Who dat?

You never know who will be visiting your site. Maybe your mom, your grandpa, your girlfriends parents, religious fanatics, drunk Jr. High science teachers, Polish housewives trying to learn English, your ex-roommate from the army, prostitutes, turnip farmers, guinea pig enthusiasts...you never know.
So you should be careful not to offend anyone. (I apologize to the people that don't like to read the word "prostitutes")(don't worry you won't accidentally become the customer of one by reading the word.) Also you should try to make sure there is something for everyone in there. I imagine Polish housewives trying to learn English will want some current slang my home fries. What the fashizzle do they know bout yo baby mama? There are few things turnip farmers haven't heard. I'm guessing they especially don't want to hear about falling off their own truck. That should not be included in your posts.
So use these simple guidelines when posting:
1. Always use the computer
2. Never
3. Prostitutes are people
4. That will be $200 (leave it on the table)
5. Religious fanatics are people
6. Remember that Star trek episode with the "Tribbles"?
(that was for GP enthusiasts)
7. Hold your hand up if you wish to speak.
8. That means you Georgie Bush
9. There should always be 10 rules
10. I can't think of anything else

insert photo here
Gruenmaus

Exist! oh ye GOD

I am God.
How do I know that?
Because I created God.
The tricky part about this is:
You are God also.
How do I know this?
Because you created God.
I'll give you my description/definition of GOD.
Unless it is exactly the same as YOUR description,
one of us is wrong or both of us is wrong.
If you are right and I am wrong,
I won't believe you anyway
and I will keep on being GOD.
If we are both wrong,
we won't know, so we will both continue being GOD.
If I am right and you are wrong,
I'm right.
OK...OK...What does that mean, "I/you created GOD?"
You have heard about and possibly read about, "god".
You have taken all those things plus your sense of what GOD must ultimately be
and continuously meld them into your current definition of GOD.
No two gods are the same because no two people hear the same thing
or have the same experience.
Maybe you don't have a definition of GOD
but just accept that there is one because your religion says there is one.
You still have an idea of what that is
and you still have a different idea than someone else who is in the same religion.

GOD:
The universe is "infinite".
That means that all the matter in the universe,
which most scientists believe is expanding to encompass more and more area, is ultimately surrounded by an area that exists with a lack of any matter in it. That area is incomprehensibly infinite. All the laws of physics, which we are still attempting to define, are both, 1. only true within our sphere of expanding matter (because physics requires the presence of matter) and 2. continuously changing because our sphere of matter is continuously expanding.
God is the effect of the area with no matter impacting our sphere. Everything (and I mean ALL our stuff including the electrochemical impulses that we call "thoughts") is under the influence of the interaction between the stuff and the no stuff. We are an animal that recognizes patterns. We tend to think that the patterns are the work of something that, like us, would create patterns. It's just the energy waves of the vast array of different forms of the stuff. Our lifespan, individually and as a species, is too short to observe any really BIG pattern waves (even with our cool instrumentation and complex mathematical skills).
So, to encapsulate, there is no god. There is only stuff and we are part of the stuff. At the edge of the stuff there is no more stuff. That's where the really cool effects are. Try going there sometime! That's probably god.
You weren't expecting that were you. Of course not.
I'm god. Did you think I was going to be easy to understand?
Now, of course, I do not really think I am GOD.
It's just a concept. It's one I kind of like.
What GOD have you created?
Greenmoss

Relegating Religion to the Rear

OK,
How do I put this...
I used to pursue religion. Now I don't.
I started out with Christianity and then after I broke out of that, I pursued a combination of Zen(ish)ness, mysticism and general spirituality. Eventually I realized that, for me, it all boiled down to superstition. I WANTED to believe in something so I would justify thoughts, feelings and experiences that I couldn't understand by attributing them to a mysterious, otherworldly, overseeing, benevolent, spirit world.
Now I just believe that I exist and you exist. We all can help each other in ways that are anticipated and unanticipated. We have to be wary of those that would seek to take advantage of us in familiar ways and increasingly creative new ways. We all are trying to make our way in this world. Some have more success financially, some emotionally, some in a combination. Most things we have no control over. Some have an enormous impact such as disease or accidents or birth family etc. Some things guide our lives such a social customs, laws, relationships, employment, etc. Some things we have a degree of ability to guide by virtue of our choice making skills. The more education we have the more information to use in making choices. The more intellect we have and choose to employ, the probability that we will be successful increases. Nonetheless, everything over which we believe we have control can change in an instant and suddenly our illusion of control slips out from under us.
So the question becomes, for me, how do I find a balance between attempting to manage control and being able to be flexible when the notion of control is suddenly replaced with the realization that it is an illusion?
That is the closest I come to the point at which people turn to religion. I prefer to accept the struggle and face it head on rather than relegate the responsibility to "a higher power".
Now, I have nothing against people who chose the "higher power" route. I have been there. There is a great deal of comfort in handing over the "control" to the higher power. Since it is an illusion anyway, why not. Then you just have to follow the rules to the best of your ability and ask for forgiveness for your mistakes. I do ask forgiveness. I ask forgiveness of the people whom I have offended. I attempt to manage myself so I don't offend them in the first place. I accept my "humanity" and the imperfection that comes with it. I try to forgive myself as well. If I can't forgive myself how can I forgive anybody else?
The world in which we live is filled with roses and wasps, as in the photo above (nice photo Alex!). I try to smell the roses and avoid the wasps. I try to be a rose and not a wasp.
Greenmoss