Wasting Time?

[Zzyzx]

If we spend an hour per day worshiping Odin or Quetzalcoatl, that equates to fifteen 24-hour days per year. Would that be wasted time? There are, literally, thousands of 'gods' promoted by religions.

How can it be determined (beyond anyone's opinion) which, if any, of the proposed 'gods' are worthy of our time, effort, and resources?

[Difflugia]

If there is no God, then wouldn’t that mean that all time is a waste? Existence itself has no purpose and nothing we do has any significance.

Why would the presence or absence of one magic guy affect whether or not existence is meaningful? Even if meaning is limited to sentient creatures, we know that they do, in fact, exist and that we are among them. For any that have the ability to evaluate meaning, existence is meaningful. If I someday find out that Santa Claus doesn't exist, I'm not going to suddenly find Christmas a less meaningful way to celebrate family and friends. The only thing that might make it seem meaningless would be if I had to spend the day in church without the benefit of glühwein.

“Eat, drink and be merry…” and if you happen to want to pray to a bowel of pasta, go ahead. After all, everything is meaningless.

So sayeth the Preacher, anyway, for even a live dog is better off than a dead lion.

[Tcg]

If there is no God, then wouldn’t that mean that all time is a waste?

Why would it mean that?

Existence itself has no purpose and nothing we do has any significance.

Why should one conclude that?

“Eat, drink and be merry…” and if you happen to want to pray to a bowel of pasta, go ahead. After all, everything is meaningless.

Praying to pasta? Who does that? Is this anything more than a straw man?


Tcg

[2ndpillar2]

If we spend an hour per day worshiping Odin or Quetzalcoatl, that equates to fifteen 24-hour days per year. Would that be wasted time? There are, literally, thousands of 'gods' promoted by religions.

How can it be determined (beyond anyone's opinion) which, if any, of the proposed 'gods' are worthy of our time, effort, and resources?

Just do a comparison. The humanist, followers of the godless Marx, have a history of destruction. Those that teach and keep the Commandments of God, on the whole, experience a freedom of expression and blessings. Those that teach, but do not keep the Commandments, eventually follow the Marxist to destruction. In a real world that would be physical evidence of the presence of God, and on the other hand, the presence of evil.

[Tcg]

]
Just do a comparison. The humanist, followers of the godless Marx, have a history of destruction. Those that teach and keep the Commandments of God, on the whole, experience a freedom of expression and blessings. Those that teach, but do not keep the Commandments, eventually follow the Marxist to destruction. In a real world that would be physical evidence of the presence of God, and on the other hand, the presence of evil.

Yes, let's compare your claims to the claims of what the God of the Bible reportedly did:

Genesis 7:22 Everything on dry land that had the breath of life in its nostrils died. 23 Every living thing on the face of the earth was wiped out; people and animals and the creatures that move along the ground and the birds were wiped from the earth. Only Noah was left, and those with him in the ark.

Of course, there is no reason to consider this account factual, but if it were, God is the master of destruction. No one has ever matched his record.



Tcg

[Diagoras]

I meant do the 1 Kings 18 experiment yourself. Pile up a bunch of sticks with a dead bull (or pigeon, if you're poor), do the "dear [Yahweh/Zeus/Vishnu/whatever], please send fire" thing, and see who responds. Any that actually send fire go on the short list.

I went and read that chapter - there's one little detail that puzzles me. Verse 23 says:

Let them therefore give us two bullocks; and let them choose one bullock for themselves, and cut it in pieces, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under: and I will dress the other bullock, and lay it on wood, and put no fire under

What does 'dress' mean in this context? Because after the prophets of Baal have been unsuccessful, in verse 33, Elijah's sacrifice is described as 'burnt':

And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

Why was this? Verse 23's instructions to 'put no fire under' seems to be clear: the pieces of bullock are to be raw. Perhaps this is simply a mistranslation, with the true meaning closer to 'pour it on the sacrifice to be burnt'?

That aside, I suspect that such deity-confirmation experiments have a few disadvantages: a small sample size being just one. And any such experiment done after the crucifixion of Jesus suffers from negative results being explained away along the lines of "God's sent his final 'sign' already.

[Diagoras]

Praying to pasta? Who does that? Is this anything more than a straw man?

Might have been a reference to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, of course. In which case, the 'wasting time' might well be perceived as either having fun, or else making a serious point about freedom of religious thought through the medium of satire.

[Tcg]

Praying to pasta? Who does that? Is this anything more than a straw man?

Might have been a reference to the Flying Spaghetti Monster, of course. In which case, the 'wasting time' might well be perceived as either having fun, or else making a serious point about freedom of religious thought through the medium of satire.

Could be, I guess. But does anyone actually pray to that monster?


Tcg

[Difflugia]

What does 'dress' mean in this context?

They're just sort of artifacts of translation. The Hebrew word translated "dress" there is just a generic word for "make," so presumably in the sense of "prepare." It's the same word in Genesis 1:26, "... and we shall make mankind in our image ...."

Because after the prophets of Baal have been unsuccessful, in verse 33, Elijah's sacrifice is described as 'burnt':

And he put the wood in order, and cut the bullock in pieces, and laid him on the wood, and said, Fill four barrels with water, and pour it on the burnt sacrifice, and on the wood.

Why was this? Verse 23's instructions to 'put no fire under' seems to be clear: the pieces of bullock are to be raw. Perhaps this is simply a mistranslation, with the true meaning closer to 'pour it on the sacrifice to be burnt'?

That's exactly right, actually. The "burnt sacrifice" is the translation of a single Hebrew word referring to a burnt offering and it implies something that is to be completely consumed by fire (rather than roasted and eaten), but is often used of a sacrificial animal or body part (usually fat and viscera) before the actual sacrifice itself.

That aside, I suspect that such deity-confirmation experiments have a few disadvantages: a small sample size being just one. And any such experiment done after the crucifixion of Jesus suffers from negative results being explained away along the lines of "God's sent his final 'sign' already.

What I find kind of funny about that is that the nature of Elijah's taunts to the priests of Baal are reminiscent of exactly that sort of apologetic argument. "Where'd your god go? Why isn't he sending fire? Is he busy?" What's even funnier is the second-to-last taunt (just before "is he sleeping?") is rendered inconsistently in various translations because it means, "is he pooping?"

[JehovahsWitness]

How can it be determined (beyond anyone's opinion) which, if any, of the proposed 'gods' are worthy of our time, effort, and resources?

I think it can be done the same way it is determined whether one should be an atheist or not, namely by making reasonable deductions based on rational thought and analysis of the available evidence.




JW

[Zzyzx]

.

If there is no God, then wouldn’t that mean that all time is a waste? Existence itself has no purpose and nothing we do has any significance.

Perhaps it would be wise to consult those who do not worship any of the thousands of proposed 'gods' to learn if they consider life worthless – rather than projecting a theist viewpoint onto others.

It appears as though many theists focus their life upon a promised (not verified) 'afterlife when you die'. How do they know they have been told the truth?

“Eat, drink and be merry…” and if you happen to want to pray to a bowel of pasta, go ahead. After all, everything is meaningless.

Note that the bowl of pasta can be SHOWN to be real which puts it ahead of 'gods' that cannot be shown to be anything more than imaginary.