Part I
1. i wonder about, whether this planet can sustain the human race as we continue to grow and use the world’s resources. I wonder if the earth can continue to produce the vital elements we need to live in future generations.
2. I’m puzzled by, most people’s tendancy to disdain and ignore the homeless in Norfolk. They walk right by other human beings who are hurting and helpless.
3. I doubt that, there is much of a difference between the two presidential candidates. Though they may differ on the issues, they both want more governmental control over private citizen’s lives.
4. I’m bothered by the wealth and decadence that our country embraces even as other starve to death a continent away. Sometimes I walk through the mall and this really disturbs me.
5. I’m sad that the city of Norfolk has passed laws that descriminate against the homeless and their access to public parks after sunset. The city’s parks are often the only place the homeless can find shelter at night.
6. I’m angry about, the continued war on photography through America’s major metropolitan cities. Public police departments as well as private security firms continue to try and restrict citizens’ constitutional right to photography in public spaces.
7. I’ve always thought, either America has to adopt a strict isolationist policy (in which do not intervene in other countries and affairs) or we have to become involved wherever there is conflict and police the world. I don’t think there can be an inbetween.
8. I’m suprised by: some people’s ability to completely ignore the needs of others, like those suffering genocide in Darfur. Nothing is being done to stop it, because many are able to ignore it.
9. I’m interested in: learning what are the reasons why people do not believe in a higher power, or God. Are they legitemate? Or are they just an attempt to rationalize away what they don’t understand.
10. I wish I could: refrain from judging others by their appearance. The problem is that human beings are visual people, and we form patterns in our mind concerning the way people look and act who we have encountered in the past.
11. I worry about: the expanding influence of radical Islam through Europe, and what that will mean for our society in the future. While our society currently functions well with Muslims in it, radical Islam takes and shapes society to their own standards.
12. I’m afraid that: i will live my life for myself and forget those around me. I’m afraid I will have to live with that regret even after my life on this earth ends.
Part II
I’m interested in learning what are the reasons why people do not believe in a higher power, or God. Are they legitemate? Or are they just an attempt to rationalize away what they don’t understand. I have had many conversations about the existence of God with friends and have thought about the question myself. I have heard debates on the radio, television, and read books from both sides of the arguments by authors such as Richard Dawkins and C.S. Lewis to name a few. Some of the possible answers to this question include the problem of suffering, lack of empirical evidence, lack of a “need” for the idea of God, as well as complacency or ignorance.
Some reasons or opinions that could support these answers are as follows. How could a loving all-powerfulGod allow bad things to happen? Either he’s not good because he doesn’t stop bad things from happening, or he’s not powerful enough to do it. Also, there is no evidence to prove God’s existence. We can’t see, or hear, or feel and we certainly can’t use the scientific method to prove anything about him whatsoever. Also, God has not made himself explicitly known to us, and we are fine. Society is continuing to improve, and God or not, things are going fine. And the last reasons are we cant ever know or it doesn’t matter.
Some reasons or opinions that could contradict these answers are as follow. Just because suffering happens to us, doesn’t mean that a good, all-powerful God does not exist. There could be a higher purpose for our suffering that we may not see or know at this point in time. Next, just because we cannot see or test God doesn’t mean he can’t exist. There are many things that scientists believe in such as atoms and molecules that have never been see before by human eyes. Also, science is limited to how much our minds can comprehend the subject being studied. Just because we cannot understand something, does not mean it doesn’t exist (like the concept of infinity) Religion affects society because religions are worldviews, and everyone has them. The question of whether or not God exists does matter, as it affects the law, ideas of morality, and many other factors that determine what kind of society we live in.
Part III
This topic is interesting to me because it is rather epic, and has been something people have been debating probably since the dawn of man. My experiences thinking about the question and studying ideologies different than my own have convinced led me to desire knowledge on this topic. Some difficulties i might encounter are that the question is very theological in nature, and thus philosphical. It is difficult to have your beliefs challenged or questioned and the subject is definetly emotionally charged. I hope to discover why people do not believe in God, or a higher power, and to do this i need to know more about how people reason and think.
October 31, 2008 at 1:33 am
i think that people like to find other things to explain the nature of their existence, so that they can more easily ignore the more difficult questions. i say that a bully doesn’t pick on the strong to prove his strength. rather he picks on the weak to mask his weakness. therefore if we can ascribe more importance to the mundane, then we mask the immediacy of our condition to render it obscure and the obvious becomes sublime. light becomes darkness and darkness becomes light in a do-se-do as we become light as dandelion fruit in the wind.