Poll: Do Star Trek fans believe in a Supreme Being?

[Amaris]

I answered Option #1, however, I am essentially sitting in the middle of #1 & #2. Something that has been brewing in this fevered brain of mine, is the idea that perhaps God got us going, coached us for a while, and then let us go to see if we could walk on our own, offering support and advice when we really needed it rather than bailing us out when we screwed up. I think.


J.

 

[RyanKCR]

Then how do you explain Christ, J? He is the ultimate bailout.

 

[Amaris]

St Nicholas said:
Then how do you explain Christ, J? He is the ultimate bailout.

He's not a bailout, He's a solution. A bailout would imply that there's no need to do anything other than let Daddy solve the problem. I would expect one who comes to Christ to realize that while Daddy's going to help, the child better learn from their mistakes and correct them.


J.

 

[RyanKCR]

But the point I was making was you are starting to feel that God has stepped away and only interaction with us rarely. I think God is very actively involved and cares very much what happends. It's also why He became one of us. I don't think He "let us go."

 

[hellsgate]

I believe there are species that are far further along than we are. Some that have destroyed themselves & others that may be close to it. In the process of expansion & exploration, found us & attempted to cease or significantly slow our own development toward self-annihilation as they've found a lot of things in common with us. Some corporeal, others not. Some merely curious about us, as they're just as stunned as we are that other civilizations exist out there besides ourselves & others that may be afraid of us or perhaps hoping we'll make it easy for them to exploit us once we've broken the FTL barrier, like a naive 15 year old hick exploring New York for the first time.

 

[Amaris]

St Nicholas said:
But the point I was making was you are starting to feel that God has stepped away and only interaction with us rarely. I think God is very actively involved and cares very much what happends. It's also why He became one of us. I don't think He "let us go."

However, if God is very actively involved, then He is killing a lot of people.

J.

 

[RyanKCR]

J. Allen said:

St Nicholas said:
But the point I was making was you are starting to feel that God has stepped away and only interaction with us rarely. I think God is very actively involved and cares very much what happends. It's also why He became one of us. I don't think He "let us go."

However, if God is very actively involved, then He is killing a lot of people.

J.

He is the Creator after all. But think of it this way. If people turn from God they are shooting themselves in the foot. If you put solar panels in the basement of your house would you blame the sun for not giving you power?

"The sun will not give me power. I've got solar panels. Bad evil sun!"

 

[Amaris]

St Nicholas said:
He is the Creator after all. But think of it this way. If people turn from God they are shooting themselves in the foot. If you put solar panels in the basement of your house would you blame the sun for not giving you power?

"The sun will not give me power. I've got solar panels. Bad evil sun!"

That isn't particularly apt as an analogy. Perhaps this:

I give you, my child, the gift of life.
Then I take it from you before you have a chance to use it.

Am I just? Am I fair?

I let your brothers and sisters torment you night and day, robbing from you, hurting you, and even killing you, and I stand by and watch.

Am I just? Am I fair?

You are reading this text right now, because you can't see me. You don't even know if I exist. All you have as evidence is this text, carefully preserved. I will base your entire existence upon believing if this text is true or not, without helping you in any way.

Is that just? Is that fair?


More and more I consider that God speaks to us in many ways, and helps us, in certain ways, but does not intervene in most day to day events. I think He wants us to grow, to mature, because we've been children for so long, fighting amongst ourselves, that now we have to become more than what we are.


J.

 

[3D Master]

St Nicholas said:
He is the Creator after all. But think of it this way. If people turn from God they are shooting themselves in the foot. If you put solar panels in the basement of your house would you blame the sun for not giving you power?

"The sun will not give me power. I've got solar panels. Bad evil sun!"

Of course not. The sun can't choose to come down to Earth and burn away your house so it can get to the solar panel; it's nothing but a big ball of burning plasma.

A god, would have that choice. He could indeed do that.

So basically your god is a petty, vindictive, jealous, prideful, sick, evil bastard. "You have to live and believe and think exactly like I say you should - even if it flies in the face of all common sense, and (biological) fact - and if you don't, I'm going to make sure you die, and get tortured for an eternity."

It's in essence your parents deciding to dump you on some pavement when you were two and let you die, because you peed your diaper, when they said you shouldn't and you didn't bow down in abject adulation for such great gifts they bestowed upon you.

That's of course, not even talking about those who never got the chance to turn to or away from him, as e.g. they are born in the middle of the Amazon rain forest. Or to use another analogy, parents tossing their kid in a dumpster the moment she finishes giving birth and driving off. Then the kid somehow surviving and two years later they get a gun and blast their kids' brains out for not knowing the parents' names and not being properly on their knees in abject adulation.

If something that evil truly existed, it would have to be battled and fought with every fiber of one's existence, and be destroyed post haste.

 

[RyanKCR]

J. Allen said:

St Nicholas said:
He is the Creator after all. But think of it this way. If people turn from God they are shooting themselves in the foot. If you put solar panels in the basement of your house would you blame the sun for not giving you power?

"The sun will not give me power. I've got solar panels. Bad evil sun!"

That isn't particularly apt as an analogy. Perhaps this:

I give you, my child, the gift of life.
Then I take it from you before you have a chance to use it.

Am I just? Am I fair?

I let your brothers and sisters torment you night and day, robbing from you, hurting you, and even killing you, and I stand by and watch.

Am I just? Am I fair?

You are reading this text right now, because you can't see me. You don't even know if I exist. All you have as evidence is this text, carefully preserved. I will base your entire existence upon believing if this text is true or not, without helping you in any way.

Is that just? Is that fair?


More and more I consider that God speaks to us in many ways, and helps us, in certain ways, but does not intervene in most day to day events. I think He wants us to grow, to mature, because we've been children for so long, fighting amongst ourselves, that now we have to become more than what we are.


J.

J you're missing the most important point. (This is why I said you need to be under a Church authority, you are staring to stray doctrinally.) God did not just give life and decide to take it away. You forgot we choose to give it up when we turned from Him. That's is the key. We are at fault not God. You are trying to blame God for yours, mine and everybody else's mistake. That is why the analogy works because we are hiding the panels and then blaming the sun for not shining on them.

And isn't this discussion more apt for TNZ?

 

[Amaris]

St Nicholas said:
J you're missing the most important point. (This is why I said you need to be under a Church authority, you are staring to stray doctrinally.) God did not just give life and decide to take it away. You forgot we choose to give it up when we turned from Him. That's is the key. We are at fault not God. You are trying to blame God for yours, mine and everybody else's mistake. That is why the analogy works because we are hiding the panels and then blaming the sun for not shining on them.

And isn't this discussion more apt for TNZ?

With all due respect, I don't think you're understanding what I'm doing. As for TNZ material, sure it can be. It can also be miscellaneous. My original post was on topic, in regards to my poll options.

J.

 

[James Bond]

I believe that a concious, intelligent Surpeme Being is responsible for the creation of the universe, but he leaves us alone to sort out our problems. In addition, I also believe that Supreme Being is there to help us if we ask.

 

[Good Will Riker]

I believe in God.

 

[Apogeal Alpha01]

Number two. I cna't quite believe that God is intervening in the affairs of humans, except through the principles in my Bible. Adhereing to those principles has brought peace and joy to my life, but I see far too much tragedy to seemingly innocent people to believe that he's supernaturally directing every aspect of all our lives. But I'm not sure about that.

 

[Maurice]

Ironically, it was writing science fiction in high school that made me start questioning the belief system I'd been raised with, and when I realized that the conceptions of "God" that were commonly put before me didn't jive with the world I saw around me, that started nailing the coffin shut on that for me. I've been an atheist since 17, and nothing I've read, seen, heard or experienced has given me one iota to believe in some larger consciousness controlling or influencing anything on what one might consider a godlike scale.

 

[Kenobi]

J. Allen said:That isn't particularly apt as an analogy. Perhaps this:

I give you, my child, the gift of life.
Then I take it from you before you have a chance to use it.

Am I just? Am I fair?

I let your brothers and sisters torment you night and day, robbing from you, hurting you, and even killing you, and I stand by and watch.

Am I just? Am I fair?

You are reading this text right now, because you can't see me. You don't even know if I exist. All you have as evidence is this text, carefully preserved. I will base your entire existence upon believing if this text is true or not, without helping you in any way.

Is that just? Is that fair?

What is it that you would have God do rather than simply standing by and watching, without helping us in any way? You speak as though you feel that God should perform some exceedingly radical action such as sacrificing himself for the salvation of man.

 

[Amaris]

Kenobi said:

J. Allen said:That isn't particularly apt as an analogy. Perhaps this:

I give you, my child, the gift of life.
Then I take it from you before you have a chance to use it.

Am I just? Am I fair?

I let your brothers and sisters torment you night and day, robbing from you, hurting you, and even killing you, and I stand by and watch.

Am I just? Am I fair?

You are reading this text right now, because you can't see me. You don't even know if I exist. All you have as evidence is this text, carefully preserved. I will base your entire existence upon believing if this text is true or not, without helping you in any way.

Is that just? Is that fair?

What is it that you would have God do rather than simply standing by and watching, without helping us in any way? You speak as though you feel that God should perform some exceedingly radical action such as sacrificing himself for the salvation of man.

Simply an analogy, nothing more.

J.

 

[Anubis]

Personally, while I embrace everyone's viewpoints as long as they're not harmful to others, I have a hard time understanding how people can believe in or claim to know how the Universe was created or who runs it (if anyone). For all I know it was an accident, intentional, a natural phenomenon, who knows? I don't want to ruffle feathers, I just find it incredibly vain.

 

[Amaris]

Anubis said:
Personally, while I embrace everyone's viewpoints as long as they're not harmful to others, I have a hard time understanding how people can believe in or claim to know how the Universe was created or who runs it (if anyone). For all I know it was an accident, intentional, a natural phenomenon, who knows? I don't want to ruffle feathers, I just find it incredibly vain.

And you could very well be correct. There is no scientific way to study God. For those who believe, it is a given. For those who do not, it is an error in judgment. This, of course, doesn't mean either side cannot work together. Quite the opposite, in fact. However, ideologies do tend to gum up the works when people are working toward perfection.


J.

 

[STIntergalactic]

I did believe in God, until he asked to use my starship.