Howcome so many people still believe in God?

[Horus]

I'm God. Prove I'm not.

You're taking your own name in vain.

 

[Consuming Impulse]

i dont see how anyone can believe in god cause all that stuff in the bible sounds so make believe. the bible is just a bunch of farie tales and thats it.

 

[Silver Incubus]

i dont see how anyone can believe in god cause all that stuff in the bible sounds so make believe. the bible is just a bunch of farie tales and thats it.

Wrong thread, this should be posted in the bible thread. this is talking about GOD, in one form or another

 

[Thoth-Amon]

Wrong thread, this should be posted in the bible thread. this is talking about GOD, in one form or another

Thank you. So many people in the West here automatically think that if a person believes in God they mus believe in the Judeo-Christian God. But since the Bible is so obviously false they must therefore conclude that God does not exist. This is a very narrow view.

 

[NeverIsForever]

Religion is obviously a matter of faith, but atheism takes just as much faith in my own opinion, since there's no concrete method of "proving" this one way or another. I cannot believe in the Christian version of god, but science to me doesn't answer everything either. If one is willing to be flexible regarding the definition and attributes of "god" then I could easily see such a being starting the universe and that first spark of life, and then leaving things to unfold on their own.

Why does organized religion exist still? I think it's because people want to know why they're here and how they came to be here. You look at early cultures across the globe and virtually all of them have some kind of a creation myth expressed as an integral part of the artifacts and legends they left behind. Not only that, people fear the unknown. Most if not all religions offer some explanation of what happens after death. (Whether accurate or not, of course, is up for debate.)

Religion is also a very accessible moral code. Less necessary perhaps now that the basic behavioral guidelines (do not kill, etc) have been integrated into modern law...

 

[Mikobass]

"...but atheism takes just as much faith in my own opinion,..." - NeverIsForever

Maybe at large, I cannot speak for anyone else, but not for me, no faith is involved. I am content with just saying "I don't know, I have no idea" because I prefer admitting my ignorance rather then believe something that might be false or creating my own reality with the flavour of my moods. What is so wrong for people to admit their ignorance?

 

[Mikobass]

"Why does organized religion exist still? I think it's because people want to know why they're here and how they came to be here."

I think atheist are craving for answers on this matter as much as everyone else. It just takes a different form.

 

[derek]

Well, Mikobass, it seems you are agnostic as opposed to atheist and that the question for you is not how can people still believe in God but rather, how can people still believe in the God of classical theism. To me, at least, thats a much better debate.

My personal reflections would tend to lean towards brainwashing, both parental and Church. 2000yrs of influence is difficult to overcome.

 

[proglodite]

Personally I don't believe God is getting involved in our lives. Does that mean our lives have no purpose/value to God? Don't know.

May I ask how you arrived at this conclusion, given that you said you had had "religious experiences", in another thread?

 

[Nemesis_lxix]

If you attempt to define god (not just the Christian god) as an actual entity you will end up being confused and eventually start to believe in a god very much alike the ones based in ancient mythology.In other words a man-created god that does nothing more than satisfy your need to believe in a higher power.IMO most people are too ignorant even to realize that god is/should be referred to as a symbol.In order to answer with absolute certainty who or what the divine is,you must reach a very high level of awareness of live and personally I don’t even think that the human mind is capable (at least in the short period of life) of absorbing so much knowledge or making so complicated thoughts to reach that level.

Religion is a bunch of people that share the same ideology about one’s attitude in like (example:Christians think that one should respect his neighbor and do nothing that could harm him) and that ideology is symbolized by a faith which is derived from the person who ‘created” the religion (example: Jesus).

If you are able to realize god is not a punisher who wishes to force you believe and pay tribute to him but more of an ideal model you must create of your self, only then you have true faith.
I am sick and tired of all these people I see I church who think that now god is satisfied with them not missing their appointment with redemption and now they can go back and sin again !

About Christianity and the bible: The documents were created many years after the death of Christ and it wasn’t until decades later that some of them were chosen and combined to form the bible as we know it.The bible didn’t just fall from the sky ! Some people don’t actually think it was written by Jesus’ disciples.If two deferent people try to rephrase this post into a deferent forum we will end up having 3 posts that will definitely differ from one an other.Imagine that being a part of a vicious circle which lasted years and years !

 

[Dazed and Brutal]

I don't criticize "god", but I belive in a divine spirit. To some people that's Jesus, God, Allah they're all the basic idealism. The only problem I have is religouns. It says in a human thought what god think, that's not possible for no one has ever contacted a surpreme existence. They some God is something without backing proof, but then again it's called "Faith", but people over look this statement. I'm agnostic.


I'll add more later

 

[Draconysius]

There is a god; He exists in the minds of people who need their beliefs to feel secure. I don't need those beliefs, and I respect them, but when people -who believe thus- disrespect my beliefs, I lose my respect for them. Why can't we all just get along and snicker at each other under our breath (you're going to hell -or- you're wasting your life)?

 

[Demilich]

How do you know that every religious person needs their belief to feel secure? Soundsw like a very ignorant statement.

 

[NeverIsForever]

I am content with just saying "I don't know, I have no idea" because I prefer admitting my ignorance rather then believe something that might be false or creating my own reality with the flavour of my moods.

I agree very much with this sentiment...but it's agnosticism, not atheism. Atheism is the complete denial of a god's existence, and as such is no more "provable" than religion IMO. That's what I was attempting to say earlier

 

[WNxScythe]

I myself am an ex-Christian who was very devout and well read in my faith who lost his faith due to there being way too many obvious falsehoods in the Bible.

I'd love to hear some examples of these "obvious falsehoods". I promise you I can refute every single one.

On the topic at hand, I cannot understand how someone could not believe in some sort of supreme being, or "God". After all, if it all just "happened" what caused this "happening"? You can't get something from nothing, that's the basic law of thermodynamics. Somewhere along the line, there *must* be a being, entity or whatever you want to call it that was never created or caused to be brought into being by something else... this 'something' would therefore be eternal and exist outside the realms of natural law. I fail to see how one could explain this without recourse to the supernatural and divine realm. (i.e God!)

So you see, to me, atheism takes far more faith than belief in a God. Faith in human logic and reason, both of which I doubt any of us can deny has many, many holes. Are we so full of arrogance that we think humanity's logic is the be-all and end-all of reason? I find it amusing that humanists who firmly believe that they are essentially intelligent, four-legged brute animals can presume to measure the infinite universe with the scale of human reasoning and demand "proof" that fits into human standards.

Throughout the Bible (and I'm using the bible because I'm a Christian... I couldn't very well defend my point using the Qu'ran could I ?), God repeatedly states that he 'chooses' to save those whom he wishes, and 'blinds' the rest from the truth. Now, I'm not trying to drag this into a discussion of biblical theology, so I won't bother trying to explain or understand exactly why God does this, but I do feel that it illustrates my point which is this: For whatever reason, God has chosen not to reveal himself fully (i.e show up out of the sky for the whole world to see) at this time. Does this mean God does not exist? Absolutely not.

 

[Demilich]

I'd love to hear some examples of these "obvious falsehoods". I promise you I can refute every single one.

On the topic at hand, I cannot understand how someone could not believe in some sort of supreme being, or "God". After all, if it all just "happened" what caused this "happening"? You can't get something from nothing, that's the basic law of thermodynamics. Somewhere along the line, there *must* be a being, entity or whatever you want to call it that was never created or caused to be brought into being by something else... this 'something' would therefore be eternal and exist outside the realms of natural law. I fail to see how one could explain this without recourse to the supernatural and divine realm. (i.e God!)

I would say that humankind at its present state is mostly incapable of discerning the origins of our universe. That doesn't necessarily mean that a divine being pre-existed the material world. That very premise invalidates the law of thermodynamics that you attempt to use in support of your diety. The world could exist for reasons beyond our meager comprehension, yes, but that doesn't mean that our feeble minds could reason out such a specific entity to be responsible for its creation. To me, it seems futile to attempt to classify something that is so far beyond our present means of understanding. To say that it definitely does not exist is equally foolish to asserting that there IS a God, be it Christian or otherwise.

 

[Nemesis_lxix]

There is a god; He exists in the minds of people who need their beliefs to feel secure. I don't need those beliefs, and I respect them, but when people -who believe thus- disrespect my beliefs, I lose my respect for them. Why can't we all just get along and snicker at each other under our breath (you're going to hell -or- you're wasting your life)?

You should always respect other peoples belief but you should also point out why you don’t get along with their belief.Its natural for people to have deferent ideologies but if one acts according to his ideology and that act comes in conflict with an other persons life supporting a other faith…then we have a problem !

 

[NeverIsForever]

You should always respect other peoples belief but you should also point out why you don’t get along with their belief.Its natural for people to have deferent ideologies but if one acts according to his ideology and that act comes in conflict with an other persons life supporting a other faith…then we have a problem !

Good point. Therein lies one of my main complaints with organized religion. You don't really see people killing each other in the name of atheism :Spin:

 

[WNxScythe]

I would say that humankind at its present state is mostly incapable of discerning the origins of our universe. That doesn't necessarily mean that a divine being pre-existed the material world. That very premise invalidates the law of thermodynamics that you attempt to use in support of your diety. The world could exist for reasons beyond our meager comprehension, yes, but that doesn't mean that our feeble minds could reason out such a specific entity to be responsible for its creation. To me, it seems futile to attempt to classify something that is so far beyond our present means of understanding. To say that it definitely does not exist is equally foolish to asserting that there IS a God, be it Christian or otherwise.

Ah, but I said God would exist OUTSIDE natural law (thermodynamics), which is in effect partly what makes God, God. I was saying that the only way an uncreated being could exist was if it broke natural law. Such a being would therefore be supernatural, and divine as a result.

 

[WNxScythe]

I would say that humankind at its present state is mostly incapable of discerning the origins of our universe. That doesn't necessarily mean that a divine being pre-existed the material world. That very premise invalidates the law of thermodynamics that you attempt to use in support of your diety. The world could exist for reasons beyond our meager comprehension, yes, but that doesn't mean that our feeble minds could reason out such a specific entity to be responsible for its creation. To me, it seems futile to attempt to classify something that is so far beyond our present means of understanding. To say that it definitely does not exist is equally foolish to asserting that there IS a God, be it Christian or otherwise.

Ah, but I said God would exist OUTSIDE natural law (thermodynamics), which is in effect partly what makes God, God. I was saying that the only way an uncreated being could exist was if it broke natural law. Such a being would therefore be supernatural, and divine as a result.