That a tag exists doesn’t mean the thing it is a tag for exists.
And as a computer designer, I think rocket scientists are kind of slow. 
A Unicorn, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny exist as a figment of one’s imagination,just as Bambi, Mickey Mouse etc. They have no bearing on reality except in the mind of a person who we know existed first to make them up, and get others to believe in them for a while.So in a sense they existed but not as an entity. So they would need an existing being to be in existence before they were made up.
It looks like your niece’s husband needs some help, but still has a thinking brain, perhaps you should see what you can do to help him out while he still has it, which would also be a help help your self. Surely you are smart enough to understand that, or you wouldn’t stoop to such a foolish reply.
Monavis
A Unicorn, Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny exist as a figment of one’s imagination,just as Bambi, Mickey Mouse etc. They have no bearing on reality except in the mind of a person who we know existed first to make them up, and get others to believe in them for a while.So in a sense they existed but not as an entity. So they would need an existing being to be in existence before they were made up.
It looks like your niece’s husband needs some help, but still has a thinking brain, perhaps you should see what you can do to help him out while he still has it, which would also be a help to help your self. Surely you are smart enough to understand that, or you wouldn’t stoop to such a foolish reply.
Monavis
That’s exactly my point. They don’t exist. But their essences are coherent.
They don’t exist, “in a sense” or otherwise. They do, however, have essences.
Puh. What your niece’s dad does for a living has nothing to do with this matter. Foolish reply indeed.
It is absurd to say that a tag( or a name) exists and doesn’t mean the thing it is a tag for or named for doesn’t exist. It doesn’t mean naming something gives it existence (makes it an entity), if it is real, it must be in existence or doesn’t exist.
You may be a good computer designer,but give me a slow and sure rocket scientist any day.
Monavis
If they do not exist they cannot have an essense. You Stated that your neice’s husband(which now I wonder if you made him up) agreed with me. Either you are being dishonest, or are not as smart as I had thought you were.
I will let you drown in your essence as it seems you are stuck on that and let it go.
Monavis
I will add a P.S.; I said my neice’s husband, not her dad so it seems you did not think before you replied.
If they first have no essence, they cannot exist. Now we know the difference between existentialism and essentialism.
Could you restate your response? I’m not sure I understand it. A tag existing of course does not mean the thing referred to either exists or does not exist. The best you can say is that a mental image of the thing or concept exists - maybe. A Dr. Seuss animal name, without the picture, may not call any image at all into existence.
The tag is real (exists) - the think referred to may or may not be real (exists). So I think we probably agree.
I beleive that all the problems people say they have with God are problems with the ideas they have concerning God. It sounds like the problems here are more problems with the bible and stuff people say about God. I listen to what people say about God, I adhere to very little. I am on a quest for understanding ( everything ) and I ask God ( it’s the word I use ) to direct me. I have gotten a lot of peace of mind and wind up in places like this site. I do it because there doesn’t seem to be any thing better to do. At some point I decided that if I let go of every idea I had previously tried to accept, or accepted, I would be better off…I am
Welcome, Dgswilson. On the matters you’ve described, you and I have a remarkably similar take.
For what reason do you tie reality and existence together? Is the past real? Is the future? Does reality come and go?
A quick response to the original post- while you are addressing the question of your faith, you may wish to look at some religions other than Christianity, given that they can (varies, of course) “answer” many of the concerns you seem to have.
In particular, Buddhism and similar nondeistic religions (such as, arguably, Shinto) might address some of your moral concerns, such as the questions of predestination and so forth.
On the other end of the spectrum, there are a vast variety of Christian belief systems, most of which will be happy to talk to you about their faiths. I am assuming from your first post that you are considering protestantism, but you may also wish to look into Catholicism (which would also answer some of your questions about biblical interpretation and doctrinal differencances), “modern churches” (Baptists, maybe Quakers), or even something like Calvinism (which has a pretty strong line on predestination).
Given the importance of this decision, I would personally consider as wide a range of options as possible. There are, of course, a thousand million faiths I haven’t mentioned- Judaism, Islam, Wiccan, etc., etc. YMMV
Thanks for the input. This seems to be the most common sentiment in this thread (regarding the OP, I mean) – that there are lots of choices out there in terms of religions and beliefs and that I should choose one I’m satisfied with, not the other way around.
I agree. I’m not settling with one yet and I’ll gladly keep exploring.
Welcome. I agree with your method. I was once a member of a particular church but since then have realized that I am perfectly capable of deciding for myself what my spiritual path is. I threw out traditional belief and strated asking myself certain questions and researching and allowing myself to choose what works best for me. It’s much more interesting this way for me and I feel much more comfortable with my beliefs.
The dictionary describes reality as:The state orquality of being real,Resemblance of being real,Something that exists independently of ideas concerning it,Something that exists independently of other things and from which all other things derive,in fact or truth: actually.
To be real it must exist.
Monavis
Then the essence doesn’t exist? Or is it in existence? I have asked you this before and by my understanding essence would be non existent until it existed.
Monavis
“What is reality?” is a question from Firesign Theatre records. I was speaking in the present tense, addressing the existence of tags (that are not explicitly physical.) A unicorn doesn’t exist (accept that for the moment - I know the problem of proof of this statement) so we can ask if a unicorn is real. I’d say that the unicorn, as a white horse-like creature with a horn and an affinity for virgins is not real, but the concept of unicorn, as expressed by its name and its appearance in Peter Beagle books and nice tapestries, is real.
Now, does this concept have existence. My thought is yes, as a meme and a collection of mental states, pictures, and writings. But I’m not sure about this, since this implies assigning semantic meaning to these states.
A simpler example. A “for” loop exists on paper or as a series of letters and numbers in a file. That expression of the for loop exists. But can we say the for loop as an independent entity exist?
As for the past, it was real, since it consisted of a set of states at one time. However it no longer exists. What does exist is our very imperfect model of the past, which starts off bad and gets worse. That concept of the past exists, and is real today. The future - neither for our purposes, though so hypotheses in physics say the future is existent, just out of our reach. I don’t know enough to evaluate the plausibility of those hypotheses.
I’m glad you said this, because its really the heart of my beliefs. I’ve come to admire the whole exchange between the 3 or 4 of you here - its quite fascinating.
Taking this a step further, what does it matter if we acknowledge god or not? If we live in the pursuit of love and betterment of others and ourselves, if god does truley exist, wouldn’t that be enough? The pursuit of existance, survival and ushering our fellow people in that direction? Doesn’t assisting humanity for the sake of existance and survival negate god? We generally live for the same ends (those who do and don’t believe in god), so why would all knowing, all merciful god care if we stopped along the way to acknowledge it or not?
Because if I have lived a similarly productive life as a god-believer - contributing towards the human race, but I am ultimately punished for not acknowledging the existence of god…
Then fuck him. Who needs that sort of god?