Quote (SwamiVivekananda @ Apr 5 2024 01:18pm)

So you'll both admit that there was existence before us going back to the hypothetical "Big Bang".

In physics all matter is simply changing states. Matter is neither created nor destroyed.

So we were all of that that's behind and we will be all that going to the future. This is causal reality and backed by science.

Only religion has created a condition where this is the "one all be all". How is consciousness destroyed if it's present in all living things throughout the universe(not just Earth).

You will go on in some form. Not YOU as the name you were given at birth. Not you and all the material possessions and memories you've accumulated. Like I've said before the "tendencies" go on. That's what is reborn.

That's why we see all the virtues/principals continuing to this very day. Why are some people evil? It's a tendency. Why do some not believe in God and some do? It's a tendency.

As Buddha said only you in this body/mind can escape samsara which is described as follows,

Buddhists conceive of the world as a suffering-laden cycle of life, death, and rebirth, without beginning or end, known as samsara. Beings are driven from life to life in this system by karma, which is activated by their good or ill actions committed in this life as well as previous lives.

A Hindu or Buddhist believes that you can escape samsara by achieving nirvana, enlightenment, freeing yourself of the root causes of suffering (such as greed and fear).

Quote (SwamiVivekananda @ Apr 5 2024 12:40pm)

Right but who are you to fear?

Who are you?

When you read a scripture especially the Bible you are the "I" in it.

It is you who is reading it in your own mind. God is not reading you the Bible. You are.

There is no separation it was just the Western philosophies that said, "You aren't God. You aren't Christ. You are a nobody" and that was beneficial because the FEAR created a structure that put people in line aka controlled them.

That never happened in Eastern philosophies. That's why they don't fear death because they see life as going on regardless instead of, "You did good now come sit next to me on this golden throne in this heavenly body".



You don't have to read the Bible to know God. You don't have to read any scripture at all. You can do nothing and you'll still have that word "god" floating around. So even if you say God doesn't exist(which is normal) it doesn't magically make you a good person. You still have a moral/ethic understanding without any encounters with religious texts.

This is why a lot of people are atheists because they do good and avoid doing bad and don't need a God to tell them if they are right or wrong they simply know it in their heart to be true. Can they do bad and think its good? Of course. Can they do good and it actually be bad. Yup. You are the one in your own mind who comes to that realization. God doesn't come down with a magic wand and tap you on the shoulder and say, "You are on the right path".

Quote (Kluch @ 13 Apr 2024 04:43)

The part that I find difficult is that if you're atheist, how do you decide what is "good" and what is "bad?" If there is no moral baseline (what I think is God) for what is right and wrong, then who gets to decide? Hitler and Martin Luther King both thought they were doing "good", but we know they can't both be right. So who is good? Who is bad?

If its all a matter of opinion, and we are our own god and we decide what good and bad is, that doesn't make sense to me. Because then nothing is good, nothing is bad, life has no meaning, and we all might as well do whatever we want to whoever we want

Quote (Kluch @ Apr 12 2024 04:43pm)

The part that I find difficult is that if you're atheist, how do you decide what is "good" and what is "bad?" If there is no moral baseline (what I think is God) for what is right and wrong, then who gets to decide? Hitler and Martin Luther King both thought they were doing "good", but we know they can't both be right. So who is good? Who is bad?

If its all a matter of opinion, and we are our own god and we decide what good and bad is, that doesn't make sense to me. Because then nothing is good, nothing is bad, life has no meaning, and we all might as well do whatever we want to whoever we want

Quote (Kluch @ Apr 12 2024 05:43pm)

The part that I find difficult is that if you're atheist, how do you decide what is "good" and what is "bad?" If there is no moral baseline (what I think is God) for what is right and wrong, then who gets to decide? Hitler and Martin Luther King both thought they were doing "good", but we know they can't both be right. So who is good? Who is bad?

If its all a matter of opinion, and we are our own god and we decide what good and bad is, that doesn't make sense to me. Because then nothing is good, nothing is bad, life has no meaning, and we all might as well do whatever we want to whoever we want

Quote (SwamiVivekananda @ Apr 9 2024 07:08pm)

Anytime someone says the word "God" to an atheist they just automatically presume the "God" being discussed is the Abrahmic's God.

You are right Jesus is the Messiah.

Amen brother.

For those who've seen him there is no denial.

Quote (SwamiVivekananda @ 5 Apr 2024 11:22)

A pretty simple question, or is it? I would love to hear your opinion, PaRD

Quote (Handcuffs @ Apr 5 2024 04:56pm)

"God", in all its forms and iterations across history and culture, remain centrally connected to death anxiety for all mortal beings. A conscious mind yearns for some kind of significance, meaning, or purpose to all the suffering and uncertainty that they experience while alive, and it is too painful to the psyche to accept that you (we) are not special, that there is nothing after death, and that there is no God(s), Oneness, or Grand Unified Consciousness on the other side of death.

Quote (SwamiVivekananda @ Apr 6 2024 02:40am)

Right but who are you to fear?

Who are you?

When you read a scripture especially the Bible you are the "I" in it.

It is you who is reading it in your own mind. God is not reading you the Bible. You are.

There is no separation it was just the Western philosophies that said, "You aren't God. You aren't Christ. You are a nobody" and that was beneficial because the FEAR created a structure that put people in line aka controlled them.

That never happened in Eastern philosophies. That's why they don't fear death because they see life as going on regardless instead of, "You did good now come sit next to me on this golden throne in this heavenly body".



You don't have to read the Bible to know God. You don't have to read any scripture at all. You can do nothing and you'll still have that word "god" floating around. So even if you say God doesn't exist(which is normal) it doesn't magically make you a good person. You still have a moral/ethic understanding without any encounters with religious texts.

This is why a lot of people are atheists because they do good and avoid doing bad and don't need a God to tell them if they are right or wrong they simply know it in their heart to be true. Can they do bad and think its good? Of course. Can they do good and it actually be bad. Yup. You are the one in your own mind who comes to that realization. God doesn't come down with a magic wand and tap you on the shoulder and say, "You are on the right path".