True story: I was raised basically without faith but in a vaguely Christian-oriented house, but it's because of Narnia that I eventually became an atheist.
It all started when a Calormene guy died and was surprised to find Aslan, but expected to find Tash. Aslan said that through out the Calormene's life, he had done good things in Tash's name, but good deeds done in Tash's name are given or credited to Aslan, and that it wasn't the name in which the deeds were done, but the intent of the deeds themselves.
That was intriguing to a 10 year old, and I thought a lot about it. Eventually I settled on the idea that, if there is a God, and everyone prays to God, and there's only one God, then everyone is praying to the same God, regardless of the name they call it.
From there, it wasn't a long trip to Deism. I was a Deist for most of my life, and eventually I began to critically evaluate what the idea of God really was, and what existence really is, and means.
I've finally come to terms with the idea that, if there is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent power, it's the universe as a whole, but since you can't take any part of existence and remove the part that isn't divine (that is, you can't identify the part that is divine, and by exclusion, you can't differentiate the part that isn't divine), then God in the normal sense doesn't "exist".
So is there a God? I don't think so, but if there IS a God, its existence can't be proven one way or another, so for all intents and purposes, it can be assumed to not exist.
That being said, if you, as many humans do, feel comfort from a belief in something greater than yourself and you want to learn more about the divine, I suggest that you spend time examining math and physics, since the traditional holy books are written by people who were supposedly divinely influenced, but math books and physics books are works describing the world as it is, and in that case, are the closest glimpse of the divine that you're likely to get in this life.
> I suggest that you spend time examining math and physics, since the traditional holy books are written by people who were supposedly divinely influenced, but math books and physics books are works describing the world as it is, and in that case, are the closest glimpse of the divine that you're likely to get in this life.
I agree with you but I don't think physics and math can replace what most people actually get out of religion. That's without taking into consideration its cultural importance in most societies.
> math books and physics books are works describing the world as it is, and in that case, are the closest glimpse of the divine that you're likely to get in this life
That's where I've settled. If you want a religious experience, learn math. The feeling when you get something that was previously incomprehensible is probably as good as, if not better than, religious ecstasy.
It sounds like you've ended up roughly in the same place a I have; that there may be one or more Gods but that, as their existence or not is by definition un-testable, that if they do exist then they're irrelevant.
>I've finally come to terms with the idea that, if there is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent power, it's the universe as a whole, but since you can't take any part of existence and remove the part that isn't divine (that is, you can't identify the part that is divine, and by exclusion, you can't differentiate the part that isn't divine), then God in the normal sense doesn't "exist".
>So is there a God? I don't think so, but if there IS a God, its existence can't be proven one way or another, so for all intents and purposes, it can be assumed to not exist.
It all started when a Calormene guy died and was surprised to find Aslan, but expected to find Tash. Aslan said that through out the Calormene's life, he had done good things in Tash's name, but good deeds done in Tash's name are given or credited to Aslan, and that it wasn't the name in which the deeds were done, but the intent of the deeds themselves.
That was intriguing to a 10 year old, and I thought a lot about it. Eventually I settled on the idea that, if there is a God, and everyone prays to God, and there's only one God, then everyone is praying to the same God, regardless of the name they call it.
From there, it wasn't a long trip to Deism. I was a Deist for most of my life, and eventually I began to critically evaluate what the idea of God really was, and what existence really is, and means.
I've finally come to terms with the idea that, if there is an omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent power, it's the universe as a whole, but since you can't take any part of existence and remove the part that isn't divine (that is, you can't identify the part that is divine, and by exclusion, you can't differentiate the part that isn't divine), then God in the normal sense doesn't "exist".
So is there a God? I don't think so, but if there IS a God, its existence can't be proven one way or another, so for all intents and purposes, it can be assumed to not exist.
That being said, if you, as many humans do, feel comfort from a belief in something greater than yourself and you want to learn more about the divine, I suggest that you spend time examining math and physics, since the traditional holy books are written by people who were supposedly divinely influenced, but math books and physics books are works describing the world as it is, and in that case, are the closest glimpse of the divine that you're likely to get in this life.