Would Polytheism Be Better For Us ?

[snyprrr]

Maybe 1948 had more to do with 1899 than...

and, How is polytheism NOT redundant?

I like to think these questions will all be answered whensoever after the questionee takes their last breath. Of course, according to some, by then it may be too late.

So,ya gotta ask yourself, ya feel lucky?
21grams.

I believe that unbelievers will never understand believers, but believers were usually unbelievers once, and so, should be that much more willing to go the extra mile with the unbeliever.

ARE there atheists in foxholes?

[Guido]

Guido,

Here is a concise argument for the existence of a supreme being(s) that I've read on this forum. It was written by Al Moritz:

"Something must be the ultimate explanation that is the basis for everything else. In the case of the theist it is God, in the case of the atheist it has to be eternal matter (that a naturalistic "creation out of nothing" is absurd I have explained elsewhere). The problem with eternal matter is that, in order to be not just eternal but also eternally functional, it has to have miraculous properties that we know ordinary matter does not possess (e.g. not obeying the second law of thermodynamics). So if the atheist proclaims that his views (in fact, beliefs) are more "scientific" than the theist position, I have to laugh. Whatever way you twist and turn things, the atheist has to assume new, unobserved and unobservable properties of matter, which makes his position anything but scientific, rather, a modern fairy tale. That this fairy tale is materialistic, and dressed up in (pseudo-) scientific language, does not in any way help to make it "scientific".

Yeah, I just don't buy it though; to me it's a false dichotomy. I'm still sort of astonished, as I was at the time when this was first posted, at how clear cut and certain Al was about this - where that comes from, I'm not sure - and I don't think that there are many physicists who would be so certain as to lay out the supposed options like this...

Even if we accept that there might be a supernatural creator, I think the evidence that that being has interacted with humans is extremely poor indeed (or any other supernatural phenomena happening in the physical world for that matter - psychics, lycanthropy, resurrections etc. etc.), and all arguments that I have seen trying to link an impersonal creative force with some benevolent moral promulgator have been exceedingly weak, sometimes laughably so.

[snyprrr]

That's why it's called faith.

Physicists seem to be just as hard to pin down to a "yes" or "no" as politicians are. I mean, they'll tell you, they don't know WHAT's going on. The amount of faith they place in their ideas can seem astronomical! And they (and psychiatrists and lawyers) are the high priests of the modern world, the people in whom we place OUR faith?

How DO you get a rose from a rock?

Yes, methinks once the questioners realize how much literal faith they place in the mechanisms of classical evolutionary "theory", they might start to realize that believing in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny would be just as viable an alternative as getting a rose from a rock.

[snyprrr]

also...

If our universe is up to, what, 23 dimensions, or wot not, then the creator of that universe would have to be an entity of at least 24 dimensions, so...I don't know why us mere 3Ders would even care to argue about the subject.

[Guido]

That's why it's called faith.

Physicists seem to be just as hard to pin down to a "yes" or "no" as politicians are. I mean, they'll tell you, they don't know WHAT's going on. The amount of faith they place in their ideas can seem astronomical! And they (and psychiatrists and lawyers) are the high priests of the modern world, the people in whom we place OUR faith?

How DO you get a rose from a rock?

Yes, methinks once the questioners realize how much literal faith they place in the mechanisms of classical evolutionary "theory", they might start to realize that believing in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny would be just as viable an alternative as getting a rose from a rock.

You are very wrong about evolutionary theory, which is not a theory of physics for a start, and is also one of the most overwhelmingly verified theory in all of science. And I don't think too many people put their trust in physicists.

[mahler10th]

Hark, fundamental Christians!!!
Hark!!
I am an angel mesenger unto you!!

Read these passages...

Exodus 20:3
Deuteronomy 10:17, 13:2
Psalm 82:6
Daniel 2:47

Which God is yours?

[Florestan]

Had we lived in a polytheistic civilization, the OP would have surely asked: "Would monotheism be better for us?" 

When this topic will be exhausted, Eric, I suggest you try the next question:

Would Arianism be better for us?

[Elgarian]

Physicists seem to be just as hard to pin down to a "yes" or "no" as politicians are. I mean, they'll tell you, they don't know WHAT's going on.

I'm a physicist, and I can confirm that I don't have a clue what's going on.

The amount of faith they place in their ideas can seem astronomical!

Well, I can't speak for other physicists, but I don't have faith in any of the 'ideas' in physics. 'Faith' isn't an appropriate response to them. (That's why this eternal 'religion v science' conflict is misconceived; it's based on what seems to be a series of category errors.)

[DavidRoss]

That's why this eternal 'religion v science' conflict is misconceived; it's based on what seems to be a series of category errors.

An intelligent comment.  How rare and unexpected on these threads. 

When this topic will be exhausted, Eric, I suggest you try the next question:  Would Arianism be better for us?

As usual with Eric's threads, the topic was exhausted years ago.  For him and his fellow rocket scientists who never tire of beating this dead horse with their willfully ignorant prejudices, the next question is not whether Arianism is better for us, but whether Onanism is all they're capable of.

[karlhenning]

Had we lived in a polytheistic civilization, the OP would have surely asked: "Would monotheism be better for us?" 

When this topic will be exhausted, Eric, I suggest you try the next question:

Would Arianism be better for us?

My question:

Would Pelleastrianism be better for us?

Oh! Dave got there first:

. . . whether Onanism is all they're capable of.

[Wilhelm Richard]

Hark, fundamental Christians!!!
Hark!!
I am an angel mesenger unto you!!

Read these passages...

Exodus 20:3
Deuteronomy 10:17, 13:2
Psalm 82:6
Daniel 2:47

Which God is yours?

I would like to leave this thread on the humorous note sounded by the last few posters, but I feel this post warranted response.

The verses cited above are in fact examples of references to various "gods" (not "Gods") that our Angel Messenger is not the first to point out.  This subject has been addressed often and is explained that in Ancient Israel, the idea of many false gods had not yet been completely eradicated (hence the "no other gods before me" business).  They would, however, come to understand that Monotheism was/is the Way.

Deuteronomy 6:4
Deuteronomy 4:35
II Kings 19:18
Psalms 82:6
Psalms 96:5
Ephesians 4:6
James 2:19
I Corinthians 8:6
I Timothy 2:5

Take this brother...may it serve you well.

[karlhenning]

Take this brother...may it serve you well.

John Lennon, wasn't that?

[Wilhelm Richard]

Close... 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_wCJ9WmX9Zw

[Wilhelm Richard]

Though he doesn't say it, he may very well have written it.

[snyprrr]

(That's why this eternal 'religion v science' conflict is misconceived; it's based on what seems to be a series of category errors.)

That's what I meant to say .

Still like to know how you get a rose from a rock. The "first" cell?

So...how's the weather on the West coast these days? My, it's just raining here, and yes, uncle John is fine, thanks for asking.

Why do people who don't drink milk walk funny?


Cause the lack toes.


There, the thread ends humorously. Continue at your own peril.

[c#minor]

yes, of course polytheism is better for us. Then we can all follow the one true way of Wicca. My personal favorite gods are the Horn God (obviously), and the Triple Moon Goddess.

[karlhenning]

. . . and the Triple Moon Goddess.

That's the signature cocktail of a local Thai restaurant.

[DavidRoss]

Triple Moon Goddess?

[karlhenning]

Triple Moon Goddess?

Of whom, no doubt, Arthur Frampton is a devotee.

http://www.youtube.com/v/TbN9doxZusQ

[Elgarian]

My personal favorite gods are the Horn God (obviously), and the Triple Moon Goddess.

Interesting Fact number 746:

On the island of Triplikos, where the inhabitants count to base three, there are 10 Triple Moon Goddesses.

Not many people know that.