JoeF716

Very, very good stuff. Thanks for the replies. I often have conversation with my roommates about this (one of them is a pretty strong Christian, one believes in God but not organized religion, and the other has no idea and goes back and forth everyday..) and have used these responses quite a few times. Their proof is 'spiritual' and can only be explained through 'faith'. They also this along with the Bible is all the proof they and anybody should need. My usual response to this is that their spiritual connection has been created by the mind, and that's as far as it goes. And this is what the Bible comes from. It's a fictional book written by these types of people.. By the way, I went to a program last night called "How to find happiness through God" and wow.. haha. One of my friends and I attended and as soon as we walked through the door they were on us like white on rice. It's amazing what some people believe.. really. They were stressing that there are three layers to a human: body, mind, and spirit (which is your connection to God through being saved). After the program they were again all over us and I didn't find it appropriate at all, we were just coming to be informed and they were taking it too far. So I went on to tell him the spirit is simply created by the mind, period.. He didn't like that and felt pressured and actually contradicted himself a few times. It was at that point I just walked away. Some people, actually most people, really just aren't very rational..

A is A makes a good point with this. These things are merely coincidences because you were looking for meaning in them. If these sort of things occurred all day, every day, then that'd be a bit different. But I'd still say you were just a very lucky person and seem to be making choices that put you in the right place at the right time. When these sort of things happen to me I seem them as a coincidence and only that.. because that's all it is.

Bluecherry, I'm studying economics because the information helps me (to some degree) with my trading and I do find it quite interesting. I also forgot to mention I'm minoring in Philosophy. And when I referred to the universe you were right in assuming I was referring to a more scientific matter and the actual 'universe' with galaxies, etc., etc., not everything that exists, because currently we can't know EVERYTHING that exists, at least not currently. And yes, a "supernatural" or "magical" entity is impossible. I was thinking more along the lines of a sort of connection between everything that exists, that we again, can't see just yet. It's all just food for thought.. So I guess what I'm getting at is that I'm atheist, I have no proof of a God or of any connection between all there is (this is where the agnostic part of me was coming in, but with no proof then it's irrational to believe that). So until I get that, I'll believe in what I know.

My name is Joe. I'm currently a junior in Economics at North Carolina State University. I love everything about Objectivism and what Ayn Rand believes in. I've read many of her works and I've fallen in love with all of them. Although I'm in college, I really don't plan to use my degree. I am a technical discretionary options trader and have been trading for over two years. I plan on having a lot of money, which I plan on spending on myself, but not in the typical way. There are a lot of things I don't like about the world I live in, and I really feel like having a lot of money would be the best way to go about changing them (more influence I suppose). But anyways.. I'm slightly agnostic, but most theists would say I'm an atheist. I absolutely don't believe in God (with a capital g) but I don't know how the universe was created and I have doubts that the human species will ever become advanced enough to truly understand how it was created (I'm pretty skeptical about the big bang THEORY). So maybe there is some type of energy force or whatever you want to call it that created all there is, or maybe there isn't. Without proof, I'll stick with not knowing, because that's all I can do. I've been called emotionless, cold, selfish, too serious, intimidating, and many other names because I do things that benefit me and make me happy and I have goals that I won't allow others to interfere with and most people don't like that (and this is before I even came upon Ayn Rand). However, the people whom I do like to be around and know me, know that I'm actually a good and fun person. So, I connect pretty well with most of Rand's heroes in her fictional books, such as Roark or Rearden. Anyways, if you wan't to know more about me send me a PM or email. I hope to be posting around here as frequent as possible, so I'll see everyone around..