There's no promise of a reward for being appreciative. We give thanks because we are thankful. There's no other reason to do it. When I hold up my bowl of oatmeal in the morning, it's because I am thankful to have food, not because I'm praying for a steak dinner later that day. What I understand is that life, my life, has enormous value, as does yours. Even if it is a one-time trip, it's worth the journey.
Would the same apply to A virus? Bacterium? Green slime mild? Earth work? Blade of grass? What about Grain of sand? Pebble? Rock? Mountain? Planet? Galaxy? Universe? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!
I'm not getting this idea Bowser. God made all and everything (bliss and suffering is his concept). Your ''appreciative'' because God could make things worst for you, let you starve? You fear this god?
I give thanks for the food I have. Not to God, though. But to the people who helped provide it. To my employer for giving me the opportunity to earn enough to buy it, etc. That's certainly what most atheists believe. It is pretty much the foundation of humanism. And not a God in sight.
So to you the universe is God? The seemingly closed system that is the universe is what you consider to be God? If so, why call it God when we already have a word for it?
If there was a way to separate all those things from God, you might have an argument. I'm not saying you shouldn't be thankful to those people and things that contribute to your life, but they can't stand them alone. None of which would exist without the larger presence of existence. You can hang signs along the road, but that doesn't give you credit for building the road.
I believe life is both joy and suffering. I accept that. I also understand that I will die some day. I accept that. Why would I fear God when we have a mutual understanding?
So at least you believe. So God to you is simply existence? Then why use the word God when we have an adequate word for it? Are you intending to bring the baggage that comes with the term, the assumptions that others have when you use the word when simply using the existing one would likely be clearer? And which is it? First you seem to suggest that the entire universe is what you would call God, and now it is existence... Can you clarify, please?
God simply IS. Just like you are an IS. There's no separation between you and God. Sorry for the lack of descriptive terms, but that would require mental gymnastics which would be inadequate since the mind is limited.
I am an IS? In what regard? As for lack of descriptive terms, either you are merely looking to evade further inquiry into your position, or you are claiming yourself above the mental capability of non-believers... or both. Whichever it is seems disrespectful. It is not for you to predetermine what is or is not beyond someone. Perform your mental gymnastics, please, and let us be the judge.
Is dark matter real? Lord, but I don't know. What I know is that scientists talk about it comprising ~70% or so of the "stuff" in the universe. Even as they say that, they don't ever (that I know of) talk about it having an impact on the "stuff" that's close to us, but they do talk about how it "bends/moves things" that are very distant from us. Well, you know, that just doesn't make any sense to me, but I'm an accountant-economist, not a physicist-astronomer. What goes through my mind is that "stuff" that's said to comprise 70% of the universe should comprise 70% of the universe where we are as well as 70% of the universe where we aren't. Accordingly, I'd think that dark matter's impact would be as evident nearby as it is far away, yet I haven't heard anyone remarking on how dark mater "shifts" things around close to us. I'm just saying....70% a lot....70% of anything shouldn't be so hard to find...yet dark matter is. The strange circumstance of dark matter being so abundant/massive yet effectively and thus far impossible to find makes me think something's not right somewhere. Sorta in the same way folks were hooked on geocentrism and twisted themselves into all sorts of knots to make their notion of geocentrism "work." That is what I think is going on with dark matter.
If 20% of the world's population is Chinese, does that mean one of me, my brother, sister or one of my parents are Chinese? Please Register or Log in to view the hidden image!. And that 80% of those living in China are not actually Chinese?
So, what's with your talk of an option to live forever? Why bring that up? I do wish you would had said that at the beginning. So, all this god talk is just... Bowser's gut feeling that there's a god? And that this god is everything.