A question for some non-Christians for my daughter's project

[mims]

I hope no one finds this offensive but my daughter is supposed to do some research for a youth program. These are the questions that she has been given to ask. They aren't how I would personally word them but we would really appreciate it if some of you would take the time to answer them the best you can! I do think it can be a useful thing for her to go through because she is surrounded mostly by Christians and this is a good chance for her to think about what others believe and how this affects them so this isn't just a filler exercise for her!

Thanks in advance.

 

1. Who is God?

 

2. How did the world begin?

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

[KarenNC]

1. Who is God?

There are many beings in the class "God," but none of them are omnipotent, omniscient or omnibenevolent, much less all three at once.

 

2. How did the world begin?

Our best current understanding of the origin of Earth and life on it comes from science---see current astronomical and biological scientific theories. Our understanding changes as more sophisticated methods of scientific inquiry develop.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

My personal purpose is to live the most honorable life that I can. I don't believe that I was intentionally put here by the Gods for any specific purpose.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

I have no idea.

[Peela]

1. Who is God?

A mental (and often personified :)) concept that people put onto the great intelligent and conscious life force that is everything and way way beyond our ability to comprehend.

 

2. How did the world begin?

I don't know. I think we tend to think in linear time, wheras life is more cyclic. So, which world? I think worlds have been beginning and ending forever. The world we live in is just one world.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

To love.

 

4. What will happen after you die?

I don't know, and I am ok with that.

[Rivka]

I am an ex-Christian Unitarian-Universalist.

1. Who is God?

The one thing I'm sure of is that there isn't an interventionist God who acts on the world by handing out rewards and punishments, or granting certain prayers. But not others, is the part that usually gets left unspoken, and that's the part I have trouble with. God answered your prayers and cured your kid's cancer, great. Did the mother of the kid in the next bed not pray hard enough, then? Pursuing that line of reasoning doesn't lead anywhere good; if God really did work that way, such a God should be opposed rather than worshiped.

 

I do, however, believe in a force that is larger than the knowable. (This is where my articulateness breaks down.) The way I think of it is that out of all the vast uncountable forms of life, and the connections between them, and the connections between life and other forms of matter - the part where our bodies and everything around us are made of tiny bits of long-exploded stars - that out of all of those connections and interweavings there emerges something larger. Not outside the material universe, but arising from it, and shaped by everything in it. For lack of a better name, I call that thing "God."

 

My sense of this force is that it isn't personal, not a being with awareness or consciousness who, you know, notices me and knows who I am. But I am aware of myself as part of it, and I find value in practices which help me feel aware of and connected to the larger force: mindfulness exercises, meditation, prayer.

 

I see God manifest as well in the things people do to connect themselves to each other and to the world: in kindness, compassion, courage, usefulness.

 

2. How did the world begin?

About four and a half billion years ago, the earth and the other planets in our solar system were formed via the accretion of particles within the solar nebula which eventually became our sun, and were shaped by gravitational forces. Astronomers and geologists are still working out the exact details of planetary formation; you'd be better off asking them instead of a research psychologist like me. ;-)

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

I believe that the only purpose to our existence is that which we create ourselves. I don't think that I am intrinsically here "for" something; I exist physically because of natural biological processes and I have a mind, a self, because consciousness is a property that arises from the immense complexity of the human brain.

 

That said, I have personal opinions about what it would mean to have a satisfying and worthwhile life. I hope that when I die, I will know that there is more love and more knowledge in the world than there would have been if I had never existed.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

I don't think much about it. To me it seems... irrelevant, I guess.

 

Ultimately, what happens after death is unknowable. But if pressed, I'd say that when we die, our bodies return to the earth. Eventually, our component elements become part of other forms of life. So we remain within the great chain of existence, even if in unrecognizable form.

 

As for our selves, I think they live on in the effects we've had on the world and the people in it. For better or for worse, the world is a different place than it would have been if we never existed. We live on in the things we have done, the ideas we've shared, the memories we leave in people who know us, and perhaps our biological descendants. That's enough immortality for me.

[ThatCyndiGirl]

1. Who is God?

A fictitious character that people use to keep themselves and others in check.

 

2. How did the world begin? The simplistic answer is "don't know/don't care". It doesn't impact my life whatsoever on a daily basis. The less simplistic answer is that I have more belief in science than in blind faith in a fantasy character.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth? To treat people the way they SHOULD be treated (i.e: with love). (which frequently seems to put me at odds with religious people, strangely enough.)

 

4. What will happen to you after you die? My body will decompose and I will cease to 'be'.

[skueppers]

I'm a lifelong atheist.

 

1. Who is God?

 

There is no God. People believe in gods because it helps them to make sense of the universe and their own place in it.

 

2. How did the world begin?

 

No one really knows exactly how this came to pass, since it all happened billions of years ago. Scientists are constantly working to gain a better understanding of the processes by which the solar system and planets formed.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

 

I have no purpose on earth beyond what I may define for myself.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

 

Nothing. I will be dead.

[keptwoman]

ex Christian here.

 

1. Who is God?

I don't think any such being exists, except in the mind of people who find life a little easier to take with the idea of a higher power to watch over things.

 

2. How did the world begin?

I don't know, and I don't much care. If I did care I would look to science to answer it.

3. What is your purpose on earth?

Biologically my purpose is to survive and for my species to survive. Other than that I think everyone would say that their purpose is different. Mine is to love my family, care for others, be content and look after this beautiful planet we live on.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

When I first stopped believing in God, I wondered if I would go to hell and worried a bit about that. However, now I think that any god that would relegate good people to eternal fire because they did not do things his way is not a god I want to spend eternity with anyway, so if hell is the alternative, it's one I'll take willingly. I don't know what happens after I die, I have no idea if my spirit continues in some way or if I cease to exist. I'll find out when I die I guess, or not.

[naturegirl7]

1. Who is God?

"GOD" is a man made construct, an enforcer of a particular group's ideal morality. A means of control. Organized religion was built upon fear; it was the first truly effective dictatorship, and still is. We need to feel like there is something "bigger" than us, something with this unknown purpose that shapes our lives. We can't just be good to one another cuz it is the right thing to do, but out of fear of eternal punishment. Or in exchange for eternal redemption.

Personally I prefer Free Will.

I DO believe in a Divine Spark that exists within each of us - and within all living things. I don't think of this Divine Spark as a "god" but instead as the special spark that occurs when life occurs. It is the part of us that inherently makes us us - the part of me that is ME. KWIM?

 

I think that there is a Divine Spark, or life force, that exists within everything. I do believe that we are all inter-connected. Not just us humans either. I believe that all living things, the planet itself - we are all connected. We all share that spark. We tap into the Divine as much or as little as we choose - If you take the time, you can feel it.

You can sit by the ocean and feel the pull of the tide, feel the calm settle over you as you listen to the waves, watch the various sea life - it all reaffirms life and connects us on a deeper level and raises our inner awareness to a higher level. As more conscious beings, humans have more responsibility. Or atleast we should. We do not own this earth and its creatures, we are part of it and should act as guardians of the earth and its creatures. Unfortunately mainstream religion asserts that Man dominates over creatures and the earth itself, causing us to squander the precious lives of plants and animals and the environment in general.

 

Once I explained it to my DH as being like the Force in StarWars. It is within all living things - some things it is in higher concentrations than in others, some people being more able to tap into it than others - but it is there, within us and around us in everything in our environment.

 

Even as a kid, I did not feel as close to God sitting in church during Mass as I did sitting on a damp log at the base of a waterfall, listening to the water crashing down, the animal noises, feeling the sun warm me, feeling the breeze on my face and arms, and smelling the heavenly scent of damp earthy forest. It has a very meditative quality to it, a humbling yet exhaulting life affirming quality to it - that was lacking for me in church. Speaking of meditative qualities - meditation, yoga, etc is great way to tap into your own divinity and that divine life force around you.

 

2. How did the world begin?

I strongly believe in the BIG BANG and in evolution. How did the BIG BANG first get sparked - I have no clue. I don't really need to know. What matters more to me is what we will do with the world that we have, right here, right now.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

To live my life to the fullest (to live a life of love and joy, achieving my own personal potential and making the most of my personal gifts),

To be true to myself but still be kind and make a positive difference in my little piece of the world,

To leave the people/animals/environment that I touch better than how I found them,

To love and to be loved.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

MY body will be cremated, per my request. I don't want to be pumped with nasty chemicals, or stuffed into a box in the ground. I want to go back to the earth the way nature intended.

My Divine Spark - who knows if it will die out when my physical body dies. Personally I do believe that our Divine Spark, the part of us that makes us inherently us is an energy that does live on after we die. I think if we are overly attached to our lives, our residual energy will stay attached... But I think that our energy, our spark, our "spirit" or "soul" can be reborn - or at the very least recycled. But that may just be my catholic upbringing unwilling to let go of the idea of a soul :tongue_smilie: Or the personal experiences I have had with "spirits" and residual energies...

[ondreeuh]

I hope no one finds this offensive but my daughter is supposed to do some research for a youth program. These are the questions that she has been given to ask. They aren't how I would personally word them but we would really appreciate it if some of you would take the time to answer them the best you can! I do think it can be a useful thing for her to go through because she is surrounded mostly by Christians and this is a good chance for her to think about what others believe and how this affects them so this isn't just a filler exercise for her!

Thanks in advance.

 

1. Who is God?

 

2. How did the world begin?

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

 

This is so odd - Rookie asked basically the same questions last week. Is this an assignment that being given by a certain denomination?

 

I can't really answer who God is, because I don't have any idea. I don't have any evidence, intuition, gut feeling, etc. Just nothing.

 

I don't know how the world began. I think scientific theory of evolution is the most likely.

 

My purpose on earth, as I wrote to Rookie, is to raise good children and impact people positively. That's the legacy I want to have.

 

After I die, I suppose I'll just cease being. It would be cool to be a spirit or angel and be somehow involved in the living world, but I don't have any reason to believe that would be the case.

[Rosie_0801]

1. Who is God?

 

That depends who you ask :) Or perhaps who is asking. ;) My deity equivalent isn't a "who," but a "what."

 

2. How did the world begin?

 

No idea. I go with the scientific explanations because I haven't anything better. Why those things happened instead of not happening is beyond me and doesn't bother me. We obviously are here, and that is the important point.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

 

My first answer to this was "to go places, find out things and whenever possible, inflict my findings on someone!" Since having kids, this has moved more towards improving myself as best I can so I can be the best quality mother to my children because that gives them greater potential, and gifting good quality people to the world is one of the greatest contributions I can make.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

 

Not much. To quote the Lion King "when we die, our bodies become the grass..."

 

:)

Rosie

[freethinkermama]

I hope no one finds this offensive but my daughter is supposed to do some research for a youth program. These are the questions that she has been given to ask. They aren't how I would personally word them but we would really appreciate it if some of you would take the time to answer them the best you can! I do think it can be a useful thing for her to go through because she is surrounded mostly by Christians and this is a good chance for her to think about what others believe and how this affects them so this isn't just a filler exercise for her!

Thanks in advance.

 

1. Who is God?

 

2. How did the world begin?

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

 

You might want to go read Rookie's post on these same questions--I see someone else mentioned that.

 

I'm an atheist agnostic and former Evangelical and missionary.

 

1. "God" is the deity monotheists worship. The "G" is capitalized to distinguish it from the hundreds and thousands of other deities and demi-deities that people have devised. The idea of God is an archtype. "God" probably does not exist any more than "gods" exist.

 

2. I have no idea. It's really the same question as asking, how did God start/begin/come into being. I don't know where the beginning is, neither do religious people. :) I don't know how anything, life, the universe, God etc. came into being. No one knows.

 

3. I don't believe people come with a purpose. We create them, define them for ourselves. The purpose have embraced for myself is to raise kind, loving children, and to try to leave the world a better place than I found it when I entered it. I try to do this in little ways each day.

 

4. I don't know, but many scientists believe that consciousness is a by-product of life. If you're dead, you have no consciousness. You no longer exist but by the way of memory in the hearts and minds of those who knew/loved you. This is what I think.

 

T.

[thescrappyhomeschooler]

1. Who is God?

 

Most of my answers will be the same, because they are all basically forms of "I don't know." To me, there may or may not be a God. I believe that there is some power that is greater than humans, but I am certainly not able to define it.

 

2. How did the world begin?

 

Unless you were present at the beginning of the world, I don't think you can possibly know how the world began. Religions and science have come up with theories, but no one knows for sure.

 

3. What is your purpose on earth?

 

I don't know what my specific purpose is, but I do believe that you can use your time on earth to either effect change for the better or for the worse. I try to effect change for the better.

 

4. What will happen to you after you die?

 

Once again, I have no idea, but, I'm not worried about it, since it will probably be similar to before I was born.

[MomOfOneFunOne]

Wow! This is just so interesting. I didn't see the other thread but I really enjoy seeing how you think about these things.

[freethinkermama]

What is an atheist agnostic?

 

Well, some call it a soft form of atheism.

 

I don't know that there's a god or not (agnostic)

but I don't believe that there is one (atheist)

 

Typically, I just call myself an atheist, but if I'm being more specific, I go for "atheist agnostic". Most atheists I've met are really atheist agnostics. They can't say with certainty that a deity doesn't exist, but they don't believe that there is one.

 

T.

[mims]

Thank you to so many of you taking the time to type this out! I have found it very interesting and have to admit I would love to add more questions but don't think it is probably the place for it. My daughter is printing them all out and will spend some time on them so we really appreciate your help.

[skueppers]

I'm pretty sure further questions about this topic would not violate the rules of the General Board. I know I'd be happy to answer them, and I imagine others would be as well.

[Rivka]

I'm pretty sure further questions about this topic would not violate the rules of the General Board. I know I'd be happy to answer them, and I imagine others would be as well.

 

:iagree:Follow-up questions wouldn't bother me. A follow-up attempt to convert me would, but it doesn't sound like you're planning to go in that direction.

[nono]

To the OP, I don't see how this really helps complete the picture for your child. It's a self-selected group, which isn't representative of what's really believed worldwide. If your child reads this, he or she may conclude:

 

There are people who believe in Jesus. There are people who don't believe in G/god.

 

Hardly an accurate picture.

 

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to read here: http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm after perusing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_religions.

 

Nothing wrong with not believing in God, but to have religions boiled down to 0s and 1s is just plain inaccurate. :001_smile:

Edited October 13, 2010 by nono

[freethinkermama]

To the OP, I don't see how this really helps complete the picture for your child. It's a self-selected group, which isn't representative of what's really believed worldwide. If your child reads this, he or she may conclude:

 

There are people who believe in Jesus. There are people who don't believe in G/god.

 

Hardly an accurate picture.

 

Perhaps it would be worthwhile to read here: http://www.religioustolerance.org/var_rel.htm after perusing http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_religions.

 

Nothing wrong with not believing in God, but to have religions boiled down to 0s and 1s is just plain inaccurate. :001_smile:

 

I don't understand what you're relating here. Non-Christians were asked to answer questions for an assignment for a child. Is it the assignment you have a problem with? That not every religious possibility on every possible issue and religion is not being addressed?

 

Yes, there are people who believe in God. There are people who don't. There are people who follow dozens of various religious paths.

 

Sure this is a self-selecting group who have answered these questions, and we don't represent every possible sort of non-Christian. . . I'm not sure the assignment required that.

 

I really don't want to be contentious, but. . . I don't get this.

 

T.

 

***Nevermind. I see what you were going for. I thought it was interesting, too, that more folks from non-Christian religions didn't reply. In the same vein though, as far as the assignment is concerned, she probably doesn't have to get a general overview of all non-Christian beliefs, especially if she were just to perform basic interviews.*** My bad.

Edited October 13, 2010 by freethinkermama

[Rosie_0801]

Thank you to so many of you taking the time to type this out! I have found it very interesting and have to admit I would love to add more questions but don't think it is probably the place for it. My daughter is printing them all out and will spend some time on them so we really appreciate your help.

 

Not if you think answers will tread into areas you don't want your daughter touching yet; otherwise, go for your life.

 

Rosie

[skueppers]

Nothing wrong with not believing in God, but to have religions boiled down to 0s and 1s is just plain inaccurate. :001_smile:

 

I agree -- I was surprised that this thread didn't get more responses from people from other faith traditions.

[freethinkermama]

I agree -- I was surprised that this thread didn't get more responses from people from other faith traditions.

 

AH! OK, that I get.

 

Yes, I was rather hoping that there'd be other religious voices. Surprised me how many non-deists spoke up :)

 

*slow on the uptake*--T.