Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Troll_Bait]

Have you ever seen the movie "Contact"?

In it, they initially decide against having Jody Foster's character being the first delegate to meet the extraterrestrials.

This was because, as an atheist, they felt that she wouldn't be a good representative for humanity, as about ninety-five percent of people believe in God.
(I don't know where the movie gets this statistic.)

Here are quotes from the movie, as well as a link to the movie script:

http://www.scifiscripts.com/msol/contact.txt

PALMER
Do you believe in God, Dr. Arroway?
ELLIE
As a scientist I rely on imperical evidence, and in this matter, I don��t believe that there is data either way.
CHAIRWOMAN
So your answer would in fact be that you don��t believe in God?
ELLIE
I - I just don��t understand the relevance of the question.
ENGLISH REPRESENTATIVE
Dr. Arroway, 95% of the world��s population believes in a supreme being in one form or another. I believe that makes the question more than relevant.

(Later ... )

ELLIE
Why did you do it?
PALMER
Our job was to select someone to speak for everybody. I just couldn��t in good conscience vote for a person who doesn��t believe in God. Someone who honestly thinks the other 95% of us suffer from some form of mass delusion.



It seems to me that the vast majority of people believe in God, but "God" is a label that means different things to different people.

I'm wondering: What does "God" mean to you?

More specifically, what kind of form or nature do you think He/She/It has?

Here are some possible choices that I made up, and it's by no means an exhaustive list.

It's all I could think of, so feel free to answer as you wish.

If any of the options come across as mocking, they are not meant in that way.

1. an anthropomorphised, human-like deity of some sort

2. anthropomorphised, human-like deities of some sort. Each deity represents a different aspect of the one God.

3. an orderly and sentient universe. Communication is possible. The sending of messages (from humans to this entity) is not too difficult. However, the receiving of messages back (from entity to humans) is difficult.

4. an orderly and sentient universe. Communication is possible, but both the sending and receiving of messages is difficult.

5. an orderly and sentient universe. Communication is possible, but such an entity has no need to communicate back to us.

6. an orderly and sentient universe. Communication is not possible because, though both humans and this entity are sentient, our types of intelligence are too different.

7. God is an orderly universe. However, there is no sentience. It simply is.

As I said before, please feel free to add or change things.

I don't means to sound patronising, but please be respectful of other people's religious beliefs.

Remember:

One's sophistication is determined by the ability to tolerate paradox -- to hold contradictory ideas at the same time.

[red dog]

Well, I think the term "God" has come to mean number 1 to most people, and it's confusing when people throw around a word with radically different definitions without explanation, so I have to say "no" when people ask me if I believe in one --because I definitely don't believe in a God by that definition.

But whether something or someone created the universe without having been created, I don't know. Whether the universe is sentient is hard to say, but I find it very difficult to believe that it is. I'd like to believe in gods and goddesses, and I hope they're out there, but really I don't know. So in that sense, I'm an agnostic.

It's a good question. I hope the discussion stays on topic, and I'll respect people as long as they respect me (and haven't disrespected me very recently on other threads).

[brighter than white]

HEY! YOU forgot to include my handsome omniscient ass on the list!

you're in for it now!

BTW aka--> God

[flotsam]

[Maserial]

Need it be anthropomorphised?

[flotsam]

[Satori]

GOD IS A ( HOUSE ) DJ!!!

[SPINOZA]

God, to me, is a concept. Other concepts are rock, tree, Hydrogen, space, time, many others.

I say reality is essentially featureless, and conscious, living perceivers do a lot of coloring in with our concepts.

I'm very agnostic about whether concepts are objective properties.

[Rteacher]

None of your options hits the mark - indicating not just your own, but general ignorance of the Absolute Truth among the current populace on this planet...

"God" is not a name for the Absolute Truth, but rather a title signifying the supreme controller.

The absolute truth, described as the source from which (or from whom) everything material and spiritual emanates is ultimately realized as the original transcendental person. Known by many different names according to various qualities and pastimes the original eternal form of blissful knowledge is unlimitedly attractive to all other eternal living entities, including ordinary beings (jivas), demigods (devitas), and expansions (Vishnu tattva...) The Sanskrit word Krishna (Krsna) means all-attractive, and the name Christ indicates the same name for God (for a largely less educated group of people...)



The personhood of Krishna is not an idea invented by human beings naively creating a God in their own image. Nor is personhood a limiting concept when applied to God, or the Absolute Truth. As the source of everything, Krishna naturally has His own personal identity, just as each of us does. The Vedas define God as the one supreme conscious being among all other conscious beings. He is infinite, we are finite, and He maintains us all.

Naturally, the best way to understand God is to learn from Him. In the Bhagavad-gita ("The Song of God"), Lord Krishna�a real, transcendental person�tells us that He is God and reveals many things about Himself.

"Unintelligent men, who do not know Me perfectly, think that I, the Supreme Personality of Godhead, Krishna, was impersonal before and have now assumed this personality. Due to their small fund of knowledge, they do not know My higher nature, which is imperishable and supreme."�Sri Krishna, Bhagavad-gita 7.24
http://www.krishna.com/main.php?id=470

Krishna is the speaker of the Bhagavad-gita, recognized throughout the world as one of mankind's greatest books of wisdom. In the Gita, as it is also known, Krishna says repeatedly that He is God Himself, the source of everything.

Arjuna, to whom Krishna is speaking, accepts Krishna's words as true, adding that the greatest spiritual authorities of that time also confirm that Krishna is God. Traditions that follow in the line of these authorities have carried Krishna's teachings down to the present day.
http://www.krishna.com/main.php?id=459

[jinju]

Krishna is gay.

[Rteacher]

Krishna's eternal consort Radharani doesn't think He's gay:

[laogaiguk]

[quote="Rteacher"]Krishna's eternal consort Radharani doesn't think He's gay:

Everyone knows it's always the wife/girlfriend who finds out last

[Guri Guy]

Radharani is kinda smoking R. Teacher.

[peemil]

God is a spiteful *beep* who is going to cop an ear boxing when I see him.

[WorldWide]

Fabrication

Social control

Allegory