[net.philosophy] God is Dead

schwrtze@csd2.UUCP (Eric Schwartz group) (05/28/85)

God is dead. Like in: 'Tucson is dead on a Tuesday night'. God is boring.
Does it matter whether there is a god or not? Maybe in some abstract and
unemotional way. What's god done for you lately? What's god done for any-
one lately? Murders and wars and natural disasters keep causing human
misery. God doesn't do anything to stop it. In fact, if god exists and 
has the attributes normally attributed to him, then he must be causing all
this suffering and misery. In which case our life is a struggle with god.
But I prefer to think of my life as a string of connected physical exper-
iences that can be interpreted in their own right, without appeal to the
supernatural. That's all I can do. And think of suffering and misery as 
a condition that can be overcome through human, technological efforts. Who
needs god?

					Regards,
						Bill Light

williams@kirk.DEC (John Williams 223-3402) (05/30/85)

God is Dead - !schwrtze

!schwrtze is Dead - God

I talked to God,
He said he understands,
He said stick by me,
I'll be your guiding hand.

Don't ask me what I think of you,
I might not give the answer that you want me to.

BTW, nice article.
						John Williams

PS. I suggest we change the subject before too many egos get flayed.
Religion is like a Black Hole that sucks in everything in it's path.
I would prefer to discuss some of the more practical aspects of
philosophy, rather than get led down the garden path. I guess that
occasionally you have to weed out the screwballs. As for religious
fanatics, I am constantly on seek and destroy alert. The same fucking
guy on the same fucking corner asks me the same fucking question: Do
I want to take the same fucking personality test. And I always say the
same fucking thing. I'm saving up for a set of encyclopedias.

rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey) (05/30/85)

> God is dead. Like in: 'Tucson is dead on a Tuesday night'. God is boring.
> Does it matter whether there is a god or not? Maybe in some abstract and
> unemotional way. What's god done for you lately? What's god done for any-
> one lately? Murders and wars and natural disasters keep causing human
> misery. God doesn't do anything to stop it. In fact, if god exists and 
> has the attributes normally attributed to him, then he must be causing all
> this suffering and misery. In which case our life is a struggle with god.
> But I prefer to think of my life as a string of connected physical exper-
> iences that can be interpreted in their own right, without appeal to the
> supernatural. That's all I can do. And think of suffering and misery as 
> a condition that can be overcome through human, technological efforts. Who
> needs god?
> 
> 					Regards,
> 						Bill Light

Well spoken, Bruce!  Couldn't have summed it up better myself.
-- 
"to be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best night and day
 to make you like everybody else means to fight the hardest battle any human
 being can fight and never stop fighting."  - e. e. cummings
	Rich Rosen	ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr

lip@masscomp.UUCP (John Lipinski) (05/31/85)

In article <1008@pyuxd.UUCP> rlr@pyuxd.UUCP (Arthur Pewtey) writes:
>> God is dead. Like in: 'Tucson is dead on a Tuesday night'. God is boring.
>> Does it matter whether there is a god or not? Maybe in some abstract and
>> unemotional way. What's god done for you lately? What's god done for any-
>> one lately? Murders and wars and natural disasters keep causing human
>> misery. God doesn't do anything to stop it. In fact, if god exists and 
>> has the attributes normally attributed to him, then he must be causing all
>> this suffering and misery. In which case our life is a struggle with god.
>> But I prefer to think of my life as a string of connected physical exper-
>> iences that can be interpreted in their own right, without appeal to the
>> supernatural. That's all I can do. And think of suffering and misery as 
>> a condition that can be overcome through human, technological efforts. Who
>> needs god?
>> 
>> 					Regards,
>> 						Bill Light
>
>Well spoken, Bruce!  Couldn't have summed it up better myself.
>	Rich Rosen	ihnp4!pyuxd!rlr


I'll second Rich's approval.  The question remains - Does it matter whether 
there is a god or not?  I think the question answers itself.

>> Who needs god?

It seems that too many do.  I won't bother going through the many types of 
persons that rely on a belief of god for one reason or another.  If you fear
your all too insecure earthly life and seek comfort in believing in an uncertain
supernatural power, then you can derive security knowing that many others have
the same fear.  But then, is there a benefit in fear?

- John Lipinski 	ihnp4!masscomp!lip