There Is No God

National Public Radio ^ | 11/21/05 | Penn Jillette

[Fierce Allegiance]

People need to stop equating religion with conservatism.

Agreed.

[SerpentDove]

Love is the only reality?

Then how do you explain Hitler, Stalin, and the Hussein family?

????

God is also wrath.

[Wormwood]

Yeah, the first ammendment is a good thing.

So is simple politeness.

[Walkingfeather]

I will point out that Penn and Teller make millions every year on decieving people and getting people to believe things that are not true. So consider the source of this article.

[jrg]

Liberals are, by far and wide; very unhappy and miserable people. They hate their lives, and everything American.

Where do you get the idea that Penn Jillette is unhappy? I've met the man, and he is an extremely nice and polite individual who seems to enjoy life. Never would get the idea that he is an unhappy liberal. In fact, I probably wouldn't call him a "liberal" at all. Doesn't mean that he's a "conservative" either. (

Kind of off the subject, but Thomas Sowell did say "Democrats are the ONLY reason to vote Republican"

[digger48]

They air a lot of shows that could make money on commercial radio

then let them do just that.

[Sender]

Believing there is no God gives me more room for belief in family, people, love, truth, beauty, sex, Jell-o and all the other things I can prove and that make this life the best life I will ever have.

And besides, now this is off the record, OK? If the sex and jello aren't all there is, and I end up in front of some old bearded guy after all, I can always say that I did what I believed. He can't win in court on that one. So I got myself legally covered, and I still get the sex and jello. Plus I have a secret deathbed clause in my safe deposit box that no one knows about, just in case. You know lawyers, and well, you know where they'd work in the hereafter, that is if there was one.

[jrg]

Of course, without God, it is all the same whether I smash your face in or decide to sit nicely with you and discuss reality.

Nope, there's always Karma.

[Strategerist]

I will point out that Penn and Teller make millions every year on decieving people and getting people to believe things that are not true.

Actually you're 100% wrong; they're magicians, but they actually are controversial magicians because they routinely explain how they do their tricks, which is taboo among magicians.

And they have a series on Showtime specifically devoted to debunking myths.

[wimpycat]

What an idiot.

[PeaceBeWithYou]

I'll take #3, but you must understand that because he gave man freewill, evil came into existance, therefore there are 3 votes.

1)God's, which is always for you.

2)Evil's, which is always against you.

3)Your's, the deciding vote.

God is no respector of persons, the rain falls equally on all. Punishment or reward is yet to come.

[IronJack]

Because we typically give Him credit for the good things that happen to us.

That hasn't been my observation. It seems He seldom gets praise when things go right. But He's always the first one blamed when things go wrong. How many people do you know who celebrate every gift of sunrise or every blade of grass? Those are His doings as much as every tsunami or hurricane.

[Strategerist]

It seems He seldom gets praise when things go right.

What planet do you live on? I see it all the time.

[Wormwood]

I will point out that Penn and Teller make millions every year on decieving people and getting people to believe things that are not true.

I'd rather be decieved by a magicican who admits up front that he's performing a trick than a shaman who professes to be telling the Truth.

[Juan Medén]

No, you're missing the point. If there is not God, then man is the measure of right and wrong. When man becomes the measure, then one man's opinion is as good as another's. Where there is not transcendent source of law, law becomes the arbitrary imposition of the will of one group over another. That's a scary thought.

[Treeless Branch]

I am a follower of Christian metaphysics and believe Jesus showed us the nature of reality.

Jesus calmed the storms and walked on water, i.e. man has the power to do the same, but does not realize it.

So, your paradox is an empty, confused statement from my perspective.

God is all powerful.
Anything that claims to have power, but is not of God, really has no power.
Natural disasters have no power, i.e. we have the power to stop them, as did Jesus, but we do not realize we have the power to do so.

[JCEccles]

If Penn Jillette were a fish he would smugly deny the existence of water. If he were blind, he would fiercely deny the existence of the color blue (and red, yellow, green and all colors between). If he were deaf, he would proudly announce that music has no content apart from dull coarse physical vibrations.

A dull, asensate, spiritually inept man is no authority on even the smallest of things, let alone the extistence of God.

[jrg]

I wasn't surprised that an entertainer would state such an unpopular opinion in a pubic forum, but rather by how much I agreed with him.

The older I get, the more I tend to believe that there either isn't a creator God or if there is one, he doesn't give a shit about us.
One statement you always hear is "God is Perfect". Well, if God is perfect, why would there be any need to mess up perfection by creating an imperfect world/beings. The response is "because he loves us". Well, how can you love something that hasn't been created yet? Did you love your child before he/she existed?
I guess the main problem is, if there is a God, who/what created him?