What are your beliefs?

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This could be religious, philosophical, scientific, or just a load of stuff that you use to guide you in life like quotes etc.

Please do not be mean in this thread to anyone, even if you believe that their views are entirely incorrect. This thread is purely out of curiosity and is not intended to offend or degrade any individual or belief. Thank you

Some quips of my beliefs from my discussions here ...

Universal determinism
Humans are evolved apes
Religion is about people worshipping themselves, GOD is a placeholder
Benevolence is phony.
People are generally lazy, greedy, self-serving, possibly incompetent so no one can be trusted.
Capitalism is the best economic system, because it recognizes that humans are self-serving.
Math has no existential basis, and exists only in the human mind.
Only personal morality exists.
Playing computer games does not enhance oneself.
IQ comes more from curiosity, and hard work.

Computer architecture is my "special interest".

I like to believe in treating people how I would expect to be treated.

But I'm only human, so I probably treat people in a way that reflects how I have been treated sometimes.

Never give up -- Success is its own reward.

So oftentimes it happens that we live our lives in chains, and we never even know we have the key.

The Tree of Vengeance bears a bitter fruit that is best when served cold.

"All national institutions of churches, whether Jewish, Christian or Turkish, appear to me no other than human inventions, set up to terrify and enslave mankind, and monopolize power and profit." -- Thomas Paine

To get people interested, you must first be interesting; To have friends, you must first be friendly; To be loved, you must first be loveable.

What I have earned is mine.

If you think that I should own an American-made car, then you should give me one of yours -- don't expect me to pay for something that I don't want.

nothing seems to me so worth wishing it were true that i would not gladly dispute it.

i have no conviction that any particular descriptive framework is closer to "the truth" than any other. different frameworks have different uses, and some are demonstrably better for certain purposes than others. some seem practically useless to me, but i don't assume that because i don't know how to make use of something, it therefore has no possible use.

to demonstrate the truth of a proposition is demonstrate its coherency in an accepted framework. reason is the compatibilization of seemingly competing views, a momentary deferral of the desire for certainty to an already accepted view. the accepted view rests inevitably on unacknowledged, buried, unquestioned, or seemingly unquestionable assumptions.

confining discourse to a cozy, familiar field of inquiry seems the most common defense against uncertainty. this means never stepping outside of the framework one is most comfortable with, addressing competing perspectives superficially, only in order to dismiss them, whilst remaining firmly rooted in the One True Perspective, keeper of the sacred fire.

the ability to move fluently between seemingly incompatible perspectives without conflict, without being confused about what works and when, is well worth cultivating, but has as its prerequisite a willingness to abandon the comforting illusion that one has ever stood on solid ground.

i don't believe in a way that language reflects the world, or that statements ever describe or approximate reality. it seems to me that language is better understood, with respect to avoiding needless metaphysical speculation, as a tool for modulating human intentions.

i don't believe in the inherency of any distinction.

Anything worth doing is worth doing well; and anything worth doing well is worth being paid well to do.

That which does not kill me has made a grave tactical error.

Economical / Effective / Efficient -- Chose any two.

I believe that humans were made in the image of a supremely powerful, personal, moral, and intelligent God, and that He loves us not because of who we are, but in spite of it. We can't earn His grace or compassion; every time we try it causes more trouble than anything else. Regardless of whether we like it, He set rules and standards in place that apply to everyone, and only He can rescind them. People say that truth changes over time, but what they usually mean is people's willingness to abide by absolute concepts. For example, murdering someone - young or old, in the womb or out - will always be inherently wrong for humanity, because we're not God. We didn't create life itself, so taking it selfishly is morally despicable when referring to us. We can try to rationalize it with court decisions or personal attempts at making ourselves feel better, but it doesn't change the truth.

One of the biggest mistakes we often make is assuming that just because something's absolutely wrong for us, it must be the same way with God. I've asked this question many times, and no one's been able to give a flat-out answer yet...

"If God really is the Creator of all mortal life, why is it wrong for Him to take it back at His own discretion?"

Unfortunately, I often get the same or similar replies to this as many other issues. People cry foul, saying certain things are "basic human rights"...when the truth is the only rights any of us have originally came from God. Without Him deeming us special, we have no objective justification to claim we deserve anything. Oh, we can say we don't like a lot of things, and seek to change them for a variety of reasons...but we as people have no inherent rights in and of ourselves. "Religion" as most term it isn't even necessary to realize this; history has repeatedly shown what we do when left to our own tendencies. Some think we'll somehow "evolve" beyond our selfishness and greed...but we can't radically improve something we didn't build in the first place.

I'll openly admit that I often don't like this stuff; in fact, it sometimes makes me so angry I scream my head off when talking to God...because as a selfish human being, I want my own way at the expense of everyone else's. There's certain things I wish weren't true, but its not my call to make. As the saying goes, we all "play the cards we're given"...because we're not the Dealer.

Pragmatic Skepticism.
_________________
Does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No.

Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No.

Commit it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.

... oh, and chocolate.

You get more for you money with an Aldi pizza.

- Hard work should be rewarded, and the hardworking person should be allowed to keep most of what he has earned
- Everyone should be entitled to shelter and medical care
- The capital punishment is wrong, with no exceptions
- Life in prison should mean life in prison
- Multi-billionaries could pay more in taxes
- The middle class should pay less in taxes
- TV stations, newspapers and so on should not get public funding
- The child protective services do not kidnap children. Not all parents are good parents
- Abortion after 12 weeks without a good reason is wrong
- A woman should be allowed to become an engineer, a man should be allowed to become a nurse--and neither should have to justify it to anyone
- A gun is a tool, not something that automatically turns you into a murderer. Therefore, gun rights should not be strict
- Countries with religion have higher moral standards than countries without
- There are many environmental hazzards that are far worse than global warming
- Polygamy should be legal
- Prostitution should be legal if it's regulated
- A welfare system should be in place for those who can't work, but abusing this system should be punished severly