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  1. Frank Buffalo

    Does religion consist of things we want to believe in simply because we think they will be helpful to us?

    Thanks for all your interesting responses!
  2. Frank Buffalo

    Atheists: does God exist?

    I agree with those who want a definition of god in order to address this question of whether one exists. There are religions that see gods in trees and other natural things (animism). There are religions that see god as a fixed entity that started the universe and then sat back to see how the...
  3. Frank Buffalo

    Does religion consist of things we want to believe in simply because we think they will be helpful to us?

    I feel my question has been misunderstood. As a former evangelical Christian, I used to believe in Jesus as someone who offered access to a pleasant, everlasting life. But this belief came with a lot of lifestyle demands and restrictions. It required praying, reading the bible, going to...
  4. Frank Buffalo

    Does religion consist of things we want to believe in simply because we think they will be helpful to us?

    I think religion consists of things we want to believe in because we think they will be helpful to us. The things we believe in may or may not bring us daily pleasure, however, because they may include things that are extremely demanding on our thoughts and lifestyle. But we continue to believe...
  5. Frank Buffalo

    How can God know both the past and the future of All things from beginning?

    I think this is a concept invented by theologians as part of an ongoing development to idealize a human-invented god. It was influenced by philosophical musings about the nature of the universe, about the nature of being, and a weird hopefulness that there are controls on history. Observations...
  6. Frank Buffalo

    My dad said most people now a days only believe in jesus because they don't want to go to hell.Or they just want to go to heaven.

    In my opinion, religion consists of things we want to believe in that we think will do us some good. Otherwise, why bother? I'm not surprised about Frank's father's statement. I think it makes good sense. I don't really understand why he finds his realization sad. Why is that, please?
  7. Frank Buffalo

    Adam's and Eve's ?

    I respectfully disagree with your interpretation of the Genesis stories. I’m looking at the texts in the New Revised Standard Bible. In Genesis 1: 27 it reads: “So God created humankind in his image, in the image of God he created them; male and female he created them.” So far I’m just reading...
  8. Frank Buffalo

    Second Coming

    Since early on in U.S. history, American preachers have wanted to predict the “second coming” of Jesus Christ. Cotton Mather bet on the years 1697, 1716, and 1736, without obvious results. Jonathan Edwards thought it would happen sometime soon after 1742, in the wake of the Great...
  9. Frank Buffalo

    Adam's and Eve's ?

    That's not at all clear in the Genesis chapter 1 account. I see something about god creating man and woman in his own image--sounds like one of each. If you combine this statement with the later story of Adam and Eve, and consider the two accounts consistent, then this myth says god created just...
  10. Frank Buffalo

    Adam's and Eve's ?

    The mythical story of Adam and Eve puzzles me, because there's just mention of their having sons, and then these sons have wives. Where did the wives come from? Did these sons marry sisters back then? Was such incest allowed? It all just highlights the mythical nature of the Adam and Eve story...
  11. Frank Buffalo

    On Evolution & Creation

    In discussing evolution, I'm always surprised at how few people have ever bothered to read Darwin's book on it. I've read it a couple of times, and my understanding of his theory is that evolution is a matter of random mutations as species procreate. Some mutations benefit survival, and others...
  12. Frank Buffalo

    The opposite of believing is knowing

    Believing reflects a desire to think something is true. Knowing can be a practical thing, based on experience. But oftentimes knowing anything beyond a reasonable doubt is elusive, which opens us up to various unprovable beliefs.
  13. Frank Buffalo

    Is loving your enemies a good thing ?

    I think it makes good common sense to be wary of your enemies. Loving someone who has hurt you badly doesn't make common sense, unless you've had a longtime rapport with someone and you think the relationship can be turned around somehow into something good. Even looking at this biblically, I...
  14. Frank Buffalo

    Why Don’t You Believe Jesus Rose From The Grave?

    I don't believe Jesus rose from the dead, and I see it partly as a matter of questionable documentation. My understanding is that all four gospels were written at least a generation or two after Jesus' death, mostly in response to the realization that Jesus' imminently promised new kingdom on...
  15. Frank Buffalo

    Question about the natural world for atheists

    Atheism for me is a freedom from a variety of religious assumptions about the meaning of life in order to be able to see life as it is and deal with it directly. The comfort is in this freedom and the feeling that all kinds of beliefs can be questioned.
  16. Frank Buffalo

    Why is there anything at all?

    "Why does anything exist?" is a question of meaning. And I agree with those who say there's no answer to this question.. That we exist is obvious. To argue that existence proves the existence of some god creator is just a faith statement without real evidence. Insofar as we do exist, we need to...
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