What led you to God?

The only purpose living things have is to live and procreate, life is not the same as a car or anything we design, why does a human need any other purposes than what they want to do

I didn't say they needed such a purpose. I'm just saying, need it or not, they don't have it. They are, in a formal sense, useless.

My comments about lack of purpose was not intended as an argument against Creationism. I was just saying that IF there is no God, then we have no formal purpose.If we were created by God, and this alien abducted us and examined us, he would still not be able to find any formal purpose by looking our bodies. So it says nothing about the possibility of whether or not there is a God to look at our bodies and decide we have no formal purpose. The formal purpose, if we were created by God, would be spiritual in nature--or at least might be.

i wouldn't say usless, i'd rather say, of no specific use, useless implies of no use, which we all know isn't true

Not that second, no. But it doesn't take long. Someone else will fill up your place and soon it will be as though you never existed, hardly of any more account than the sagebrush rolling along the prairie.This message has been edited by robinrohan, 01-17-2006 03:43 PM

If you are talking about a subjective use, we can think up any use we like, all of which are ultimately arbitrary. But in objective, formal terms, we are useless.

The problem is we're way overqualified for the job.And if an alien did check us out, it wouldn't just be our bodies he'd be pondering, but what we actually do with our time, and I think he'd find out eventually that we're this strange creature that *wants* to matter, wants to have a purpose, and will make one up if we can, or go into depression if we can't. That in itself doesn't prove we HAVE a purpose I suppose, but it certainly shows that the mindless designer goofed by creating us wanting to have one.This message has been edited by Faith, 01-17-2006 05:02 PM

Okay, I think I've got you understood on that point ; thanks for the extra clarification.The problem I now see is trying to determine what a formal purpose is. Who is to say that the formal purpose of that car is to get from A to B, and not simply to spin tires really fast? I'd have to wonder if the inventor of the car himself would even be able to list a single formal purpose.Trék

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In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist... might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. - Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species

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Not that second, no. But it doesn't take long. Someone else will fill up your place and soon it will be as though you never existed, hardly of any more account than the sagebrush rolling along the prairie.

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Why should that matter? Dying and rotting in the ground is something I would most desperately like to prevent, but I cannot. So, while I'm sitting here, I think I should make the most of my time. If I KNEW that I would live forever, I might not be moving through school so fast, getting a job so soon, reading and learning so much. I'd probably just sit back and relax, let the times fly by me... picking up what I need as I go along.It's the shortness of life that makes me value it so much more. Take [Dan's Clever Alias] food analogy. Imagine a loaf of bread, and a 3 oz. steak. Would you value the loaf of bread more simply because there is more of it? Even if the amount of available bread was infinite, it would still not be as valuable as that last lone piece of steak. Most likely you'd scarf down the bread as you were starving, but savour each bite of the steak, simply because there is less of it.TrékEdit: added quote to clarify to what was being respondedThis message has been edited by Invictus, 01/17/2006 05:47 PM

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In considering the Origin of Species, it is quite conceivable that a naturalist... might come to the conclusion that each species had not been independently created, but had descended, like varieties, from other species. - Charles Darwin On the Origin of Species

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Believe that hard enough, I'm sure it'll come true.

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your cool...

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Why not? I don't know about you, but I'm enjoying myself.

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That's good. You've used this one before, still have failed to realize that life does matter, and you don't care if it does or not, because life is good. Tell that to kids who starve dawg.

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You must hate lunchtime. No matter how delicious the meal in front of you is, you know your plate is going to be empty at some point. Oh, tasty food is so meaningless!

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Don't use the phrase "doubly so".... Yuck

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to you, yes, to your family yes, the fact is it doesn't have to have any other meaning than that

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I wish you didn't think that.

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why would it be in vain? why does everything have to have some super meaning? why can't it be what it is, life

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It is what it is. It has meaning because the effects, the love, the relationships will never pass away, they will live on as your spirit does. That's what is so beautiful about "never dying". That is why the lyric "I dunno but i've been told that you never die and you never grow old, effected me. Because our lives have significance, and we are eternal. What we do in this life is not less important, because many believe that it decides what eternity, or reincarnation will be like. I know that you have to lead a good life, and I know that part of our purpose on earth is to find, know God. But what I have relied on for my knowledge in these areas, requires faith. Something that many intellectuals have hardened their hearts to in reason.I know that life is ejoyable, it's a great thing. But as humans we must think a little about why we are here, and not go through the motions, living without the need to know truth, to know God.Dan has told me that life is good, so stop analyzing it, but he has to see that he has purpose, and even though he enjoys it, he could have been born in a third world country, somewhere where life isn't so good, these people have relied on their faith for beliefs in the afterlife, and they know there is what is called paradise.

As it happens, God doesn't expect you to believe without evidence. Only a numbskull would believe in such a fantastic, out-of-this world thing as "Gods existance" without overwhelming proof. Proof that can evaporate all possible obstacles: emotional,logical, analytical, etc.He is well aware that you can't believe what you can't believe

It has been said that life would generally be not as important to many here if they knew they lived forever. But I believe that this life will have a lot to do with the next, this life makes who you are sort of. But then again I know little about this life, so to claim to know about the next is a little ignorant.I think that this life determines your fate.

why?, because i don't see some higher meaning than what is infront of me? because i know that worrying about something i can't control isn't a big deal? who says it is to find god? many people don't think so, i'd say you need to speak for yourself why do we need to think about why we are here? most of the reasons people come up with maybe wrong, they all remain a remedy for fear of death

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I have told you that if this was the case, then our lives would be totally insignificant.

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Was Martin Luther King Jr.'s life "totally insignificant?"

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That is proof enough for anyone that the afterlife is real.

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No, that is proof enough for anyone that you desperately WANT the afterlife to be real. You want it so bad that you will belive without a bit of evidence.What you want to be real and what is are two different things.