A Philosophical Note on the Nature of Fate

Hey y'all.  So I was thinking about fate.  People tend to be rather "yes or no" concerning it.  That is, it exists, or it doesn't.  Doesn't it occur to anyone that this is strange?  Why should fate apply equally to all?

Why I Believe in God

Hey y'all.  Of late I've been having a discussion on Youtube, and yes, I know how the saying about arguing on the internet.  I've attempted to end the discussion though, because Youtube's writing limit makes talking pretty awkward.  That and I don't want to fill up the video maker's comments.  It's always really annoying to look for comments to talk about the video, and then all you see is somebody's argument, y'know?

In any case, this person on Youtube was saying that my beliefs in God were delusional.  I think I sort of missed a little of his point, as he said he wasn't calling me delusional directly.  To be honest, if I'm not "delusional" and God is wrong, then what am I?  What are all the believers, and not only the Christian ones?  Yeah, that's one of the odd things about atheists.  They're very argumentative against Christian thought, and yet don't seem to care too much about debunking other spiritual ideas, when in fact if one is atheist, then spirituality in its entirety has to be offensive, not the existence of just one God.  I just read a little news blurb where someone in a "church of atheism" has their own personal goddess (not the belief of the "church", but the individual quoted).  Then you've got the atheists who hate God, and yet claim not to believe in him.  Kinda pointless to hate things that aren't real.

Anyway, that's a little bit off topic.  This particular blog is meant to answer why I personally believe in God.  I am a rational, an INTP.  I'm supposed to be a thinker, someone who dwells on ideas and points out logical inconsistencies for the fun of it.  This is all true.  However, the very idea that a thinker or a scientist cannot believe in God is in and of itself silly and an idea created historically recently.  Sir Isaac Newton and Blaise Pascal were Christians, and Einstein himself was at least theist.  Everyone's favorite pop theologian, C.S. Lewis, a former atheist, joked he was dragged unwillingly through the gates of Heaven.

And that brings me to the basis of my argument with the Youtuber.  Logical thought vs. experimentation.  Both of these items are tools used by scientists of all sorts to come to conclusions and prepare their thoughts.  The atheist I was discussing things with spoke of my beliefs as being illogical based on logical thought, and insisted that no one who is rational would ever believe in God.

Beyond the Scope

Hey y'all.  So this is kinda beyond the scope of this blog, but it was just something I was thinking about, and well, this blog is for stuff I think about.

So I was thinking about atheism.  I like to think a lot, because I'm INTP, and apparently that's the thing we like to do best.  In any case, I was thinking about it, and it occurs to me that the big bang and evolution don't really matter.  Christians don't like evolution because it's supposed to "science away" God (which it doesn't, because it's possible to believe in both or neither), but then it occurred to me that it doesn't really matter if evolution is true or not.  Who gives a crap?  I mean, Christians care because by attacking one part of the theology the atheists are trying to attack the rest, but is such an attack really relevant?

The point of this lays in atheism itself.  The thing about atheism is that it's a negative belief system.  No, not negative as in pessimistic, but because it is based on a negative: there is no God.  There is no positive or additive side to atheism.  It holds that someone else's belief is untrue, and that's about it.

So say you one day decide to become an atheist.  Okay, then what?  What do you do next?  How are you supposed to live?  What gives life meaning?  What's the purpose of life?

It gets even harder for people like me.  INTPs don't exactly get along well with others, being so internal and so focused on fixing problems rather than making friends.  What good does atheism do me?  If there's no God, then the social struggles I go through are nothing.  I have no purpose, no point.  And all those people who make fun of me can rightfully do so, because they are better looking, better dressed, and have better skills than just simply thinking about random stuff for the fun of it.  And they enjoy movies better because they don't have to nitpick.

Even if I was a successful person with lots of friends, what does atheism offer me, other than freedom from morality?  Once I die, it's all gone, and there will have been no point in anything I've ever done, whether that be riches fame, or whatever.  Even if I do good for others, what does that matter?

Let's say I save a country from an oppressive regime -- shoot ahead to the extreme, y'know?  Saving a nation doesn't last forever.  It can just get conquered again.  Or maybe it becomes a morally depraved, glitz and glam shallow society.  Or maybe it turns into one of those dystopian stereotypes Hollywood likes so much.  Or maybe the relative safety of my newly saved country ends up being the home base of the next Stalin or Hitler, because it's just too dang nice to execute people.

So what I'm saying is, there's nothing you can do that can't be destroyed.  Isn't that the second law of thermodynamics?  Everything is in a state of decay.  It'd be kinda nice to know that there's a heaven somewhere, and that stuff there actually lasts.

So that's my rant for today.