Do we have a GOD gene?

This is a strange kind of thinking that really befuddles us atheists.

 

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indeed you should be befuddled

God is real in my world, may not be in yours,

let's look at what we think we know:
We (humans) ALL share the same space (that being the world as we know it)

Do we ALL share the same experience of it?

Of are some shared and some not so.......... some shared with the few and some shared with the many?

 

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The "gene" is called FEAR!!!!

 

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actually the gene is associated with pleasure, maybe you should try reading up about the gene before posting

 

There may be a gene that make it easier to believe in God, not because it is a "god gene" but because it controls mood in such a way that it is easier to take in.

That is not to say that only those with that gene can believe in God, it is not to say either that Jesus must have had that gene.

As it is with all things everything matters, from the minimal to the grand, as such a gene may play a part, but environment and spiritual ability a much greater part.

We shouldn't forget about the mind and the power of subjective experiance, that we are free to go the way we want, equally we shouldn't make genes superiour to us, genes do not have the property of making people choose, they may in part influence the choice but the matter is up to us.

Also, I belive the genes have a more general function, they do not determine a persons sexuality, belief or whatever, they only regulate different areas and it is then easier to choose one way instead of another. For example, it was said in the link that the "god gene" controlled the mood somehow, then it could be read between the lines that the mood was regulated in such a way that it was easier to believe in God with that gene functioning.

However, if you have a "atheist gene" (if such a gene exists) but want to believe in God then you would be able, since the choice you make in life must be superiour to the genes and the "atheist gene" would in time have nothing to say to counteract that choice, since your life argues against it and the gene isn't superiour to you.

 

Pleasure is a negative concept.
It denotes the absence of suffering.
Suffering being life.

Life is matter becoming animated and therefore more efficiently stable. It is a strategy towards the unattainable absolute.
Consciousness is animated matter becoming aware of its own lack and of the universe’s flux; feeling it as need.
Entropy is perceived by the mind as need, as it struggles to maintain its cohesion in an environment that appropriates its parts and deteriorates its energies.

Need, left unsatisfied, grows in intensity and is called suffering and then pain or despair or whatever.
Suffering is life and life suffering since life is that which is in constant need.
Pleasure is a momentary state where a living organism is distracted away from its own suffering/need by temporarily alleviating the symptoms.
The need never goes away it simply lowers in intensity making it indistinguishable behind other needs that take its place in front of consciousness’s awareness.
But the temporary lapse of conscious focus in between the alleviation of one need and the emergence of another as the dominating one, is felt as a momentary escape from the conscious awareness of living – ergo pleasure.

Pleasure is the ephemeral conscious apprehension of non-existence, right before a new need returns the mind to its original purpose: The efficient fulfillment of need.

Belief in God is no more genetic than the belief in ghosts.
It’s the reaction to the apprehension of the human condition - a method of coping with the Nothingness and the responsibility of being an individual.

Belief in the supernatural is the natural method the obtuse and cowardly use to cope with the uncertainty of existence and the indifference of a universe they cannot comprehend nor accept.

There is no genetic predisposition for believing in god.
What there is is a mind facing the unknown and trying to cope with the anxiety by inventing an absolute that will save it from its predicament and offer it a meaning and a purpose for its suffering - for its living.

 

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

again if you read the topic you'd know this theory was fiercely rejected by theists and was dreamed up by an atheist

furthermore it is only supernatural if you do not naturally experience it, thus your perception of supernatural is not mine.

 

As I indeed am.

Uh oh. You have your own world. I see where this is leading...

Ok. Sounds perfectly reasonable.

Of course not.

Look, there's this guideline that I and most of the atheists I know follow. If someone claims that an experience is only valid within the confines of their own mind (it's subjective, in other words), then we say "it's all in your head". You may have heard this phrase before. To those of you who follow these internal ideas, we say "it's all in your head". Now don't take offence at this because, as you've made perfectly clear, yours is a subjective experience of goddiness (godness? or godessness?). So to you I say, with all due respect, "it's all in your head".

Now, for us atheist types, we generally don't ascribe things that are "all in your head" to the working of the actual universe. We use some things called observation, logic, and testing to see if the things we're thinking about really exist. If there's no way to use these nifty tools on an idea, we may still keep the idea and play with it "in our heads" because it's fun. But we usually stop short of converting these fun but untestable ideas into fuill-blown lifelong belief systems.

Now you may call us silly for not simply accepting our own internal ruminations as facts and basing life philosophies on them, but this is a character flaw that we atheists must live with. So please, have a bit of pity for us. We can't help using our common sense and observational skills to reach simple truths about the universe.

Give generously to the "Wake Up The Atheists From Their Reality Based Paradigm" foundation. The fewer of us there are, the quicker we can all get back to the good old days of animal sacrifices, unfounded accusations of heresy (with the associated burning and torture), mindless conformance to arbitrary rules, and submission to those with the direct line to... whichever is the correct deity.

Thanks for your time.

 

No, god is not evident to you, however your delusions on this topic are evident to us. If god was 'evident' at all, we would all know about it.

 

What do I care what dumb-ass atheist dreamed up?

I speak for myself and nobody else, and nobody speaks for me.

I don’t believe anything is supernatural if it is perceivable.

Supernatural is a term given to what goes against our conceptions of what is natural.

Where there is ignorance thee is magic.
Where there is fear there is superstition and groveling before the unknown possible.

Man stands naked before the void and sees himself as empty and fragile and incomplete.

He then weaves garments to cover his distress and nothingness and calls the mantle ‘I’ or ‘God’ or ‘ideal’ or ‘hope’.

It is a distinctly feminine attribute to be attracted to an authority, to a father figure, to a leader.

When a man looks into the void he says: “I will fill it.”, “I will conquer it.”, “I will know it.”, “I will dominate it.”, “I will overcome it”……”I will…..”

When a woman does she says: “I willingly grovel before it.”, “I willingly placate it.”, “I will worship it.”, “I willingly surrender to its mystery.”, “I willingly accept my ignorance before it.”, “I willingly submit to it.”, “I willingly belong.” ….”I willingly….”

Watch how man has become feminine.
See then plead before death and the unknown, trembling in their ignorance, fantasizing about a better after-life and a special privileged existence.

 

You don't tell us what evident entails so god exists?

The fossil bone is actually real. You are grasping at straws. You keep coming up with bad analogies in the hope your illusions are real.

 

The fossil is only real to the one man who experienced it, there is nothing left to demonstrate to anyone else he is not just telling lies. Other fossils exist sure, but his?

I'll say it again, your lack of experience with God , the fact he is absent in your life, does not mean he is absent in mine. You are unaware of an interfering presence, this is your short sightedness. I am not short sighted. This is the only difference.

Many religious people base their belief in God on what they have been taught. I do not. I base it 100% on my own experience. Hence I have no religion, I am tolerant of them but I do not support them, I do not hold with what they preach or their ideas of how the world came about. My idea of God is based on the knowledge that there IS an interfering force in my life.

For all I know we each have an individual god and yours may just be considerably lazier than mine, I have no idea how the 'system' works. No one can presume to know what God is is, one God, many Gods, what form they/it takes, what it's purpose is. The limit/lack of limits of power.

This interefernce may not be so for everyone or others may just rely on fortunate or misfortunate coincidences a little too easily. Mountains are there to be climbed beucase the rewards at the top are great.

I don't know why terrible unspeakable things happen to some underserving people, I cannot know. Maybe there are some who are meant to be taught the lessons so that WE can save the rest, not God?

Imagine A Doctor with a million patients, he cannot treat them all himself, so he must teach some to assist him. While he is teaching the few to assist the many, the many keeps growing, so the situation gets out of control , but it does not mean that the Doctor stops teaching or trying to encourage greater numbers of people to help themsleves and each other.

When atheists let go of the 'God' that has been preached about in religion, maybe they can examine their own lives more closely to see where the real God fits into it. This applies to theists too actually. Believing in God through a series of indoctrinated beliefs is not the same of recognising God in your life.

Why don't you sit in quiet contemplation and look over your own life. Look at those things that you have wished for and came to you in unusual circumstance. Look at the sufferring you went through but the lesson you learned at the end of it and how it benefited you or others.

You accept you are loved by your wife and child, accepting you are loved by an unseen force..why so hard? There is a resource you are not tapping by your lack of recognition.

 

I think you should have a hard look at the research you quoted and come maybe to the conclusion that you have a high immunoreactivity to MVAT2, which means that you are suspectible to 'religious' experiences.

I don't have to reflect on my life. I'm not a dumbass robot who just started to think about his life after being told by ToR. There is absolutely nothing in my life that indicates a divine authority.

The only reason strange things happen to me (people ask me why these things never happen to them) is because I let them happen. That's life. Nothing more.

In conclusion: you have a physiological characteristic that makes you think you know the truth. Just accept what you are (an animal) and take back control of your brain. Or not.

But don't lecture anyone with your vague shit on god.

Back it up either by argument or 'evidence' that is evident.

The fossil might disintegrate btw but the dust can still be collected. The dust is real. Moreover, there are more of these fossils that do not disintegrate. Moreover fossils do not disintegrate. If they are brittle they are photographed before excavation. If a fossil would disintegrate by touch it actually isn't a fossil.

in other words: analogies suck if they are your only evidence that is evident.

 

Spurious I don't actually believe the existance of a God gene, I think life from birth is what predisposes people to the 'need' for an ominpotent being.

I have not had a religious experience. That is not what I refer to. Everything you say is based on your understanding of God from a religion based perspective, thus none of it actually applies to me. I have said my understanding of god is not based on anything taught thus my experience and religious belief is likely to differ.

Meanwhile re your snotty attack at my lack of evdience, where is yours?
Your 'evidence' is that you have had no experience of it, well my evidence is that I have. If this form of 'evidence' is good enough for you, then it is also good enough for me.

I do not need to take control of my brain, there is nothing wrong with my brain. Your ad hom implication that there is demonstrates your absence of argument re the point.

re your accustaion I am lecturing people with my vague shit on god.

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Show me the lecture. I saw a reply from me to your post, nothing more. Who is 'seeing things' now?

You don't like the reply, well this is your opinion and it's yours to have. Just as my opinion is mine to have. I am not going to accuse you of speaking for the masses or to the masses though, I see it as it is, dialogue between two people, nothing more than that. So no need for you to get all defensive and pissy.

I am not lecturing you to believe in god, I don't really care who does and who does not. It HAS zero impact on my life, thus is not my concern. Why would it be? I have never understood why the religious feel the need to spread the word. It's a personal thing. The only reason I suggested you consider the events of your life, so you can learn to identify when this interference manifests and how, was so you could then utilize it to your own benefit.

I have been told in this forum (in past) that I have no right to believe in god that I am stupid, a retard, a dumbass for doing so and yet all the evidence of my life suggests I am not a dumbass, a retard, stupid. Rather the people so quick to fire off these insults are. So while you are telling me NOT to tell you what I believe in (even though you implied a desire to know) don't try to 'INSULT' me into believing what you believe in/or lack thereof.

I am not a sheep. I will not follow, neither will I be bullied.

I have nothing to prove, only a desire for stimulating dialogue.

I see this has run its course.

 

I don't need evidence for the existence of god. I never claimed I had any. That was you.

 

I said God was 'evident' in my life. There is a difference.

I said I am aware of an interfering presence.

I do not offer my personal experience as evidence to the world as if I could do so in such a way as to withstand scientific scrutiny I'd be a multi bazziliionaire!

Regardless, believe or don't believe it's no concern of mine.

 

Yes we might have a God gene. It's called consciousness.

The more self awareness you have, the closer you are to God. If you are self aware, and you love yourself, and we assume based on ancient text that God is love, then yes God would be a guiding force in our evolution as a species. Very few people mate with those they hate.

 

My belief is rather simple. God is consciousness. Consciousness is the first force in the universe, above matter, and before the big bang. Thus we control the universe simply by injecting our consciousness into matter.

 

interesting

 

Do you believe in psychic phoenomena? I've read that a lot of psychics take this position toward God.