it. Such a large ship with sails was beyond their mental comprehension and therefore they could not see it.

Perhaps something there for Cyprus?

Rawk

[Sotos]

The Indians peered out to sea and shrugged, they could not see it. Such a large ship with sails was beyond their mental comprehension and therefore they could not see it.

And you believe this story?

[Protagorianos]

Taking that our reality is constructed through language:

God, The Sun, Osiris, Zeus, Ahura Mazda are words;
words comrpise vocabularies;
vocabulary-ies make up language-s;
Who makes/comes up with languages?
....We do!

[Protagorianos]

G-MAN:

We created god after our image

[Simon]

It is ridiculous to say that it is arrogant to think that God created us in his image. We are the most powerful and intelligent living creatures on the Earth, and as far as we know, the universe. Therefore, if God was to create anything in his image, it would be us, wouldn't it? It would be humans, or nothing. For example, God would not create a camel in the image of himself and then create something else that rules over the camel would he? Come on, be logical. If you don't believe in God that is your choice. But if you do, then it is completely acceptable to think that we were created in his image and is not arrogant at all. We are God's children, so of course we are going to be some sort of likeness to him aren't we, otherwise, we wouldn't be his children.